Steel Panther (22/08/2012)
The 59th Sound recently spoke with Stix Zadinia, the drummer of glam rock and foul-mouthed band Steel Panther. What followed was a rather colourful conversation about their upcoming tour Down Under, their time on Soundwave 2012 and a couple of hints about what we can expect in the future.
Hey Stix, I’m Beth from The 59th Sound. Thanks for talking to us today.
Thanks Beth. How are you?
I’m good. How about you?
I am super good.
That’s great to hear.
Now you guys are coming down to Australia for the second time this year, after it took you forever to make it down the first time. You just couldn’t get enough of Australia, huh?
I’m fucking excited to come back down to Australia! For real. I can’t believe that more bands don’t go down there.
Yeah well we only invite the best bands down.
You know, I am very honoured to be in that category of bands that you guys would have down there. Because you guys are insane as fans, and that’s like insane in a good way!
That’s good to hear. And obviously you got a taste of Australia when you came down with Soundwave, so what are you looking to this time round?
Just, more of everything! More of your weather. More of your ladies. More of the fans. More of the whole of Australia. It’s a cool fucking place you know. It reminds me of California. I was born and raised in California, and it reminds me of California in like the late 70s.
That is certainly high praise. Are you looking to get your photo taken with a koala this time round?
Totally! If there’s a koala there I will totally take a picture with it. I’ll get a photo with a koala, a kangaroo…. What else is indigenous to Australia that I’m not mentioning?
We’ve got wombats and echidnas too.
Ah wombats! Aw man, I gotta go to the fucking zoo and just do a photo session with the guys.
So you mentioned before how insane your Aussie fans are, I mean your upcoming Melbourne show sold out in 13 minutes. Has the enthusiasm been unexpected for you guys?
Absolutely! The fact that we were only there for Soundwave and then we put these shows on sale and 13 minutes to sell a show out, it freaks me out. I cannot believe the response that we’ve gotten. And we had to add shows because there were not enough tickets for people. People were mad! It was funny because on twitter I would get tweets like ‘What the fuck you asshole, you only put that many tickets on sale?’ I’m like, ‘Dude I didn’t fucking do it.’ I’m in the band, I want to come down to rock as many people as possible. But I gotta say the promoters and the manager doing the tour, they added dates and increased venue sizes to accommodate people. And I think its gong to be just a fucking party when we come down.
I think everybody is looking forward to a party from you guys!
You know, I think I’m feeling more pressure from Australia for us to throw the party then I am for our third record. That’s the vibe I get. And you know what, if that’s what we’re going to be measured by, I am prepared!
Obviously with Soundwave you guys were sharing the stage with System of a Down, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson and quite a few other big names. Do you have plans to make this headlining tour a step up from last time?
Well yeah! I mean that’s the intention. We played a 40 or 50 minute set when we did Soundwave and we had our banners behind us, and that was about it for production. This time we’re coming we’re bringing full on production, we’re bringing staging, we’re bringing everything. We’re going to do whatever we can do that the rooms will physically accommodate. We’re gonna do a full on headlining set. For every person who bought a ticket, our goal, is to have them fucking walk away and say that’s the fucking most fun I’ve ever had at a show! That was our goal at Soundwave, but with a headlining show, we’re dead-fucking-serious about making this show kick-ass. Because that’s all we have at the end of the day. You know, us and our fans and the people who support Steel Panther. And we want to make it work and we don’t take that lightly. At all.
Well it sounds like these shows will be something to remember. In fact, you’ve got a couple of over 18 shows on the tour, can we expect something racier for those shows?
We don’t set those rules, so I don’t know what constitutes an 18 and over show or not, but we’re gonna do the same show pretty much everywhere. Our shows, I think, are pretty racy. When we did Soundwave festival we had to go from song to song pretty quick for us. But with this tour, we’ll be able to engage with audience like we normally do.
I don’t know the reason for the 18 and over shows, to be honest with you. It’s not like we said ‘hey at this place we’re going to fuck a donkey on stage, so no 17 year olds.’ You’re going to get the same show whether you’re at the 18 and over or the all ages. We’re gonna put on our show. We’re not gonna change our show for anything!
You guys have come out with some pretty crazy stories from your past tours. What’s the best story you’ve got from your time on the Soundwave tour?
Okay, I got one. You know Aaron Lewis from Staind (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Fred Durst from Limp Biskit (lead vocals)?
Yep.
Alright good. Okay so Fred, Aaron and I were sitting on a pier. This sounds like a joke. We’re sitting there and there are a couple other people there, and fans were noticing Fred. There was security so people couldn’t just bombard us, you know Fred’s a pretty recognisable guy. And I didn’t know how many people there knew who I was.
