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History - Part 3 - 1983
1983 was very busy and exciting year to Hanoi Rocks. The future of the band looked rosy and everything pointed towards global stardom. During this year Hanoi conquered British and Japanese markets and USA was about to be conquered soon. In UK every major music magazine wrote positive things about the band except NME. Boys thought that the only reason why they boycotted them was the issue of Oriental Beat album's front cover. In Finland e.g. Michael Monroe started to wrote (sometimes rather confused) columns to Suosikki-magazine. He wrote until 1985.
Three years of hard work started finally to gather some financial profit: concert fees in Finland and Japan were around tens of thousands of Euro's. British music agency called Agency at Madison Street in London was in charge for Hanoi Rocks in Europe (excluding Scandinavia) while ICM looked after USA markets.
In England, Richard Bishop was constantly working hard for the band and therefore Nasty commented after Hanoi years: "Richard was always mocked about his greediness but you can't find a tough business man who wouldn't be. That of course comes with the character of the job you are doing. Basically Richard was very warm person. He was qualified bloke and he had many bright ideas. Many times he had five or six good ideas at the same time. He formed a perfect team with Seppo because Seppo was more stable, balanced person. Basically it looked like that Richard did the things he was hired to do but if he had an opportunity to snatch dough he did so."
Michael instead was a wee bit more bitter about Richard: "He looted my bread. He owes me fuckin' enormously but I guess I'll never see that dough." Seppo Vesterinen concluded his statement: "Richard sold old Hanoi catalogues and the money were divided between the band members. He invested some of the Mike's money to Cherry Bombz but it never paid back. It wasn't about looting or snatching, it was just being too optimistic."
Musically band tried to expand their views after Oriental Beat. Andy: "Our previous records were more or less one-take shots. This new album will be more rocking, more melodic and more multi-nuanced." Michael agreed with him: "After this album (Oriental Beat) there will be something new, something funkier."
Andy was distressed about being categorized: "Why the hell everybody thinks we are a heavy metal band? That's the last thing what we really are. We're a shabby punk band. On stage we're a punk band but in the albums we're a rock'n'roll band. We're a combination of punk, fifties rock, seventies glam and Shangri-Las."
A very lucrative record deal was also hanging in the air. Andy: "Some English record companies have contacted us and offered a deal but we haven't signed anything yet. We do things like Siouxie And The Banshees and we wait 'til we get the best deal on the table. Why hurry? Our reputation grows all the time."
January 1983 – Finland Tour
1 Jan: Lapua
5 Jan: Helsinki (Tavastia Rock Club)
6 Jan: Tampere
7 Jan: Jalasjärvi
8 Jan: Evijärvi
January 1983 – England
13 Jan: London (Foot Club)
January 1983 – Holland
15 or 16 Jan: Amsterdam (Club Paradiso). This was the first gig outside Finland, Sweden or UK and first gig under tour title which was unofficially named as a joke as: Fuck All To Do On A Saturday Night World Tour. Gig started with Carl Orff's Carmina Burana opening tape and continued with Oriental Beat which was suddenly changed into Lost In The City. Band did the best what they could do but still something was missing between them and the audience.
Michael: "The first gig of this world tour was in Amsterdam. Everything was bit stiff 'cause we didn't know what the crowd expected and they didn't know us at all. Same kinda reactions like we had in Finland when we started the band. Some liked us and some looked like they were in the wrong place. But we were having fun and that was the main thing. That place where we played was all right. Then I went to London. Others stayed behind and got lost or something. They went to Belgium for a lunch and didn't reach London until it was time for a night-cap."
January 1983 – England
20 Jan: London (Club Foot). Michael: "We've been in London for a week now but we have played only one gig. That's enough for them so why give more? We played at Club Foot. Six hundred can fit in but I think it wasn't that full. There was a warm-up band called Iron Flowers (NOTE: we have a strong feeling that the band was infact Rene Berg's band Idle Flowers) and the feeling was awsome from the beginning. We dig 'em and they dig us. People know us quite well in London nowadays. Those fans who saw us at Foot were about nineteen to twenty-five. We've practised our Japanese set here in London. We play songs from the first two albums that have been released in Japan and the fans there are really hot. We have a place near Waterloo Station, under the rails. Alaska Studios – really nice place."
