Hair metal revivalists Steel Panther play Metro City this Thursday, December 12, with Buckcherry and Fozzy in tow. Lead vocalist, Michael Starr, tells SHANE PINNEGAR why they love Australia so much.
“Australia’s been great for us so far,” the singer states, “so why not keep coming back? It’s like, when you finally find a hot chick you like to fuck, you go fuck her again!”
Starr promises a ramped up show will hit Australia, with “a bunch of production that we’ve never brought before.
“We’re bringing so much production to these shows that our parents had to sell their houses! We’re bringing a video screen – the most important thing is to make sure everyone gets to see us on stage. We also have incorporated some content, too, that we think people will get a fucking big kick out of.”
The foursome have a new album – their third – ready to release at the beginning of 2014, to be titled All You Can Eat – a very ‘Steel Panther’ title if ever there was. Starr says that the record is a progression for the band.
“I came to the conclusion that our records are really conceptual, kind’ve like a Queensryche record, almost. Every record’s tied with having sex and partying. On this record there’s a different edge to it, a different side to Steel Panther. It’s a little heavier, it’s a little more in your face, and it’ll definitely get people in the audience and make them wanna move.
“I think this record is a little edgier than the last one – but we’re still fucking chicks and singing about it!”
Australian audiences will get an early listen to two tracks from the album on this tour, including the single, Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World, which was released a few weeks ago.
“Then we have a song called Glory Hole,” Starr elaborates, “which is really a love story.”
Talking to Starr for the first time in two years, it’s apparent that although Steel Panther started as tongue-in-cheek parodists of the hair metal genre, with the impending release of their third album they seem to have realised that they’re a real band. Sure, the lyrics are still hilariously over the top, but there’s more talk of this being who they really are. Perhaps, in truth, Steel Panther are just saying and doing the things a lot of us secretly wish we could, if we weren’t bound by social mores.
“When we’re in the studio and cutting vocals, it’s a blast man,” he says seriously. “What you hear on the records are who we are as people, you know? We tried other bands and we did the serious rock thing, and it never worked, we were never able to get a record deal or have it take off. But once we started being who we are and putting that into the music, it just took off, and it’s great! ‘Cause having integrity is great, we just have integrity in a different way – we don’t give a fuck!
“Our lifestyle can be funny, but if you start singing about your feelings, and how shitty the world is, and all the bad shit out there – I don’t wanna hear about that shit! If I can make a chick laugh, it really helps… it means I’m gonna get laid!”.
Steel Panther play Metro City this Thursday, December 12.
Get your tickets here.
