In a new interview with Detroit WRIF radio station Meltdown, STEEL PANTHER frontman Michael Starr was asked if he’s ever had “fallouts” with musicians from other bands who weren’t “crazy” about his group. Michael, whose real name is Ralph Saenz, responded (transcript by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, I’m not in the business of falling out with people who have a grudge against me. That’s on them. Nobody that you normally meet is going to confront you and say, ‘Hey, I don’t like your band.’ They’re just going to ignore you or say, ‘Hey, what’s up, bro?’ So whoever doesn’t like the band is entitled to their opinion.”
He continued, “Art is subjective. If you don’t like our art, listen to somebody else’s music. Who cares? So we’ve developed a pretty thick skin. The first time we were walking around festivals in spandex, people were looking at us and saying, ‘Who is this band? Who are these people?’ And then when we opened for JUDAS PRIEST in America for 10 weeks, we developed an even thicker skin. So, yeah, we’re OK with that, we get it, we get it, but we still rock.”
When asked to elaborate on what he meant when he said he and his Steel Panther bandmates “got thicker nerves” while touring with Judas Priest, Michael replied, “Well, you know, having thicker nerves helps when people are like, ‘Get off stage, you suck,’ and stuff like that. So you get used to it. I remember when we were playing in Rochester, New York, I think it was the first show of the tour, and the promoters decided to delay Judas Priest by an hour to sell more beer, which is pretty normal. It happens a lot. But they don’t tell the crowd. So the crowd is mad that we played late, and they think it’s our fault. So the first show was pretty awful. It was pretty tough.”
Star added: “Our job at the time was to go out on stage and impress as many fans as we could. Of course you can’t impress everyone in the audience. Maybe you can, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. So it’s a question of probability. It’s an effort. You have to go out there and earn it. In the end, it was a really great tour for us. We came together as a band. The band stuck together and held on, but we didn’t waver. We didn’t change the set, we didn’t joke around. We did what we always did. And parents who brought their kids to the front row took their kids to the concession stand while we were playing. I’m not kidding. I’m telling you, that’s true.”
Five years ago, Steel Panther got into a public spat with Mötley Crüe when Starr and Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia were asked in an interview which musicians from the past they would like to bring back. Starr replied, “I want to bring back Vince Neil,” to which Zadinia interjected, “He’s not dead.” Starr added, “I want to bring back the old Vince Neil, because the guy’s dead.”
After Steel Panther’s comments went viral, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx tweeted: “The singer of Steel Panther [sic] “Fuck them… wannabe bands that diss Vince Neil?” one fan pointed out that Steel Panther sometimes play Mötley Crüe songs during their concerts, to which the Crüe bassist replied, “That’s why they’re f******s. They’re traitors.”
In a February 2023 interview with Loaded Radio, STEEL PANTHER guitarist Satchel was asked about the possibility of MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee, who is reportedly not a fan of Satchel’s band, making a guest appearance on a STEEL PANTHER record. He responded, “We love MÖTLEY CRÜE and we’ll always love MÖTLEY CRÜE and be fans of them. And Tommy’s a great drummer, honestly. One of the best rock drummers. But I don’t know if Tommy’s ready to play on a STEEL PANTHER record.” [Laughs] But if that were to happen, I’d love to have him. He’s a great drummer and I think whatever he does would be really cool. His playing is great. It’s awesome. He’s solid as a rock.”
When asked about Tommy’s frustrations with Steel Panther, Satchel replied, “I think Nikki was more frustrated with us than Tommy was, or maybe they both were because they thought we were trashing on Vince. But I think what Michael Starr said about Vince was just a light dig at how much Vince was complaining in 1983 compared to now. But I saw a picture of Vince recently and he looks great. He’s taking care of himself. So I wish everybody the best. I love Mötley Crüe.”
Satchell spoke about Sixx’s online feud in an interview with Ultimate Guitar in 2020. When asked if Steel Panther’s livestreamed event, “Concert to Save the World,” was “a plot to steal Mötley Crüe’s audience,” Satchell responded: “You know, Mötley Crüe had a tour scheduled and it got cancelled, right? Because I’m a Mötley Crüe fan. Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx act like complete idiots most of the time, but that’s what happens with rock stars. They want to act like idiots, and they do. That’s fine. I still like their songs. But we can’t take their fans away, just like they can’t take ours away. People will be fans of both bands, and no matter how stupid Nikki Sixx is, I’ll always love Mötley Crüe because I like their sound. Our bands are not mutually exclusive, and I don’t have to hate Steele.” PANTHER loves MÖTLEY CRÜE and vice versa. And you don’t have to hate MÖTLEY CRÜE and say Nikki Sixx is an asshole. [Laughs] I still love Motley Crue, even though I think Nikki Sixx is an asshole. The two are not mutually exclusive. [Laughs]”
When asked if the relationship between the two bands is now “good,” Satchel replied, “I have nothing to do with them. I don’t care either way. If I met them, I probably wouldn’t go out with them, because Nikki Sixx probably doesn’t like my band, so he probably wouldn’t buy me a beer. But I don’t have any grudges against Mötley Crüe, and I wish them the best in the future. But we seem to annoy Nikki Sixx, and I don’t care if we annoy Nikki Sixx, because I don’t care. But I don’t think I’m going on tour with Mötley Crüe anytime soon, that’s for sure.”
The 2019 incident was not the first time members of Steel Panther and Mötley Crüe had had an altercation. In 2017, Zadinia said that the band “really felt unwelcome” while on tour with Mötley Crüe a few years earlier. The drummer told Music Life magazine: “[MÖTLEY CRÜE members] “Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx were not happy about us going on tour with them in 2011, and that was the only time we really felt unwelcome. As for them, I think they thought we were directly making fun of them, and I can only attribute that to their egos being too big, because nothing we do has anything to do with them directly. But we ended up doing the tour, and it went well, and everything was totally fine,” he said, adding that it was a European tour and that Def Leppard was actually the headlining band on that tour.
Sixx told Australia’s Music Feed in 2016 that he doesn’t like Steel Panther’s music. “It’s just not my thing,” he said. “That’s just my opinion. I don’t know. I don’t feel it… Maybe a lot of people think it’s funny and they’re kind of a joke band and that’s fine, but it’s not my thing. I take my music a little more seriously.”
In a June 2015 interview, Starr revealed that Lee “was pretty pissed that we were making fun of Vince Neil. He didn’t like it. He just thought of us as a joke, like a stupid joke band that shouldn’t play with us. But all their fans like us.”
Starr added that the members of Mötley Crüe just take themselves “a little too seriously,” except for Vince Neil, who “really loves being serious.”
“He said to me, ‘Michael, when we retire, all the fans are yours,'” Starr said.
In 2018, Satchel acknowledged that not everyone likes his band’s over-the-top, childish sex-and-drugs appeal: “There are bands that really hate us,” he told WRIF radio station Meltdown. “We toured with Def Leppard and Motley Crue a few years ago. Def Leppard took us on tour, an arena tour in the UK. They loved us, and were super nice and cool. But Motley Crue was on tour with us, and they hated us. They wanted to kill us. They wanted to kill us every night. They talked to us at least once on the tour. Tommy Lee and I made up. We clashed a lot. I mean, Tommy Lee… I don’t know why he hated us so much. Look, I offered a hand of peace. I wanted to be friends with them. I think some people feel threatened. Maybe Tommy Lee feels like we’re making fun of him personally. But we’re just having fun… Maybe Motley Crue will be our friends one day, but I think Tommy Lee would be happy if one of us got hit by a bus.”