January 1983 – India Tour
On 23 January the band headed for Asia and a very exotic place to play for an unknown band: India. Promoter during this tour was Yusuf Gandhi.
Before the trip Michael thought about the tour: "We've counted that we don't get much from this tour. This is quite expensive tour. Hope we can cover the costs. But the money's not important, it's the experience and most of it lies still ahead of us. On Sunday we got a long fly ahead of us when we leave to India. We depart at 9.30am and reach the destination just before midnight. It's weird to go to a place you know nothing about. Let's see how they live there and what kind of blokes we meet. We've been vaxinated against never-heard diseases so I guess we make it to the stage at least. Now I put all my energy in wishing. You know, I wish to stay alive as long as I've seen this journey. I really must see this."
When they reached India Andy commented this new exotic place: "We're in India 'cause this is conveniently on the way to Japan." In India both the audience and the band were baffled about each others.
Michael: "We flew on Air India and we had to drink proper booze to stay calm." During the few days off Michael was the only one who had the guts to step outside the hotel in Bombay and immediately locals started to touch him because local folklore tells that it brings luck if an Indian touch a person who is blonde. On the whole this tour at least inspired Andy to write two songs: Dead In Delhi and Raped In Bombay By Bills Boys.
25. Jan: Rhang Bhavan, Bombay. Ticket price was quite big compared to local price level, £1.30. That meant that only better folks and students arrived to see them. Gig started with Carl Orf's Carmina Burana and continued with a drumbeat and Michael's long improvisation of Rolling Stones's Shake Your Hips because local bands used to play 6-7 hours per night and the minimum time to Hanoi was ordered to be at least two hours.
Finally Hanoi Rocks managed to srape together a 2h 45 minute set. After long intro other band members stepped on the stage and started Oriental Beat. Because of this minimum time they had guitar and drum solos that were ridiculously long (5-10 minutes).
During this gig they managed to get the audience to their side because during cover version of My Generation crowd went totally crazy by jumping onto the stage and dancing all over the club. Local security officers didn't have a clue what to do in these kind of situations and the same thing went on during 1970 and two encores. Finally those 2500 romped like lunatics and the club looked more like a battlefield. In this chaos many policemen who were called in to keep order injured themselves.
Shankerlal Auditorium, Delhi. When the band arrived to this concert venue they noticed that the P.A. system wasn't much better than normal home audio systems. Michael: "Gear in here are so primitive and people doesn't have any kind of sense of time. I know they're willing to help but... but..."
Unlike in Bombay, crowd in Delhi didn't have a clue what's going on in a rock concert. Only handful of rock bands had performed in there before Hanoi. That's why this concert went on very peacefully. They also played My Generation here and then few brave ones started dancing. They played e.g. Motovatin', MC Baby, Wild And Free and a new song Sailing Down The Tears.
January 1983 – Hong Kong
After Delhi they travelled to Hong Kong. Concert place was a high-flying discotheque. Andy: "This place where we played didn't fit to rock concerts, it was more like a disco. It was packed full and when the crowd bursted towards the stage others couldn't see or hear anything. I feel sorry for those who stayed at the back of the hall."
January-February 1983 – Japan
Then came Japan. They arrived Tokyo on 29 January and stayed for ten days. Andy: "When we arrived here from Honk Kong we had to wait a whole day at Honk Kong airport because the morning flight to Tokyo was cancelled." Country was ready for the boys to come. A fan club was formed earlier and its chairman was 16 year old girl Massayo Hisatomi. Also Japan's leading music magazine Music Life had published colourful articles about the band in previous summer.
Mrs. Dafn was the promoter during Japan Tour and she at least was once married to some bloke who had played in Free. There was a grand style press conference in Tokyo and even Japan's Finnish ambassador attended it. It was held at Peter And The Rabbits discotheque.
Along with diplomats, press and 40 fan club members, there was a Japanese artist Yasuaki Honda who interviewed the band to their first ever Japanese TV programme. When the conference was over Honda gave the band a drumset and the band gave him a guitar as presents. TV programme was shown next morning. Along with Music Life also magazines Rock Show and Viva Rock noticed the band on their pages.
Nevertheless the concert halls were half full, the fans were twice as wild. Japanese had faith in the band because ticket prices were same class as international super groups had. Therefore you had to pay 12 Euro's to get inside.
