Steel Panther songs are supposed to rock and be hilariously over-the-top politically incorrect, but they’re not supposed to be poignant. For rock fans of a certain age though, the band’s recent power ballad “1987″ is surprisingly wistful. Amid acoustic picking and a fist-pumping chorus, Steel Panther singer Michael Starr sings of coming of age in an era of “Appetite for Destruction,” Tawny Kitaen, cocaine and Dokken, and not realizing back then life would never get better.
During a recent phone interview, Starr says that “1987′ is “really a love story. One of those songs produced from the pandemic. I mean, we had so much time on our hands, we weren’t touring, everyone was home. And you know, you start thinking about your life and where you’re at. And we just started reflecting on how 1987 was such a good time. I was so much younger, everything was killer and I had no idea until I’m looking back. If I just would’ve enjoyed the moment, it was so great.”
Known for such sensitive compositions as “Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’” and “17 Girls In a Row,” Steel Panther is the most un-woke band in the world. And they’re proud of it. They’re the Lenny Bruce of metal. Spinal Tap satire with Andrew “Dice” Clay button-pushing and ear-melting chops. In an era where raunchy comedy films like “Joy Ride” flip the script/perspective, Steel Panther musically flips it right back.
Their satirical songs about babes, drugs and livin’ after midnight, have drawn collaborators like Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, Extreme shredder Nuno Bettencourt and Slipknot singer Corey Taylor.
Steel Panther -- also featuring mononymous guitarist Satchel, drummer Stix Zadinia and mononymous bassist Spyder -- are promoting their sixth album, “On the Prowl,” with headlining a tour of music halls, from New Orleans’s House of Blues to Tulsa’s legendary Cain’s Ballroom. Tour dates at steelpantherrocks.com.
In addition, Starr recently collaborated with guitarist extraordinaire Sophie Lloyd, known for being Machine Gun Kelly’s touring guitarist, on the melodic rock single “Runaway.” On a recent afternoon, Starr dialed in for the following interview. Edited excerpts below.
Michael, what’s the most difficult thing about writing a Steel Panther song? Because it’s got to have a sense of humor but also have chops, both musically and vocally. It’s got to be larger than life yet be relatable.
Michael Starr: Well, our guitar player, Satchel, writes all the music for the band. And then he’ll bring us the songs and then I’ll take what he has written and put my [phone connection drops out here] on it, you know. And once we do that, then we know whether we have a song that checks all the boxes that you’re looking for a Steel Panther. I think it’s a gift Satchel has. He has a studio at his house and writes these amazing songs, and we turn them into Steel Panther songs. It’s a great process.
I think the most important thing to remember is that Steel Panther is about having a good time. It’s about making people laugh with their buddies, talking about chicks and stuff that happens. Most of our songs are written from personal experiences. And our experiences are pretty crazy, so I think people enjoy that.
This is a question most musicians wouldn’t touch these days, but I think you will. What was the groupie scene like coming out of COVID lockdown once bands were starting to get on the road again?
Well, I think for us, when we started going back out playing, people were so excited to see a live a show, the groupies went up in the next level of groupie-ness. It was killer. We had to hook up with more chicks than we normally do. [Laughs]
I know most people hate the pandemic, but I have to look back at it and just tried to find what was positive that came out of it. And I’ll tell you what was positive. People are so excited for live shows now and they really appreciate them just a little bit more because they were gone. And when they’re gone, man, you realize how much you miss that interaction with live music.
There’s just something about going to show and seeing a band that just brings so much joy to everybody. People are excited to have everything back to normal, and rockin’ out and the groupies are a reflection of that.
The latest Steel Panther album, “On the Prowl,” opens with a brief synthesizer intro before kicking into the track “Never Too Late.” What’s your philosophy on keyboards in hard rock, when they’re cool and when they’re not cool. Because that’s something that’s been up for debate in rock history, like when Van Halen released “1984″ and it opened with a synth intro [the one minute and seven second title track.]
It’s funny you bring up Van Halen, because that’s the first thing I thought of. First of all, when David Lee Roth left or got kicked out and they got Sammy Hagar, I was bummed. Van Halen was my favorite f---ing band when I was growing up. But I think when you mix keyboards with metal and rock, as long as it’s a great song, that’s really all that matters. At the the end of the day, as long as you stay close to your brand .. Like, for us, we put keyboards in a lot of our songs. And I’m not opposed to it at all. I think it’s great as long as it’s used correctly. And you cannot deny that Van Halen they had great songs with keyboards. Look at “Jump,” amazing song.
Did Steel Panther get any blowback from any of the bands, singers and rappers you sang about in the song “Death To All But Metal”? [The lyrics crack jokes at the expense of Goo Goo Dolls, Papa Roach, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Madonna, Britney Spears, Sheryl Crow, 50 Cent and Kanye West.]
I don’t think many of them listened to the song, to be honest with you, except for Jacoby [Shaddix, singer] from Papa Roach, and the Goo Goo Dolls. And I remember the Goo Goo Dolls, doing an interview and they actually had a sense of humor. They were laughing at it. They thought it was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. And then I thought I ran into Jacoby at like a Starbucks, and I go, “Dude, I just want you to know nothing personal dude. I love you and you’re a great singer.” He goes, “Dude, it was great to be in your song. It’s a killer song.” And he’s got a sense of humor. Anyone who takes himself to seriously I don’t really want to hang out, to be honest with you.
Speaking of that, this era of cancel culture is a pretty daring time to be in a band like Steel Panther.