So there was a group of like 5 or 6 kids that came over and got Fred’s autograph. And we’re just sitting there, me and Aaron. I mean Staind’s a pretty big fucking band and so Fred goes, I think he was fucking around, but he goes ‘Hey, you guys know who this is? You guys know Aaron from Staind?’ And the kids are all like, ‘No, I’ve never heard of that band.’ So he goes, ‘You know who that is?’ And this kid goes ‘That’s Stix! From Steel Panther!’
Like it was, for me, it was so awkward because Staind is pretty damn big in the states and for them to recognise us and not Aaron, it was very awkward. But one of the moments I think I’ll remember forever, they actually know who we are. It was really cool.
I guess you guys do have a pretty unique look that makes you rather recognisable.
I don’t disagree with you, but I never think about it.
Like I still introduce myself, even to people at shows. I go ‘Hey, I’m Stix’ and then they’ll go, ‘I know. I know who your band is.’ It’s not something I totally get used to.
As a band, you guys have been described as everything from ‘bringing back the glory days of hair metal and glam rock’ to ‘more infectious than a bad case of herpes.’ What is the best description you’ve come across?
The herpes one is pretty good. I heard one today, it was on the Gibson (guitars) website. It’s, ‘they’re our favourite 80s inspired-foul-mouthed-but-we-love-them band’ or something like that.
I just love that people are talking about us, because that means that we’re doing something that somebody must like somewhere.
Well I’d say your recent ticket sales indicate there are more than just a few fans out there.
Yeah, well based on the reaction in Australia, definitely a lot of somebodies out there.
You guys have tours lined up for the rest of the year, can we expect the same next year or do you have something else planned for us?
Well hopefully we have another record coming next year. And we will more than likely tour. Well, we’ll definitely tour next year. I’m not sure where, I think Soundwave 2013 is already booked, so we’re not on that but I wouldn’t be surprised if we come back down there again.
Don’t quote me, because nothing is planned yet. We gotta get through this one first.
Fair enough, but we’re all hoping you’ll be coming down.
Yeah, well I hope we do too.
You said that you’re planning for your third album, have you started working on it yet?
Well songs have been written, and songs are being worked on, absolutely with the third record in mind. And discussions have started about when we’re going to actually go into pre-production and then record them. There are no dates set, yet, but it’s definitely in the forefront of discussions.
It’s really important to us that we keep ourselves turned on musically. And that we keep fresh material out there for people who have the first two records. We love writing songs, we love playing our music for people and we just want to get that out there to them as soon as possible. But we don’t want to rush anything, we want it to be done right.
And obviously you have a reputation for your musical style and content, so can we expect more of the same or are you going to head somewhere else?
I think we’re going to go for a totally serious, political album and we’re going to talk about…. Nah I’m kidding!
We’re going to totally do more of the same, because it’s what we do! There may be subject matter on there that’s going to vary a little bit, but we’re a heavy metal band and that’s what we do!
We’re not about to start doing an adult, Latin-jazz fusion record and start talking about religion and politics.
Ah it could be good though. You won’t know until you try.
You know what, you may be onto something. Maybe we should consider doing that.
On ‘Balls Out’ you played piano on the track ‘Weenie Ride’, are you thinking about putting some more piano in this time round?
Maybe. Nothing is going to be ruled out right away.
Like I said, the songs have not been selected and there’s still more stuff to write so we could absolutely work out something.
You know, maybe there’s going to be a piece where it’s acoustic guitar and piano. I don’t know. There is definitely potential to put another piano song, it hasn’t been decided yet.
And my final question; if you could pick your own tour line up with bands both past and present, who would you like to tour with?
Aw man. Well I already did Def Leppard, Motely Crue, so that’s one of them that would have been totally awesome, but we already did it. Aerosmith, Van Halen, AC/DC and Steel Panther!
Yeah, I would definitely love to see that tour.
How good would that be! God, man that would be so cool.
Alright, let’s book that.
Well thank you so much for talking with The 59th Sound today, and I can’t wait to see you guys when you come down in October.
And thanks to you too, have a good day.
Bethany Williams
THURSDAY 4 OCTOBER - BRISBANE
EATONS HILL – LIC A/A
SOLD OUT
FRIDAY 5 OCTOBER - SYDNEY
BIG TOP LUNA PARK - LIC A/A
SOLD OUT
SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER - SYDNEY
BIG TOP LUNA PARK - 18+
2ND SHOW!!
www.oztix.com.au
SUNDAY 7 OCTOBER - MELBOURNE
FESTIVAL HALL – LIC & UNLIC AREAS
NEW VENUE!!
www.ticketmaster.com.au
TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER - ADELAIDE
THEBARTON THEATRE – LIC A/A
NEW DATE!! NEW VENUE!!
www.venuetix.com.au
THURSDAY 11 OCTOBER - PERTH
METRO CITY - 18+
NEW DATE!!
www.oztix.com.au
Hey Stix, I’m Beth from The 59th Sound. Thanks for talking to us today.
