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Nasty Suicide

1976-1979 – Helsinki
Jan Stenfors met in the autumn of 1976 Antti Hulkko in his school (Botby Högstadiesskola). It didn't take long for them to realise that they had also something else in common than hatred towards school – guitar playing. They ended up playing guitars at Andy's home during school days. During his adventures with Andy, Nasty (nicknamed Nasse by Andy) met many local musicians like Maukka Perusjätkä and Ralf Örn. He also met his future band mate Makke Fagerholm.


1979 – Helsinki
After Andy had his rows with Pete Malmi and left to Stockholm, Nasse was hired as Briard's guitarist. Nasse's first recordings were the last Briard single's Rockin' On The Beach / Miss World B-side and song Philosophy at Hilse LP released by Miettinen.


1979-1985 – Hanoi Rocks
In the autumn of 1979 Makke Fagerholm and Stefan Piesnack (sacked from Pelle Miljoona 1980) asked Nasse to join their newly formed band as second guitarist. Other Hanoi Rocks members at that time were bass player Peki Sirola and drummer Nedo. With this line-up they made few gigs e.g. at ÄMY Rock Festivals in Hämeenlinna, Tavastia Rock Club in Helsinki and Latosaari. During this time Hanoi's background figure Andy named Jan as Nasty McCoy but it was later changed to Suicide which was used by Andy himself. The spirit inside this line-up wasn't the best possible one and Makke didn't get along with Stefan, Peki and Nedo. It was quite clear that musical co-operation wasn't going to last for long. Original Hanoi Rocks came to the end very soon when the Drug Squad of Helsinki Police Department arrested Stefan and locked him up. During this time Andy and Sami Takamäki (now as Sam Yaffa) left the popular Pelle Miljoona OY and re-formed Hanoi Rocks with Makke (now as Michael Monroe) and Nasty. More about the adventures of Hanoi Rocks in ”The History” –section.


1983-1989 – London
In 1983 along with Hanoi Rocks, Nasty, Sam and Razzle recorded with Knox (Vibrators) an album called Fallen Angels. Though Knox continued recording and performing under name Fallen Angels no Hanoi members were included except Nasty's few visits on stage. In 1984 Nasty and Andy visited Fallen Angels album In Loving Memory. In 1985 Nasty with Michael Monroe visited Johnny Thunders LP Que Sera Sera.


After Razzle died, the band thought of hiring either Mark Laffin (Generation X) or Rat Scabies (The Damned) to replace him. They finally chose Andy's friend Terry Chimes (the original drummer of The Clash). After Sami had retired from Hanoi, they thought of hiring Jimi Sumen (e.g. Classix Nouveaux) to replace him but he refused politely. They then hired band's old friend Rene Berg (Idle Flowers). You must put weight on the word 'old' because he was actually much older than Andy or Michael. During the last tour in Poland it was clear that Rene wasn't the right choise for the band and after they returned to London they sacked him. Longtime roadie Timo Kaltio replaced Rene to become the last bass player of the band.


Hanoi Rocks finally broke-up when Michael announced his departure. In practise Hanoi's last line-up continued under name Cherry Bombz. Andy's latest acquaintance, Anita Chellemah, was hired as their lead singer. Her biggest ”hit” had been I Eat Cannibals with Toto Coelo-band. Because of Hanoi Rocks, Cherry Bombz received much attention in Finland and Europe.


Little later Kaltio was replaced with Dave Tregunna (Lords Of The New Church). Although expectations were high and mighty this cherry bomb turned out to be a dud and the band broke-up after Andy had sacked Chellemah. That still didn't mean that 1986 was musically catastrophic to Nasty. It was then when he and Andy released an unplugged album Silver Missiles And Nightingales which is perhaps the best record to show Andy's talent in song writing. In addition to the album they had few concerts to perform in Finland under pseydonym of Suicide Twins.


In 1987 Nasty, Rene Berg and few boys from Quireboys formed a shortlived band called GangBangBand. They made a 12” single with Alex Harvey's Gangbang on A-side. After many quarrels Nasty removed his name from the covers of the single. Eventually he wanted the name to be included again but it was then too late – they had been already printed.


During Cherry Bombz Nasty had a band called Weird Things. Other members were Dave Tregunna, Terry Chimes, James Vane and Cliff Crawell. Because of the disagreements with Crawell, Nasty decided to break the band up. After this he formed with Dave, Rene and the drummer from Smash a band called West End Central (very familiar police station to them from London). Soon after this Tregunna left the band and Dougie (from Rene's old band Idle Flowers) replaced him. This line-up made few concerts and then Dougie was replaced with Tommy Fox. It didn't take long when they replaced the bands name to Soho Vulture. After short Finnish Tour and few demos the band vanished.


1989-1991 – Los Angeles
After Soho Vultures broke up, Nasty packed his bags and moved with other Hanoi men to Los Angeles. There he joined Michael Monroe's band and played guitar in Michael's solo album Not Fakin' It. Nasty also met Timo Kaltio there and they decided to form a new band. They tested local musicians but when they bumbed into Les Riggs and Mike Finn they hired them. This was the first version of Cheap And Nasty. They made few concerts with this line-up in California until authorities noticed that Nasty didn't have a working permit. Because of this lapse Nasse had to take the first flight back to Europe. Nasty then thought that Cheap And Nasty was history but Timo and Riggs followed him to London. Finn was replaced with Alvin Gibbs (UK Subs). In March 1991 first album was released: Beautiful Disaster. In 1991-1994 Cheap And Nasty toured around Europe and Japan. When Demolition23 guitarist Jay Henning couldn't attend their tour in Europe in 1994, Michael invited Nasty to join as a substitute. In a press conference in Helsinki, Nasty suddenly announced he was a regular member of the band. In the same summer Nasty, Sami and Michael played in a tribute album made for Johnny Thunders: I Only Wrote This Song For You. In 1994 the second Cheap And Nasty album was released: Cool Talk Injection but after the release Nasty announced of his departure.


1995 - Helsinki
In 1995 Nasty also announced of his departure from Demolition23. He moved back to Finland where he continued his high-school studies which were cut down in 1980. After this he went to Helsinki University and he changed his name back to Jan Stenfors. In 1996 he released a solo album Vinegar Blood where his brother Frej and father Harry Stenfors and Sam Yaffa also played. After the release he made a short tour in Finland with Frej, Sami and Puka Oinonen. He also made an acoustic tour in Japan without a back-up band. In 1997 Jan played some duet-concerts with Puka. After this, Jan concentrated totally on his university studies and nowadays he's working in a pharmacy in Helsinki.


Epilogue
After leaving the music business totally behind he was seen once playing at Hanoi Rocks on 31 December 2003 at Caribia Club in Turku. There he replaced Costello Hautamäki who had left the re-born Hanoi Rocks. It was infact Sir Lombard (from Monroe's solo projects) who played most of the concert while Jan just attended few songs. Jan Stenfors few days before the concert: ”Michael just suggested after a conversation that I should play with them. I thought that why not spend another kind of a New Year's Eve. I just play few songs with them. We'll see what the songs are when the time comes. Older Hanoi I suppose, when I was with the band. I have no intention to practice hard, just go the songs through couple of times... It feels quite awesome, but you have to remember that this isn't serious. Just to celebrate the New Year. I still play guitar every now and then but these kind of things are always refreshing.”


Jan Stenfors has showed that his present day interests are totally away from the rock world. I pay homage to him and his wise choice and end his biography here. All the best to you, Nasse.

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It feels quite awesome, but you have to remember that this isn't serious.

Nasty Suicide