Interview and live pics by Emily Eve; girls on stage pic by Friedia Niimura

In one sense, making records is like using the toilet: It takes more to do number two than number one. And in the case of L.A. heavy metal semi-parodists Steel Panther, a follow-up to their wildly funny and compulsively banging 2009 debut Feel The Steel is an even bigger, stinkier challenge: This time, fans can see them coming, um so to speak. But in the spotlight’s glare, before expectant ears and faces poised to smile, lead singer Michael Starr and crew deliver a bigger, dirtier, and awesomer mass of heavy metal hilarity called Balls Out (available Tuesday). The 14-track tour de farce covers 47 amazing minutes, a range of hot-button rocker issues (drugs, gender roles, boners), and a load of singalong mega-choruses and nip-scorching guitar solos unheard since pro tools was just an aisle at Sears. To those somehow able to resist Feel The Steel, I say: You’re fucked now. Balls Out is stronger than you and your feeble protestations. Crank. It. Up.

This feat of skill and cocksmanship on display in Balls Out begs for investigation, so last week I went to hear firsthand how Steel Panther achieved the equivalent of making a Ghostbusters II better than its Ghostbusters I. And though it was a rainy, gusty Autumn night, the huge Steel Panther dressing room was buzzing heatedly as I sat down with Starr and lead bass player Lexxi Foxxx to get answers. Just nearby were lead guitarist Satchel (at whom I gazed lovingly whenever his inattention allowed) and lead drummer Stix Zadinia (with entourage) as the three of us gabbed highly about Balls Out, drugs, vaginas, immaturity, maturity, the guy from Nickelback, shaving stuff, the responsibilities of being Steel Panther, and much more.

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Learning is fun, so I had a killer time gabbing with producer Jay Ruston a couple Mondays ago. He shed light on the genesis of Steel Panther’s awesome debut Feel The Steel, explaining that work on those songs was commenced without label backing and in support of the band’s wishes to get original stuff into their live set. A few years later (now), Steel Panther is big as Beverly Hills boobz and all set to release their sophomore album on Fucktober 18, which according to guitarist Satchel’s internetting is named Balls Out. It’s an A+ title in the accuracy department — mine are out now and will soon be placed directly on this album — and, unlike Gash Bash and my suggestions last month, this title isn’t too dirty for mention in magazines and on the radio. So Steel Panther can continue to make like boners and get bigger until they explode.

Update New Steel Panther song “If You Really Really Love Me” debuted late Monday on BBC Radio 1. You’ll really really love it. Listen here.

-ADF

Steel Panther’s Balls Out falls out October 18 on Universal/Republic and features Dane Cook, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, and Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy. 

Jay Ruston photo by Josh Reeder; Brian Posehn/Brett Anderson photo by Susana Capra

Producer, engineer, and mixer Jay Ruston loves a challenge. He’s the guy whom Anthrax hired to save their troubled Worship Music album. He’s the guy who spit-shined their Sofia Big 4 performance for DVD release. He’s also the dude who helped silly Steel Panther craft the decade’s most seriously memorable album, and also the dude enlisted to surpass expectations for Feel The Steel‘s sequel and follow-up (due out October 18). He’s a whiz who has worked with intimidatingly successful producers (Desmond Child, Peter Asher, Jack Richardson) and intimidatingly hot rocker foxes (The Donnas, Pearl Aday, Brian Posehn). And Ruston is a friendly dude who at a moment’s notice devoted his Monday morning to spilling sexy insider details on the abovementioned Steel Panther and Anthrax projects (and tons more) to MetalSucks. Want the real story on an album’s making? Ask the producer!

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In Wisconsin, it’s in ink on everybody’s schedule to hit the local polling place today and vote against the hateful, friendless jerks who became politicians in order to hoard all basic ingredients of good living (like this little turd did). While some rage against harmful idiocy, everybody else can engage in harmless idiocy but just heading to a local computer machine to vote in Steel Panther’s Shocker Contest. To win, one lucky fanther will have landed the most likes (here on the band’s book of facing) for the best Shocker-themed fan pic (like above).

In other Steel Panther news, a wobbly, waddling Vince Neil joined the band onstage Saturday in Las Vegas to um perform Motley Crue hits “Live Wire” and “Kickstart My Heart” (video here). The only thing funnier than Neil’s wheezy warbling in the former is Panther guitarist Satchel’s three-point inspection of Neil’s sexy companions during the latter. Nah, check that. Vince Neil’s scramble to not suck is way funnier.

-ADF

Steel Panther is currently in the studio at work on a follow-up to 2009 year’s best metal album, Feel The Steel.

When the Key Club in West Hollywood closed its doors in December 2009, the eight-legged party beast Steel Panther had to find a new hair rock habitat for their weekly shows. At first, it was a relief when Michael Starr and crew cock-strutted a few blocks down Sunset to the House of Whites Blues: admission got cheaper, the room bigger, and sound better. But, for the sleaze of hair rock, a music venue/shopping mall/tourist trap isn’t the preferred setting. So sometime around March, I started to long for a return to the safety of a drug-friendly sweat hole with dark corners and unpolice-able bathrooms. After all, the Key Club was once the site of Ben Gazzari’s eponymous rock club, where the sleaze don once proudly showcased his barely-legal harem and, for VIPs, his somewhat prescient home video skills; meanwhile, HoB has a freakin’ gift shop.

You’d want maximum possible sleaze, too, once you survey the crowd. It’s mostly tourists (literally and figuratively), but filled out with solitary guys like me, unaccompanied and dead serious, fidgeting through extended bouts of boob-flashing  (our sighs seem to say “Just show ‘em already and let’s get on with the Whitesnake covers!”) and secretaries-gone-wild sing-alongs (not to be a sandy vagina, but I submit that “Don’t Stop Believin’” is not hair rock). Our visual mating call is a non-ironic hair metal shirt and a general vibe of impatience for the super hits.

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MetalSucks Maniac The Ghost of D. Boon e-mailed us in response to that video we posted yesterday of Steel Panther guitarist Satchel playing drums while taking a guitar solo to make sure we knew about Gull… and we didn’t. So thanks, Ghost!

Gull is a one-man project from Richmond, VA who not only plays guitar and drums simultaneously (and wwwaaayyy better than Satchel), but also sings! Ghost says that mask he’s wearing has a mic in it, which is hooked up to reverb pedal. Check it out:

You can get more info on Gull here.

And while we’re talking about one man bands… this suddenly got me thinking about Corn Mo, this dude I used to see play local clubs and bars here in New York from time to time. He’s not really metal, but he used to host gigs for metal cover bands and obviously has some knowledge of metal, so it seemed worth posting. Plus, if you’re drunk enough, he can be fun to watch live. Check out the drum stick coming out of his pants!

Here’s Corn Mo, both doing his solo thing and playing with Gary Suarez’s hero, Andrew WK:

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Actually, it’s not quite as cool as it initially sounds; I mean, when you think about it, he’s basically just tapping his foot while he riffs.

Still, I couldn’t do it, and I haven’t really seen any other guitarists do it, so props where they’re due.

This is an eight minute long video of Steel Panther’s Russ Parrish – a.k.a. “Satchel” – soloing, but skip to the 4:25 mark to see the cool part.

-AR

Thanks to Kenneth Horan for the tip.