Sonic Shocks: Where did the title Balls Out come from?
 It was a collaborative decision that we made because we were fucking around with some other choices, and there were some options that were funny sounding and pertained to the fact it was the second record. We actually toyed with the idea of calling it ‘Flash In The Pan’, cause we heard so many critics say “these guys are nothing more than a flash in the pan…a one trick pony.” – That was another possible title.

Ultimately we didn’t want to draw attention that that was what people had put forth, so we asked ourselves “what does this record sound like to us?” So we listened to the whole thing at our studio, and it was a balls out record. It just made sense. Let’s not try and be clever; let’s just fuckin’ say it how it is: It’s a balls out record. You put that thing on, and you hear that fuckin’ intro into Supersonic Sex Machine…you know you’re getting it from the fuckin’ get-go. It’s straight up. Balls out. It’s a lifestyle, it’s a music style, and it just seemed to fit. It’s what we do.
 
Sonic Shocks: Was there anything that influenced you while recording Balls Out? Sex, Drugs & Rock N Roll aside…
 Well apart from sex drugs and rock n roll, lyrically….no. We were influenced by anything. Steel Panther isn’t here for political reasons. Like, Rage Against The Manchine – amazing band as they are – are here for a purpose, and their purpose is to make people aware of what’s going on politically and socially. Our purpose is to distract you from all that shit, and for the 50 minutes you put that record on, you should just forget about all the shit and have a good time.
 
Sonic Shocks: Saying it’s a lifestyle, does that mean the songs like 17 Girls In A Row were based on actual events?
 Yes, as a matter of fact! Satchel, our lead guitarist….(pause)…well, it’s not completely seventeen girls. He didn’t fuck seventeen girls – he fucked fifteen of them – and two of them gave him blowjobs. So…is it totally accurate? No…Is it close? …Yes. Fifteen didn’t fit the rhyming scheme. There weren’t enough syllables, we needed a number with three syllables, not two!
 
Sonic Shocks: How about I Like Drugs?
Yeeeaaahhhh…that was me. I’m not proud of it, but I am definitely the biggest ‘chemist’ in the band. You know, usually drugs are GREAT. I mean, I’m not advocating that everyone goes and gets high, but I like to do that, so… it’s like with anything… Vanilla ice cream can get ugly.

Kids: stay off drugs that you don’t know what you’re putting into your bodies. When someone comes up to you and says “Hey! Try this!”, and it’s not someone you totally trust; don’t do it. Because you can end up FUCKED! But I don’t think drugs are entirely bad if you know when to do ‘em and when not to. Use your discretion kids. Don’t.Do.Drugs.
…unless you wanna get high.
 
Let’s break it down:

-         If you wanna get stoned while watching movies and eat a bunch of fuckin’ snacks…smoke weed.

-         If you wanna get really skinny, talk a lot with people you have nothing in common with after you’re high, become annoying and start sweating, and have your heart feel like it’s gonna jump out of your chest…do cocaine.

-         If you want to pedal an imaginary bicycle for three and a half hours in your bed, all the time trying to figure out why you can’t stop pedalling…do mushrooms.

-         If you wanna end up nodding off in the middle of a conversation while you were speaking…do heroin.
That’s the breakdown. Try not to combine all four of them, otherwise you’ll just turn into a fuckin’ train wreck. Take it from me: I’ve done it.

 
Sonic Shocks: How are people gonna feel after listening to Balls Out for the first time?
 I think it’s gonna take them on a journey of heavy metal. Hold on tight, cause you’re gonna hear shit on this record that you’ve never heard before. It’s gonna freak your face out: it’s metal at it’s finest. I know I sound like an arrogant cocksucker saying that, but you gotta call it what it is. It’s a bitchin’ record. We would not have put it out if we weren’t confident I saying it rocks balls.
If I was in, say, Def Leppard, and I put out Pyromania, I’d be saying the same shit. Something like “You have no fuckin’ idea how hard your nuts are gonna get rocked right now. Listen to this…” Then I’d push play, or put the needle on the record, and tell them to just sit back and listen, cause it rocks. I’d say the same for Motley Crue and Shout at the Devil. Judas Priest’s Screaming for Vengeance, Dio and Holy Diver. If I’d made those records…if I was in those bands…I’d be saying the same about these records as I for Balls Out. Nobody in Steel Panther would let Balls Out go out unless we all felt that way.
 A lot of bands today don’t take that measuring stick out with their own record. They have one or two songs that are pretty good, then suddenly someone tells them they’re pop-y enough to get on the radio, and then they’re like “ok, lets just put a bunch of shit around it”. How many times have you brought a record cause you liked the single, and you listen to the rest of the record and your reaction was like “what the fuck?!” The art of making an album from top to bottom that’s really great? That art has been missing from a long, long time. We’re not exactly a traditional band, so we’re not exactly gonna go out there and start doing traditional albums. We just wanna make one of those classic albums that you brought back in the day that you loved, and you listened to it over and over.
 
