London Music Hall is about to get a face full of hairspray and a heavy dose of satire. If you have spent any time in the 519 over the last two decades, you know the drill. Steel Panther is not just a band; they are a functioning paradox. They are four guys who play their instruments better than the icons they are parodying, yet they choose to spend their stage time singing about glory holes and the anatomical specifics of their fan base.
It is a gimmick that should have died during the MySpace era. But it didn't. Instead, Steel Panther has become a global touring juggernaut. They have spent nearly 20 years leaning into a sexualized brand of comedic heavy metal that makes Mötley Crüe look like a Sunday school choir. Songs like "Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)", "Gloryhole" and "Community Property" are staples of a setlist that balances on a razor's edge between genuine musicianship and absolute absurdity.
There is a cold truth to their success. Had Michael Starr, Satchel, Stix Zadinia and Lexxi Foxx decided to write "serious" power ballads about heartbreak in the late 2000s, they would have been laughed off the stage. The world did not need another Creed or a late-to-the-party glam revival. By making themselves the joke, they became untouchable. They are Steel Panther. And they are coming to London on Saturday, June 15.
I caught up with frontman Michael Starr ahead of their Canadian run. He sounds exactly like you would expect: a man who has spent too much time in a tour bus but still possesses the manic energy of a teenager who just discovered his first distortion pedal. We started with the elephant in the room: the exhaustion of the road and the frequent "rehab" stints of bassist Lexxi Foxx.
Starr is blunt about the physical toll this takes. "No, not really. We’ve been home for a bit to get some rest, but we’ve also been recording while we’re home and then we have just been rehabbing and trying to re-gather ourselves because after you tour for a while, it kind of wears you down a bit," Starr says.
The lifestyle is not all champagne and backstage passes. It is a grind that requires a specific kind of physical recalibration. "You have to rehab, like start eating food on a regular basis and maybe do some light lifting and walk around a little and then just get back in shape to tour because touring is the most important thing - going out and playing for people," he notes.
Watching Starr speak, you realize the "rehab" he talks about is less about clinical intervention and more about surviving the sheer velocity of their schedule. To play this fast and scream this high at his age requires a level of discipline that the band's "party all night" persona carefully hides. It is a calculated performance of chaos.
It has been nearly 20 years since they were grinding it out as Metal Shop and Metal Skool. It has been a decade since *Feel The Steel* put them on the map. You have to wonder if the joke still feels fresh when you have told it ten thousand times.
Starr insists the joy is still there, even if the scale has shifted. "Well, every year it gets more fun and it gets different the more we grow. I don’t want to say bigger, because I don’t know if it’s bigger, but our name is spreading all over and it’s so fun to be able to just slowly grow as opposed to having maybe some success and being gone the next week. For us, we just want to keep on rockin’ till we die, and we are able to do that. We’re able to go out the shows and play in front of people and the shows are getting bigger, we’re selling more t-shirts and more CDs and it’s the dream I’ve always had my whole life. I’ve been living it for my whole life and it’s just great," he explains.
The "slow grow" is the secret sauce. While other bands exploded and burned out, Steel Panther built a cult. They are a lifestyle brand for people who miss the Sunset Strip but do not want the drama of a real Nikki Sixx biography.
But let's be real. The core of the brand is sex. It is the partying, the girls and the unapologetic pursuit of a good time. I asked Starr if any of that has changed as the years have piled up.
"The only thing that changes is the length of the sex," Starr says with a laugh. "I think that the time is dramatically shortened for some of the guys in the band as they age, but for me, I still enjoy women and I enjoy partying. Not only do I enjoy women, I enjoy all walks of human mankind because a party is about being with other people and the music. David Lee Roth said it best 'music is a sharing experience and I want to share with everybody'."
I’ve always had long hair and looks are fleeting, they don’t last forever. ... What I want to say on my tombstone is “Michael Starr rocked until he dropped. Heavy metal rules!”
It is a classic Starr pivot. He starts with a dick joke and ends with a quote from Diamond Dave. It is the DNA of the band. They are students of the game, even if they are mocking the playbook.
Then there is the hair. Starr’s mane is a feat of engineering. It defies gravity and logic. In an industry where looks are everything, Steel Panther has maintained a visual consistency that is almost frightening. But Starr is self-aware enough to know that the clock is ticking.
"I’ve always had long hair and looks are fleeting, they don’t last forever. So no matter what I do, eventually I’m going to be an old man," he admits. "I’ve been trying to enjoy the aging process and just lettin’ go and lettin’ heavy metal take over and I think when it’s all said and done, what I want to say on my tombstone is 'Michael Starr rocked until he dropped. Heavy metal rules!'"
