FEELING THE STEEL PANTHER

Lock up your daughters…..And your mothers, for that matter! Steel Panther is about to be unleashed! The long-awaited debut CD from Steel Panther, Feel The Steel is finally about to hit the stores after twenty years in the making. For those of you scratching your heads wondering who the hell Steel Panther is; they were the Crue before there was a Motley Crue, they had the poise before there was a Poison, and they were banging groupies before the word “groupie” was even invented. So, why haven’t you heard of them? Because at the height of their popularity in the early 80s out in Los Angeles, Steel Panther just disappeared! The band was booked to perform at a showcase in front of every major record label in the country and they never showed, allowing Jane’s Addiction to get signed.
Twenty Years later, Steel Panther has resurged on the L.A. music scene playing covers under the name Metal Skool and selling out the Key Club every week developing a large celebrity following. This led to Metal Skool performing in Las Vegas every weekend, which is where I caught their show. As their popularity grew, they decided to add some original songs into their cover sets. It wasn’t long until someone noticed that Metal Skool was actually the legendary Steel Panther! Soon after, Universal Republic President Monte Lipman was knocking down their door handing them a rightfully deserved record contract.
This October will mark the official return of Steel Panther carrying their debut CD, Feel The Steel, featuring the popular “Death To All But Metal”, debut single “Community Property”, the catchy “Asian Hooker”, youtube hit “Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)”, and my favorite “The Shocker”. Steel Panther is comprised of Michael Starr (vocals), Satchel (guitar), Lexxi Foxx (bass), and Stix Zadinia (drums). The band recruited some of their celebrity friends to help them in recording Feel The Steel. Allison Robertson of The Donnas and Justin Hawkins from The Darkness joined them on their song “Party All Day (F**k All Night)”, while M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold lends his voice to “Turn Out The Lights”. Anthrax’s Scott Ian joined them on “Asian Hooker” while Slipknot’s Corey Taylor appeared on “Eyes Of A Panther” and “Death To All But Metal”. Much to my surprise, I recently got a phone call from Steel Panther singer Michael Starr to talk more about the band. Here’s what he had to say:

Tim Louie: Hey Michael! I had the chance to see you out in Vegas back in May, where I became a huge Steel Panther fan! I have to say that you guys just bleed awesomeness!
Michael Starr: And we’re way better than that band Metal Skool! The singer was hot, but the rest of the band sucked!

TL: Now, the CD Feel the Steel comes out in October. Is there a favorite song on the CD?
MS: Not really. I like them all, honestly! We’ve been writing them and working on them for f**kin’ twenty years, so they’ve pretty much grown on me, but right now at this moment, my favorite song is “Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’”.

TL: Are most of these songs based on personal experiences?
MS: They all are actually. That’s what makes them so real, and that’s why people are so drawn to them because they’re experiences that we’ve gone through as a band. It was really fun going through those experiences, but also really challenging. The drugs helped with that though!

TL: Your first single off of the CD is “Community Property”. Which member is that song based on?
MS: Actually, our first single is “Death To All But Metal”, but it was so dirty that a lot of people couldn’t play it on the radio. So, we put out a song called “Community Property”, which is basically about everybody who has a girlfriend. It says to be honest with your girl. You just let her know up front, “Look, I love you, but when I go on the road, I’m going to cheat on you!” That way you’re straight up with her and she knows what’s going on. Or you can just go the lying route, which works too!

TL: Going back to “Death To All But Metal”, you kind of bash many fellow musicians. Has their been any negative reaction to the song?
MS: Not really. I ran into Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach, and he was a little bummed, but I told him that’s what happens when you f**k my mom!

TL: How did the band meet?
MS: I met Satchel at a Ralph’s (grocery store) on Hollywood Boulevard. He had a basket full of chicken parm and I was looking for the Mac N Cheese. We just kind of bumped into each other. At the time, I had dark hair, and he had his signature red hair, and I knew just by looking at the way that he moved his hand, that he was a guitar player. So, I asked him, “Are you a guitar player?” He’s like, “Yeah, are you a singer? I’m looking for a singer.” And I was like, “F**k, dude! I’m looking for a guitar player!” I’m not kidding! That’s how it happened, and he was like “Dude, we have to dye your hair blonde!” That’s how we met Lexxi. He was a hair colorist….Well, actually he was sweeping the floor at the hair salon when we met him. He was never really a bass player. He just had killer hair! So, we taught him how to play bass. For the first five or six shows, all of the bass lines were pre-recorded by Satchel, so Lexxi was basically lip-syncing on the bass until he learned how to play.

TL: Speaking of Lexxi, why do you guys always bust his balls about being so vain and dumb just because he’s a bass player? I mean, I’m a bass player and I look good, but I’m not dumb!
MS: Well, if you think about it, Tim, you’ll probably have like ten spelling errors in this review because you’re a bass player, and that’s just what happens. Spell check, motherf**ker! Bass players are the dumbest guys in the band--there are only four strings on the bass. That’s why they pick that instrument, and it’s easy! The best songs in Metal use one string. “Running with the Devil”? One string!

TL: Who are your influences?
MS: I’d have to say that my influences are David Lee Roth, Farrah Fawcett, and Johnny Depp. He’s influenced me to change my hair color every now and then, and I liked him as a pirate. Oh, and Robin Zander from Cheap Trick is pretty bitchin’!

TL: Has anyone ever mistaken you for Vince Neil from Motley Crue?
MS: Actually, yeah! I gained a bunch of weight once. I was up to 260 pounds, and people were saying, “Hey, you look like Vince Neil!” Then I lost the weight, and haven’t heard it since.

TL: When you guys play the song “Asian Hooker” live in Asia, how is it received?
MS: Funny you asked that. Playing that song at an outdoor festival in Salt Lake City was more uncomfortable than playing it in Japan because Salt Lake is a religious Mormon city. You know, Asians know that they’re hookers over there! They don’t care!

TL: Who in the band has perfected “The Shocker”?
MS: Satchel picked it up when he was f**king this chick in college back in 94 or something like that. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t know about ‘the shocker’. It’s such a simple f**kin’ tool! They may be doing it in different ways like sticking their fingers in their chick’s ass and then another finger slipping into her pussy. They’d be doing ‘the shocker’ and not even knowing it. I guess that’s why we wrote it. We’re bringing you awareness of things like ‘the dirty sanchez’ or ‘the shocker’ while your doing some blow.

TL: I have to tell you, Michael, I just listened to Feel the Steel, and you sound great! You really sing your ass off!
MS: Well, thanks, man! It comes from years of partying, but at the same time, you just have to know when to say when not to party! Before the show, maybe a little bump, but no pot because that will screw your voice up. During the guitar solo, a big rail is killer so that you won’t hurt your voice. Afterwards, four Advils, some Jack, and then you smoke some bud, you’re cool! But if you do a bunch of blow and smoke a big bong rip before the show, you’re done!

TL: Is that why you have such a large celebrity following? Is it the drugs?
MS: Well, who doesn’t love Metal besides you and I? All of the bands from now love it too! We’re the only ones doing it, so they come and see us play. Plus we get the most bitches at our shows!

TL: So, when are you guys heading out here to the East Coast?
MS: We have nothing booked yet. We want to see how the record sells first, but we’re supposed to be in Philly sometime in October. That’s nowhere near the East Coast, though!

Well, I, for one, cannot wait for Steel Panther to hit the East Coast! If you haven’t heard of Steel Panther, you might want to check them out at steelpantherrocks.com. You’ll love it!