History
The band was formed in 2013 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. [2] Honde achieved great success in France as a guitarist. He started his musical career as the frontman of the French band Mamooth. [2] Later Honde garnered a reputation as a guitar virtuoso when playing in the French hard rock band Café Bertrand in 2004-2010. [3] 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. [3] 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. [4] 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. [5] In July 2009 Café Bertrand played at the Montreux Jazz Festival. [6]
In 2010, after leaving the band Café Bertrand, Steph Honde toured with Paul Di'Anno (the original vocalist of Iron Maiden) and The Stars. [3] 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. [7] 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. [7] 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. [8] 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. [9] 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. [2] 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. [7] [10]