Sonic Shocks: Would you say it’s still important then to try and release your album on vinyl?
 I do! And I say that, sitting here, holding the Balls Out vinyl in my hand right now. When they cut those albums into the vinyl, the music is physically in the grooves. The sound is amplified. There’s just something about the way the album feels when you hold it in your hand. The pictures are bigger, and there’s something just real sexy about an album on vinyl. I think it’s important – especially for a band like Steel Panther, ‘cause we’re real sexy – that we have an album that matches our sexiness. Mp3s are great but they’re impersonal. When you buy a vinyl album, it’s something that you take care of and cherish. You don’t have to take care of an mp3, cause you don’t have to worry about it. But there’s a certain amount of emotion attached to a vinyl record, cause you don’t want it to get scratched. It’s like a baby…
 
Sonic Shocks: You have a few guest appearances on Balls Out, how did they get involved?
 Well we had Chad Kroeger. First of all we had Dane Cook, who’s a comedian who lives in Los Angeles and comes to our shows a lot in Hollywood, and stays and jams with us. So we asked him to do the narrative for us in the beginning.
 But with It Wont Suck Itself, Chad’s a fan of ours, and we’d always talk about getting together and writing. Then, we had this show in Vancouver, which is where he lives, and finally we scheduled to go over to his house and write. There was a one day writing session, and we smoked a bunch of weed, wrote the song, came back to LA, did a little bit of tweaking, recorded it, then sent it back to him so he could sing on a verse, and he fuckin’ killed it! I’ve read some reviews, with some people saying “why have they got Nickelback on their record?” And it just goes right in line with not being typical. I don’t think anyone would have expected the lead singer of Nickelback to appear on a Steel Panther record, and that’s why it made so much sense to us.
 Then with Nuno [Bettencourt], who plays the solo on that song, it was for the same reason. We’ve known Nuno through him coming to our shows. We ran into him in Las Vegas; he’s been Rihanna’s guitar player for two to three years, so he hasn’t played heavy metal for a long time. He’s a fucking amazing guitar player, and Satchel, our guitar player, asked him if he’d be interested in doing a solo, and he said “dude, I would LOVE to.” It took a few weeks to set it all up, we sent the song to him, he tracked the solo on his own and sent it back to us. It’s just… it was the kinda solo that a guy who hasn’t played a heavy metal solo for two to three years would have played because it’s got everything in it. It’s smokin’! It was fun working with all three of these dudes and I think they all added something to the album.
 
Sonic Shocks: So was that a way of maybe capturing the feel of one of your live shows?
 Well we’re pretty well known for having guests come to our shows and jamming with us. Take for example, Cee Lo Green, who is NOT a heavy metal guy. But he’s an internationally know RnB/Hip Hop guy with Gnarls Barkley. Getting people like that on stage with us – those who aren’t a total match – is fuckin’ cool! And it’s fun. People don’t get to see that a lot. Today, everything is so structured in Rock and Pop, and everything is planned to a T, that I think it’s refreshing for people to get a hit of two different music communities jamming. They do that a lot on Rap albums: you always see ‘Lil Wayne featuring Jay Z’… “featuring”… “featuring”…and nobody in Rock does that.
 
Sonic Shocks: Normally people asked established bands what advice they’d give youngsters trying to break into the industry, but like you said earlier, you aren’t a traditional band, so let’s have a little fun: Instead of an aspiring rock band, what about the bands of the 80s/90s who never made it big. The Vixens, Bang Tangos, Enuff Z’Nuffs of this world. What advice would you give them to rejuvenate their careers?
 Oh man! That’s a fucked question, but I like it!

