Some call them the pride of Los Angeles. Others view them as a categorical disgrace to music. But irrespective of the labels projected onto them, Steel Panther sure know how to have a good time.
The glamorous and good-humoured parody metal outfit is heading back to Australia next month, following a stint on last year’s Soundwave tour. It’ll officially be wintertime when Steel Panther return, but that’s no bother – it’s not the weather that lures them back, as bass player Lexxi Foxx explains.
“We were all talking when we were rehearsing for the tour about how many beautiful women are in Australia,” he says. “I cannot believe how lucky you guys are. It was so fun to do Soundwave over there and see everybody. Going to the beach there in Sydney and seeing all of the beautiful women there – it’s just a fun place to be, so we’re all looking forward to it.”
Steel Panther are notorious for their promiscuity, or at least for brazenly divulging the juicy details of their inordinate sex lives. Even Foxx, the band’s gentlest and most sensitive character, has no inhibitions when it comes to romance on the road.
“We’ve done more than just talk,” he says. “We went all the way ‘down under’, if you know what I’m talking about. I’ve had some fun little relationships over there, from Perth all the way to Sydney. I’ve been fortunate enough to have many after-hour parties at my hotel room. So I’ve gotten to know [Australians] quite well.”
Steel Panther’s apparent sex-crazed lifestyles are essentially the nucleus of the band’s existence, characterising their songs, live shows, and evidently their interviews. The group formed in 2000 and has since released four studio LPs (including one under their original name Metal Shop). But while the band’s four members mightn’t be as young as they used to be, their libidos haven’t diminished with age.
“I suggest this for everybody – take a bunch of drugs and then take boner pills,” Foxx says. “Yes, we are getting very old. I’m very old. I don’t know how long I’ll be doing this, but as long as I keep pumping drugs into my system and using those damn boner pills … those things work like crazy. I’m knocking over pictures and everything in the hotel room. Those things are a blast. So thank God for technology. I just got my Botox done and my eyebrows done. Technology keeps me going. We’re all old men, but drugs are good. Drugs are very good.”
Foxx and his bandmates are happy to embrace technology in order to sustain their glam rock image, but when it comes to album releases and promotional methods, they stick to what they know. In February they released the live album and accompanying film, Live From Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage. While online hype machines and surprise album releases have started to dominate the mainstream music sphere, Steel Panther prefer a grassroots approach.
“Surprise records? That’s a bunch of crap,” Foxx says. “You should be able to just promote like back in the day. Back in the ’80s, back in the ’70s, you did your promotional tours, like we did for Live From Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage. We went all the way to the UK and to New York and we had one here in Los Angeles. Technology’s changing so much. Open record stores back up. Record labels should just come back and just do it all ’80s-style again.
“All this technology and social media shit, it’s way over my head. We’re all old, so we like it old-school. I have a Twitter account, but I barely even go on that. I’ll check it every once in a while, but I don’t have a Facebook page or anything like that. I don’t have Instagram. The band will do things like that, but I’m not a very social media guy. I’ve never been into things like that. I wish I still had a rotary phone. I couldn’t even work this damn smartphone. Of course, I’m not too smart myself, so that’s why I still live with my mom.”
Live From Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage was indeed recorded and filmed at Foxx’s mother’s house. It’s been two years since the band’s last studio release, All You Can Eat, and the release of an acoustic live album could be a clue for what’s coming next. However, Foxx clarifies that Steel Panther are not abandoning their hard rock sound.
“We did that just to get close to those chicks that are in the DVD. That’s the only reason we did that. It was my idea we’d all get together in my mom’s garage and invite lots of chicks … Acoustic guitars make girls very, very, very horny. Now we’re going to leave that alone for a while and we’re on our way to making another bitching rock record. Hopefully we can get it out by the beginning of next year.”
Steel Panther are commonly described as a comedy band. It’s true that their salacious lyrics and eccentric cock rock arrangements provide plenty of support for this perception, but there’s also a fair amount of darkness strewn throughout their catalogue. For one, it doesn’t always sound so glamorous to be insatiably sex-obsessed. And then there’s a song like All You Can Eat’s ‘The Burden Of Being Wonderful’, which speaks of how lonely it is to exist at a superior level, to be “a Maserati in a world of Kias”. As Foxx sees it, they’re just conveying their own truth and trying to enjoy themselves as much as possible while they still can.
“Why I love being in this band so much is because, first of all, we all look bitching in spandex even though we’re really old. The other thing is we do something different, because we don’t give a shit. All the bands that are out there are trying to be so cool and want to get on the radio and they don’t want to offend anyone. Fuck that. If we like writing about sex, drugs, rock’n’roll and just having a good time, and if we happen to offend somebody, then we just do. There’s nothing we can do. If some people find some lyrics to be funny, that’s fine too.
“A lot of people in Australia really do understand us and get us and that’s why we do so well over there. The UK as well. But there’s some people who just don’t and that’s totally fine, but we’re still going to keep writing the way that we’ve been. A lot of people think we’re just a one-legged pony or that this is going to be a flash in the pan. But we’re going to be here until one of us either dies or just can’t walk anymore.”
[Steel Panther photo by David Jackson]
Steel Panther’sLive From Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage isout now through Kobalt; and they play theBig Top Sydney, Luna Park, on Friday June 17.
