Hollywood Monsters was an American hard rock supergroup from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2013. The band members include Steph Honde (vocals, guitars), Don Airey (keyboards; Deep Purple, previously played in

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own en ...

, Gary Moore,

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

Michael Schenker Group The Michael Schenker Group (often abbreviated as MSG) are a guitar-oriented hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Sche ...

), Danko Jones (vocals), Ronnie Robson (bass),

Vinny Appice Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice. Career Appic ...

(drums; previously played in Dio,

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

, Heaven & Hell, Kill Devil Hill, and others), and

Tim Bogert John Voorhis "Tim" Bogert III (August 27, 1944 – January 13, 2021) was an American musician. He graduated in 1963 from Ridgefield Memorial High School in his hometown of Ridgefield, New Jersey. As a bass guitarist and vocalist he was best ...

(bass; previously played in

Vanilla Fudge Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock arrangements of contemporary hit songs, such as their hit cover of The Supremes' " You Keep Me Hangin' On". The band's original line–up—vocalist ...

Cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

, and

Beck, Bogert & Appice Beck, Bogert & Appice was a rock supergroup and power trio formed by English guitarist Jeff Beck, evolving from the Jeff Beck Group. It included bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, Americans who had played together in Vanilla Fudge a ...

). The band's music genre is commonly referred to as hard rock reminiscent of the 1970s, yet their sound was also influenced by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

and heavy metal. The band's most distinctive features are the vocals and guitar of Steph Honde, as well as his melodic and versatile approach to songwriting which add a modern touch to the classic hard rock sound.

History

The band was formed in 2013 by the frontman, Steph Honde, a French singer, songwriter and

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

(vocals, guitar, piano, bass guitar). Stéphane Honde (known professionally as Steph Honde) was born on 5 September 1975 in

Manosque Manosque (; Provençal Occitan: ''Manòsca'' in classical norm or ''Manosco'' in Mistralian norm) is the largest town and commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. However, it is not the ''préfecture'' (capital ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Honde achieved great success in France as a guitarist. He started his musical career as the frontman of the French band Mamooth. Later Honde garnered a reputation as a guitar virtuoso when playing in the French hard rock band Café Bertrand in 2004-2010. Honde recorded two albums with Café Bertrand: Les Airs Empruntés (2005) and L'Art délicat du Rock'N'Roll (2008). He was the sole songwriter of the latter. Both albums were critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Café Bertrand was chosen to be the opening band for the Deep Purple European leg of the

Rapture of the Deep tour The Rapture of the Deep tour was a worldwide concert tour by British hard rock band Deep Purple. It took place in support of their 2005 studio album '' Rapture of the Deep''. It is supposed to be one of the most successful and long-lasting ...

which included 36 dates across Europe in October and November 2006 and another 12 dates in France in March 2007. Café Bertrand played at giant stadiums such as Stade de France, with an audience capacity in excess of 80,000. In 2009 Café Bertrand was the support band for two AC/DC shows in France during the

Black Ice World Tour The Black Ice World Tour was a 2008–2010 concert tour by Australian rock band AC/DC, in support of their fifteenth studio album ''Black Ice'', which was released on 20 October 2008. This tour had 8 legs around the world lasting more than 20 m ...

: on 9 June 2009 at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and on 12 June 2009 at Stade de France in Paris. In July 2009 Café Bertrand played at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

. In 2010, after leaving the band Café Bertrand, Steph Honde toured with

Paul Di'Anno Paul Andrews (born 17 May 1958), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, is a British/Brazilian heavy metal singer who was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno has issued numerous albu ...

(the original vocalist of

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

) and The Stars. In 2012 Steph Honde emigrated to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, U.S. and started working on his own project, the band Hollywood Monsters which features legendary guest musicians. Steph Honde created the project in 2013 and is the only songwriter of the project, including the band's debut album Big Trouble. Steph Honde live 2010 cad

Steph Honde met Don Airey in 2006 when Honde's then-current band Café Bertrand was the opening band for the Deep Purple European leg of the

appreciated the demo recordings suggested to him by Steph Honde and agreed to play on three tracks of the album despite the fact he had been in retirement for several years prior to the recording of the album Big Trouble.

plays drums on most of the tracks on the album. Steph Honde wrote the song "Village of the Damned" as an homage to Vinny Appice before even meeting him.

