Exclusive Interview: STEEL PANTHER on RockOverdose!

Read below STEEL PANTHER's Michael Starr exclusive interview on RockOverdose.gr, few days before their live shows in Bulgaria (Midalidare Festival 13/07/2024) and Greece (Thessaloniki 12/07/2024).

Read below our very interesting and funny chat.

Rockoverdose.gr: Welcome to Rockoverdose.gr. It’s a real pleasure.

Michael Starr: The pleasure is all mine.

Rockoverdose.gr: How’s the tour so far?

Michael Starr: So far it’s really exciting. We played in so many festivals and they were overwhelmingly awesome. Tons of chicks, tons of drugs but we don’t do the drugs anymore because we’re too old. But we did hung out with some really cool bands.

Rockoverdose.gr: Let’s talk about your latest album “On The Prowl” which was released last year and got some amazing reviews. What are your thoughts about this album?

Michael Starr: It was the first album we’ve done without touring before. Every record except the first one we had to write it while we were touring. When the pandemic came, Satchel was able to write a lot of stuff. When you’re touring all the time and you get home it takes a couple of weeks to get some rest. And then you start writing and then you have to leave again. But we were able to take more time on this album. We recorded all the vocals and the drums on Stix’s house in his garage, and Satchel did the guitars, and we sent all the file on the producer and put them all together and mixed them.

Rockoverdose.gr: Once again on this album you do what you do in a great way all these years. Playing awesome music and having fun at the same time.

Michael Starr: We had so much fun yes. As long as you get some rest you have a lot of fun. It’s the best job in the whole fucking world. And we are very grateful that we can do it. And we’ve never been to Greece before so we are super excited to come down there and rock. People have been asking us for such a long time when we’re coming to Greece. Well here we are!

Rockoverdose.gr: This is your first album with Spyder on bass. How does it feel to have a new member in the band after 20 years?

Michael Starr: Different. It’s really different. Lexi was really pretty and sexy and we were together for 20 years. And then after Lexi quit, Spyder came in and he is not pretty. And he is not sexy. But he is a really good base player. And he likes to drink beer, he likes to eat pizza, he loves sports, he loves hockey, football and that’s his thing. And he also can do plumping. He’s really good at it. He can fix cars.

Rockoverdose.gr: A man of many talents.

Michael Starr: YES! And also him and I, we like going hiking together. Lexi wouldn’t hike!

Rockoverdose.gr: Let’s go back on the “On The Prowl” album. Dweezil Zappa, son of legendary Frank Zappa is a guest on the song “Is My D*ick Enough” and I could not think of a more fitting guest. How did this collaboration happen?

Michael Starr: Satchel and I went to Dweezil’s house to listen to some Van Halen stuff. Because he is a huge Van Halen fan and so are we. So we went to his studio we were listening to music and then we just said “hey we should jam on a record” and he said ok. And so he just did it.

Rockoverdose.gr: Well, if not the son of Frank Zappa who else would fit so well in an extravagant album as the Steel Panther one? (laughs)

Michael Starr: The son of Slash could be cool to. Or the son of Paul Stanley. There are so many sons out there. We’re getting old buddy. Grandkids could play on our records now. (laughs).

Rockoverdose.gr: Come on man. You’re not that old yet.

Michael Starr: I know…. It’s weird being 34. (laughs)

Rockoverdose.gr: Gus G (Firewind, ex-Ozzy) in a recent interview we did, told me that you are one of the best band he had ever seen.

Michael Starr: Oh that’s a nice thing to say. We called him the other day just to say “hi” because we gonna have a show with him in Greece just before we come in Bulgaria and Midalidare Festival.

Rockoverdose.gr: That brings me to my next question. On this tour you play for the first time in Bulgaria and Midalidare Festival. The fans are so excited to have a band on their peak visiting their country.

Michael Starr: We are really excited too. We’ve been trying to do it for a while but we just couldn’t handle it financially. So we had to figure out a way to do it. Because when you go to a place for the first time the promoter or whoever hires you, has to take a chance on the band. So we have to go there and invest to ourselves. It’s going to be great. Tickets are selling fast. We’re looking forward to it. Get ready for a crazy and amazing party!

Rockoverdose.gr: You are a band that faced a lot or criticism about your song titles, your lyrics etc. Isn’t it hypocritical with all the things that happen and what we see all day long on the news and on internet?

Michael Starr: Well that could be the case but I learned that bad press is really good press because people that didn’t like us got curious about us and now they say “I love this band”. Van Halen is my favorite band and I remember being on their show and David Lee Roth said “fuck the critics we play here tonight for our fans, for our friends and our families” and it was awesome because nobody cared what critics said.

Rockoverdose.gr: You also got some criticism from the hard rock/metal ranks because of the image, of the fact that you “mock” certain stuff onstage etc. But I see that with every album of yours peoples’ minds change.

Michael Starr: I think we are outliving people that don’t like us and they are giving us a chance. Younger people are 100% Steel Panther fans than the older people that really remember what rock was like (laughs).

Rockoverdos.gr: Would you like to add anything else or send a message to your Bulgarian fans?

Michael Starr: Start listening of all our records, learn all the songs, we gonna play a couple of songs from each record and come with a great attitude of having fun. And the more you drink, the better we sound (laughs)!

Rockoverdose.gr: Thank you very much for your time and see you soon in Thessaloniki!

Michael Starr: Thank you!

On behalf of RockOverdose,

Apostolos "Astaldo" Pantazoglou