During an appearance on the latest episode of the “2020’d” podcast, STEEL PANTHER guitarist Satchel recalled a particularly amusing encounter with legendary DOKKEN frontman Don Dokken when both bands performed at the M3 Rock Festival in Maryland. “We had never played there before,” Satchel said. “And I was wandering around and I found the place where all the bands go to eat. I wish it was a Pizza Hut; the food wasn’t that good. I went and got some food, and I was looking for a place to sit down. There was a bunch of people — there was a bunch of bands playing there — so it was more crowded than a Pizza Hut. I was looking for somebody in my band so I could sit down next to somebody and not feel uncomfortable. And I saw [STEEL PANTHER singer] Michael Starr — he was across the way — and I was, like, ‘Oh, shit, Michael‘s sitting next to some homeless guy who’s losing his hair and he’s got fucked up teeth and shit.’ I was, like, ‘Well, fuck it. I’m gonna sit next to Michael and the homeless guy.’ And I went and sat down, and I was, like, ‘Oh shit. That’s not a homeless guy. That’s fucking Don Dokken.’ And I sat down next to Don Dokken and Michael. And Don was so talkative. He was really a nice guy. He was talking about how he likes to plant flowers in his backyard or something. I think he was full of shit… All I could think of, as I was trying to eat… First of all, I was thinking about two things — that Don had a piece of barbecued chicken hanging from his chin. And he didn’t know it. I was, like, ‘When’s that gonna fall off?’ And the other thing I was thinking was, ‘My God, I hope I don’t look like Don when I’m his age.’ And I was, like, ‘Fuck, that’s only in, like, six months.'”
Satchel, whose real name is Russ Parrish, previously played guitar for Jeff Pilson‘s post-DOKKEN band WAR & PEACE before leaving to join Rob Halford‘s FIGHT.
STEEL PANTHER specializes in imitating and exaggerating the less flattering aspects of 1980s hair metal, with unrepentantly crude, non-PC sexual content as a favorite lyrical theme.
The group’s music has been described as “VAN HALEN meets MÖTLEY CRÜE meets RATT meets ‘Wayne’s World’, complete with operatic shrieks, misogyny, shredding guitar solos and libidinal overdrive.”
Thirteen years ago, STEEL PANTHER changed its name from METAL SKOOL to its current moniker and shifted the focus of its act from ’80s metal covers to originals.