Thanks Beth. How are you?
I’m good. How about you?
I am super good.
That’s great to hear.
Now you guys are coming down to Australia for the second time this year, after it took you forever to make it down the first time. You just couldn’t get enough of Australia, huh?
I’m fucking excited to come back down to Australia! For real. I can’t believe that more bands don’t go down there.
Yeah well we only invite the best bands down.
You know, I am very honoured to be in that category of bands that you guys would have down there. Because you guys are insane as fans, and that’s like insane in a good way!
That’s good to hear. And obviously you got a taste of Australia when you came down with Soundwave, so what are you looking to this time round?
Just, more of everything! More of your weather. More of your ladies. More of the fans. More of the whole of Australia. It’s a cool fucking place you know. It reminds me of California. I was born and raised in California, and it reminds me of California in like the late 70s.
That is certainly high praise. Are you looking to get your photo taken with a koala this time round?
Totally! If there’s a koala there I will totally take a picture with it. I’ll get a photo with a koala, a kangaroo…. What else is indigenous to Australia that I’m not mentioning?
We’ve got wombats and echidnas too.
Ah wombats! Aw man, I gotta go to the fucking zoo and just do a photo session with the guys.
So you mentioned before how insane your Aussie fans are, I mean your upcoming Melbourne show sold out in 13 minutes. Has the enthusiasm been unexpected for you guys?
Absolutely! The fact that we were only there for Soundwave and then we put these shows on sale and 13 minutes to sell a show out, it freaks me out. I cannot believe the response that we’ve gotten. And we had to add shows because there were not enough tickets for people. People were mad! It was funny because on twitter I would get tweets like ‘What the fuck you asshole, you only put that many tickets on sale?’ I’m like, ‘Dude I didn’t fucking do it.’ I’m in the band, I want to come down to rock as many people as possible. But I gotta say the promoters and the manager doing the tour, they added dates and increased venue sizes to accommodate people. And I think its gong to be just a fucking party when we come down.
I think everybody is looking forward to a party from you guys!
You know, I think I’m feeling more pressure from Australia for us to throw the party then I am for our third record. That’s the vibe I get. And you know what, if that’s what we’re going to be measured by, I am prepared!
Obviously with Soundwave you guys were sharing the stage with System of a Down, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson and quite a few other big names. Do you have plans to make this headlining tour a step up from last time?
Well yeah! I mean that’s the intention. We played a 40 or 50 minute set when we did Soundwave and we had our banners behind us, and that was about it for production. This time we’re coming we’re bringing full on production, we’re bringing staging, we’re bringing everything. We’re going to do whatever we can do that the rooms will physically accommodate. We’re gonna do a full on headlining set. For every person who bought a ticket, our goal, is to have them fucking walk away and say that’s the fucking most fun I’ve ever had at a show! That was our goal at Soundwave, but with a headlining show, we’re dead-fucking-serious about making this show kick-ass. Because that’s all we have at the end of the day. You know, us and our fans and the people who support Steel Panther. And we want to make it work and we don’t take that lightly. At all.
Well it sounds like these shows will be something to remember. In fact, you’ve got a couple of over 18 shows on the tour, can we expect something racier for those shows?
We don’t set those rules, so I don’t know what constitutes an 18 and over show or not, but we’re gonna do the same show pretty much everywhere. Our shows, I think, are pretty racy. When we did Soundwave festival we had to go from song to song pretty quick for us. But with this tour, we’ll be able to engage with audience like we normally do.
I don’t know the reason for the 18 and over shows, to be honest with you. It’s not like we said ‘hey at this place we’re going to fuck a donkey on stage, so no 17 year olds.’ You’re going to get the same show whether you’re at the 18 and over or the all ages. We’re gonna put on our show. We’re not gonna change our show for anything!
You guys have come out with some pretty crazy stories from your past tours. What’s the best story you’ve got from your time on the Soundwave tour?
Okay, I got one. You know Aaron Lewis from Staind (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Fred Durst from Limp Biskit (lead vocals)?
Yep.
Alright good. Okay so Fred, Aaron and I were sitting on a pier. This sounds like a joke. We’re sitting there and there are a couple other people there, and fans were noticing Fred. There was security so people couldn’t just bombard us, you know Fred’s a pretty recognisable guy. And I didn’t know how many people there knew who I was.