30 Jan: Tokyo (Shibuya Ko-Kai-Do). Few songs from this gig was recorded to Rebels On The Run promotape.
1 Oriental Beat
2 Lost In The City
3 Lightnin' Bar Blues
4 Visitor
5 Motorvatin'
6 Don't Follow Me
7 Village Girl
8 Cream Schumm (this is probably Ice Cream Summer)
9 Beer And A Cigarette
10 Never Leave Me
11 Tragedy
12 Malibu Nightmare
13 Motorcycle Baby
14 Cheyenne
15 Taxi Driver
16 Mystery City
17 I Feel Alright
18 79 Not 58
19 My Generation
20 Encore: Under My Wheels
21 Encore: Oh Beat Lookin' At You
22 Train Kept A'Rollin'
31 Jan: Osaka (Mainichi Hall). Kill City Blues bootleg was recorded in this gig.
1 Oriental Beat
2 Lost In The City
3 Lightnin' Bar Blues
4 Don't Follow Me
5 11th Street Kids
6 TCP
7 Beer And A Cigarette
8 Don't You Ever Leave Me
9 Tragedy
10 MC Baby
11 Taxi Driver
12 Village Girl
13 Visitor
14 1970
15 My Generation
Boys were stunned about the attention they received in Japan. Andy: "We're more famous in Japan than in Finland. They got such gears that we haven't ever seen in Finland. Top gear, man. We've signed too many autographs. My hands are shite for writing too much."
Andy: "I think you don't believe us in Finland. You think we just screw you. You should come here to see us and then you'd believe that we have given up more than just booze and beer. This popularity makes me more drunk than any booze. It really makes me legless."
Andy: "When we arrived to Osaka we created a huge chaos. We had an escort when we went to train and the fans ripped the security guys into pieces. In the train we had our short, peaceful time but when we arrived to Osaka it was hell loose again. Everybody wanted to touch us, say few words in English to us and then we had to sign loadsa autographs. When we're drivin' around the city, fans are following us in cabs. There are mainly ordinary fans but also journalists and they want to take pictures. There are almost twenty taxi's following us and the traffic's of course gone berserk."
Michael and Andy: "Hotel staff was in trouble 'cause they couldn't keep the chicks away who followed us. Japanese chicks were everywhere, even in closets and elevator shafts."
3 Feb: Nagoya (Kinro Hall). Michael: "I've got helluva flu. Local weather's quite lethal. I'm waiting for a doctor to come to cure me. We just had a gig in a place that reminded me of Kultsa (Kulttuuritalo) in Helsinki. They screamed so hard we had to play three extra numbers. Others are going to a disco where the owner has promised to give 'em anything for free. They just need to show their faces there."
Michael: "Here's a total chaos. All the corridors, elevator shafts and whatever places are filled with chicks. You have to be careful with them all the time. They usually are mellow but when they see us they start taking pictures, scream and pester us about autographs. This morning one gal grabbed my hair and pulled a huge bunch off. When I looked at her angrily she was really embarrassed. Damn, they're stupid sometimes. Hundreds of them have booked into the same hotel where we're staying just to see a glimpse of us. They don't sleep at all, they just hang around and stalk us 24 hours per day. We just gotta be cool 'cause if we panic it's gonna be devastating havoc ahead."
Michael: "We've received lots of gifts. Over 20 guitars and two drumsets, one black and one pink especially manufactured to match the size of our drummer. Those companies that gave us the presents promised to pay transportations and custom fees."
Michael: "Concerts are just a small part from our total work. We got lots of other things to do and our calendar's full. Today I'm quite tired because I've been ill but when I think of how important this tour is I get extra energy to keep me moving on. After India we've all had stomach ache's. Our roadie Spede got pneumonia but he hasn't kicked the bucket yet. We've done lots of TV and radio stuffs, to local and national networks. The biggest thing was Let's Go Young, the most popular TV show in Japan. We played Tragedy as playback in front of 4000 fans. To one show me made Devil Woman and to one bits and pieces from our make-up room and then few shots from the city. One magazine took pictures of us posing in some samurai environment and we all had our own wooden swords. We've been more relaxed in here because everybody's so nice to us. This is the best, most beautiful and cleanest country I've ever visited. Here you can realize how poorly people in India lives. Tomorrow we have an official introduction. There's Japan's Finnish ambassador and the créme de la créme of Tokyo society. I must be healthy by then."
