It had been nearly two years since I last saw Steel Panther tear up Aftershock. Bob, Ken and I jumped at the chance to see them again now that they were back in San Diego for the rare Saturday show to promote their newest album All You Can Eat appropriately released on April Fool’s Day in 2014. The “shtick” was still the same: a fun party band mocking the excesses of 80’s hair metal playing genuinely kick ass original music. This band always looks as though they were recently let out of an orgy time capsule buried in 1984 with lots of cocaine and that is a good thing. The blatant sexuality bordering on sleaziness only amplifies the comic effect. In a day and age when people seem to increasing take everything too seriously it is always refreshing to see this band make fun of themselves.
SETLIST: Asian Hooker, Fat Girl (Thar She Blows), The Shocker, Hair Solo, 17 Girls in a Row, If I Was the King, Death to All but Metal, Party All Day (Fuck All Night)
The Aftershock Festival started in 2012 as a one-day rock festival but now in year two became an annual two-day rock festival held in Sacramento, California. Bob, Ken and I thought this was a good reason to take a road trip and since we decided to make the roughly eight hour drive each way we thought we would get our money’s worth and drive up the day before to stay a night in San Francisco.
As DRIVING from San Diego to San Francisco would imply we were trying to save a little money and thus we booked a hostel beforehand, but when we got there we were turned away. The front desk guy said they were full even though I am fairly sure we were just too old to be staying in a hostel. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we were able to secure a room in a really nice hotel through a last minute booking website. “Room with a view” was an understatement. We could see nearly all of San Francisco and Alcatraz from our window.
After the room fiasco we were all ready for a drink. We walked to the closest bar and the moment we walked in I heard someone yell “Gary!” I looked around and didn’t see anyone so we continued toward the bar when I heard it again. I still didn’t see anyone so I turned to my two compadres to ask if they heard it. About this time a third “Gary” was yelled. I looked upstairs to the source of this yelling and who do I see? Fucking Marvin! He coordinated with Bob’s wife to figure out where we were and drove down from Washington to surprise us. The even more random part of this moment that is worthy of a sidenote is that this happened to be the same exact bar I had taken mushrooms at years earlier. Lots of drinking and laughing later we made it to bed just long enough to get a few hours of shuteye.
After a quick hour and a half drive with a stop at Denny’s thrown in for good measure we made it to the Residence Inn, which borders Discovery Park. We purposely booked this hotel so we could walk back and forth and not have to rely on getting cabs. Discovery Park is a beautiful natural setting and a little more freeing than seeing a concert in a traditional venue or cookie cutter amphitheater. There is also something magical about watching bands outdoors with lots of trees and grass around.
This festival was all about Day One for me. We caught a glimpse of the vixen fronted In This Moment but only because they were on right before the first band that anyone cared about which was Steel Panther. I had seen them a couple times in San Diego when they were still known as Metal Shop and then again as Steel Panther about three and a half years before this. They were still touring the 2011 album Balls Out at this point but for this crew it was all about their older song “Death to All But Metal.” It had become a running favorite among us and was even more of a treat since one of the bands they blasted in the song was Papa Roach, who was playing later that day.
SETLIST: Eyes of a Panther, Tomorrow Night, Asian Hooker, Just Like Tiger Woods, Community Property, Death To All But Metal
Despite P.O.D. being from San Diego and having been around forever I somehow never saw them until now. I cannot claim to be a big fan of theirs but they do have a handful of songs I like. They were touring for the album Murdered Love that was just over a year old at this point. No frills rock representing San Diego.
It was at this point I got very sleepy and decided to take a little nap in the grass. I guess staying up all night drinking and not getting very much sleep will have the effect of making one tired. During this time the terrible Butcher Babies played so I can’t say I “missed” anything.
Buckcherry gained popularity in the 90’s and hit it big again in 2006 with “Crazy Bitch.” It was never my flavor but they were the first band on after I woke up and since I had never seen them I thought why not? They had all the talent one would expect from a one hit wonder (even though they had a few hits).
Papa Roach was next. This is a band I never really liked but also never really disliked. I had seen them at various festivals three times before this and the guitar player blew me away that first time. After being dissed by Steel Panther earlier in the day they proved why the two bands should have been in each other’s time slot. I am pretty sure we as a consensus decided this was a great time to go get beers to prepare for Megadeth.
