On Dealing With The Haters

Before christening the band Steel Panther, they were known as Metal Shop, then Metal Skool, and even did one Japanese advertisement as Danger Kitty. Did they flirt with any other band names as well?

“A lot of people don't know that there was a short period there where we were Prince, because Prince gave up his name and we became Prince. Then we changed the name to White Panther, and then we were the Black Panther - but that wasn't cool, because you have to be black to be the Black Panther.”

On getting annoyed that Steel Panther sometimes get written off as just a comedy band: “No, because I don't care anymore. I'm so old and I did so many drugs… there's always going to be critics out there, and you can't listen to that. You have to follow your heart. There's always bullies on the internet. Like they say, the haters are going to hate, right? Those people that hate Steel Panther, they can just suck my dick. That's all I can say about that. Yeah. Some of the ones that like us, they can do the same thing.”

On the Australian sense of humour, and why we latched onto Steel Panther early on in the piece: “People Down Under know how to party. They live life to the fullest: they like to fuck and they like to rock. People aren't afraid of being judged at a Steel Panther show. They like to laugh and they like to party. We bring the whole party to the show. You don't come to a Steel Panther show and wonder where you're going to go after that because it's like a one-stop shop for music and sex and alcohol and drugs. It's a killer.”

Is there such a thing as a typical day in Steel Panther-land? “When you're in a band there is no typical day. Every day is an adventure because you don't know if you're going to end up making it to the end of the day. You don't know if you're going to get laid or you're going to get shot during a drug deal. You don't know if you're going to wind up at the show and your instruments are going to be in tune or maybe they will be stolen. You don't even know.”

Originally published in X-Press Magazine