5 Feb: Tokyo (Yubin Chubin Hall)
6 Feb: Tokyo (Yubin Chubin Hall) Tokyo Sundown bootleg recorded.
?? Feb: Fukuoka
February 1983 – Vietnam
From Japan they headed towards the band name's origins – Vietnam. Michael: "We had to leave Japan couple of days earlier 'cause all the flights were booked full. Otherwise we would have left few days later. Luckily I'm healthy again but now it's Andy who's very ill. I think it's this constant changing of climate that causes our flu's. Japan was on their knees, man. Probably in every Japanese magazine and newspaper was a story about us and there are much more mag's in Japan than in Finland. We've done hundreds of interviews and photosessions. We also made three TV shows. We played at Japan's most popular youth show which has 35 million viewers. We come back later this year 'cause we're big in here. Now we're in Bangkok and we have a day off. We're just floating around in a swimming pool and probably play tennis later. This place got excellent gyms and all the recreational possibilities. This place is awsome. We make couple of interviews so we're not totally off duty. Radio blasts our song every five minutes – just like at home. We'd like to be here at least a week after this tour's over. I'd like to travel down yonder and study this country. I gotta think about that. Next gig is on Monday so the following three days we just mooch around and do nothing. That's wonderful 'cause we've had a very tight schedule during this tour."
10 & 11 Feb: Bangkok. Sami was extremely ill during one of those gigs.
March 1983 – London
1-5 Mar: Rehearsing in London.
6-19 Mar: Recording of forthcoming LP. Album was recorded at Park Gate Studios in Hastings and mixed at Scorpio Sound Studios. Album was produced by Mott The Hoople men Dale Griffin and Overend Watts. Andy Lyden was the sound engineer. Michael: "It's boring in the studio. And it's even more boring when all the boring blokes put their boring heads together and decide to make this current boredom even more boring... We're making a new record. I just have to say that it's the best album since Oriental Beat. And it's going to be our best record 'til we make another one..."
It was positive from the point of view of co-operation that Griffin and Watts liked the same kind of music and they all got together very well.
Overend Watts: "Hanoi Rocks is one of the best touring bands in England and perhaps in America at the moment. They bring back the feeling that good live bands do exist because many bands work only inside studio walls. Hanoi aren't very good in albums. They gave me their first albums and I couldn't believe that's the same band. That's pity because there are lots of good songs. First album sounds like Andy's guitar was recorded in another studio. The best way to get better albums is to be thorough. First three days we just went through the drumsound. Things got rolling after Razzle shook off the excitement of being first time in the studio. Especially on stage Hanoi Rocks reminds me of Mott The Hoople's early days. Hanoi's got the same unity, all for one and one for all. That's very important if band wants to be successful. Mott wasn't globally popular band before the fifth album so the story is quite the same kind."
March 1983 – Spain?
25 Mar: Madrid. According to lists Hanoi was planning to play in here but it is unconfirmed did this gig ever happen.
March 1983 – London
27-28 Mar: Practicing in London.
April 1983 – Israel
In April Hanoi bunch flew to another exotic rock'n'roll country – Israel for six days. In Tel Aviv Kolhoa Dan Niteclub owner Chichi Leehaim commented: "I don't like them. I love them. We want them back in here by September at least."
Radio interview was made in Jerusalem and after that there were plans of photosession at the Western Wall but they had to cancel that because the locals thought Michael was a woman. Because it was April Jews in Israel were having Pesach and during that time you can't eat or drink anything made from grain. Beer is also included into this category. Hanoi though had several middlemen who all fixed the band beer crates to fill their hotelrooms. Maybe they should have let the beer alone this time because this five start hotel's (Concorde) guests were terrified seeing Andy running around the corridors dressed only in a towel and Nasty hopping or more like staggering around with his walking sticks because of the broken ankle.
Astonishment was equal: "Hotel staff's a bit weird. They don't talk to us at all." In the second day Andy, Sam and Razzle were jamming in the local club. Song was Train Kept A Rollin'. Tel Aviv gigs never were a real success: "Are they always that dead?" Nasty commented when the locals just stood there dressed up to their nines wandering about Hanoi Rocks' concert. Nobody said a word, or laughed and definitely nobody danced. Catastrophic tour ended to the situation where Nasse threw hotelroom furnitures through the window to the streets below. After this the band returned quietly to London.
