Aaron Stainthorpe fills in for Michael Starr in Steel Panther
01-04-2022
Due to undisclosed private matters, STEEL PANTHER lead vocalist Michael Starr (Real name Ralph Michael Saënz) is forced to cancel all shows for the coming weeks. Filling in for him is My Dying Bride vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe. This was confirmed by Stainthorphe last weekend in a live radio chat with Welsh metal radio show The Burn. He’ll be taking turns on vocals with the band’s current touring bassist known under the stage name Rikki Dazzle.
Says Stainthorphe:
“This is a wonderful opportunity for me to show a side of me not many people know, or will ever get to see otherwise. I’ve known Darren (Leader, Steel Panther drummer Styx Zadina) for many years now and he is close to my heart. He does all the orchestral arrangements for Steel Panther and he frequently asked us for advice and we subsequently became friends. They needed someone who would not be the most obvious choice as a singer and who would be available for the coming weeks. I thought I would be the last one to take this on, which in my book means it is the best reason to do it. Will I be wearing spandex and a wig? Hell yeah, I will! If you decide to do it, you have to do it properly, that is what their fans deserve. I think this is without a doubt going to be the most unique experience I’ve had as a musician in years and I will do anything to make this worth watching for the fans. My vocals are different, but I use ’17 Girls In A Row’ and ‘Gold Digging Whore’ in my vocal warm up routine all the time. There is some great vocals to honour, for me. But I will be using Michael’s backing tracks to back me up, anyway“.
Says Steel Panther guitarist Satchel:
“This is going to be very interesting. Michael has to sit out some shows and we had to replace him. I had this list of girls I wanted to bang who can also sing a little, but Styx came up with a guy. Which in all honesty does make more sense with these lyrics. Aaron is particularly good at expressing the dramatic side of the lyrics, like ‘Fat Girl’, or ‘Why Can’t You Trust Me’. But he insists we do some party songs too, to challenge himself. In fact, he decided the entire setlist, as he told us he hardly knows any new songs… or any songs that were not on the first two albums. Michael will be back in a few weeks, sexier than ever, he promised. I didn’t want any singer to leave his band to play with us, that was important to me. Aaron, who is a wonderful vocalist and much more diverse than you’d expect, is therefore perfect for this. People will know this is temporarily. And who knows what he learns from us to use in his own band, My Dying Bride”.
Steel Panther is still promoting their latest album ‘Heavy Metal Rules’, which came out under Kobalt Records. The band has yet to announce an offical replacement for their bassist Lexxi Foxx (Travis Haley), who left in 2021 to persua a career with his new band HOLLYWOOD GODS N’ MONSTERS. In the meantime, a character dubbed as Rikki Dazzle and Rikki Thrash are taking turns to fill up the live shows.
Social media