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Interviews : “It’s so fucking fun to bring like 6000 people and make it feel like you’re at a backyard party” – An interview with Michael Starr

By on May 7, 2014

Steel Panther

LA’s hottest export, Steel Panther, are gearing up for some heavy touring after the release of their third studio album All You Can Eat in April of this year. The band have been busy working on their popular YouTube channel, Steel Panther TV, and finishing up their regular spots at The House of Blues in both Hollywood and Las Vegas. The tour is set to hit Europe, South America, Japan and finally Australia, having just commenced the US leg. Metal Obsession had a chat to Steel Panther frontman Michael Starr about the new record, girls, porn, partying and cooking up cocaine…

Metal Obsession: How would you describe your new album All You Can Eat?

Michael Starr: I would describe it like, Theatre of Pain; Mötley Crüe meets Appetite for Destruction [Guns N’ Roses] in a bar, they have sex and fuck, then they have a pyromaniac as a child, then we throw in some Feel the Steel sperm and some Balls Out sperm, they have a kid and BOOM! All You Can Eat comes out.

MO: [Laughs] That’s an awesome description. And how would you compare it to your two previous albums Feel the Steel and Balls Out?

MS: That’s a good question. I would say there’s definitely less songs on this album than Balls Out and the same amount of songs as Feel the Steel… Balls Out had a girl on the cover, Feel the Steel had us on the cover… so we thought what we should do, is we should put ourselves back on the cover and a chick. It’s cool man, cause when you buy a record you want to see the people you’re buying. I think this record’s a little heavier than the previous two, but it also has some lighter songs like You’re Beautiful When You Don’t Talk and The Burden of Being Wonderful, those kind of songs are different to Balls Out and Feel the Steel. I think it’s just as great as the other ones.

MO: Speaking of You’re Beautiful When You Don’t Talk, which is a pretty sentimental song, how do you get in the zone to write a love ballad?

MS: Well all our songs, they come from experiences that we’ve had in the past and I think our songs, no matter what the subject matter is about we write around the subject matter. So let’s say You’re Beautiful When You Don’t Talk, it’s a sentimental song so, we sit down with the lyrics and we’re thinking “what kind of music can we put on this?” We have a few beers, do some blow and just kind of relax and connect with one another and whatever comes out comes out. If it comes out sentimental, then we do it sentimental. Gloryhole was actually a ballad before it turned into how heavy it is. It was supposed to be a love song about the glory hole, falling in love with the person behind the glory hole but never knowing who they are. Then one day we were getting fucked up and we said, “Fuck that! Let’s just rock this one”, and we did. There’s another song called She’s on the Rag that started out as a ballad and on the deluxe package from Best Buy we actually put the ballad version at the end. You know when you’re having sex and you meet somebody and you know you’re going to fuck them? And sometimes it’s super rough sex and you go, “pull my hair, smack my ass” cause that’s what you’re into at that moment, but then there’s time you’re having sex and you don’t feel like getting your ass smacked, you want to be tenderly getting fucked. That’s how we write our songs. However we’re feeling that day.

MO: The video clip for ‘Party Like it’s the End of the World’ you partying with porn stars like Joanna Angel, Nikki Hearts & Ron Jeremy, do you think porn could save the world?

MS: Porn has already saved the world. I’ll tell you how we know it’s saving the world. The girls we end up hooking up with backstage they all take it in the ass and they all like to deep throat. And that is because of pornography on the Internet. It’s saving my world.

MO: I couldn’t agree more. Ok, I really dig your song ‘Fucking My Heart in the Ass’; I’d definitely like to staple a copy of it to a few guys’ foreheads. Who came up with that line?

MS: Satchel did.

MO: Previous experience?

MS: Yeah Satchel’s been beaten up by this one chick in particular. I mean he fucking hated her so much. They were fighting one time and he fucking threw her out and he slammed the door but he forgot to take his fingers away from the door and he slammed all four guitar fingers in the door and flattened them out.

