Spandex, Hairspray and Ass-Kicking Rock-n-Roll

By on June 1, 2014

 

(photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

Michael Star (photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

Steel Panther and Future Villains, House of Blues, Orlando FL May 13th 2014

Steel Panther rolled into Downtown Disney’s House of Blues in May and quickly reminded a packed house of what it was like being in a rock band in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Steel Panther’s look may take us back to the era of MTV and glam metal, but their lyrics and videos would never make it onto basic cable.

Steel Panther is Ralph Saenz (aka Michael Star) the vocalist, Drummer Darren Leader (aka Stix Zadinia), bassis Travis Haley (aka Lexxi Foxxx), and guitarist, Russ Parrish, (aka Satchel).  All the band members are established musicians in their own right.  Specifically Ralph Saenz, who had a stint in L.A. Guns, performed with the Van Halen cover band, Atomic Punk, and appeared in the movie, Rock Star. The most accomplished and well known musician in the group is guitarist Russ Parrish (“Satchel”).  He is known for his work with Rob Halford’s Fight and as an instructor at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood.  It’s amazing that the guitar player that created one of the most respected metal albums ever in Fight’s “War of Words,” is in this band, but Satchel plays the part perfectly.

(photo by Travis Failey / RSEN)

Satchel (photo by Travis Failey / RSEN)

Steel Panther is out on the road supporting its latest release, All You Can Eat.  They opened the show with the first song from the album titled ‘Pussywhipped.”   Other songs in their set included “Asian Hooker,” “Eyes of a Panther,” “Gloryhole,” and “Community Property.”  Surprisingly this was an all-ages show. Two hours filled with foul language, songs about sex, drugs and rock-n-roll and lots of bare breasted ladies in the audience. Exactly what you would expect at a rock show but this was over the top awesomeness! Now if that alone isn’t enough, how about a great sounding band too? In addition to hysterically funny songs, the members of Steel Panther are also funny comedians. The banter between lead singer Michael Starr and guitarist Satchel in between songs had everybody laughing hard. Most of the jokes ended in a segue leading into the next song.

Near the shows end Michael invited any of the lovely female audience members to join the band up on stage for their song “17 Girls in a Row”. Fifteen to twenty girls accepted the invitation, including a very special treat for fans of Steel Panther’s R-rated music video for the song “Party Like It’s The End of The World.”  I don’t know her name, but if you watch it online, she is the one with red hair and can be seen dancing throughout the video. Tonight, her hair was blond and she danced the same dance but did it completely topless. Not only was the video girl topless but three or four other girls decided to join in on the action. Naked girls on stage in a club on Disney property…. I guess it’s time to renew my annual pass!

(photo by Travis Failey / RSEN)

Michael Star (photo by Travis Failey / RSEN)

Opening the show tonight was a band I had never heard of but quickly became a fan of; Future Villains from Los Angeles, California. Future Villains are a modern hard rock band that has clearly been influenced by some of the harder rock bands from the 80’s. Their 45-minute set included a cover of AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood” and Deep Purple’s “Highway Star.”  Both songs sounded amazing. I will definitely check out more on Future Villains and hopefully they make it to central Florida again.

This was such a kick-ass night of rock-n-roll and I’m so glad I went. I had seen all of Steel Panthers’ videos online but I wasn’t sure exactly how it would play out live. This ended up being an awesome show with a great sounding band and singer, some really funny comedy that you don’t really see at a rock show, and did I mention the beautiful topless women?

(photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

Michael Star (photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

Steel Panther is now a band that I must see every time they come. My guess is that they will not be welcomed to play at the House of Blues again. A few metal bands have been banned from playing at Disney because of their violent lyrics (Machine Head & Exodus are two that I am aware of.)  This was a turn in the opposite direction from that, but for Disney it’s probably equally as offensive. Not that that’s a bad thing.

 

For more information and tour dates, check out http://steelpantherrocks.com/news/

STEEL PANTHER (photo by Travis Failey / RSEN)

STEEL PANTHER (photo by Travis Failey / RSEN)

(photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

(photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

(photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

(photo by Chris Zambello / Rockshot Live)

 

 

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