STACK April 2017 Issue 150

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STEEL
PANTHER
08 APRIL 2017
The album is titled LowerThe Bar – who do
you think should be lowering their bar, and
how low should they be going?
Lowering the bar is essential to being a
happier person. Think about it. If you go out
looking to f-ck a 10 and you wind up with a 6,
you’re bummed. But if you’re happy just f-cking
something that isn’t canine, then you wind up
with a 6, you are f-cking ecstatic.
visit MUSIC NEWS
Walk Of Shame details a girl leaving a
hotel after a wild night. Instead of “walk
of shame”, I prefer “stride of pride” –
shouldn’t gals be proud of spending the
night with you?
Well, you are obviously a “glass half full”
kind of person. But the reality is most of us
are gonna f-ck some sludge piggies after nine
or 12 shots of Patron. The walk of shame
is alive and kicking. And yes… girls are
usually pretty stoked after a night with me.
Michael, not so much.
Last time we spoke to you, Lexxi told us
his dream is to go to the zoo and poke a
silverback gorilla in the eye. In our post-
Harambe world, is that still a goal?
Well, you have to admit that
would be an exhilarating experience.
I think it would be worth angering
some of the animal protection
groups. F-ck… I’d like to poke some
of those f-ckers in the eye as well.
You've said you’re going to keep
playing and partying until a
bandmember ODs.Why do you
think you’ve evaded the reaper so
far (and congrats!)?
I think the drugs help. That and
I don’t make left hand turns when I drive;
I’ll do three right hand turns to achieve the
same result with less risk.
You’ve been going strong for 16 years;
what do you do when you feel your
supply of creativity is drying up? How
do you re-amp yourselves?
We have an endless supply of inspiring
experiences on the road. I can’t imagine
hitting a dry spell. But if it happens, we’ll
just get high and f-ck some b-tches and I’m
sure the songs will start flowing like *****
***** [Good Lord - Ed]. ZKR
NORTHLANE
continued
EXTREMELY CRASS 'N' CRUDE CORRESPONDENCE FROM SATCHEL (GUITAR)
PLEASE AVERTYOUR EYES IFYOU HAVE ANYTASTEWHATSOEVER
Lower The
Bar by Steel
Panther is out
now via Kobalt.
You’ve written about intensely
personal issues and very macro
issues in this album. Did it take
a bit of time to overcome the
idea that you should be doing
only one or the other?
In the past it would have been
one or the other but we weren’t
afraid to do both this time around.
We removed that filter we had
set in our minds of what band we
needed to be or should be and
wrote about things that moved us.
On previous albums, lyrics
and music were composed
independently and then brought
together in the studio; this
time lyrics and music often
blossomed spontaneously
together. How do you think
that affected the way the songs
finished up?
It actually made the songs
come together in a final form
slower, but the vocal and music
definitely work more seamlessly
together than ever before. They
were purpose written to dynamically
match and emotionally interconnect.
To me that has a huge overall result
on how the songs feel.
Jon says many of these ideas (or
the evolution of initial ideas) were
born out of soundcheck jams;
how do you remember ideas
you’ve come up during those
minutes with when your mind is
also on a show you’re about to
play?
This is true – so we’d
just sit a phone on
record at front of house
and muck around with
riffs. Then afterwards
Jon would take these
jams and see if there
was any magic in
there he could work
into something more.
Working on the road is
nothing new to us, we
are always writing on the road
when we are inspired and keeping
our days full.
In opener Citizen the lyrics refer
to “Big Brother’s eyes” and
Intuition encourages listeners
to “question everything
you know.".What do
you guys do to try to
actively subscribe to
that idea?
Wear tinfoil hats and
tape over our webcams.
Seriously though, I think
what matters is your
mindset, realise there
could be an agenda
behind anything you read
or believe and take everything
with a grain of salt, don’t be afraid
to contest an idea ever.
One of my favourites is Solar;
the guitar details are beautiful,
as is the way you play around
with the verse, bridge and
chorus time signatures. Did
the elements in this song in
particular begin very separately,
or did it flow out as naturally as
it plays?
Solar actually came together
really naturally, both musically and
vocally it was very immediate and
flowed from the get go. It’s the
best example we’ve ever had of
a song just forming naturally from
ideas that feel right to us. ZKR
Mesmer by
Northlane is out
now via UNFD.
TOURING
10/05 - 27/05
Read the full interview online at
We spoke to rhythm guitarist Josh Smith about the Sydney metaller's fourth album, Mesmer.