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OFF THE STRIP: An Exclusive Interview with Michael Starr Of STEEL PANTHER By Charlie Steffens aka Gnarly Charlie, Writer/Photographer Monday, November 3, 2014 @ 5:22 PM
As main support for JUDAS PRIEST on their North American Redeemer Of Souls tour, these four good-looking, extremely gifted musicians’ take-no-prisoners approach to playing live is sure to keep the Priest on its toes.
With this tour, an upcoming run as headliners in December, and the success of their fourth studio album, All You Can Eat, STEEL PANTHER appears fairly levelheaded about it all.
Michael Starr, lead singer and a longtime friend of KNAC.COM, called pre-gig from the Ford Center in Evansville, Indianapolis to give us an update from the tour, and a lot of other amusing topics were discussed as well.
STARR: Charlito!
KNAC.COM: Hey, Michael. How’s it going?
STARR: Doing really good, man. I’m watching all our merch shirts go through the arena corridor right now. We have thousands and thousands of awesome STEEL PANTHER shirts that are just going like hotcakes.
KNAC.COM: You’re out on this big tour with JUDAS PRIEST. STEEL PANTHER has really blown up.
STARR: We did. We’re in Indiana and we have this massage girl backstage at the arena, and her favorite song is “Community Property”. So I’m going to give her a free t-shirt for that. And her name is the same name as my mom.
KNAC.COM: Oh, so you have to respect her.
STARR: Well, it was weird once she gave me the happy ending. But it was still cool.
KNAC.COM: Was it good only at the very end, or was the whole massage a boner-fest?
STARR: (laughs) It was just one of those massages where you just don’t know what’s going to happen and, at the very end, boom! Those are the best because, you know, they get you riled up. They give you these little hints where you kind of know what’s coming, but you’re not sure, and then you know for sure it’s coming, and then you are cummin’.
KNAC.COM: Oh my gosh.
STARR: I know, dude. You know what it’s like? It’s like catchin’ the perfect wave—offshore Santa Ana winds, you drop down the face, it pitches out over you and just peels for 20 feet. That’s what it’s like.
STARR: Totally, dude!
KNAC.COM: What a sweet life.
STARR: It is. Too bad there’s no waves in Indiana, bro.
KNAC.COM: We have a west swell right now in LA It’s kind of lined-up and closing out at the beach breaks, but there’s some rideable waves, for sure.
STARR: You know, one day, Charlie, we are going to go surfing together.
KNAC.COM: Yes, we are. When we do interviews it’s always no-holds-barred, isn’t it?
STARR: Mmhm. I mean, why not? That’s the way we write, that’s the way we live, and that’s the way we enjoy life.
KNAC.COM: On the new album, All You Can Eat, you guys have really come into your own as songwriters. This record really says STEEL PANTHER.
STARR: Yeah, I think so too. The other records were reminiscent of DEF LEPPARD and MOTLEY CRUE and, like, maybe WHITESNAKE on the first record. You know, some songs sounded like that kind of vibe and this one is just all STEEL PANTHER.
KNAC.COM: It must feel really good to get off the Strip and go sample some new talent.
STARR: Yeah, it really does, dude. And there’s a lot of different chicks all over the world.
KNAC.COM: I tend to think that on the Sunset Strip there would be a lot of girls with B.V.S. (Big Vagina Syndrome).
STARR: Yeah, the Sunset Strip. A lot of the pussy’s pretty deep. But when you go to places like Indiana, there’s some relatively, I don’t know, I wouldn’t say rookies, but L.A. is filled with actors and actresses and people that want to be in Playboy and all that crap. So they’re pretty beat up from trying to get into the magazine and getting laid from everybody. But out here it’s all new. Brand new, fresh stuff. And plus, I don’t know if you know this, but out of all the 52 states, the average legal age of consent is, like, 16 here.
KNAC.COM: No. Really?
STARR: Yeah. STEEL PANTHER does their research, bro.
KNAC.COM: Sounds like this stop in Indiana will give you material for a new song.
STARR: There you go, man.
KNAC.COM: You guys seem to be writing new material all the time, though. Always riffing and writing new lyrics, right?
