STEEL PANTHER Drummer Says Working With NICKELBACK's CHAD KROEGER Was 'A Great Experience'

STEEL PANTHER drummer Stix Zadinia (real name Darren Leader) recently spoke to the "TODDCast" podcast about "It Won't Suck Itself", the song from the band's 2011 album "Balls Out" which was a collaboration with NICKELBACK frontman Chad Kroeger.

"I've gotta tell you, working with Chad was a blast," Stix said (hear audio below). "We went up to his house, and he had a girl there, who, her only job was to roll joints. It was crazy. I swear to God. I'm not kidding. That was her job. I mean, maybe she had other jobs, but that was definitely her job that day. And he was really fun to work with. He was super cool, a very creative dude. And the song came together really fast. We were sitting around and Satchel had a guitar and he came up with that riff. And then I found it really interesting to watch Chad come up with lyrics. 'Cause when you write with somebody new, you never know how it's gonna go. 'Cause writing is very personal, and so when you do that with somebody, especially if you've had that many fucking hits, it was a great experience to watch his fucking mind work. It was really cool."

Asked how the collaboration with Chad came about, Stix said: "I honestly don't remember what direction it went. He had been coming to shows in L.A., and we've known him and he'd gotten up on stage and jammed with us. And at some point… I think it was one of those things that, 'Dude, we've gotta write a song together,' 'Dude, we've gotta write a song together,' and if say it enough times, 'We've gotta write a song together,' we scheduled it to come up. It was a really, really cool experience."

STEEL PANTHER is currently recording its fifth album for a tentative late 2019 release. The band is once again working with producer Jay Ruston, who collaborated with STEEL PANTHER on all of its previous recordings, including its latest album, 2017's "Lower The Bar".

STEEL PANTHER specializes in imitating and exaggerating the less flattering aspects of 1980s hair metal, with unrepentantly crude, non-PC sexual content as a favorite lyrical theme.

The group's music has been described as "VAN HALEN meets MÖTLEY CRÜE meets RATT meets 'Wayne's World', complete with operatic shrieks, misogyny, shredding guitar solos and libidinal overdrive."

Eleven years ago, STEEL PANTHER changed its name from METAL SKOOL to its current moniker and shifted the focus of its act from ’80s metal covers to originals.