Last summer, the first stop on our (Duff McKagan's LOADED) European tour was Helsinki, Finland - one of the numerous lands the tour would take me to for the first time. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the club, so once we got checked in and settled, Martin, our fearless wearer of many hats, walked us over to the venue.

The club had a vibe similar to a House of Blues; only the building was much older. There was a restaurant in the back of the first floor with a bar/cafe that you had to walk through to get up the stairs and into the venue - which took up the second and third floors. The club itself was a fairly standard live room set up, with the stage in the corner of the room protruding out diagonally onto the dance floor. The two main differences between this venue and a million others I'd been to was: No. 1) It was located in Finland (obviously), and No. 2) Waiting for us, in full stage regalia, was one MICHAEL MONROE. 

Michael is the singer for the band Hanoi Rocks. Unfortunately, outside the cultish fans of the thread of true glam rock, they probably are best known as the band whose drummer, Razzle, was killed in the Vince Neil car accident. You know, the one resulting in the Crue's singer being charged with vehicular manslaughter back in the late '80s. Hanoi Rocks was amazingly influential to a lot of bands and seemed poised to make their biggest commercial mark to date when the Razzle tragedy befell the band.

They have continued to write and perform, and have reached near deity status in their home country, but a taste of true commercial success has always eluded them.

I don't pretend to have been a fan of the band, but to deny the impact they had on some true legends of rock would be to do the history and family tree of rock and roll music a disservice.  

So we show up, and Michael is on 10. He is ready to go. He is bouncing off the walls, doing the splits, throwing out some serious rock kicks. He is ON. From what I can remember, he let us know he is going to get up and sing "a" song with us. One turns into two, and threatens to become many more. Our gear isn't even set up yet. We decide a pow-wow is in order, and soon we're holding a band meeting in our dressing room while the crew sets up the stage. We decide Michael will sing the Guns N' Roses song "It's So Easy" and our Stooges cover "I Wanna Be Your Dog," - and we'll play those two songs last.

Soon, we reappear and start our sound check. When it's all sounding good, we call Michael up and he does a pretty decent job. He has a little issue with some of the words, leaving a tinge of worry in all of us about how the show will come off, but all in all - pretty OK.  

Michael is what some would refer to as a "figure." He seems like he is 6 foot five, super skinny with a HUGE amount of teased blond hair, silver rings, bracelets, and necklaces. And he has the biggest eyes you have ever seen. They are just barely contained inside his head. When you get close to him, you feel like if he sneezed, they might pop right out.  Whether or not it was artificial, he had more nervous energy than anyone I've ever met. 

There were a few hours between sound check and the gig, and, as usual, Duff spent a good amount of that time doing interviews. As it turns out, the entirety of the Finnish rock press had decided that Michael should be the new singer for Duff's day job, Velvet Revolver. Query after query pointed to the inevitable masterpiece that would be the super group fronted by the Finnish rock god Michael Monroe. Could there be anyone else? Of course! It would be perfect! Was tonight a tryout? Will Slash be coming tonight? How IS Slash, by the way? 

While Duff took it for the team, I busied myself making good use of a rock legend. I have a good amount of friends that seriously worship the ground Hanoi Rocks rocks on (get it?), and one in particular I knew would have his life made if he knew Michael Monroe knew who HE was. So I made up a sign on an 8 by 11 piece of paper that said, "JUSTIN IS A PIMP." Then, I asked Michael if he would mind me taking a photo of him holding it up. He was very nice about it, and had me take two just to make sure we got a good one.

Later, when it was time for him to make his entrance on stage, the crowd, that had been amazing so far, upon hearing his name, lost their fool minds. Monroe came on and killed it. He prowled the stage and snarled and screamed his way through two songs with the energy and moves of an 18-year-old. By the end of it I was a total Michael Monroe convert.  

Two days later, Michael met up with us again for our third and final show in Finland. It was at an outdoor festival called, THE SAUNA FESTIVAL, which was misleading to the point of being liable. It was fucking freezing. Michael got up with us again, and this time, with a full festival stage, absolutely destroyed it. He climbed up the support tower so far I was sure he would be stuck, and in little leather boots that had as much grip on the soul as Weird Al. But not only did Michael not miss a line while 20 feet up, he managed to shimmy back down and drop into the splits, right at the final crash. He was epic. 

After the show, a much more subdued Michael and his lovely wife hung out and regaled us with stories of his coming up in rock: living with Johnny Thunders, all the drug use, Sid and Nancy, hanging out in New York, being a kid around all these walking legends.  He was humble and funny and complimentary and gracious - all the things rock heroes should be but aren't always.

Drummer Geoff Reading — who writes a bi-weekly online column (Fridays) for the Weekly Volcano called “Holding Down the 253” in addition to his weekly Wednesday music column — has played music in tons of Northwest bands — Green Apple Quick Step, New American Shame, Top Heavy Crush and most recently Duff McKagan's LOADED — to name but a few. He's toured the world several times over, sharing stages with the likes of Slipknot, The Cult, Buckcherry, Korn, Journey, The Sex Pistols, Nine Inch Nails and on and on. He has called Tacoma home since 2005, and lives in the North End with his wife and son.