April 1983 – England
8 Apr: London (The Venue). The Urban Dogs were a warm-up band and audience heard material from the forthcoming album.
Back To Mystery City LP's final recordings.
April 1983 – Norway
11 Apr: Oslo (Ratz). Mink de Ville was probably along with them and they also played few other gigs.
10-17 Apr: Plans to have a small tour in Poland but this was cancelled because of unknown reasons.
May 1983
1 May: The band had plans of making a short trip to east coast of USA. This is unconfirmed.
7" single: Malibu Beach / Rebel On The Run
7" picture disc single: Malibu Beach / Rebel On The Run
12" maxi-single: Malibu Beach / Taxi Driver / Rebel On The Run / Beer And A Cigarette
A normal single. a picture disc single and a 12" maxi-single were released through Lick Records (Seppo Vesterinen's and Richard Bishop's record company). Malibu Beach was taken from Back To Mystery City album so it was recorded at Park Gate Studios in Hastings and mixed at Scorpio Sound Studios. Rebel On The Run was recorded at Alaska Studios and it was mixed by Dale Griffin and Overend Watts at Silo. Pictures were from the same photosessions than pictures at the covers of Back To Mystery City. Fin Costello had taken the pics. Cover layout design was by Hillary Goodwright and the Hanoi Rocks logo was designed by Philip Cox.
UK: Released by Lick Records in May 1983, LIX1, LIXPD1 & LIXT1.
Back To Mystery City
UK: Released by Lick Records in May 1983, LICLP1
FIN: Released by Johanna Records in May 1983, JHN 3023
JAP: Released by Nippon Phonogram in May 1983, 25PP-98
Re-issues:
Released by Lick Records in 1985 (LICLP1, white vinyl)
Released by Uzi Suicide in 10/1989 (GHS 24265, green vinyl)
Released by Castle Records in 1995 (ESM CD 272, CD)
Before the album was released the band had talks with several record companies and they almost signed a new deal with Magnet Records but the band had second thoughts about the deal because Magnet didn't have any kind of influence in America. Manager Seppo Vesterinen suggested Crystalis Records. Finally they decided to release this album through their own label Lick.
All in all, the band was satisfied to the album nevertheless drumsounds divided the members. Andy: "We searched good drumsounds to Mystery City for a week. We should've continued the search 'cause I think the final cut was crappy." All the songs are credited to Andy except Beating Gets Faster where second composer was Michael Monroe. All the arrangements are credited to McCoy and Monroe. Third Mott The Hoople man Morgan Fisher played keyboards. The female vocalist on the record was South-African Miranda who had worked e.g. with Pink Floyd. Fin Costello took the pictures for the cover and Justin Thomas for the inner sleeves. Hillary Goodwright designed the cover layout. Band thanked Cosmic Ted and Flashing Psychedelic Kid (that's McCoy and Monroe themselves) without whom the record would've never been made.
Andy's comments about the songs:
Strange Boys Play Weird Openings: "I got this idea in the studio that we should put up somekinda weird intro to that and so on."
Malibu Beach Nightmare: "I was visiting my parents and somebody had given me few Mary Janes so I went through with my guitar some fuckin' stupid Latin American styled riff. I wanted to try that as a rock song and it rocked so well that we decided to add it on the album."
Mental Beat: "My song. Tells about fast speed and Makkonen was really involved at that time. Quite experimental song but on stage it's very strong."
Tooting Bec Wreck: "Tells about the time when we in early days lived in London and you, Måsse, got us that flat (Andy indicates to Måns Kullman who wrote 'Andy McCoy – from Hanoi to eternity' book) that was in Tooting Bec and we had to live with five pounds a day income and that ain't much. I had a girlfriend and only had two fifty a day to spend on living and there wasn't any kinda heating on. It was freezing inside. I and everybody else moved out when the rats moved in. One morning when Sami and Makkonen had stayed up all night I went to the kitchen and there were food on the table, cheese or something, that was about six in the morning when I went there to make some sandwiches and there were rats on the table so we had to move out."