I had only seen Megadeth one other time about five years before this so I was pretty jazzed to see them again. They were now touring for the album Super Collider, which was only released three months before this gig. Dave and Company tore it up. With the exception of “Kingmaker” from the new album they did not play anything newer than “She-Wolf” from Cryptic Writings (so many better songs they could have chosen from that album). The one/two punch of “Symphony of Destruction” and “Peace Sells” was the stuff that boners are made of.
SETLIST: Hangar 18, Wake Up Dead, In My Darkest Hour, She-Wolf, Sweating Bullets, Kingmaker, Tornado of Souls, Symphony of Destruction, Peace Sells, Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
For the grand finale of the day we got to see Korn, which was the number one reason I actually wanted to make this trip. This was only my fourth time seeing them and I had not seen them since the end of 2002. Much of this was due to the fact that I all but lost interest when Head left the band after Take a Look in the Mirror. Korn has some good material after this but the band was never the same once Head left. Well now Head was back and a new album called The Paradigm Shift was about to be released on 10/8/13. Head and Munky go together like peanut butter and jelly so for me this was pretty much akin to the whole band breaking up in 2003 and finally reuniting. I saw Ray Luzier drum for Army of Anyone but this was my first time seeing him drum for Korn even though he had been Korn’s full time drummer for over four years by this point. One of the first things I noticed when Korn came out was that Jonathan Davis looked healthy and like he was in a good place. This was confirmed by the performance he and the rest of the band put on. They played tight and I think a big part of that was Ray playing the shit out of the drums. Since the new album was still a few weeks away from release we got to witness the first time they ever played “Love & Meth” and “Never Never” in concert. Korn was definitely back.
SETLIST: Blind, Twist, Falling Away From Me, Love & Meth, Narcissistic Cannibal, Coming Undone, Did My Time, Shoots and Ladders, Here to Stay, Never Never, Y’All Want a Single, Get Up!, Got the Life, Freak on a Leash
I was attending San Diego State University at the time that I wrote this for my “History of Rock N’ Roll” class. I took the class for the easy A because if you’ve read this far you know that I know my sh*t. What follows is my review exactly as turned in…
Research
The band I chose to see was Steel Panther, who played at the House of Blues in downtown San Diego. To be honest they were not my first choice though. The reason I ended up seeing them is because I unfortunately ran out of time. I was hoping to write a concert report on a band that I would have wanted to see anyway, but unfortunately the bands I wanted to see simply didn’t pass through San Diego before the end of the semester. I settled on seeing Mastodon on May 5th until Professor Flood announced that all concert reports would be due in class on May 4th. It is during that class that reminded me of the Steel Panther concert. I first saw the concert advertised in The Reader but know it was also heavily promoted and endorsed by local radio stations 101 KGB and Rock 105.3. The funny thing is that I did not realize that this was the same band known as Metal Shop I had seen about six years earlier when they were a staple every Wednesday night at Typhoon Saloon in Pacific Beach until the singer mentioned it. From what I can gather they mainly play either in Europe or stay in the Southwestern United States.
Strong Points
Steel Panther is essentially a cover band in the vain of 80’s hair metal. The first thing that struck me as particularly impressive was the level of detail in the band members costuming. Every band member wore big hair, spandex, neon colors, and make-up even though they were all male performers. Then again that’s how it used to be back in the heyday. Another thing that impressed me was the actual musicianship. The vocalist and guitarist in particular were spot on virtuoso level musicians.
Weak Points
As is the case with almost all concerts I’ve attended one of the weak points was the opening band. It was a four-piece band called Immune. They lost me immediately from the first song when the lead guitarist imitated Jimi Hendrix by playing with his teeth and behind his head. There is nothing wrong with being influenced by someone but those are things that set Hendrix apart from everybody 40 years ago, not now. Another weak point for the concert was the sound quality. Loudness is great and an expectation for a rock concert but only if that loudness comes with clarity. This particular show lacked the clarity I desired from the speakers.
General Presentation
Even though it was expected, it was still a little annoying having “convenience” fees tacked on to the price of the ticket when purchased from the venue. The concert was a little pricey for a predominantly cover band at $27.50. Parking in downtown San Diego is always atrocious unless one decides to overpay for a lot or structure. I was fortunate enough to find a metered spot a few blocks away with minimal effort. As mentioned earlier the sound system and opening band could have been better. I found myself watching the drunken groupies more than the opening band. The lighting was of the standard multi-colored variety and always moving but overall bright enough to give the audience a good view of the band. The stage had absolutely no props except the performers themselves. In this case it worked because the performers wore such extreme costumes.
