In the wake of their epic new album Heavy Metal Rules, we got on the phone with guitar legend and certified slayer Satchel from Steel Panther. Find out what he had to say about the new record, his latest guitar pedal the Poontang Boomerang, and more.

Congratulations on Heavy Metal Rules, it’s a fantastic Steel Panther album, and I think a lot of fans will get a ton of joy from it, and it’s probably your best album in years.

Thank you very much, we all love it a lot and we’re really excited to release it, and can’t wait for people to hear it, man. Ya know we’ve been writing, I mean we’re always writing songs and can’t wait to put new stuff out, but ah, we’re really proud of this one, and it’s kind of an appropriate title, Heavy Metal Rules so, ya know.

Yeah exactly, and the opening monologue of the album, taken from the Heavy Metal Parking Lot video, the bloke in the zebra spandex jumpsuit, he knew what he was talking about, and that was from what, 1986!

You know what, it was 1986, you’re very astute in your knowledge of Heavy Metal Parking Lot, and I tell ya what, that guy is… a genius. He knew exactly what he was talking about, because Madonna, she is a dick, and he nailed that, he nailed that in 1986 he knew exactly what was going on. Heavy metal still rules, all that punk shit belongs on Mars, and he was absolutely right.

it’s kinda impossible to fault his logic on that, isn’t it?

Yeah the guy's obviously come back in time in a time machine from the future, he knew that heavy metal was gonna rule in 2019. He must be from the future. Must be.

That makes sense. Now running through some of the tracks here, track 2 Let’s Get High, really borrowed some evil metal vibes musically, what were you listening to, because I know you write all the music, what was running through your brain and influencing you do you think because it does get quite heavy.

Ya know what.. I dunno.. I really, I think I was just doing a lot of speed at the time or something I dunno, there’s a lot of riffs of this record, and I love playing that one, and I love the drum parts in that, ya know, the original riff for that was a little bit different, and I got in the studio with Stix and we changed the timing of it a little bit and there’s just some really cool riffs in that song and really cool vocal harmonies, and actually you know the guitar solo reminds me a lot of Uli Jon Roth, and there’s a little bit of Scorpions in some of the scales and the solo section, yeah that song is a rocker, I love that song.

Ya know, you’ve created a new masterpiece, I think, in Always Gonna Be A Ho. This is going to be a fan favourite hands down. A stadium anthem, lyrically as powerful as Community Property, I think you might have found a new anthem for Steel Panther.

Well I appreciate that Higgo, I love that song, and we’ve just finished the video for that song (N.B: It’s been released, see below) and I think you’re gonna love it a lot, man I really appreciate you saying that I love it a lot and it’s one of those songs when it was done that was like, oh yeah, that’s great.

It’s getting hard to find space to play all our songs in a set because when we do a live show, people wanna hear Community Property, and throughout the years, I’ve felt like there are certain songs that are power ballads, basically, maybe that would be the word for it. Always Gonna Be A Ho is gonna be one of those songs where it’s kinda similar in style to Community Property and it’s a great song, so hopefully we’ll play it live.

Speaking of playing live, you’re coming back here early next year?

Yeah we’re looking forward to it, can’t wait to come out, but I dunno if we have any dates actually scheduled yet, but ya know I wish we would come to Australia every year, the people down there are great, and it seems like the shows always go off down there, and the girls are hot, and they’re really slutty, which is good for us.

And you’ve got the new pedal out now. The Poontang Boomerang.

Oh yeah that one is still being sold, I think, unless it’s already sold out, I don’t know how many more we’d even have left, but that one’s a killer one too, perfect with the Pussy Melter, so if you wanna slay on guitar, and ya know, with the ladies, you should have both. I can’t guarantee you’ll get laid, coz if you’re ugly, there’s only so much help I can give you, but yeah, if you’re a guitarist, and you’re good looking like me, with these two pedals, you’ll get laid.

Hey just getting back to a song, you’ll have to forgive the comparison, but when I heard the start of Sneaky Little Bitch, it instantly reminded me of something from the Stone Temple Pilots.

It’s funny you should mention that because I thought you were gonna say, it’s so Led Zeppelin because it’s very similar to…. Ahhh what’s the song.. (starts mimicking the riff of a Zeppelin song).

It’s similar to that, I mean it’s definitely a little more heavy metal, but there’s definitely some Zeppelin in there, but yeah I love Stone Temple Pilots. I thought those guys were a great band, especially those first couple of records. They were heavily into Zeppelin too. They did a great cover of that (zeppelin song he was mimicking) song. Dammit, what song am I thinking about? (starts mimicking song again).

Dancing Days

DANCING DAYS that’s it, exactly. They did a great job of covering that song actually, back in the ’90s, 97-98 something like that, when you were just a baby Higgo.

In the 90’s I was getting into my 20’s

OH MY GOD REALLY?

yeah 1974 I was born

God Jesus, I was born in 1948.

Well you've got me covered, damn you look good though

Thanks, well I drink a lot of water, do a lot of cocaine.

ha ha ha, well mate it’s always a pleasure to get beauty tips of you, we’re out of time, but I do look forward to seeing you when you come down to Australia

Well, I miss everyone in Australia, especially you Higgo because you’re awesome, and we can’t wait to come back down there and when we do come back down there, we’re hanging out.

Listen to Steel Panther now