Steel Panther is like a ’70s commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: “‘Hey, you got comedy on my Glam Metal.’ ‘No, you got Glam Metal on my comedy.’ ” They’re both correct, of course. Steel Panther is serious about being funny and never funnier than when they’re being serious.
Is Steel Panther a parody or a real band? The answer, obviously, is hell yes. The quartet — vocalist Michael Starr (Ralph Saenz), guitarist Satchel (Russ Parrish), bassist Lexxi Foxx (Travis Haley) and drummer Stix Zadinia (Darren Leader) — assembled 15 years ago in Los Angeles, attracting a sizable following with a weekly Sunset Strip residency doing parody covers of ’80s Glam/Hair Metal hits (Starr also fronted the Van Halen tribute band Atomic Punks for 14 years). Read more about the band in this week’s Sound Advice.
Steel Panther plays Bogart’s Wednesday. More info/tickets:
bogarts.com .
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2015.