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The Road Bends
Sami Yaffa is a bass guitar legend, an icon of the rock world, and an uncompromising walker of his own way, who rose to prominence as the bassist of the mythical Hanoi Rocks. A man of lights and shadows, and the embodiment of street credibility, Yaffa has recorded with Bruce Springsteen and Slash, played with the New York Dolls and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, crawled across Helsinki pubs and restaurants with Anthony Bourdain, and performed at Carnegie Hall. This is his story.
425 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 10, 2022
I have been a monster Hanoi Rocks fan since I was like 14 years old, so I was pretty stoked when I learned that bass player Sami Yaffa's autobiogrpahy had been published in English. Better yet the Audible version is read by Yaffa himself. Now many musician memoirs can be a disappointment, BUT not this book. Yaffa delivers an amazing tale of tragedy, creative inspiration and its loaded to the gills with great stories from the road.
"The Road Bends" is great memoir from one of the great racconteurs on the planet. Yaffa left his native Finland at 18 to seek musical glory with the Finnish punk band Hanoi Rocks first in Sweden and then in the UK. Over a 5 year period they would release a handful of albums and then on the eve of their attempt to succeed in the US market it all fell apart. On a break from their US tour as singer Mike Monro healed from broken ankle, their drummer Razzle would die in an infamous car wreck with a drunken Vince Neil of Motely Crue a the wheel. They never attained large cmmercial success in that small window, but their impact was huge. People often say that the Velvet Underground never sold many records, but everyone who bought one started a band. The very same can be said about Hanoi Rocks. An entire generation of rock, punk and metal bands on both sides of the Atlantic would cite Hanoi as a vital influence. Guns N Roses would only ever release 1 other band's records other than their own on their Uzi Suicide label and that was the full Hanoi Rocks catalogue. (thats where I got hooked).
After Hanoi died out, Yaffa would the next 3 decades as a constantly working professional musician. The LA band jetboy sought him out to replace their original bass player a year after Razze died and Yaffa would make 2 records with jetBoy
Yaffa and various Hanoi members would team up for a variety of projects and Yaffa would tour the world with his own band Mad Juana. His reputation and talent made him a natural choice for the reformed New York Dolls in the early 2000s. When Anthony Bourdain wanted to film an episode of "No Reservations' in Finland the natural choice of guide would be Yaffa. Its great episode. Yaffa's appearance on BOurdain would get him the chance to make his own globe spanning show focused on music called "Sound Trackers" that has done 3 seasons of seeking out the musical underground from Austin to Jakarta to Senegal to Jamaica to Serbia.
In the 2010s Yaffa would return to his roots and join Mike Monroe his "brother from another mother" in playing bass for Mike's band that often worked with Hanoi's Nasty Suicide. Just last month the original line up of Hanoi would play a set in Helsinki to celebrate Monroe's 60h birthday.
In a book loaded with great stories, my favorite was when the New York Dolls played Conan O'Brien after Conan had spent a month mocking Finland and his striking resemblance to the Finnish woman President. Yaffa reached up on his amp after the performance and on camera gave Conan a Tshirt with a phrase written in Finnish. Yaffa told Conan it was an old folk saying from his homeland, but in truth it said asshole. Word has it Conan would proudly wear the shirt for months until someone told him what it really said. LMAO!!
"The Road Bends" is great memoir from one of the great racconteurs on the planet. Yaffa left his native Finland at 18 to seek musical glory with the Finnish punk band Hanoi Rocks first in Sweden and then in the UK. Over a 5 year period they would release a handful of albums and then on the eve of their attempt to succeed in the US market it all fell apart. On a break from their US tour as singer Mike Monro healed from broken ankle, their drummer Razzle would die in an infamous car wreck with a drunken Vince Neil of Motely Crue a the wheel. They never attained large cmmercial success in that small window, but their impact was huge. People often say that the Velvet Underground never sold many records, but everyone who bought one started a band. The very same can be said about Hanoi Rocks. An entire generation of rock, punk and metal bands on both sides of the Atlantic would cite Hanoi as a vital influence. Guns N Roses would only ever release 1 other band's records other than their own on their Uzi Suicide label and that was the full Hanoi Rocks catalogue. (thats where I got hooked).
After Hanoi died out, Yaffa would the next 3 decades as a constantly working professional musician. The LA band jetboy sought him out to replace their original bass player a year after Razze died and Yaffa would make 2 records with jetBoy
Yaffa and various Hanoi members would team up for a variety of projects and Yaffa would tour the world with his own band Mad Juana. His reputation and talent made him a natural choice for the reformed New York Dolls in the early 2000s. When Anthony Bourdain wanted to film an episode of "No Reservations' in Finland the natural choice of guide would be Yaffa. Its great episode. Yaffa's appearance on BOurdain would get him the chance to make his own globe spanning show focused on music called "Sound Trackers" that has done 3 seasons of seeking out the musical underground from Austin to Jakarta to Senegal to Jamaica to Serbia.
In the 2010s Yaffa would return to his roots and join Mike Monroe his "brother from another mother" in playing bass for Mike's band that often worked with Hanoi's Nasty Suicide. Just last month the original line up of Hanoi would play a set in Helsinki to celebrate Monroe's 60h birthday.
In a book loaded with great stories, my favorite was when the New York Dolls played Conan O'Brien after Conan had spent a month mocking Finland and his striking resemblance to the Finnish woman President. Yaffa reached up on his amp after the performance and on camera gave Conan a Tshirt with a phrase written in Finnish. Yaffa told Conan it was an old folk saying from his homeland, but in truth it said asshole. Word has it Conan would proudly wear the shirt for months until someone told him what it really said. LMAO!!
May 1, 2022
I could go on and on about this book but I think you should read it yourself.
I was around, living in Hollywood for a few of the times he talks about in this book, not to mention all the names of people that I knew or know too! I loved reading about his travels and rebirths.
A very interesting read for anyone who is a fan of Sami! I just loved this book!!!
I was around, living in Hollywood for a few of the times he talks about in this book, not to mention all the names of people that I knew or know too! I loved reading about his travels and rebirths.
A very interesting read for anyone who is a fan of Sami! I just loved this book!!!
February 19, 2023
So entertaining and really well written, it was amazing to read about the early days of not only Hanoi Rocks (which he joined at 17/18) but also himself in general and the amount of passion he's put into all his various projects and after the second time seeing him live, I can confirm he is an insane performer!
June 26, 2024
as if i couldnt love sami yaffa any more than i already do… truly a brilliant autobiography. immersive, compelling, funny, at times gut wrenching, and ultimately thought provoking. i have so many thoughts and feelings…
October 21, 2024
It took me an insultingly long time to finish (it was 100% on me), but it was definitely worth it.
Sami's life is remarkable, both as a person and as an artist. He's also one hell of a storyteller, which enhanced my enjoyment of the reading experience by a lot.
Sami's life is remarkable, both as a person and as an artist. He's also one hell of a storyteller, which enhanced my enjoyment of the reading experience by a lot.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews