Steel Panther to roar in Bowling Green

Comedic hair metal band brings their filthy fun to the Cla-Zel

Steel Panther is the great phoenix to rise from the ashes of the L.A. Sunset Strip music scene of the 1980s. Back then, Spandex clad mutants wearing makeup and sky high Aqua Netted hair ruled the airwaves of America’s rock ‘n’ roll scene, and band names like Poison, Ratt, Motley Crue, and Guns ‘N Roses graced the pages of music pin-magazines of yester-decade like Circus, Hit Parader, and Rip. But nothing good ever lasts forever, and the L.A. bands crash landed right into the Great Seattle Grunge Explosion of the early 1990s, which suddenly made the tarted up bands culturally obsolete.

But don’t tell that to the members of Steel Panther, because to these true believers, the Sunset Strip is more home sweet home than a Motley Cue power ballad. This rock quartet simultaneously honors and parodies the hair metal acts of the ’80s. They have it down to a winning formula of colorful Spandex stage wear, amps that go to 11, and lurid, sex-heavy songs of hedonism and good times.

Steel Panther will be bringing their mayhem to the recently reopened Cla-Zel Theatre in Bowling Green on April 21. Toledo City Paper got Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia on the phone to discuss the history of rockdom’s best heavy metal satirists.

TCP: I’m a big fan of the band, man. You  guys give me so much joy.

Stix: Thanks, man. I appreciate it. That’s the whole point of Steel Panther—to bring you joy. And to meet your girlfriend. 

How much influence did Spinal Tap have upon the creation of SteelPanther? Songs like Big Bottom and Sex Farm could have easily been Steel Panther songs.

hear what you’re saying, but the truth is (Spinal) Tap had nothing to do with the creation of Steel Panther. And that’s not to take anything away from Tap, because they’re legendary. But Steel Panther is just like an extension  of what our minds really are. You know, when you put Spandex on, you’re allowed to take the social guardrails off and say everything and anything that’s on your mind, which I think is why SteelPanther resonates with a bunch of people.

 Who were your favorite drummers when you were growing up?

John Bonham. I know that’s a stock answer, but he really was my favorite because he had the best feel for the drums. But I also loved Stewart Copeland and Rod Morgenstein of Dixie Dregs. He’s just a great drummer. 

The band’s big break was in that Discover credit card commercial when you were known as Danger Kitty. What was that like with millions of people suddenly knowing who you were?

Well, y’know, we were so involved in our residencies at that time that the commercial just kind of came and went for us. It was something we were asked to do, but we didn’t feel like we were getting national recognition until we put our first record out. And then we went over to England and within a week of the record coming out, people knew the lyrics and were already singing them. So that’s when we said, “Oh, make this thing is taking off.”

Where does the band get its wardrobe? I didn’t know you could still get Spandex in just a variety of colors.

Well, you can go online and get Spandex on Amazon, but it’s not going to fit right in the right place. If you want really good stagewear, you’ve got to go to a proper tailor or seamstress. The crotch zone is a very important feature that you don’t want to miscalculate because you don’t want too much room. If there’s too much room down there, things can move around. But you also don’t want it too constricting because otherwise you lose blood flow down there, and that ain’t good either. So you have to get the crotch just right.

Has the band ever been protested or picketed because of its lyrics?

No, no actual protests. But when our album “Balls Out” dropped, there was a women’s group that kicked up a little bit of dust about some lyrics. But the craziest thing that happened with our lyrics took place in Germany. When you put out an English-speaking album in foreign countries, oftentimes they will have translators translate the lyrics into whatever language they speak there. We had a song on “Balls Out” called “Critter.” I can’t tell you the lyrics because they’re too dirty for publication here, but what I will say is that the translation misfired so much. When you hear the word “critter” here, you think of a little squirrel or something, right? Some sort of small woodland animal. Over in Germany, whoever translated “Critter” transformed the song title to “Human Baby.” So if you could think about the things that we said about a “critter” in our song and apply to a human baby, well, it’s just so far off what the song is about. So the “Balls Out” album got put on a list of like 50 albums in Germany that you cannot purchase unless you have proper ID. Plus, they told us we could never play “Critter” live in Germany. 

Final question: What’s your wildest or craziest groupie story?

Well, you know that song “17 Girls In A Row?” That would be my wildest experience, because it was my story. But actually, it wasn’t 17 in real life, it was 15. The song didn’t have enough syllables so 17 sounds better.

Steel Panther plays on April 21 at 7 p.m at the Cla-Zel Theatre, 127 N Main St. in Bowling Green. Tickets are available on etix.com

Comedic hair metal band brings their filthy fun to the Cla-Zel

Steel Panther is the great phoenix to rise from the ashes of the L.A. Sunset Strip music scene of the 1980s. Back then, Spandex clad mutants wearing makeup and sky high Aqua Netted hair ruled the airwaves of America’s rock ‘n’ roll scene, and band names like Poison, Ratt, Motley Crue, and Guns ‘N Roses graced the pages of music pin-magazines of yester-decade like Circus, Hit Parader, and Rip. But nothing good ever lasts forever, and the L.A. bands crash landed right into the Great Seattle Grunge Explosion of the early 1990s, which suddenly made the tarted up bands culturally obsolete.

But don’t tell that to the members of Steel Panther, because to these true believers, the Sunset Strip is more home sweet home than a Motley Cue power ballad. This rock quartet simultaneously honors and parodies the hair metal acts of the ’80s. They have it down to a winning formula of colorful Spandex stage wear, amps that go to 11, and lurid, sex-heavy songs of hedonism and good times.

Steel Panther will be bringing their mayhem to the recently reopened Cla-Zel Theatre in Bowling Green on April 21. Toledo City Paper got Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia on the phone to discuss the history of rockdom’s best heavy metal satirists.

TCP: I’m a big fan of the band, man. You  guys give me so much joy.

Stix: Thanks, man. I appreciate it. That’s the whole point of Steel Panther—to bring you joy. And to meet your girlfriend. 

How much influence did Spinal Tap have upon the creation of SteelPanther? Songs like Big Bottom and Sex Farm could have easily been Steel Panther songs.

hear what you’re saying, but the truth is (Spinal) Tap had nothing to do with the creation of Steel Panther. And that’s not to take anything away from Tap, because they’re legendary. But Steel Panther is just like an extension  of what our minds really are. You know, when you put Spandex on, you’re allowed to take the social guardrails off and say everything and anything that’s on your mind, which I think is why SteelPanther resonates with a bunch of people.

 Who were your favorite drummers when you were growing up?

John Bonham. I know that’s a stock answer, but he really was my favorite because he had the best feel for the drums. But I also loved Stewart Copeland and Rod Morgenstein of Dixie Dregs. He’s just a great drummer. 

The band’s big break was in that Discover credit card commercial when you were known as Danger Kitty. What was that like with millions of people suddenly knowing who you were?

Well, y’know, we were so involved in our residencies at that time that the commercial just kind of came and went for us. It was something we were asked to do, but we didn’t feel like we were getting national recognition until we put our first record out. And then we went over to England and within a week of the record coming out, people knew the lyrics and were already singing them. So that’s when we said, “Oh, make this thing is taking off.”

Where does the band get its wardrobe? I didn’t know you could still get Spandex in just a variety of colors.

Well, you can go online and get Spandex on Amazon, but it’s not going to fit right in the right place. If you want really good stagewear, you’ve got to go to a proper tailor or seamstress. The crotch zone is a very important feature that you don’t want to miscalculate because you don’t want too much room. If there’s too much room down there, things can move around. But you also don’t want it too constricting because otherwise you lose blood flow down there, and that ain’t good either. So you have to get the crotch just right.

Has the band ever been protested or picketed because of its lyrics?

No, no actual protests. But when our album “Balls Out” dropped, there was a women’s group that kicked up a little bit of dust about some lyrics. But the craziest thing that happened with our lyrics took place in Germany. When you put out an English-speaking album in foreign countries, oftentimes they will have translators translate the lyrics into whatever language they speak there. We had a song on “Balls Out” called “Critter.” I can’t tell you the lyrics because they’re too dirty for publication here, but what I will say is that the translation misfired so much. When you hear the word “critter” here, you think of a little squirrel or something, right? Some sort of small woodland animal. Over in Germany, whoever translated “Critter” transformed the song title to “Human Baby.” So if you could think about the things that we said about a “critter” in our song and apply to a human baby, well, it’s just so far off what the song is about. So the “Balls Out” album got put on a list of like 50 albums in Germany that you cannot purchase unless you have proper ID. Plus, they told us we could never play “Critter” live in Germany. 

Final question: What’s your wildest or craziest groupie story?

Well, you know that song “17 Girls In A Row?” That would be my wildest experience, because it was my story. But actually, it wasn’t 17 in real life, it was 15. The song didn’t have enough syllables so 17 sounds better.

Steel Panther plays on April 21 at 7 p.m at the Cla-Zel Theatre, 127 N Main St. in Bowling Green. Tickets are available on etix.com