INTERVIEW: STEEL PANTHER’s Satchel on Live Shows – “We Are One Big Happy Incestuous Family That Likes To Do Drugs Together”

Gearing up for the release of the next record, Metal Wani’s Laura Vezer had a chat with Steel Panther guitarist Satchel. He discusses the upcoming new record “Lower The Bar”, songwriting, musical direction of the album, creative process and writing some of the softer songs in Steel Panther’s discography.

He also talks about the catalyst to go out and create the style and sound they are known for, routine they follow before going on stage and memorable signs or sights observed by the band live. He throws light on bringing out an animal in people at shows, how Steel Panther fans are one big happy incestuous family that likes to do drugs together, backlash from some of the metalheads and more.

Below are some some of the excerpts:

You’ve got a new album coming out on March 24th, called Lower the Bar. How excited are you about the record and sharing it with the world?

I am super duper excited…the record is going to blow people away. I pride myself on the Steel Panther records because we’re not just a super awesome live act, which we are…we’re a great live band, we’re great looking guys. That’s the two main ticks. People come to see us live and think we’re great looking. We are. We are great looking. Underneath the great lookingness, and the awesome live shows, there’s our bitching songs. The real fans out there know that we have awesome killer songs on all our records. We’re not going to release a record that sucks, or that people aren’t going to like. If you like our first three records, you’re going to like this record too, it’s awesome.

There’s something special about you guys that really brings out a different animal in people at shows. Fans get their glam on, by dressing up, bringing out props like inflatable guitars, glitter bombs… that kind of stuff. What do you think it is about your shows that bring out this side of fans?

Well I think that underneath everything we do, there’s people that call us a parody bands, or that we’re a bunch of jokey jokey guys. But ultimately what we’re doing is, we’re bringing a very fucking real party to your neighborhood, and it gives people a license to act in a way they wouldn’t be able to act at work, or at home, or at Christmas time with their family. at any other concert or band you’d go to, you have to keep your clothes on, and only cheer at certain points of the show. With Steel Panther, all the rules goes out the window. You can take your clothes off, you can make out with people you don’t know, it doesn’t matter. It’s all fun. Everybody at our show is there to have fun. It’s like one big happy incestuous family that likes to do drugs together, it’s crazy.

There aren’t any bands that are even close to what Steel Panther does these days. Can you share what the catalyst was for the band to go out and create the style and sound that you’re known for?

Everyone in the band grew up with awesome heavy metal music. We grew up in a time (70’s & 80’s) where metal and rock music was the most popular form of music. The poor kids growing up now have EDM and bullshit pop artists. Back then it was rock. Rock was prominent. What we’re doing is continuing the tradition of doing great rock records and doing great rock shows with great hooky songs that people want to sing along to…it takes a lot of effort to be in a band, and go on the road and make records. For us, we’ve found this chemistry as a band, and when you find that with other guys, and people you really enjoy playing with, and you sound great together, and love being in a band with them, you gotta keep it. We’ve been together for a long time. We’ve been together for decades now, and nobody’s killed anyone yet.

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