Until I Get You: "Song I wrote when I was staying in Seppo's, my manager's, home in Kasarminkatu in Finland. Ya know, it was a tune that I went through and originally I thought I'll throw the whole thing to the bin but Razzle said that it was fuckin' awsome song and we should play it and I thought I was really against that song. I thought it had nothing innit. But we played it with the band and it sounded good. Finally I started to dig it."
Sailing Down The Tears: "Song about love. Kinda song I wrote in ten minutes. One day it just came out of me. Really traditional. Everybody in Hanoi dig it, don't know about Sami, but I believe everybody dig it."
Lick Summer Love: "I wrote this when I was seventeen. Tells about making love in the summer and oral sex in the most beautiful way. When you have a gal and you like her, you know."
Ice Cream Summer: "This was about my summer romance. The only thing left from that romance is a photo where this gal's got melted ice cream on her pants. Michael dig it so fuckin' enormously but I never get it."
Back To Mystery City: "That's our Mony Mony. Tells about what happened in Finland and in England, the movement that we created. These black ragmops on our heads and so on. That song's really important, in London especially. There was a club in London for a while what was called Mystery City. That was cool place. Good live song, really powerful."
May-June 1983 – British Tour
Kick-off of the first real British Tour. The London Cowboys were a warm-up band for many gigs.
2 May: London (Marquee Club) – Sold out
3 May: Electric Ballroom
4 May: Bristol (Dingwalls)
5 May: Warwick University
6 May: Sheffield (Dingwalls)
7 May: Liverpool (Dingwalls)
8 May: Colne (Franks)
9 May: Leicester (Horse Fair)
10 May: Manchester (Gallery)
11 May: Manchester (Gallery)
12 May: Colwyn Bay (The Pier)
13 May: Hull (Dingwalls)
The Scottish part of the tour was having troubles of alluring audience in.
15 May: Aberdeen (Venue). There were about ten fans inside. Gig was kicked-off with Oriental Beat like usually and nevertheless the place was literally empty the band handled the gig professionally from start to end. Audience applaused them back on stage and they played cover song 1970 as an encore. Razzle went to see a doctor next day for a removal of a ring from his finger (!).
18 May: Edinburgh (Niteclub). Cancelled. Hanoi's tour bus broke up.
19 May: Glasgow (Night Moves). Andy: "Audience in here is even more dum-dum than in our first Finnish tour. These geezers just stare. It's heavy metal audience like in northern Finland."
20 May: Newcastle (Mayfair Suite)
22 May: Lancaster University (Sugarhouse Club)
23 May: Scunthorpe (Berkeley Hotel)
24 May: Cleethorpes (Winter Gardens)
25 May: Nottingham (Rock City)
26 May: Bradford (Palm Cove). Originally this concert was scheduled to be played at Caesars.
27 May: Birmingham (Mermaid Hall). Michael's Selmer saxophone was stolen from the backroom (price then was about £1500). Band offered a £50 reward to get the sax back or at least to have information of its whereabouts. You had a chance to phone the tips to band's office at 01-408-0830. At least during autumn of 1983 they didn't get it back.
28 May: Portsmouth (Polytechnic)
30 May: Rayleigh (Crocs)
1 Jun: Swindon (Solitaire)
2 Jun: Brighton (Xtreems)
3 Jun: Dunstable (Queensway Hall)
6 Jun: London (Lyceum)
June 1983 – Finland
?? Jun: Kuusamo (festivals). Also Lords Of The New Church and Raimo Häyrynen included.
23 Jun: Forssa (Sunrock Festivals)
24 Jun: ?? (Youth festivals)
25 Jun: Saarijärvi (Ahvenlampi Rock Festivals). Midsummer gig fees were about 9700 Euro's per gig. Michael: "On our way to Saarijärvi we stopped at Kajaani where we spent two hours waiting for our grub to be served. Waiter explained that he was just a trainee and there was only one cook
in the whole restaurant and that cook made every meal one by one nevertheless we'd ordered the same for everybody. After hour and a half we wanted to see the manager of that restaurant and he finally came to see us though he first refused. He had a bagful of explanations like they also had twenty five people in the cabinet waiting for their meals and so and so many orders came from the bar and they had just one cook at the moment. Just excuses. So we were late again, God damn it. The stage of Saarijärvi is very dangerous to both the audience and the performers."