MO: I shouldn’t laugh, that’s rough.

MS: It really was wrong. And you know, he ended up breaking up with her. They were together for like three weeks, and he ended up writing that song. He felt like he got his heart ass-fucked.

MO: Well I’m sorry that happened but I’m very glad that he wrote that song.

MS: It made him a better guitar player, that’s for sure.

MO: Will we be seeing more of you on Science Panther?

MS: Yeah, I just filmed an episode recently.

MO: I know I saw it, it was great.

MS: Oh thank you, thank you. They don’t let me on Science Panther cause they don’t think I’m smart enough to do it. But I know a lot about science. I could teach somebody how to cook up cocaine in no time!

MO: That’s a very important skill, you need to share that with the world.

MS: I think so, because a lot of kids, they don’t know how to do it, then they end up doing it wrong and hurting themselves. And I don’t want people to hurt themselves, I want them to enjoy their high and not get hurt.

MO: So what’s next on the horizon for Steel Panther, I see you have the All You Can Eat Tour across the US until June, where to after that?

MS: Well after we do the All You Can Eat tour in June, we’re going to take our little heavy metal act over the pond to Europe. We’re going to do about 15 heavy metal rock festivals throughout Europe. Then we come back to The States and do the same. Then we’re off to Japan for a heavy dose of rockin’ and then we’re going to go to South America and fucking rock South America. The we come back and take a break for the holidays. And then we’re back in Australia baby!

MO: Oh fantastic! I’m so excited for that. Speaking of Australia, you have some incredibly loyal Fanthers, what is your perception of Australians?

MS: Well they’re definitely honest about their music. Most of the girls I’ve met are straight to the point, no fucking bullshit. The guys are fucking strong and smart and they like to fucking rock! And you guys are loyal too, to bands that you love no matter what. I mean, cause I was looking at some of the video footage from our Australian show and I fucking put on like 20 pounds and people were still digging it. In America they kept calling me fat.

MO: Awww, we like ’em a little chunky in Australia.

MS: Ahhhh, well hey, I got all the chunk you need uh?

MO: [Laughs] You guys have had a regular spot at House of Blues on Sunset when you’ve been in town [LA]. What’s special to you about that venue?

MS: That’s where we started, Sunset Boulevard. We started doing a Monday night there at the Viper Room in February of 1999. And we just ended our 14 year run of every Monday night in Hollywood on the Sunset Strip last Monday, we’re no longer doing the weekly shows in Hollywood or Vegas. We just don’t have the time, when we get back off tour we’re shooting Steel Panther TV or writing for the new record. Hollywood and the Sunset Strip, you know I just love that place and playing there never gets old, ever.

MO: I’m super disappointed I missed your last show there, I got into LA the week after.

MS: I’m sorry. That sucks man. Those shows are so cool because after we went out and started touring on the success of our first two records, we started playing really big places and we’d get to come right back into that intimate setting where people are right in front of the stage and we can pull people up and do the shit that we normally do. That’s one thing I’m going to miss, but I’m also enjoying playing in front of large audiences. It’s so fucking fun to bring like 6000 people and make it feel like you’re at a backyard party. That is fucking great!

MO: And finally, do you think you’ll ever run out of sexually transmitted diseases to write songs about?

MS: Oh God, that’s a good question. Well you know while we were on the road, Satchel told us that there’s a new strain of VD going around that penicillin can’t cure. And it scared the shit out of us. But it’s put our faith in heavy metal, we’re not using condoms.

‘All You Can Eat’ out now via Kobalt Label Services

About

Amber has been a writer and photographer for 2020 BMX Mag, Reverb Street Press and 3DWorld. She has booked and managed hardcore bands and takes an interest in anything from hardcore to hair metal, particularly if it screams dirty Hollywood. Amber is also the author of a sex blog. You can follow her on Twitter Twitter or check out her blog.