STARR: Yeah. A lot of our stuff is written in our dressing room. We’ll just sit on the couch and just start talking about shit. And sometimes it comes out really funny, sometimes it’s serious, but for the most part, we just sit around. We’re all pretty happy dudes, joke around a lot, have a good time and party. So we want that to come through in our music, because that’s what drove us to do what we do. Bands like VAN HALEN and MOTLEY CRUE; bands that had fun and partied. When we come to a town, we’re not staring at our shoes. We’re not a shoe-gazing band. We look you in the eye, turn your eyes into the eyes of a panther, and rock your fuckin’ soul.
KNAC.COM: You’re very interactive with the audience. There’s always that exchange, from the girls up front taking their tops off, to the guy in the very back, who thinks he’s probably unnoticed by you, but you always get those people in the back.
STARR: I really try, Charlie. It’s not easy in a big arena because you got a spotlight in your face. But we had our light guy light up the audience as much as possible so we can interact with everybody. Because when I went to see VAN HALEN at The Forum back in ’81, the Fair Warning tour—actually, it was the Sports Arena, LA Sports Arena, I remember I was up in the loge, probably in section 330 or some shit. But I felt like I was part of the show with David Lee Roth. And it went by so fast, because it was fun and they were partying and everybody was just excited. That’s what I want to do onstage. When I saw him, I looked at him and thought, that’s exactly what I want to do. I want to bring the crowd in, have a laugh, be seriously rockin’, but make it a party at the same time.
KNAC.COM: What is your favorite VAN HALEN album?
STARR: That’s a really tough one, because I was introduced to them, obviously VAN HALEN 1, but only introduced by “Eruption” with my brother. He brought me upstairs and we listened to “Eruption” in his room and I was like, “Oh, my God.” It was amazing, because at that point I was totally into the SCORPIONS. But I bought an 8-track tape of VAN HALEN II and I had a huge ghetto blaster and I carried around for like a month during the summer and listened to that 8-track tape over and over and over and over again. So I would have to say that VAN HALEN II is one of my favorites.
KNAC.COM: Of course you were in the ATOMIC PUNKS (Los Angeles VAN HALEN cover band). You do David Lee Roth to a tee. I don’t think Dave can do himself like you do him, at this point.
STARR: Thank you. I’ll give you a little history, Charlie. You know, Satchel and I have been playing together a long time. And when grunge came out it changed everything, as you know. We were trying to get a deal and when grunge came out nobody could get a deal if you had long hair, playing metal. So, at that point, STEEL PANTHER was something that we always wanted to do but we needed to make money, and we got offered money to play VAN HALEN covers at the FM Station. And we started doing it and started making money and doing STEEL PANTHER as well at the same time at the Viper Room. So it just all came together and then we finally got our deal in 2008. Now we’re an original band, completely. No covers anymore. But we did our time, man. We played covers for years, as you know.
KNAC.COM: I love the new video for “Pussywhipped”. Really fun theme to it.
STARR: I think it’s classic STEEL PANTHER, where it’s fun. It’s just cheesy and it’s fun. I think that one of the things that’s endearing about STEEL PANTHER is we don’t take ourselves so fuckin’ serious.
KNAC.COM: There’s a body double, or ball sack double, rather, in the video. Whose ball sack is that?
STARR: Uh, it was actually a mold of Satchel’s ball sack. They actually dip in the toilet when he takes a shit. But that’s what happens when you get older.
KNAC.COM: Dude, I know. My ball sack hits my ankles and picks up red ants off the ground.
STARR: Oh, no! At first you think they’re crabs and you’re like, “No, they’re just red ants!”
STARR: Crotch crickets (laughs).
KNAC.COM: (laughs) You know what I really like? In the song you’re so open and so vulnerable. You admit that you were once pussy whipped too.
STARR: Dude, absolutely! I was with a girl for a long time, dude. I remember I came home—I played the Whisky--and I got a call from this Asian chick that I met out in Japan. She said, “Hey I just want to let you know saw your girlfriend and she was getting in the car with Jani Lane from WARRANT.” I’m like, “That’s weird.” So I was driving home and they just pulled up as I was pulling up and they couldn’t see me and she’s making out with Jani Lane. And I’m like, “Motherfucker!” I took her upstairs—I was pissed at her. She was with a pretty good singer, right? But we fought and she lied to me and I believed her and we fucked and I was pussy whipped.
KNAC.COM: It’s an addictive substance, man.
STARR: It really is. Especially when she tells you that you can’t play Xbox with your friends. That’s when you really know it’s bad.
KNAC.COM: Time to draw the line, man. Forget it. Life’s too short.
STARR: Oh, I drew the line. When we started going on tour--that was it. It was like, “Fuck you. There’s so many other girls out there that’ll do whatever I want, and they’ll never tell me to take the trash out.
KNAC.COM: You drive that point home in the song “If I Was King”. In essence, you’re saying that if you were king you’d have the woman do those chores for you, right?
STARR: Well, absolutely. I mean, look, we go out and hunt for food and they cook it, right?
KNAC.COM: Right.
STARR: But it’s not a one-way street. It’s not like we’re having the girls hunt and bring the food home. We go get the food, we bring it back. That’s our job. Everyone’s got a job. But, you know, some guys work the shifts differently. Some guys have the girl go out and get the food and the guy cooks. I guess it’s just a matter of what your preference is. But women are like the most amazing thing in the world. That’s what makes heavy metal work: women. Without women, it would be a SLAYER show. You know what I mean? I’m around guys all the time in the band and the crew and all that. After the show we just really like to hang out and be with girls. It’s fun.
KNAC.COM: It’s Panthermania. You guys have all kinds of adoring groupies around you all the time. Does it ever get routine?
STARR: You know, sometimes I prefer to be by myself and just go on Tube8 of YouPorn and just be by myself. You know what I mean? It’s quicker, it’s easier, there’s less talking. But, as the band rose in popularity there’s less talking with the girls now. It’s just enjoy it and get out. It’s a lot easier and fun. But then also it’s a pretty empty feeling too when you don’t have somebody to share your successes with, or your triumphs, or your ups and your downs with. But, you know, there’s always drugs for that.
KNAC.COM: It’s probably 3PM over there in Indiana right now.
STARR: Two o clock. We’re two hours ahead of you.
KNAC.COM: Have you had your first line of blow yet?
STARR: No. I don’t endorse or condone the use of drugs. You have to really use ‘em responsibly. A lot of people think, “Oh, these guys party fuckin’ all the time,” and that’s not the case. You have to be careful. If you’re stealing money from your mom or selling your car or your wedding ring to get high, you got a problem. So, for me, I just usually wait for the guitar solo, do a couple bumps, do a couple shots, and that will get me through the rest of the show. And then afterwards I really let lose. But you have to be responsible. You have to sleep at least four hours, drink lots of water. You gotta hydrate because alcohol is very, very drying.
KNAC.COM: I know. Why is it that in the morning I put my head under the bathroom faucet and guzzle so much water? Didn’t I get enough fluid intake the night before? Why am I so thirsty? I’ve never figured that out.
STARR: I have a trick I learned from the drummer from HELLYEAH. I know you know who I’m taking about.
KNAC.COM: Vinnie (Paul).
STARR: He puts Pediacare, which is a hydration formula for babies in a bottle of water. And he drinks that all the time and it hydrates him. He says it’s the greatest thing for a hangover. Two Advils and Pediacare.
KNAC.COM: I was hanging out in his tour bus and he told me that he stopped drinking whisky and dark liquors because his gout would flare up. So he started drinking vodka, exclusively.
STARR: It’s true, man. Gout is not easy to get rid of. Neither is ringworm. So you gotta be careful what you drink.
KNAC.COM: As far as lifestyle, you guys have really come up since you got the record deal. What’s different about the four of you, now that you’re cranking money?
STARR: Well, for me, this is a big step for me. I’m finally going to be able to move out of my mom’s house and get my own apartment. I got my eyes set on North Hollywood, because that’s kind of like the tough part of Hollywood. Maybe Sherman Way. Get a place over there and just be on my own. It doesn’t mean I’m going to walk in the Rainbow thinking I’m the shit now. I still keep it humble. I’ll still tell people that I’m going to live at my mom’s till I die. Money is not everything. It’s just an outside thing. And as you know, to feel true success, it’s an inside job. So I gotta take care of myself and not let money control me. Man, we’re making like two hundred bucks a night here with JUDAS PRIEST. When we split that up at the end of the night, I could go spend it right away. But you know what I do? I go in halves on a gram with the guys and save the rest, in case I’m hungry later. You don’t want to get crazy with your money and spend it all, like, go get a new iPhone or whatever. You just gotta take it easy on yourself. Don’t spend your money and give it to chicks. Strip clubs are the worst, though. You go to a strip club, and you’re in there—for me--it feels like I’m on a Nissan car lot and there’s salesmen trying to rip me off. I don’t like that. I usually end up broke.
