Steel Panther Diss Katy Perry On New Album - 'She's Fucking Annoying'

Although existing in various incarnations (including Metal Shop, Metal Skool and Danger Kitty) for several years prior, most had their Steel Panther cherry popped by 2009 debut proper, Feel The Steel. Follow-up LP, Balls Out continued the considerable momentum. The Los Angeles glam metal parodists' profane, yet dead-on, half-lampooning, half-tribute to the hair-raising rock scene some would rather forget has carved a lucrative niche.

“I want to say it's like a blessing,” gushes singer Michael Starr (real name Ralph Saenz, a one-time L.A. Guns frontman), during a rare example of seemingly flitting in and out of character. “The cool thing about it is it happened organically. It's not something like we sat down and said, 'Hey, let's try this and see if it works', we started doing it. We started injecting the personalities that we already have into our music, and enjoying ourselves and having fun. What you see is a reflection of our personalities in the music and onstage.

“We've had our ups and downs… We've talked it out, and we've got to a place in our lives where we got aligned. We all wanted to be the biggest band in the world, bring heavy metal back. That we all knew; that was our goal. But how to get there, we were slightly unaligned, and that caused some friction. Once we got aligned, we got a record deal; the first record came out and just started snowballing.”

This chemistry is never more apparent than during their raucous shows, as infectious as the STIs so vividly described in their songs. They'll be armed with material from forthcoming album All You Can Eat (due next year) upon returning to Australia, including Party Like Tomorrow Is the End of the World.

“All You Can Eat has a little bit of everything for everybody,” the vocalist explains. “If you're a Steel Panther fan already you're gonna be fucking stoked, because it's hard-rockin'. We haven't changed our direction like some bands do, at all. Some bands, they'll put out a killer two records, then the third one they try to get all serious or change it up, because they're afraid that whatever formula they felt like they came up with doesn't work.

“We don't give a fuck. We love to play what we like to play, and if you're on board with that for the last two records, you're gonna be on board with this one. If you're a new fan, and you're hearing it for the first time, [there's] tonnes of hooks.”

Previous releases slated the likes of Tiger Woods, Mariah Carey and Kanye West. The Music inquires as to which celebrities get the Steel Panther treatment this time around. “Well, we mention Katy Perry, 'cause she's fucking annoying.” Didn't see her documentary then?

That raises the question of whether a similarly themed Steel Panther film could occur. “Oh yeah, we'll be doing all that shit. We're going to open up the door to Steel Panther as much as we can, because our main objective is to bring metal back to the world. Our brand of metal – the kind of metal that's about partying and having a good time, not the kind of metal that makes you want to kill your parents.” Not a Cannibal Corpse fan, it seems. “Oh, I like 'em, but when I listen to that kind of music I want to kill something.”

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