Interviews

Stix Zadinia - Steel Panther (audio interview)

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Mar 29, 2016

7 min read

We've all got that one mate who just absolutely, positively loves metal. Without a doubt he's always the one getting maggot on his own listening to all kinds of it and doesn't give a fuck what anything thinks about him. Well if you could morph that person into a band, the end result would be LA glam-metal parody band Steel Panther who have intrusively been gracing us with their presence for the better part of the past 8 years.

The four piece who live, breathe and (if they could) inject metal on a daily basis have found themselves with an ever growing fanbase for their unique style of music. You hear old interviews of musicians who used to live by the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle which at times looked very enticing for fans, but Panther literally showcase what that lifestyle is like through their music. If you're not familiar with the band, as I tell people they're like The Lonely Island crossed with Bon Jovi/Motley Crue, only 1000 times better and heaps more sexier too. You go to a show and not only will you leave pleased by the array of metal/slow jams they play, but the on-stage banter between these guys is NOT to be missed.

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This morning we grabbed drummer Stix Zadinia for a chat about their upcoming tour and for an act who first graced us with their presence back in 2012 at Soundwave Festival the mass following they've accumulated since then seems to be never ending and it will continue to grow if they continue to please their fans with as much new material as they can throw at us. They've just released their latest offering Live from Lexxi's Mom's Garage [check out our review here] but Stix told us the album was more of a filler before they hit the studio and bust out a new record:

"We certainly didn't do it for the money, we did it because we wanted our fans to have something fresh that they could listen to and we tried to make it super entertaining with the DVD component."

"It was something to tide our fans over until we could get into the studio this April and start on a new record."

But sadly for those wanting to hear some of this new music on their upcoming visit, the band won't be featuring any of it until it's ready to be released:

"We probably won't be playing anything band new off this (as of right now) untitled record, because when we present it, we wanna present it in a way that it's recorded, not off someone's phone on Youtube."

Which makes sense, when you hear a song for the first time and it's not at a quality you can enjoy or understand it takes away from the surprise of hearing something new for the first time and unfortunately in this day and age of social media, it's hard to hide yourself away from "spoilers" as it is, that also includes new songs/first plays.

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Steel Panther @ House of Blues Sunset Strip April 2014[/caption]

Steel Panther are local as fuck in the LA Live Music Scene and at one stage were the weekly house band for the iconic House of Blues Sunset Strip venue which sadly closed down late last year, but not before the boys performed there once last time. In a world where bands are struggling to make ends meet and earn a dollar or two here and there, on top of that the stress of lock out laws and noise restrictions, it's making it hard for venues to keep their doors open, not just here in Australia but across the globe it seems and this causes a big deal of stress for acts trying to make it:

"The live music industry is kinda the last spot you can make a living, when you play live you sell merch, you do VIP stuff and you get paid to play. Records don't account for a lot of money, so if the Live Music goes, I don't know what the hell there is, I mean Fuck what is there Australia's Got Talent?"

"Australia reminds me of California in the late 70's it's so fuckin' chilled, laid back and super fun and I hope you guys don't change much of that and that's why we like to go back there."

We can only hope the scene will survive over the next few years, as long as we get out there and support the acts that come through, buy merch and immerse yourself in the industry as much as possible then there's a chance we can see it continuing to thrive when others around us are doing what they can to kill it.

And as for trying to get into the mind of Steel Panther to see how they really think, we offered up a game of "Mung, Spitroast or Rim" involving one of Hollywood's oldest (and respected) actresses, the queen on controversy herself Miley Cyrus and newly appointed woman on the year Caitlyn Jenner. The end result you'll have to listen for yourself below!

Steel Panther return to Australia this June, if you've never seen them before or are dying to see them again, snatch up your tickets now before the sell out and you miss the fuck out.