STEEL PANTHER's SATCHEL: 'When You're In Front Of An Audience, You Have To Be Fearless'

In a new interview with Belgian Jasper, STEEL PANTHER guitarist Russ "Satchel" Parrish spoke about the California glam metal jokesters' live performances, which see him and his bandmates imitating and exaggerating the less flattering aspects of 1980s hair metal, with unrepentantly crude, non-PC sexual content as a favorite lyrical theme. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "One thing about our band, I think, is even that when we aren't connecting, humor-wise… 'Cause we joke about everything; we fuck around all the time. That's what we do. And most of it is improv. And there's never a guarantee that you're gonna land a joke.

"When you're in front of an audience, you have to be fearless," Satchel explained. "If you talk to anybody who does stand-up comedy, I'm sure they'll tell you, you have to be unafraid. As soon as you become fearful of the crowd, they're gonna hate you. So when we're up there talking, there's all kinds of shit that we say that doesn't land with the crowd, but I think no matter who is in the audience and no matter where we are, when we are speaking freely and we're unafraid, the audience feels like, 'Oh, I'm connecting with these guys. They're talking directly to me. And they're talking about shit that I like too.' When you can connect with a crowd like that and bring them in and make them feel like, 'Hey, we're all in this together,' then they've got your back. And you literally can't fail at that point. You can say things that offend some people, but they're gonna give you a long leash, because they're, like, 'Well, that's my buddy. He says inappropriate things at times. It doesn't matter.' And they'll have your back till the end of the show. And for us, even though we might lose a small percentage of people, and they're gonna walk out and go, 'Ah, fuck that band. I'm never gonna see 'em again,' more often than not, we get people that go, 'I'm gonna come back for more. I'm gonna see 'em again.' And that's what it's all about — it's all about having a good time. That's why there's people that never thought that they would like us, that never listened to heavy metal, that become fans of the band. It's all about creating an atmosphere where everybody's having a good time and enjoying themselves."

STEEL PANTHER's sixth studio album, "On The Prowl", will be released on February 24.

The band's "On The Prowl" world tour 2023 will kick off later this month and will run throughout North America through April. CROBOT and TRAGEDY will be joining the band on the North American tour. The band will take a short break before bringing the party to the United Kingdom and Ireland in May.

In September, STEEL PANTHER announced the addition of Spyder as the band's new bassist.

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."

Fifteen 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.