In June they announced a million dollar deal with CBS. Andy: "It's bigger than the deal Twisted Sister have and in Finnish currency it's millions, not in pounds though. It's a long-term deal and we think it rocks. We announce more about that and other things when we have a gig in Lyceum in London early in the July." In June they also thought about hiring Martin Birch or Eddie Kramer as the producer of the next album.
July 1983 – England
2 Jul: The Sea Cadets Hall, Cambridge.
3 Jul: London (Lyceum). Ticket price was £3.50. Concert started with Oriental Beat. Cover songs were e.g. TCP and 1970.
July 1983 – Finnish Tour
15 Jul: Kajaani (venue unknown). Later that night Nasty was taken to hospital because he drank a mix of alcohol and different kind of medicine.
16 Jul: Suonenjoki (Strawberry fields). Without Nasty.
18 Jul: Aitoo (venue unknown). Without Nasty.
20 Jul: Eno (venue unknown). Without Nasty.
21 Jul: Punkaharju (Huviniemi). Without Nasty. Before the gig some local person offered Andy beer from his car. Andy asked how strong the beer was and after hearing it was just normal beer from the local shop, Andy declined and told that he drinks only stronger beers (NOTE: in Finland there are three categories of lager: I grade beer which is more or less like lemonade, III grade beer and stronger IV grade beer). Michael hurt his left hand during the concert when he hit it to Andy's guitar. He tried to stop the bleeding with his right hand, his so called harmonica hand.
?? Jul: Hamina (Husulan Kasino). Without Nasty.
23 Jul: Oulu (Kuusrock Festivals). Hanoi was more popular than the main performers The Scorpions.
30 Jul: Lappajärvi (Tulivuorirock Festivals).
After Finnish tour Andy stayed here for a fortnight to produce re-formed Briard's new album, Miss World.
August 1983
7" single: Until I Get You / Tragedy
12" single: Until I Get You / Tragedy / Oriental Beat
Both singles were released on 12 August. Until I Get You was taken from Back To Mystery City LP so it was recorded in Park Gate Studios in Hastings and mixed at Scorpio Sound Studios. Tragedy was taken from Bangkok Shocks Shaigon Shakes LP and Hanoi Rocks was marked as producers. Front cover picture was from the same photosessions as the pictures in Back To Mystery City LP. Fin Costello took the pictures. Hillary Goodwright designed the cover layout and Hanoi Rocks logo was designed by Philip Cox. 7" single has a missprint in the B-side label where reads that the single also had Oriental Beat. That song will be found from the B-side of 12" single. In the backcovers are advertisements of their latest album plus also of the previous albums.
Released by Lick Records on 12 August 1983, LIX2 & LIXT2.
Hanoi Rocks Bangkok Shocks Shaigon Shakes / Oriental Beat / Self Destruction Blues
On 12 August band's first three albums were released in Britain. These were supposed to be the last Lick Records albums before CBS deal. LP's cost £4.99 in record shops.
August 1983 – Finland
13 Aug: Turku (Ruisrock Festivals). Michael: "This trip to Ruisrock was just boozin' and fuckin' around by my disciples. I hardly took a sip 'cause I don't care about booze. I don't want to wake up one morning and find myself being a stone. No, no, no, no, it can't happen in here. Right after Turku airport our luggage and us were inspected thoroughly in the customs. Looks like that the Drug squad fuzzies are quite rock'n'roll fans 'cause they bustle around rock bands all the way through the festival. They were even in hotelroom parties and of course at the concert venue. I'm sorry we disappointed them. We aren't heroin smugglers. We're just a bunch of innocent little kids."
"Razzle made a practical joke at the customs. He had a stink bomb and it happened that the so called serious musicians a.k.a. Whitesnake had also arrived to Turku. They thought the bomb was meant to them and told they were very offended by this act. They made a complaint. Looks like their singer's pride had a knock 'cause he came to see Razzle who denied of throwing it but told him he was sorry if his socks smelled. Later Razzle said that the idiot guys of Whitesnake didn't have any sense of humour. I agree. Later we've had better feelings towards each others but I still don't like 'em. They're stuck-up bastards. In Ruisrock those British gents ordered that no other band should play louder than they. Our show was a real bringdown 'cause the sounds were crappy all over the concert area. Reason is that we never had the chance to do the soundcheck. Bands normally make excuses like this after the gig's gone down the toilet but hey, we're the best."