Variety of Music
Steel Panther opened with “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crue. It was strange to watch since the singer looked like an exact replica of Vince Neil, the real singer of Motley Crue. The band had a sort of vulgar comedy routine between each song that was quite amusing. The next song they played was “Jump” by Van Halen. After that they mixed it up with an original song called “Asian Hooker.” Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” then found new life many years after it’s conception. Coming in immediately after that was a parody version of George Michael’s “Faith” where the lyrics were changed to better suit the vulgar theme. Ted Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever” followed in hilarious fashion when they brought an elderly gentleman in the crowd on stage to help sing it. Instead of singing he just invented a new dance. Afterward the band mixed in another original called “Community Property.” Then they revisited Bon Jovi by playing “Runaway” followed by another Motley Crue song “Live Wire.” These songs were succeeded by crowd pleasers “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. After this they played another original and that was all I could take for the evening. Overall the band was very precise without any “jamming.”
Audience Response
The audience loved this band. I think this was mostly due to the band actively involving the audience. The barrier between band and performer was not really there. They called out specific members of the audience like a comedian would in a smaller setting. At different points in the show women from the audience were brought up on the stage to tease the crowd with provocative dance. The crowd was singing along to all the familiar songs because the song selection was catered toward that. The comedy aspect of the concert kept the general atmosphere of fun intact. It probably also didn’t hurt that the crowd was inebriated from the one of the many 22 ounce beers they purchased.
Instruments Present
The band was a typical rock quartet with one member singing, one playing guitar, one playing bass guitar, and the other playing drums. The singer’s voice was very clear with a pretty wide range. He could hit the super high soprano type notes popular in the 80’s but also had a more regular tenor type voice to sing most of the tunes. The guitar player wasn’t playing through a very fancy setup. He played the same six string Stratocaster style guitar with three single coil pickups throughout. The only change is his sound was between a clean channel and distorted channel on his amplifier. The bass player played a four string bass that gave a sound somewhere between clean and slightly distorted. The drummer didn’t have a big fancy set either. He played with a single bass pedal, floor tom, a smaller tom mounted to the kick drum, snare, hi-hat, and a few different cymbals besides the ride cymbal.
Balance of Instruments
Overall the mix was good with no single instrument overpowering another. I think the instruments were overpowering the house sound system a little though, which could have caused the slight lack of clarity mentioned earlier. I think the balance of instrumentation also benefitted from the lack of effects. None of the instruments had any effects except when the guitarist switched to the distortion channel.
Appropriate Space
The venue was plenty large enough to accommodate the crowd that showed up. As far as attendance goes, it wasn’t really stretching the limits of the 2,000-seat capacity like most of the other shows I’ve seen there. Live Nation was the promoter because they have exclusive promotion over any House of Blues venue. I’ve never been that much of a fan of the venue because of the sound. I like it in terms of intimacy of the venue but either something about the acoustics or the guy running the soundboard doesn’t do it for my ears.
Individual Ability
The singer, who goes by the stage name of Michael Starr was outstanding. His range and stage presence were 100% rock star. While I would guess most of the real singers of the original bands they covered can no longer hit higher notes, he still has it. It doesn’t seem to bother him that he never made the big time back when this music was actually relevant. The guitar player was also the other standout. He goes by the moniker “Satchel” and stunned in his simplicity. Every band I’ve ever seen that I really liked had a huge board of effects pedals but all he had was a simple pedal to switch between clean channel and distortion. He knew his licks and besides exaggerated stage moves didn’t solo more than necessary to get the point across. A combination of confidence and playfulness worked for them.
Background Material
No background material was provided during this show. Once I figured out they were the same band that used to play Typhoon Saloon I realized they used to be called Metal Skool. I also found out on their website that they pretty much do the same thing they were doing in Pacific Beach but now in Los Angeles and Las Vegas on a weekly basis.
Ability to Stimulate You
The whole point of the show is to stimulate you. It will not be everybody’s cup of tea but definitely embodies the spirit and look of 80’s hair metal for anyone who wasn’t around to see the real bands in concert back in that decade of decadence. Everything in their show is over-the-top from the costumes to the syncopated head banging. My particularly favorite part was the mock moves where the three mobile members of the band walked or dipped their guitars in unison. If the music is not going to be super intense like Tool then it might as well be comical. I like that they can make fun of not only the 80’s but also themselves. The 80’s may be over but someone forgot to tell these guys and I think that’s exactly how they like it.
