STEEL PANTHER's MICHAEL STARR looks back on working with NICKELBACK’s CHAD KROEGER
18-11-2024
STEEL PANTHER singer Michael Starr (real name Ralph Saenz) recently spoke to Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station 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. Michael said: “The most surprising collaboration we have done, I would have to say, would be Chad Kroeger from NICKELBACK, because he used to come to our shows and hang out with his brother and stuff, and he always used to say, ‘Man, I wish I could write songs and be as dirty as you guys, but we can’t.’ And I remember we were doing our second record and he reached out and he said, ‘Hey, I have an idea for a song. You guys should come up here to my studio and we’ll work on it.’ And we’re, like, ‘All right.’ So we had a show in Vancouver. We went to his place, and he goes, ‘I’ve got an idea for a song.’ We’re, like, ‘Okay, what is it?’ He goes, ‘‘It Won’t Suck Itself’.’ I was, like, ‘All right.’ And so we started working on it in his studio. And we finished the song that day, did a demo of it. He played drums on it with Stix (Zadinia, STEEL PANTHER drummer) and also sang on it. And then we went and really recorded it in a real studio after that — well, not a real studio, but with our drums and everything — and put it out. And we’re actually putting it in our set this coming tour right now because it turned out to be one of the most killer heavy metal songs written with Chad Kroeger. So, it was very surprising and an amazing experience.”
Back in April 2019, Zadinia (real name Darren Leader) told the “TODDCast” podcast about “It Won’t Suck Itself”: “I’ve gotta tell you, working with Chad was a blast. 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 (STEEL PANTHER guitarist) 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‘s sixth studio album, “On The Prowl”, was released in February 2023.
STEEL PANTHER did their part to share the message that things aren’t always what they seem online with their new music video for “On Your Instagram”. The song is taken from their last album ‘On The Prowl’ which came out in February 2023 under Membran Records.
Watch “On Your Instagram” below.
Watch their ode to the music of the year 1987 below.
Also watch the previously released “Never Too Late (To Get Some Pussy Tonight)” below (age restricted in some areas).
‘On The Prowl‘ was released digitally and on CD, Cassette, and 2 different color variant records. Purple/Blue Marble is wide and Pink/Purple Marble will be a limited edition signed. All versions will be the entire 13 song album.
Tracklisting ‘On The Prowl’1) Never Too Late2) Friends With Benefits3) On Your Instagram4) Put My Money Where Your Mouth Is5) 19876) Teleporter7) Is My D**k Enough (feat. Dweezil Zappa)8) Magical Vagina9) All That And More10) One Pump Chump11) Pornstar12) Ain’t Dead Yet13) Sleeping On The Rollaway
Order ‘On The Prowl’ AT THIS LOCATION.
In early 2023, STEEL PANTHER singer Michael Starr spoke to the “Everblack” podcast about his relationship with the band’s original bassist Lexxi Foxx who left the band in July 2021. “I just talked to him today,” Michael said. “He’s doing good, man. He did exactly what he wanted to do. He started a family. He’s living in Chicago. Him and his wife just had a baby. So Lexxi Foxx is not gay. I thought he was gay this whole time. It’s so weird.”
Starr continued: “The party never stops. Just because he’s not on tour doesn’t mean he’s fucking having a good time. And we miss him. I fucking miss him. And we still stay in touch and talk. We talk just about every other day — just stay in touch with one another. I mean, we were together for 27 years, 26 years, and we know each other’s moms and dads and all of our cousins. We know everything about one another. So it’s been really, really sad not having him in the band, but I understand why he’s doing what he’s doing. And he was one of the smart guys — he saved up all his money. Not me — I’m still living at my mom’s. Let’s go.”
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