Interview by Kris Peters
For over two decades now Steel Panther have been the flagship for a new age of metal. One where the music isn't the only point of focus and the image is sculptured to fit certain demographics and moulds.
Not that Steel Panther have ever subscribed to that theory, nor have they ever conformed to sociatel demands.
Steel Panther are a band unto themselves, living the rock and roll dream day in and day out and proving to all who will listen (and even those who won't) that heavy metal isn't JUST about the music.
It's about a lot of things.
An inseperable unit for all but the last 18 months of life on the prowl - original bass player Lexi left for greener pastures and was replaced by Spyder early last year) - Steel Panther have staked their reputation on great music with enough fun and parody to kick start their own television sit-com series.
Now the band who quite literally gives a fuck about their fans and their music are set to reclaim the throne they never lost when their new album On The Prowl is released on February 24.
Packed full of everything we have come to love and respect about the Panther - plus a few things we might not yet know we love about them - Steel Panther have once again delivered a musical masterpiece as only they can. Or only they could get away with...
Guitarist Satchel joined HEAVY for a chat earlier this week where nothing was off limits - not even the sanctity of an old folks home.
"I feel great about it," he answered when asked about the new album. "The last few years have been rough on everybody and we really didn't get to tour as much as we wanted to but we're really excited because this whole album I feel is one of our best records. We've got a new single that we've just released called Friends With Benefits with an awesome video, another song called 1987 that came out a couple of months ago and went to #1 on the rock charts in Germany - which is big for us because we don't really get on the radio very much. A lot of songs that are resonating with our fans so far, and we've got a lot of other great songs on the records like On Your Instagram and Magical Vagina. A lot of really awesome subjects that we tackle. Teleporter is one of them. All That And More... we have a lot of songs that are about our penisses and a lot of songs about vaginas and a lot of songs about sex and drugs, so it's great."
The press release says On The Prowl is shaping up to be Steel Panthers biggest yet, so we press Satchel on exactly what part of the album is being referred to.
"I don't know, but it doesn't matter because bigger is always better," he smiled, "I think it will be one of our biggest records. We've got a lot of fans... and the interesting thing about our band is we tend to gather fans slower than most bands because we don't get radio play. So we're like Iron Maiden in a way, except our trajectory has been a lot slower and a lot longer. But our fans, once they find out about us, they tend to stick around. I think now we've got more fans than we've ever had and our fans can't wait for our new record and they're gonna be pleasantly surprised with it because it's great."
That about as serious as Satchel got. In the rest of the interview he talks about the singles released and how they represent the rest of the album, Dweezil Zappa making an appearance on Is My Dick Enough, the inspiration for some of the songs, new bass player Spyder and what he brought to the band, answering to critics who still don't understand their sense of humour, coming up with topics to write about, conquering the world and more.