August 1983 – England
17 Aug: Nottingham
26 Aug: Reading Festival. Michael: "Audience threw enormous pints on stage. That was still okay. Those pints were plastic. We were still one of the best groups in the festivals. Many dig us but there are always morons among real fans."
Michael: "I watched a video taken from Reading Festivals where we played last Friday. Gig was 'quite normal'. I could say 'brilliant' but I'm very modest man."
After Reading concert the band started to work with demos for the forthcoming album.
September 1983
Demos recorded for the next album. They played e.g. Two Steps From The Move with harmonicas, I Can't Get It with totally different bridge part than in the final version, Shakes with different lyrics than the final version and Never Get Enough which was later changed to Million Miles Away. This was the different version than in the boxset released in 2001. They also made another version of Keep Our Fire Burning which was released by japanese singer Honda and they also played Bad Love and Teenage Revolution which are still lost. They also recorded Pin Up Girl which Cherry Bombz later took into their set and songs I Love You and Willing To Cross The Ocean which were released after Hanoi's break-up.
October-December 1983 – British Tour
13 Oct: London (venue unknown)
14 Oct: Sunderland (Polytechnic). Michael: "Lots of merry people arrived. It was a surprise that we remembered almost all the songs we played. We've been playing for bigger crowds than in Spring but tonight's crowd was small. People just think that we run through the ceilings towards the heaven but the truth is it's a lie. We've rummaged all the bogs in England – just like in Finland."
15 Oct: Glasgow (Strathclyde University). Songs like Two Steps From The Move were heard for the first time. Mental Beat had a new arrangement. Other songs were e.g. Malibu Beach, Until I Get You, Back To Mystery City, Motorvatin', Tragedy, Visitor and Taxi Driver.Encores were 1970 and Under My Wheels.
16 Oct: Manchester (Ashton The Metro)
17 Oct: Nottingham (Palais)
18 Oct: Leeds (Forde Greene Pub somewhere in Tiffany). Michael: "We played a punk concert in Leeds. Even the clock came through the walls."
19 Oct: Bristol (Granary)
20 Oct: Birmingham (Tower Ballroom). Ausgang (Ex Kaboki) as warm-up band. Tickets £2.50.
21 Oct: Colchester (Woods Leisure Centre)
22 Oct: St. Albans (City Hall). Newtown Neurotics and Dragon Slang as warm-up bands. New material plus also Taxi Driver, Mental Beat and Tragedy. Encores were 1970, Under My Wheels and Blitzkrieg Bop sung by Razzle.
23 Oct: Brighton (Escape Ballroom). E.g. songs "Malibu Beach Nightmare", "Back To Mystery City", "Mental Beat" and "Until I Get You". Encores were "Train Kept A Rollin'" and Razzle's "Blitzkrieg Bop".
9 Nov: Very thorough rehearsals. Reason was that a legendary producer Bob Ezrin was going to attend next day's gig.
10 Nov: Bristol (Granary). This gig was added to cover the postponed one from the previous British tour. Bob Ezrin was among the crowd. It was expected that he would be the new producer of the next album which had a working title Silver Missiles And Nightingales. Andy: "Ezrin does whatever he wants to. It was a minor miracle that he flew in here just to see us."
11 Nov: Photosessions at London's East End.
16 Dec: Raleigh (Crocs)
17 Dec: West Runton (Pavilion)
18 Dec: London (Marquee Club). A rehearsal gig for the forthcoming All Those Wasted Years album. Ticket price was £3.00.
19-20 Dec: London (Marquee Club). During these two nights they recorded material for the live album All Those Wasted Years. They also taped these concerts to be released on video of the same name. Mick Staplehurst mixed the gigs. Tickets were £3.00. It is unknown were The Mannish Boys acting as warm-up band for those three Marquee concerts. At least they were hired to do the job.
December 1983 – Finland
28 Dec: Karhula (Karhula Sports Centre). Smack as the warm-up band.
30 Dec: Kalanti (venue unknown).
In December Bob Ezrin agreed to be the producer of the next album. Recordings were planned to start at Toronto on 16 February. First single was planned to be released in March.
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Hotel staff was in trouble 'cause they couldn't keep the chicks away who followed us. Japanese chicks were everywhere, even in closets and elevator shafts.
Michael and Andy