MICHAEL MONROE, iconic rock‘n’roll frontman and founding member of hugely influential Finnish outfit HANOI ROCKS, has issued the following update:

"This blog is about 2 weeks late because very shortly after my return from the UK I got extremely busy working on some important "finishing touches" on our new album in Helsinki at Seawolf Studios with the brilliant Petri Majuri making sure our new record will sound as great as it should... and now it does.

I've also been struggling with this horrible flu which I caught on the last date of the MOTÖRHEAD UK tour.

Well, the tour was a blast while it lasted. Once again, a HUGE THANK YOU to Lemmy, Phil & Mikkey, plus the entire Motörhead staff, road crew, catering people... basically everyone in the Motörhead camp for treating us so nice and making it such a pleasant experience. And many thanks to their fans too for being so openminded and receptive to us - that was a nice surprise.

Nearly all the shows were great and getting to see Motörhead live at close range almost every night was quite a treat.

Only the last date in Brighton turned out a bit rough for me since I caught this diabolical flu that screwed up my throat in a bad way before the show.

I felt it a bit in the morning that day, but in the afternoon it rapidly got increasingly worse. At the soundcheck I still managed to sing OK, but by showtime I noticed I had no singing voice left.

Especially in the first song 'Trick Of The Wrist' (from the forthcoming album) the range is pretty high, so I was just standing there hearing myself sound like crap. I just kept thinking: 'most of these people have never seen or heard me before, and now they must think I always sound like this... what a bummer!' Typically this was the night that Kerrang was there to review the show - not the night before in London which was perfect. Oh well, can't win 'em all...

One cool thing about the Brighton show was that Charlie Harper & Alvin Gibbs (UK SUBS) showed up and none other than Captain Sensible (THE DAMNED) too! Captain really liked our versions of the Damned songs ('Love Song' & 'Machine Gun Etiquette') and it was so cool to see him. Apparently Brian James (Ist Damned album, LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH) was there too, but only Sami saw him and talked to him. Would've been great to see him too.

I hope none of you catch this flu 'cos it's a bitch - especially if you're a singer. But hey, X-mas is on its way - right around the corner!"

Monroe recently confirmed a 13-date headline UK tour for April 2011; these shows will be in support of a brand new single and studio album, Monroe’s first for the Spinefarm Records UK label.

Monroe and his regular touring/recording line-up (WILDHEARTS mainman Ginger on guitar, ex-Hanoi member Sami Yaffa on bass, Steve Conte of NEW YORK DOLLS / 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) are now ready to take on a run of dates that will see them headlining venues from Portsmouth up to Glasgow.

The full list of shows is as follows:

April

4 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2
5 - Bristol, UK - Academy 2
6 - Exeter, UK - Phoenix
7 - Portsmouth, UK - Wedgewood Rooms
8 - London, UK - O2 Academy
9 - Leeds, UK - T.J.’s
11 - Norwich, UK - Waterfront
12 - Newcastle, UK - Academy 2
13 - Sheffield, UK - Corporation
14 - Manchester, UK - Academy 3
15 - Glasgow, UK - Garage
16 - Nottingham, UK - Rock City
17 - Birmingham, UK - HMV Institute

A support act will be announced in due course.

Prior to the tour, Monroe will be releasing a brand new studio album; as yet untitled, the record has been produced in Los Angeles by the legendary Jack Douglas (whose credits include everyone from AEROSMITH through to JOHN LENNON) and features such special guests as country star LUCINDA WILLIAMS and Motörhead frontman Lemmy, who duets with Monroe; during the Motörhead tour, Monroe repaid the favour by joining Lemmy & Co. onstage to help out nightly on ‘Born To Raise Hell’.

“It was one of the greatest thrills for me,” says Monroe. “What an honour and a privilege!”

The album will be available on a number of different formats, including deluxe digi-pack with bonus DVD and limited edition coloured vinyl.

The first single/video from the album has been decided, however; it’s called ‘’78’ (a homage to a year of great music and significant cultural happenings) and it will be available on February 21st, 2011 on both digital download & coloured vinyl 7” complete with exclusive extra track.

Further details to follow.