KNAC.COM: So much temptation to indulge in. You guys seem to be really centered, considering where you came from. You could have OD’d or died from some wasting STD a long time ago, but here you are, looking healthy. You guys are fit for your age. What are you, like 60 now?
STARR: I just turned 58.
STARR: And I played two-on-two basketball with the band yesterday at the gym in Kansas City. It was the rhythm section against the two main guys in the band; me and Satchel. We played for about an hour. And we played hard, man, I’ll tell ya, usually the rhythm section’s a little bit better athletically, but we kicked their ass, man. It was fuckin’ 10 to 5.
KNAC.COM: You and Satchel beat Lexxi and Stix?
STARR: Uh huh. We kicked their ass. Matter of fact, they’re still wounded from it.
KNAC.COM: Is Lexxi still in the ratings as far as being the best looking bassist, or is that over now?
STARR: Well, we did a show with WINGER, I think it was a couple months ago at a festival out in the middle of nowhere. Kip (Winger) came in our dressing room. Super sweet, super nice guy. And he said straight to Lexxi, he goes, “You’re better looking than me.” Kip’s still good looking. But Lexxi takes it to a different level than Kip ever took it. I mean, he’s not doing the ballet stuff because he’s too tall for that. But just the way he looks, the way he prepares for a show…this is how far Lexxi’s gone to be perfect. He’s wearing ass pads now, because he’s been doing lunges trying to get his butt bigger and it’s not working out. So he started wearing these ass pads and ironically enough someone threw ‘em onstage and they ended up on our dressing room somehow and he just tried them on. So now he wears ass pads at every show. It’s so killer.
KNAC.COM: I guess a lot of dudes would say, “Look at those guys. They’re a bunch of homos!” But STEEL PANTHER gets more women, on any given night, than most men will get in a lifetime.
STARR: You damn right, man! We should actually be gynecologists, because the amount of pussy that we look at on a daily basis—it’s like we got a full schedule. I tell ya, the guys that sit in the audience that say that stuff are guys that aren’t getting laid. And they’re just jealous. And I understand it because I felt the same way when I went and say VAN HALEN. The guys get so much pussy, I don’t like ‘em that much. But then I went home I realized, “I’m jealous, man.” I have some envy going on. The guy’s doing really good. I mean, Lexxi, he is beating off the chicks. They’re all fat, but he’s beating them off. That’s good for him. Lexxi gets the most chicks in the band. If you add it up by weight.
KNAC.COM: It’s like a smorgasbord of women. STEEL PANTHER is internationally-known. Where do you get the best reception from your female following?
STARR: Well, I would have to say that every city is different, no matter what. But our first experience of having an overflowing amount of pussy would be the UK, because that’s where we first really took off, right out of the gate. And then second would be Australia. In the US it would be LA and Vegas, obviously. There is just a plethora of slutty whores to be had. So I would have to say the UK right now is still ahead of everybody just because of the amount of people that come see us. Coming up in March we’re going to be doing an arena tour in the UK—headlining it. So the amount of people—you got seven to ten thousand people a night—so your odds are much higher. I would have to say the UK.
KNAC.COM: What’s it like to open for JUDAS PRIEST? Do you guys get to hang out?
STARR: Yeah, they’re really cool. The first show that we did was in Rochester, New York. And I’m sitting in catering, eating some prison food, and Rob Halford walks in, right? I never met him before. I only saw him during the Painkiller tour. But he sat down right next to me and gave me a hug and said, “Hey, I’m Rob.” He’s a rock star. He’s a cool rock star, because he’s normal, talks to me normal. It’s not like he’s better than me, bigger than me, or anything like that. Most of our conversation was centered around bad knees and bad hips. That’s where we’re at in heavy metal, man (laughs). But everybody’s cool. The crew’s cool, the rest of the band is really cool, and it’s been really fun, dude.