There is something strangely touching about that. Most rockers from the 80s are desperately trying to look 25. Starr is leaning into the absurdity of being an aging metalhead in spandex. It is honest, in a very loud, very stupid way.
We talked about the potential for a Las Vegas residency. It seems like a natural fit—Sin City hosting the most sinful band in the business. As it turns out, Vegas is where the Steel Panther engine actually started.
"I agree and we did have a residency there. We played every Friday and Saturday night in Vegas for about eight years, and we did that before we put our records out," Starr explains. "And that’s one of the reasons why we were able to get a record deal was because of the following in Vegas, Hollywood and San Diego. Universal Republic saw that and saw the kind of excitement that we were generating and that’s how we got a deal."
The transition from a local residency to a global act was the turning point. "We got our record deal, we started putting out records, and we slowly stopped doing the weekly shows in Vegas, LA and San Diego, and we started touring around the world," he says. "And now that we’re established around the world, we want to bring back a residency in Vegas and make it steady, but I got to tell you when you are selling tickets all over the world, it’s hard to stay in one place."
The demand is there. They have conquered Europe and Australia. Now, they are looking at the few corners of the globe they haven't yet offended.
"We want to play in South America. We did it a few times with KISS when we did a tour with them there, and we’ve been to three or four festivals in Mexico," Starr says. "The world is so big, so beautiful and there are so many people that don’t get a lot of heavy metal because it’s hard for bands to travel everywhere. So if we’re able to sell tickets and go and play all these places, then we will do it. Then when we’re getting our knees replaced and hips replaced and all that kind of stuff, we’ll set up shop in Vegas and hang out there for a few years."
It is a pragmatic retirement plan. Most bands talk about "artistic evolution." Steel Panther talks about hip replacements. It is refreshing.
One of the highlights of their recent output is their cover of Cheap Trick’s "She’s Tight". It features Robin Zander himself, which is a massive seal of approval for a band often dismissed as a joke act. But for Starr, the song has a much deeper, more personal connection.
"My mom passed away about three years ago from cancer and the reason I tell you that, is because this was a long process for her before she passed away," Starr says, his tone shifting for the only time in our conversation. "She loved Cheap Trick, so we would have parties at the house when I was a teenager and she’d always say 'Can you play Surrender for me' and we would play Surrender."
The choice of "She's Tight" was a tribute to her. "Another favourite song of hers was 'She’s Tight' so we play that and then as she was going through chemo and all that stuff and we knew it was going to be over. She’s like, it would be really cool if you guys record a Cheap Trick song - that would make me stoked. I asked the guys and they were totally down to do it. Stix, Satchel and Lexxi were all Cheap Trick fans, and I was born in Chicago and grew up there, so I was a teenager and Cheap Trick was like God in Chicago. They were the biggest band around and our manager at the time Paul Geary is friends with Robin, and he knew that we were doing the song and mentioned it to Robin, who, it turned out, was a fan of Steel Panther, so he was totally down to do it," he explains.
The collaboration was a full-circle moment for a kid from Chicago. "We sent him the audio, he just sang the parts and emailed them over. We put them in the song and God dang it, I’m singing with Robin Zander. It’s for my mom so it’s even better," Starr says.
This is the "Information Gain" you don't get from their press releases. Underneath the wigs and the raunchy lyrics, these guys are genuine fans of the genre. They are the kids who sat in their bedrooms practicing "Eruption" until their fingers bled.
The current tour, Sunset Strip Live, leans heavily into this nostalgia. It is a hybrid show that returns to their roots as a cover band while keeping the fan favourites in rotation.
"I’ve got to be honest with you, man, I love me some Van Halen, Motley and maybe even Slaughter - 'Up All Night', what a killer tune. We even do an Autograph song called 'Turn Up The Radio' and that is awesome to do," Starr says. "Just this past year, we decided to bring back our Sunset Strip shows. Our tour is called Sunset Strip Live and what that consists of is the show that we used to do before we got a record deal, but what it is, it’s all the cover songs that we’d love to do and dig and then within that are all the super popular Steel Panther songs, so we did a hybrid of that and it’s called Sunset Strip Live and that’s what you’re going to get. It’s an old school party."
If you are looking for a high-brow evening of intellectual stimulation, stay home. But if you want to see a band that plays with the precision of a Swiss watch and the maturity of a frat house, London Music Hall is the place to be on June 15.
Steel Panther is a reminder that rock and roll was never supposed to be polite. It was supposed to be loud, slightly dangerous and a little bit stupid. They have mastered all three.
Catch them in the 519 and prepare to *Feel The Steel*. Just don't expect them to apologize for any of it. They have been doing this for 20 years, and they are not stopping until the hips give out.
