Michael Starr states Steel Panther started off as modest cover band just trying to make a living

Michael Starr states Steel Panther started off as modest cover band just trying to make a living

Dreams do come true. Steel Panther‘s frontman Michael Starr was recently interviewed by The Neversphere and was asked to look back to how it all started and where the band is currently at.

Starr advised: “It’s really surreal. I have to tell you, we didn’t plan it this way; we’re so fucking grateful and excited – still, to this day! We started out as a modest cover band just trying to make a living, then we started writing our own stuff, then the rest is history. It’s extremely surreal. We never saw it coming. We never saw ourselves as a parody band until someone else called us that in an article. We thought ‘Oh, we’re a parody band?’ We didn’t know what, we’re just having fun.”

In terms of playing some of the ’80 bands’ songs better than the originals, Starr stated: “That’s really nice of you to say. I learnt from all the bands that we’re going to be playing. I watched and studied Van Halen for years because that was my favourite band. Then Motley Crue came out. I went and saw every one of those bands live: Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, Aerosmith, you name it. We like to joke around…if we’re going to joke around, we better damn well bring the precision and the music playing.”

With respect to having an impact on the next generation of musicians who are opening Steel Panther‘s shows, Starr advised: “It’s great, dude. We’re so fucking stoked. We’ve played with a lot of bands. Whenever we play a festival – when we did the first Soundwave, I went and watched every band before we went on and after we went on because I love live music. I fucking hated Limp Bizkit until I went and saw them play at Soundwave. Fred Durst turns around, looks at me and goes ‘Make some fucking noise for Steel Panther, one of the best bands in the world…’ Like…holy fuck, Fred Durst just said that about me. Since then, I’ve been a Limp Bizkit fan and that’s not metal.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Starr at The Neversphere.