Sexy Michael Starr is the front man for Steel Panther. I was lucky to talk to him. Photo by F. Scott Schafer.
Considering how well the band blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, comedic parody and legitimate talent, it makes perfect sense that I was first introduced to Steel Panther by a few professional wrestler friends whose gimmicks also mimic heavy metal theatrics. But for the uninitiated (as I was when I first put my copy of 2011’s Balls Out in the CD player), it might take a song or two to get the joke given the musical chops of drummer Stix Zadinia, bassist Lexxi Foxx, guitarist Satchel and front man Michael Starr (not to mention the extent to which they live their hair metal homages). From overindulgent sing-alongs like “17 Girls in a Row,” “Tomorrow Night” and “That’s What Girls Are For” to sincerely sarcastic power ballads such as “If You Really, Really Love Me” and “Why Can’t You Trust Me,” Balls Out would have you believe that Steel Panther once toured alongside ’80s hair metal giants like Van Halen, Mötley Crüe and Cinderella. As the band prepares for the final dates of its North American tour, concluding with a main stage performance at Rocklahoma this Sunday, Wrestling with Pop Culture talks to Starr about performing with some of his idols, his mom’s morning beers and other excessive behavior.
I’m talking to the one and only Michael Starr. How are you today?
It’s going pretty good, man. I just woke up and I’m not that hung over, so it’s a good day.
When I asked to interview Steel Panther, I thought I might get the drummer or bass player. But I actually get to talk to the singer!
Yeah, dude. I mean, a lot of people want to talk to the singer. They should because I’m, like, the lead guy in the band, you know what I mean?
I guess I should consider myself lucky.
I feel lucky to be myself. So, yeah. You should.
You guys are about to finish a tour that has taken you across the country and around the world…
Actually, we’re right at the end of it. We had a two day break and I came back to my mom’s house. Then we went to Japan for the very first Ozzfest in Tokyo. Now we’re back for another couple weeks to finish the second leg of our North American tour, which included some Canada dates, as well.
How has Canada treated you previously?
Canadians love Steel Panther. And they should because we drink a lot.
I’ve heard they have plenty of beer up there.
Yeah. And we give out free cigarettes because they’re so expensive up there. People love that.
You guys are friends with Chris Jericho, who is Candian.
Oh, yeah. Good friends.
His band Fozzy started out in much the same way Steel Panther did, playing ’80s hair metal covers. Given the similarities between the two bands, do you think Steel Panther and Fozzy might ever collaborate or tour together?
Photo by F. Scott Schafer.
We did an interview together on Sirius, which was our first collaboration. Then we really got to know him at the Download Festival in Europe. So we started our relationship there. But that’s such a great idea, I’d never even thought of it. Right now, opening up for us on tour is a band called Hillbilly Herald and they’re really great. That’s been a great tour package for us.
How do you go about choosing your opening bands when you go on tour?
Usually we try to find a band that we like as people. Secondly, they’ve got to rock. But we don’t want someone who’s going to come try and do what we’re doing; we need somebody that has their own thing going on and can handle our crowd. Opening for us can be hard because our fans can get impatient if you’re not good enough. So far, every band that we’ve had open up for us has been great. So it’s really important for our opening bands to have their own thing going on and also be cool to hang out with because the hang factor is one of the most important things.
I would imagine it would help if they have attractive girlfriends, too.
Yeah, totally. But they didn’t bring any of their girlfriends on tour with them. They’re smart. That’s another thing: you have to find a smart band that’s fun to hang out with and has their own thing going on. Those are usually the bands that excel in this business because if you try to be like everybody else, you end up just not doing anything.
When you’re not on the road, you have residencies in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. How does touring compare to your residency shows?
The residency shows are really killer. They’re great to have, but we got hired as a cover band to do those residencies years ago. So it’s still engrained in the promoter’s mind that we don’t play just all our stuff; we still play Crüe and Def Leppard. So when we go on the road, we’re just supporting our two records Feel the Steel and Balls Out. Touring and doing our own stuff is really, like, the pinnacle of what we’ve always wanted to do. Then to come back and do the residencies and play the cover stuff, it’s almost like the music industry gods are keeping us in check and saying, “Hey, you haven’t made it yet. You still need to go back and hone your craft.”
Do you play any of your original songs at the residency shows?