(lead vocals on bonus track "Fuck You All") chose the song himself from the number of songs suggested to him by Steph Honde. They met in 2010 when Honde's then-current band The Stars accompanied Paul Di'Anno on tour across France. Hollywood Monsters were working on their third album called ''Thriving on Chaos''. The album would have featured Steph Honde, Vinny Appice, Tim Bogert, Ronnie Robson, Danko Jones, Blitz from the band Overkill among others. ''Thriving on Chaos'' was an eleven track release; it also included a nine track bonus album titled ''A State of Nature'', which is an acoustic album that includes songs from the earliest band's catalogue, new songs, and a few cover songs. Another bonus album called ''Isolated Incidents'' will be available, and contains various demos, isolated tracks, and more.

Members

* Steph Honde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) (2013–2021) *

Danko Jones Danko Jones is a Canadian hard rock trio from Toronto. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John 'JC' Calabrese (bass), and Rich Knox (drums).Vinny Appice Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice. Career Appic ...

(drums) (2013–2021) *

(bass guitar) (2013–2016; died 2021) *Jim Crean (vocals) (2018–2021) * Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (vocals) (2016–2021) * Alexis Von Kraven (drums) (2016–2021)

Discography

''Big Trouble'' (2014)

The debut album Big Trouble was released in 2014 on Mausoleum Records and is being promoted by Rock N Growl Records. The release dates are: 23 May 2014 in the U.S., 8 July 2014 rest of the world (except Canada), 14 October 2014 in Canada (under the

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

label). The album Big Trouble features 10 tracks and a bonus track, all of which were written by Steph Honde. Album track listing: * 01. Another Day In Grey – Part 1 (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 02. Move On (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 03. Big Trouble (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 04. The Only Way (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 05. The Cage (lyrics: Steph Honde, music: D. Baruta) * 06. The Ocean (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 07. Oh Boy! (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 08. Underground (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 09. Village of the Damned (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 10. Song For a Fool (music & lyrics: Steph Honde) * 11. Fuck You All (bonus track) (lyrics: Steph Honde, music: Steph Honde, E. Lamic, A. Perusini, W. Gallay)

Studio Personnel on "Big Trouble"

* Steph Honde – vocals, guitars, piano, bass *

– vocals (track 11) * Denis Baruta – guitars (tracks 5, 9 & 11) *

– bass (tracks 1, 2 & 10) * Olivier Brossard – bass (track 11) *

– drums (all tracks except 7, 10 & 11) * Don Airey – Hammond B3 (track 2) * Emmanuel Lamic – drums (tracks 10 & 11) * Laetitia Gondran – drums (track 7) * Scott Tenzer – orchestral arrangement (track 6)

''Capture the Sun'' (2016)

The band then released its second album '' Capture the Sun'' on

Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, D ...

in 2016, with 12 brand new tracks and a bonus track included. Album track listing: *1 Mysteries of Life 0:48 *2 Evilution 2:47 *3 Always Crashing the Same Car 4:53 *4 It's a Lie 2:49 *5 Waiting 5:54 *6 Don't Let it Happen 3:21 *7 Another Day in Grey, Pt. 2 3:49 *8 Everything is Going To Be Alright 3:08 *9 Dreams 4:52 *10 King For A Day 3:48 *11 Capture The Sun 4:18 *12 Sweet Thing / Candidate / Sweet Thing 8:19 (David Bowie) * Bonus Track: Fool for Your Loving (Coverdale/Moody/Marsden) 4:30

Studio personnel on "Capture the Sun"

* Steph Honde: vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass * Vinny Appice: drums *Neil Murray: bass *Pascal Mulot: bass * Tony Franklin: bass * Tim Bogert: bass * Danko Jones: vocals * Jenny Haan: vocals * Tracy G: guitar * Craig Goldy: guitar *Alessandro Bertoni: keyboard * Eric Lebailly: drums on "Fool For Your Loving" * Andreas Johansson: drums on "King For a Day" * Darren Crisp: vocals

External links

Official Hollywood Monsters Website

Hollywood Monsters Official Facebook
* * * *
Hollywood Monsters record label
Mausoleum Records

References

{{Authority Control Hard rock musical groups from California Musical groups established in 2013 Musical groups disestablished in 2021 Progressive rock musical groups from California Rock music supergroups Musical groups from Los Angeles 2013 establishments in California