Let’s take Enuff Z’Nuff, as I like them. What I would tell those dudes is to start writing songs that aren’t so…tricky for the listener. Especially with Enuff Z’Nuff, they write songs with chords that the Beatles would have used. I’m not comparing the two bands, but they write chord songs that are almost too… above peoples’ heads. The majority of peoples’ heads musically. I would say “look man, write shit that people can either totally digest – like in a pop way, or fully fuckin’ rocks them!” because I think they didn’t do either of those. They never rocked your nuts off, and they didn’t write songs that were easily hummable. Cause like, when you sit down and listen to, say, Community Property, in your head you’re going (sings) “Commuuuuunityyyy Propertyyyyy” and you can sing it. You can hum it. Enuff Z’Nuff? I mean, I can hum it, but ninety-nine people out of a hundred can’t.
 
Sonic Shocks: So what you’re saying is; choose one end of the spectrum: either dumb it down for a mainstream audience, or turn it up to 11 and rock everyone’s balls off…
 Abso-fuckin’-lutely! Oh – and grow your hair long. They kinda had high hair… but they didn’t wear spandex! They wore puffy shirts n’ shit. They shoulda stuck with spandex!
 
Sonic Shocks: So lets talk about touring. You’re playing the Electric Ballroom as a one-off.
I think it should be renamed the Electric Balls Out Room! Actually, as soon as we finish up here I’m gonna see if we can get the name to be changed for one night…
 
Sonic Shocks: Great idea! And of course, the Def Leppard/Motley Crue tour. Who’s dick did you have to suck to get in on that package deal?
 Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx. I sucked their dicks. No, I’m kidding. I didn’t suck their dicks.
Lexxi Foxxx did.

He’s the prettiest! Let’s just call it what it is: he’s a beautiful man. No, in reality, we got the offer from Andy Copping. Lexxi did blow Tommy and Nikki, but that had nothing to do with the gig. That was just a party they were at…
But we got the offer from Andy Copping, and for us it was like “lets do the math.” The math is very fucking simple: Def Leppard and Motley Crue touring together has never happened before in the history of mankind and the solar system. Now it’s happening, and imagine if we get asked to do it, and we said “no”? Somebody should punch is in the dick, because it’s that kind of fuckin’ opportunity you do not pass up, and I don’t give a fuck who you are. We are very honoured to be doing it. It’s fucking cool.
 
Sonic Shocks: So we finally have an answer to “where is Def Leppard? Where is Motley Crue?” – they’re on tour with Steel Panther…
 Right! And depending where they are physically in the building, we’re gonna let you know. We’re gonna be singing “where is Def Leppard? Where is Motley Crue?...well…Tommy’s in the bathroom, Nikki’s at the merch stand…” we’re gonna let you know where each guy is. We’re gonna be giving you a fuckin’ minute to minute update. It’s gonna be like “Hey! Joe Elliott’s it the car, and Phil Collen’s in the cafeteria…!” We’re gonna be keeping a tight leash on what’s going on. Keeping everyone informed.
 
Sonic Shocks: So a one-off Ballroom show and mega package tour aside, will you have any solo shows to support Balls Out?
 That’s a fuckin’ good question, and I have a great answer: which is ‘yes’! In January we have a bunch of shows around the States, and then in February we go over to Australia to do Soundwave. A bunch of our friends like Slipknot, The Damned Things, System of a Down: all the guys that come down to our shows will be there, so that’ll be great! Then, in March, begins the European headlining tour for Balls Out. It’s gonna start up in Oslo, then work it’s way down through Sweden, Finland, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, winding down into the UK, and I believe finishing up in London. It’s gonna be balls out: your face will melt.
 
Sonic Shocks: Speaking of London, so you know what’s happening with the live DVD you recorded at the Brixton Academy?
It’s gone through legal hell! I don’t know the exact status of it. One thing I do want to make very clear is that we want it to get out. It’s not us holding it back at all. We want it out cause that show was really fuckin’ fun. I’ve seen the rough cut of it and it’s fuckin’ killer! But it’s to do with the record company and the production company needing to come to terms on it. Personally, I think it will end up being released. Honestly it wasn’t our deal. It was a deal offered to us and we agreed to be filmed, but we don’t really have a say – as silly as that sounds. It’s up to a much larger machine.
 
Sonic Shocks: So, rounding this all up, give us three reasons why people should go out and buy Balls Out.
 Reason One) It’s a fucking great heavy metal album.

Reason Two) If you don’t buy the album, your life will be less pleasurable. Because this album is gonna bring you so much fuckin’ joy, but in turn what will happen is that you will learn from this album. Stuff like gold digging whores are out there, so watch your shit and be careful.

Reason Three) You’re helping in the movement to bring back Heavy Metal and great music.