Yeah. We’ve slowly morphed into about 80 percent originals and 20 percent covers.
Speaking of Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe, you’ve had the opportunity to play with some of your idols in recent years. What has it been like to play with these bands that so heavily inspired Steel Panther?
Photo by F. Scott Schafer.
My first experience with Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe was pretty surreal because in our song “Death to All But Metal” that we wrote years ago, I say “Where’s Def Leppard? Where’s Mötley Crüe?” And to be on a double bill tour with them, opening up the whole arena tour in Europe was just so surreal. We got to hang out with all the bands and I got to use Joe Elliott‘s hair dryer. That’s like a heavy metal dream come true. I ended up befriending Joe and he invited me into his dressing room and said, “Whatever you want here, help yourself.” I got to use his blow dryer and eye liner and stuff. It was great. It was a dream come true. It really was, because this is the music I grew up with, so I was like, “I can’t believe I’m using his blow dryer!”
It sounds like that might have been more exciting than actually getting to share the stage with them.
It was pretty equal to it. And we also had sex with some of their girlfriends, which was cool because they were, like, totally down with it. It wasn’t like weird or uncomfortable. It was just like, “Dude, we love what you’re doing. Help yourself to whatever we have.” And we did.
Well, they seem like very nice guys.
Yeah. They’re extremely open. Vince [Neil] always comes in the dressing room with, like, two chicks on his arms. I don’t know if he hires them for the night or what, but either way he was willing to share and it’s just nice. It’s just nice to be in that type of community where you’re not fighting an uphill battle, the guys have your back, they dig what you’re doing and they want you to succeed. That just felt great.
Where it’s all “Community Property”?
Yeah. Well, it is. I mean, they know better. They know eventually we’d fuck all their girlfriends anyways. So they might as well let us do it.
You’ve also collaborated with a lot of people in the studio. Who have been some of your favorite people to work with in that setting?
I’m trying to write a power ballad, but I can’t. So who else would you go to other than the guy who did “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”? So I called Bret Michaels and said, “Let’s do something together” and he was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” So that was fun collaborating with him. We collaborated a little bit with Nikki [Sixx] when we were on the road and that was cool. But I would say the most exciting one was writing with Vivian Campbell from Def Leppard. He was really fun and we ended up having him guest on our new record, which was cool.
Speaking of your new record, when can we expect to hear that?
We don’t have a hard release date yet, but we’re shooting for the fall. It’s also contingent on the record label liking all the songs on the record. They still, unfortunately, control our destiny, so we have to really fight tooth and nail with what goes on there. They’ll try to sway us in a different direction because they really want us to be on the radio. But we don’t care about radio like they do. We want to put out our art and what we believe in. I think that’s what’s gotten us where we are today, so we’re going to stick to our guns. But with that in mind, we still want the record to come out in the fall. So we’re shooting for a fall release.
What can you say about the new album and how it compares to the previous two releases?
Photo by F. Scott Schafer.
Well, that is very subjective. Comparing our last two records to the new one is really up to you guys. I think it’s great and it stands up right next to those albums and also propels Steel Panther to our destiny, which is silly sounding, but it’s really true. We’ve been touring and we’ve seen the world and I think our new record reflects what we’ve seen and how we’re changing.
Are you consciously trying to take this next album in a different direction or is that just happening as the album continues to develop?
Well, what we do as a band is when Satchel write’s a song – he’ll write an idea or a full song – the direction usually is reflected from our past experience. We don’t sit down and go, “Hey, let’s write a rock song because we’re a rock band.” It just happens that way. Like, if George Michael sat down to write a song, he’d write a gay song. There’s nothing he can do about it, you know what I mean? What we write is who we are and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Speaking of Satchel, can you verify how he came to be known by that moniker?
Yeah. He carries his weed and cocaine in a small satchel. We always thought that would be a really cool name.
You mentioned that you spent some time at your mother’s house before Ozzfest. Were you able to spend Mothers Day with your mom?
I was on the road, thankfully. So I didn’t have to get her a gift. But you know what I did? I left a six-pack of beer in the fridge for her. She likes that. I really wanted to drink it, but I know she loves to drink in the morning so I left her a fresh six-pack of Löwenbräu.
Is that the beer of choice in your household?
Well, here it is because mom always drank that.
