Official press release:
Sami Yaffa, best known for his work with New York Dolls, Michael Monroe Band and Hanoi Rocks has announced the release of his first solo album The Innermost Journey to Your Outermost Mind, out on September 3rd, 2021 via Livewire/Cargo Records.
Sami Yaffa has had a long and unique career as a musician. He played at the tender age of 16 on the Finnish punk legends Pelle Miljoona Oy’s legendary album Moottoritie On Kuuma. As an original member of the band Hanoi Rocks (1980-85) he recorded 5 albums with the band and toured the world extensively until the tragic events that ended the flight of the pioneering band. Hanoi Rocks became a major influence on many bands that later became huge like the Guns N`Roses and Pearl Jam.
Yaffa’s career continued after the break-up of Hanoi and ended up playing with Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, the legendary New York Dolls, the Swedish RnR machine The Hellacopters and many more artists. Sami began playing with the Hanoi Rocks lead singer Michael Monroe again in 2010, the collaboration with Michael continues to this day.
But now it’s time to put out an album under his own name. Yaffa states:
“The idea for the solo album started to take shape a few years back. I had written music for the New York Dolls and the Michael Monroe Band, but a lot of the songs and ideas were starting to sound more like me than the other bands.”
What kind of music does Yaffa then release under his own name? Versatile. He offers:
“I’ve always loved the music of the bands like The Clash and The Rolling Stones. They can play country, funk, reggae and rock`n`roll, and still sound like themselves. I wanted the same kind of versatility for my own album.”
The album has influences on a fairly wide scale, but it hardly surprises those who have followed Yaffa’s career: in addition to his own music career, he has been seen getting to know the musical cultures of different parts of the world as a host of the Sami Yaffa: Soundtracker TV series. However, the beating heart of the album is in rock`n`roll and punk.
Even though it’s a solo album, Yaffa mentions a few of names without whom the album wouldn’t have been completed. One being the drummer Janne Haavisto, with whom Sami played already as a teenager. And the other being his Michael Monroe Bands band mate Rich Jones who co-wrote a bulk of the songs with Sami. Also the Stone Sour guitarist Christian Martucci and Smack guitarist Rane played an important role in the creation of the album.
Sami Yaffa is ready to hit the road after the release of the album with a line up of Janne Haavisto on drums, Linde Lindström (HIM) on guitar and Burton (HIM) on keyboards.
The Innermost Journey to Your Outermost Mind track listing:
- “Armageddon Together”
- “Selling Me Shit”
- “Fortunate One”
- “Rotten Roots”
- “Germinator”
- “Down at St. Joe’s”
- “I Can’t Stand It”
- “You Gimme Fever”
- “The Last Time”
- “Look Ahead”
- “Cancel The End of The World”