KNAC.COM: Richie Faulkner is an incredible guitarist.
STARR: Oh my God, dude, Charlie, he’s fuckin’ amazing, man. It’s like Randy Rhoads came down from Heaven and went in his body. It’s amazing. He looks like him, he shreds like him, and man, the guy’s on fire, dude. He was practicing backstage yesterday and I walked by. He was playing some UFO stuff. I was like, “Fuck, I haven’t heard that in so long,” and I went in, and he’s playing and I’m singing. I’m hangin’ out with JUDAS PRIEST, singing UFO. It’s pretty awesome.
KNAC.COM: Do you strap on a guitar much during the set nowadays? I know you’re a great guitar player.
STARR: Thanks, man. No, I haven’t touched one in a while. We were doing an acoustic version of “Community Property” on our last tour in Europe, and I played acoustic every night. But no, I don’t have a guitar out here, and I’m thinking when we go through LA I’m going to actually bring one out with me and bring my little practice amp and just start jamming, because I miss playing guitar, man. I did it so much, for so many years. But when you’re with such a great guitar player, there’s no need to pick up a guitar.
KNAC.COM: Well, Satchel’s guitar playing rivals anybody’s. You’re all accomplished musicians. I was watching a YouTube clip from the Download Festival and you guys carry great sound on a big stage. You don’t have any mystery musicians hidden behind a curtain or dark blue lights.
STARR: Well, you know, we’ve had the same sound guy for 10 years. His name is Nick Rucker, our house guy. Amazing engineer. Just amazing. Like, he makes us sound better than we actually sound. And then our monitor guy, Matt Andrade, makes it sound killer in our ears, so it gives us the ability to be at our best. Satchel used to teach at M.I. (Musicians Institute) when he was 17. He’s actually a fuckin’ prodigy. Straight up. I don’t think there’s any other guitar player—in my opinion—that’s as good, or as talented of a songwriter, as Satchel. He’s a shredder, super sweet guy. I mean, you meet him and he makes you feel like he’s known you for a long time. But he’ll go up there and shred your ass with his mouth and his fuckin’ fingers.
KNAC.COM: Yeah, he’s vicious. The interaction you two have onstage, even when you’re just poking fun at each other, can get pretty gnarly.
STARR: Well, it’s the ol’ singer vs. guitar player rivalry. But that’s what makes the color of the band: the tension between the guitar player and the singer. He writes most of the material, I wanna write some stuff, the band likes his stuff better, I’m mad at him so I gotta out-sing what he’s singing on the demo, and the tension builds, and we keep climbing up the mountain of tension and at the top you get But I think the musicianship, the songwriting, is what enables STEEL PANTHER to go out and talk to the audience and have fun. People can laugh, enjoy themselves, not take the night so fuckin’ serious, escape reality for a couple hours. You know, when you go see a killer movie and it goes by super quick and you don’t think about your life at all—you’re just enthralled in the movie? That’s what STEEL PANTHER’s like. We’re like a really good movie on cocaine.
KNAC.COM: Yes, you are. When I listen to “Fucking My Heart in the Ass” I think, “These guys turned a tragic experience into something heavy metal.“
STARR: Right. That’s the gift of STEEL PANTHER. And then you got songs like She’s On the Rag”, which is extremely common. My dad was gone at an early age, so I didn’t get taught a lot of things that I needed growing up on the streets, right? So now, with STEEL PANTHER, we’re teaching the youth of America and of the world what to do in situations like when she’s on the rag. Or, “Pussywhipped”. These are things that guys in their teens—they don’t know. All they’re taught is, “I gotta do what she’s saying, otherwise I’m going to lose her.” But if you’d listen to “Pussywhipped” as a kid and you’d say, “Oh, that’s what STEEL PANTHER does. Got it. Lesson learned.” We’re actually being of service to the world and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Be of service. Give back what I’ve freely gotten.
KNAC.COM: On the road to happy destiny.
STARR: Dude, we’re trudging the road to happy heavy metal destiny.
KNAC.COM: When you say that you’re helping the youth of America sack up, that’s awesome. And you admit you guys are a little twisted. Take the song “Glory Hole”, for example. The stuff you write and sing about is in the mind of every male, but they won’t admit it. You lay it out there and it’s okay.
