Hollywood Monsters (band)

History

The band was formed in 2014 by the frontman, Steph Honde, a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (vocals, guitar, piano, bass guitar). Stéphane Honde (known professionally as Steph Honde) was born on 5 September 1975 in Manosque, France. 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 well-deserved 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 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: 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.

In 2010, after leaving the band Café Bertrand, Steph Honde toured with Paul Di'Anno (the original vocalist of Iron Maiden) and The Stars. In 2012 Steph Honde emigrated to California, 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 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 Rapture of the Deep tour. Tim Bogert 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. Vinny Appice 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. Paul Di'Anno (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.

Current lineup

Steph Honde (vocals, guitars)

Don Airey (keyboards)

Vinny Appice (drums)

Tim Bogert (bass)

Studio personnel

Discography

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 label). The album Big Trouble features 10 tracks and a bonus track, all of which were written by Steph Honde.

Album track listing:

Present

Hollywood Monsters are working on a new album called "Evilution" .^[19] The album will feature Steph Honde on vocals, guitars, piano and bass, Vinny Appice on Drums, Tim Bogert,Neil Murray and Pascal Mulot on bass,Tracy G on guitars, Jenny Haan from Babe Ruth on vocals and Darren Crisp on vocals.

The album should be released early 2016 and will contain 12 track plus a Pink Floyd cover.

Soundtracks

The song "Village of the Damned" from the album Big Trouble will be featured in the French action movie Kill The Nazi, due to release in 2015 by Action-Prod company.