So there was a group of like 5 or 6 kids that came over and got Fred’s autograph. And we’re just sitting there, me and Aaron. I mean Staind’s a pretty big fucking band and so Fred goes, I think he was fucking around, but he goes ‘Hey, you guys know who this is? You guys know Aaron from Staind?’ And the kids are all like, ‘No, I’ve never heard of that band.’ So he goes, ‘You know who that is?’ And this kid goes ‘That’s Stix! From Steel Panther!’
Like it was, for me, it was so awkward because Staind is pretty damn big in the states and for them to recognise us and not Aaron, it was very awkward. But one of the moments I think I’ll remember forever, they actually know who we are. It was really cool.
I guess you guys do have a pretty unique look that makes you rather recognisable.
I don’t disagree with you, but I never think about it.
Like I still introduce myself, even to people at shows. I go ‘Hey, I’m Stix’ and then they’ll go, ‘I know. I know who your band is.’ It’s not something I totally get used to.
As a band, you guys have been described as everything from ‘bringing back the glory days of hair metal and glam rock’ to ‘more infectious than a bad case of herpes.’ What is the best description you’ve come across?
The herpes one is pretty good. I heard one today, it was on the Gibson (guitars) website. It’s, ‘they’re our favourite 80s inspired-foul-mouthed-but-we-love-them band’ or something like that.
I just love that people are talking about us, because that means that we’re doing something that somebody must like somewhere.
Well I’d say your recent ticket sales indicate there are more than just a few fans out there.
Yeah, well based on the reaction in Australia, definitely a lot of somebodies out there.
You guys have tours lined up for the rest of the year, can we expect the same next year or do you have something else planned for us?
Well hopefully we have another record coming next year. And we will more than likely tour. Well, we’ll definitely tour next year. I’m not sure where, I think Soundwave 2013 is already booked, so we’re not on that but I wouldn’t be surprised if we come back down there again.
Don’t quote me, because nothing is planned yet. We gotta get through this one first.
Fair enough, but we’re all hoping you’ll be coming down.
Yeah, well I hope we do too.
You said that you’re planning for your third album, have you started working on it yet?
Well songs have been written, and songs are being worked on, absolutely with the third record in mind. And discussions have started about when we’re going to actually go into pre-production and then record them. There are no dates set, yet, but it’s definitely in the forefront of discussions.
It’s really important to us that we keep ourselves turned on musically. And that we keep fresh material out there for people who have the first two records. We love writing songs, we love playing our music for people and we just want to get that out there to them as soon as possible. But we don’t want to rush anything, we want it to be done right.
And obviously you have a reputation for your musical style and content, so can we expect more of the same or are you going to head somewhere else?
I think we’re going to go for a totally serious, political album and we’re going to talk about…. Nah I’m kidding!
We’re going to totally do more of the same, because it’s what we do! There may be subject matter on there that’s going to vary a little bit, but we’re a heavy metal band and that’s what we do!
We’re not about to start doing an adult, Latin-jazz fusion record and start talking about religion and politics.
Ah it could be good though. You won’t know until you try.
You know what, you may be onto something. Maybe we should consider doing that.
On ‘Balls Out’ you played piano on the track ‘Weenie Ride’, are you thinking about putting some more piano in this time round?
Maybe. Nothing is going to be ruled out right away.
Like I said, the songs have not been selected and there’s still more stuff to write so we could absolutely work out something.
You know, maybe there’s going to be a piece where it’s acoustic guitar and piano. I don’t know. There is definitely potential to put another piano song, it hasn’t been decided yet.
And my final question; if you could pick your own tour line up with bands both past and present, who would you like to tour with?
Aw man. Well I already did Def Leppard, Motely Crue, so that’s one of them that would have been totally awesome, but we already did it. Aerosmith, Van Halen, AC/DC and Steel Panther!
Yeah, I would definitely love to see that tour.
How good would that be! God, man that would be so cool.
Alright, let’s book that.
Well thank you so much for talking with The 59th Sound today, and I can’t wait to see you guys when you come down in October.
And thanks to you too, have a good day.
Bethany Williams
THURSDAY 4 OCTOBER - BRISBANE
EATONS HILL – LIC A/A
SOLD OUT
FRIDAY 5 OCTOBER - SYDNEY
BIG TOP LUNA PARK - LIC A/A
SOLD OUT
SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER - SYDNEY
BIG TOP LUNA PARK - 18+
2ND SHOW!!
www.oztix.com.au
SUNDAY 7 OCTOBER - MELBOURNE
FESTIVAL HALL – LIC & UNLIC AREAS
NEW VENUE!!
www.ticketmaster.com.au
TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER - ADELAIDE
THEBARTON THEATRE – LIC A/A
NEW DATE!! NEW VENUE!!
www.venuetix.com.au
THURSDAY 11 OCTOBER - PERTH
METRO CITY - 18+
NEW DATE!!
www.oztix.com.au