STARR: I didn’t know what a glory hole was until Satchel and Stix went to one in France. I think I had seen it, but didn’t engage in it. When Satchel brought that song in I read the lyrics and said, “Oh my God, dude. This is going to be a great song for people that don’t know about it at all, and for people like me, who just knew a little bit about it. And now you know what a glory hole is, because of STEEL PANTHER.
KNAC.COM: “The Burden of Being Wonderful” is a beautiful song.
STARR: Yeah, that was a last-minute add to the record.
KNAC.COM: You were going to throw it away?
STARR: No, it wasn’t one of those things. It wasn’t like “Heaven” by WARRANT, where they weren’t going to put it on the record. Satchel just ended up writing a song when we were out on the road. He said, “Hey, what do you guys think of this?” And the record was done. And we were like, “This is fuckin cool, man.” We were thinking we’d keep it for the next record. And then we thought, “We should put this on the record now,” and we flew back to LA and we recorded it. And boom, there you go. Rock single.
KNAC.COM: Big single. Great song.
STARR: Yeah, it was number one in Belgium.
KNAC.COM: It’s radio-friendly. There aren’t any expletives. It’s not like the song’s a departure from STEEL PANTHER, though. It just shows another facet of the band’s musical repertoire.
STARR: You know, everybody can talk about fucking and doing drugs. But nobody talks about what’s really going on inside the head of a rocker. And that’s what “The Burden of Being Wonderful” is about. It’s tough, dude. Imagine Lexxi Foxx. Every day you have to put face cream and eye cream. He starts his makeup two hours before the show. It’s a lot of work, dude. People look up to him. They want to see what Lexxi’s like. Is he still going to be hot?
KNAC.COM: Yeah. It’s almost the same thing as those supermodels that have to maintain their looks. It’s work.
STARR: Yeah. It doesn’t happen overnight. A lot of bands don’t understand that it doesn’t just come. It’s not just something you wake up with. You gotta work for everything. Just like when you want to get laid. You just can’t lay there. If you wanna get laid for free you gotta work for it. If you wanna pay for it then you can just lay there.
KNAC.COM: I need to know something and maybe you can help me out. In the song “Ten Strikes You’re Out”, did one of your girlfriends really give your dog VD?
KNAC.COM: Animal activists and PETA people might get really pissed off at you. To them it might look like animal endangerment or something.
STARR: You know what’s funny, man? Nobody has ever said one fuckin’ thing about any one of our songs. No groups. Nobody. It’s amazing.
KNAC.COM: Not even Westboro Baptist Church?
STARR: No. I was hoping that Pamela Anderson would get pissed and come to my dressing room so I could fuck her.
KNAC.COM: Would ya? You definitely would, wouldn’t you?
STARR: Pamela Anderson? Yeah! You know what I’d do? I’d look at a picture of her from ’92 and then I’d fuck her.
KNAC.COM: Tape the picture on her back.
STARR: She’s still pretty fuckin’ hot, dude. One time—I don’t know if you were there for the show. But at the Key Club, it was a December show, the one right before Christmas. And Tommy (Lee) was in the parking lot. He came up to me and said, “Hey, I got Pam with me.” So we got them up there and he’s jamming “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and she comes out and she’s looking so hot, right? And she’s out there, dancing on the pole, and they’re both really high. And I was totally attracted to her. Normally when I’m attracted to a girl onstage I go for it. So I kind of lean over toward her and I’m trying to get on her and I look to my right, and all of a sudden Tommy Lee throws a stick at my head. And I realized, “Oh, this guy still loves her.”
KNAC.COM: Well, how could you not love her till the end of time?
STARR: They were broken up but maybe cocaine brings people back together.
KNAC.COM: It’s a great icebreaker, isn’t it?
STARR: It really is. It’s definitely a good way to get talking.
http://steelpantherrocks.com
Check out the video for "Pussywhipped"
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KNAC.COM: Then you come out of the tube, rip a cutback and a reentry and do it again.
KNAC.COM: Crotch crickets. No big deal.
KNAC.COM: Damn!
STARR: Uh, I think it was crabs, but we thought VD was a little better for people to digest.