Metal Sludge The Power and the Glory
‘PEOPLE EITHER LOVE US OR HATE US. THERE’S NO MIDDLE GROUND’
A Metal Sludge exclusive with Steel Panther singer Michael Starr
By Gerry Gittelson
Metal Sludge Editor at Large
LOS ANGELES — The phone rings in sunny California, and what a pleasant surprise. It’s Michael Starr from Steel Panther, calling in from Berlin, Germany of all places, as the utterly captivating parody band is touring through Europe.
We’ve known each other for years, dating back to when Starr performed in a series of local bands d]in Hollywood during the post-Poison era — plus a stint in L.A. Guns — before forming what eventually would become Steel Panther in 2000.
At first, Steel Panther was known mainly for doing covers and making fun of pop-metal acts — but always combined with excellent musicianship throughout. Over the past few years, as Steel Panther’s popularity continued to grow, the group signed with Universal and has come through with a series of four popular CDs of original material, the latest “All You Can Eat.”
“Nobody starts off as an all-original band. Everyone else starts with covers, just like us,” Starr said. “It dates back to Van Halen, Motley Crue, Ratt. Everyone did covers. It took a lot of work, but look at us now.”
Steel Panther has evolved into one of rock’s biggest acts, proving so a few days prior with a concert before a crowd of more than 10,000 at Wembley Stadium in Great Britain.
“It feel great, really fuckin’ awesome,” Starr said. “It was our third time playing Wembley, but this was the first time as a headliner, so everyone was there just for us. You can google some pictures. It was really fuckin’ awesome.”
The band is rounded out by guitarist Satchel, bassist Lexxi Foxx and drummer Stix Zadinia.
After a series of dates in Germany, Steel Panther travels to Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, then a stretch with KISS in South America before returning to the United States May 7 for a swing up the East Coast beginning in Orlando, Fla. The next Los Angeles performance is June 11 at House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.
Speaking of KISS, Steel Panther is also playing the annual KISS Kruise beginning on Oct. 3.
“This is our first time doing it, but oh man, Gene and Paul just love Steel Panther,” Starr said. “I think KISS is the only band that really gets it, that really relates to us with the makeup, the costumes, and playing these characters on stage.”
Meanwhile, Starr is enjoying being in Germany.
“The women here are super-hot bitches,” he said.
Actually, I once dated a woman from Germany who was the best kisser I’ve ever met.
“Yeah, they’re really good at it,” Starr said. “There is no sun, so they’re always covered up and cold, so they like to get all warm and like to snuggle and fuck.”
The band arrived from Sweden, and no big surprise, Starr likes Swedish women even better.
“Swedish girls like to suck dick. It’s a known fact,” Starr said. “They’re the inventors of the deep throat.”
Not France?
“Nah, I don’t know about that,” Starr said. “In France, they’re more uptight than in Sweden. You can believe that.”
The band has a total of close to 50 million views on youtube — more than all but the biggest pop-metal bands of all-time. So really now, how good is Steel Panther?
“We’re probably almost as good as Poison,” Starr said.
It’s hard to tell sometimes when the real Michael Starr stretches into the Steel Panther version, but hey, he is on a roll.
“I’m having a blast. This is great,” Starr said. “We just had a day off after playing four in a row, and four in a row can be pretty brutal, but now we’re rested up.”
An interesting aside about Steel Panther’s fan club: By joining, you get a t-shirt, a commemorative laminate/lanyard, access to ticket presales and a special online forum, plus access to exclusive videos, photos and contests and “more.”
So we want to know what the “more” consists of.
“Actually, what we usually do is send an extra old-school shirt from a different tour because we have a bunch of merch that was never for sale because of a legal battle,” Starr said. “Plus, different singles, old scarves that we used on stage, used condoms.”
Starr did not have much time because he was about to head off for a radio interview, plus he is on the other side of the world 6,000 miles away. We didn’t want to end things on a bad note, but Metal Sludge would be remiss in not asking about some bad press lately, as some of rock’s so-called experts have taken a shot or two at Steel Panther, essentially writing them off because the band supposedly can’t be taken seriously — which is actually the whole point, for god’s sake.
“People either love us or hate us. There’s no middle ground,” Starr said. “You’ll never run into someone who says, ‘Oh, they’re pretty good.’ It’s either ‘I fuckin’ love ‘em’ or ‘I fuckin’ hate em.’ But with any band, there is always going to somebody who doesn’t like you. There is no way around it.
“But the more they hate you, the more publicity.”
Gerry Gittelson can be reached at gspot@metalsludge.tv
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