Legendary HANOI ROCKS frontman MICHAEL MONROE checks in with the following update:

"The recording sessions in LA went very well. We worked pretty hard and fast with no days off except for one when Jack (Douglas) had to fly to New York for the JOHN LENNON movie premiere. All the recording is finished and Jack is starting to mix as we speak. So I guess you could say that the album is about half done.

After about three weeks in LA, I must say it is nice to be back home for a while. Just being able to WALK to get to places is a pleasure rather than sitting in a car everyday... The jet-lag is usually worse when flying back this way and this time it was extremely harsh. For almost two weeks after my return I kept waking up at around 2am-4am and wasn't able to sleep for the rest of the night.

My broken ribs have healed quite well and I was able to start doing most of my daily exercises again two weeks ago. Not being able to exercise for two months kinda threw me off balance, both physically and mentally. I was very worried about my vocal performances in LA because singing is quite physical after all - and this is one of the most important records of my life. However, the vocals on the record turned out fine in the end.

My live performance is another thing, though. I had just about recovered from my jet-lag when it was time to leave for Sweden to play in Malmö and Gothenburg. I have to admit that those two gigs in Sweden were surprisingly hard for me physically - but of course I did my best not to let it show. I can't recall going this long without exercising since my early 20's. It also affected my voice in a bad way. Since I didn't feel I had enough support from my diaphragm I sang too much "from the throat" and therefore blew out my voice. Not being able to hear myself in the monitors at the gig in Gothenburg didn't help either. Otherwise, the gigs were good and the audiences were very nice.

So my voice was already shot before the two Tavastia shows we did on October 16th. I still managed to pull through pretty good somehow. Most people didn't notice anything being wrong with my voice. My dad was at the early show, which was really nice and meant a lot to me.

Something pretty serious also happened during the 1st show at Tavastia: Ginger broke his foot on stage and now he has to wear a cast on it for about 6 weeks. It seems that as soon as I had pretty much recovered from my broken ribs this happened. Pretty nuts, huh? Other than that, the shows were a blast and the crowd was great. Thank you everyone!

Next we'll play in my hometown of Turku, then we're off to Jyväskylä, Oulu and Tampere. And in November...with MOTÖRHEAD in the UK! See you down the road!"

Monroe will release a live album, Another Night In The Sun/Live In Helsinki, on November 1st via Spinefarm Records UK. Mixed in LA by Niko Bolas and mastered by Grammy winner Richard Dodd, this 15-track release – recorded on July 6th at the Tavastia Club, Helsinki – features key numbers from Monroe’s solo career spiced up with selected Hanoi classics, some well-chosen covers, plus two brand new, unreleased songs.

On February 21st, 2011, Monroe will release a brand new studio album, also via Spinefarm Records UK. The record will feature a duet between Monroe and Motörhead mainman Lemmy, also involved in the writing of the track.

Monroe's band features WILDHEARTS mainman Ginger on guitar, ex-Hanoi member Sami Yaffa on bass, Steve Conte of NEW YORK DOLLS and COMPANY OF WOLVES fame on guitar, and Karl ‘Rockfist’ Rosqvist on drums – a Swedish/Finnish drummer who has played with both CHELSEA SMILES and DANZIG.