You know, I have to tell you, it just might blow some people’s minds., but our popularity has risen since all the canceled stuff. People are sick of it. I mean, obviously, if someone’s being an asshole to a woman or whatever the case may be, that’s not cool.
We’re a comedy heavy metal band. If you go see a comic, you know you’re there to laugh, and when people come to see Steel Panther, they know what we’re doing.
We’re 50-year-old, 60-year-old dudes in Spandex rocking out, alright. So if you don’t think that’s funny from the get go, and you think everything we’re saying is completely serious then you’re out of your f---ing mind.
What’s a famous band you’d love to hear cover a Steel Panther song? I think Iron Maiden could do a great version of “Asian Hooker.”
I think “Asian Hooker” would be great for Maiden, and also we have a song on our new record called “Teleporter” that’s very Maiden-ish. But you know what would really be cool? To hear Guns N’ Roses do one of our songs. That would be pretty rad.
Steel Panther’s guitarist, Satchel, has pretty incredible range. He can play Slash-y and he can play shreddy and anything between or beyond.
Satchel is the most underrated heavy metal guitar player of this past decade. I really think so. And I think the reason for that is because the name of our band. We’re a fun, party band so people look at it like, oh, their songs are easy to play. But man, if you break down the musical parts that Satchel writes in the solos and his rhythms, it’s not easy to play that stuff.
And like you say, not just the solos but the riffs too. Like “Is My D--- Enough” and “17 Girls In a Row,” those are awesome riffs.
Thank you. Yeah, I love them too, man, they’re so Van Halen-ish. We’re all majorly influenced by Van Halen, so you can hear that in our music.
I wanted to ask you a couple Van Halen related questions. In 2015, you were slated to be the singer in the show at Lucky Strike in Los Angeles to celebrate 30th anniversary of David Lee Roth’s solo debut album “Eat ‘Em And Smile” with the rest of that band [guitarist Steve Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Gregg Bissonette]. The fire marshal shut the show down the last minute because the venue was over capacity. What’s a cool moment leading up to that?
Well, initially I got a call from Steve Vai and he says, “We’re gonna do an “Eat ‘Em and Smile” reunion and we’d love for you to come do it because Roth’s busy with Van Halen and he can’t do it.” And I’m like “Hell yeah, I’m into it.” I talked with Gregg because we’re buddies and he was like, yeah, it’s gonna be awesome. And then like two days before the show, there was a bunch of press about us doing it. Roth decides he wants to do it. So Steve Vai called me and goes, “Hey dude, Roth decided to do but I really love you to come down anyways.” I’m bummed, but absolutely, it wouldn’t want to miss it.
I went down there, went in the dressing room and there’s David Lee Roth, and he goes [Starr imitates Roth’s raspy jive], “Steel Panther’s in the house. Hey, what’s up, man?” I go, “Dude, I love you, man,” And he goes, “Oh man, we love your band. Tell all the fellas I said hi.”
And he talked to me for like 40 minutes and while he’s talking to me the rest of the band’s onstage waiting for him to go onstage. And during that time the fire marshal shut down the show. So, it was an insane night for me.
Unfortunately, it got shut down, but it was also killer because I got to hang out with one of my rock and roll heroes, “Diamond” David Lee Roth. And the fact that he knew our band was more exciting than I could ever tell anybody. David Lee Roth knows my band! This is awesome!
Before Steel Panther, you made a name for yourself killing it as the frontman in Van Halen tribute band Atomic Punks. Later, you were briefly the singer in a latter day lineup of L.A. Guns. Have you gotten any offers to be the replacement singer in any other well known bands?
Well, early on I got asked to be in the band Ratt. At the time, we were just starting Steel Panther, and I had just come off L.A. Guns and that was really fun, and I love Ratt, and I almost did it but I decided not to because I wanted to do Steel Panther. And I just didn’t want to be another replacement singer because it’s really hard to replace any singer. And so I’m grateful that I’m in Steel Panther. And no, no one’s called me to do s--t.
Last question: Got a behind the scenes story from doing a cameo in the Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston film “Rock Star?” You’re in the scene when Wahlberg and Aniston’s characters walk into the studio, where you’re in the vocal booth auditioning for fictional metal band Steel Dragon, a gig that Wahlberg’s character eventually gets.
I’ll tell you, that morning, I woke up and knew I had three days of shooting on the movie. I was super excited. I got to the set, and I’m in makeup and sitting next to this girl and she’s really hot. And she’s talking to her boyfriend on the phone. She’s like, “I love you. I love you so much.” Blah, blah, blah. “I’ll call you after we do the scene,” and she hangs up and I’m just being nice, I say, “Hey, I’m Michael.” She goes, “I’m Jennifer.” And then it dawns on me: That’s Jennifer Aniston and she was talking to Brad Pitt on the phone. Mind blown, right?
And so I get on the set, and the scene was Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer and me, Jason Bonham, Zakk Wylde, Jeff Pilson, who I know, and I hung out with them for like three days. And it was really cool. I mean, just hanging out with Mark and Jennifer because those guys [Bonham, Wylde and Pilson] were all in the [studio] control room, and Jennifer, Mark and I were all in the vocal booth area. And they they were both really cool and super sweet. Man, I really wanted to hook up with Jennifer but it didn’t happen.
Steel Panther performs July 29 at Mars Music Hall in Huntsville, Alabama. Rising, Toronto-based band BRKN Love is the support act and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $26 plus fees via ticketmaster.com.
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