Steel Panther vocalist Michael Starr has no hard feelings towards Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, saying he hopes the brief feud was merely “a blip in the heavy metal news.”
Feathers were first ruffled when Starr and Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia took part in a 2019 interview with Little Punk People, where they were asked which artist they would bring back if they could.
“I’d bring back Vince Neil,” Starr joked, as Zadinia chimed in, “He’s not dead.”
Starr continued, “I’d bring back Vince Neil from back in the day because that guy is dead.”
The banter didn’t go down well with Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, who took to Twitter to take aim at the band.
“The singer in Steal Panther [sic] can go fuck himself … wanna-be band putting down Vince Neil?” Sixx tweeted, as a fan reminded the music that Steel Panther occasionally cover Mötley Crüe songs during shows. “That’s why they are assholes. Backstabbers,” he added.
Zadinia then added fuel to the fire, responding to Sixx saying: “Sounds like someone needs some fucking attention.”
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Despite the back and forth jabs between the groups, Starr is now hoping the feud is water under the bridge, telling Little Punk People in a new interview that “the last thing” he wants is to be beefing with the Mötley Crüe member.
“Hopefully that thing was just like a blip in the, you know, heavy metal news for now. I think if we were to run into each other, I myself would totally be, ‘What’s up, dude?’ That’s the last thing I wanna do, is have a band that influenced my musical taste and direction be mad at me. But sometimes there’s really nothing you can do about that kind of stuff; you just have to live with it,” he explained.
Starr added that he hopes then next time the pair run into each other it would be amicable.
“People were saying, ‘What are you doing? Why are you guys arguing?’ and I was, like, ‘Yeah, you’re right. Why are we arguing?’ It’s silly,” he said. “There’s no reason to do that, and it’s over social media. And I know if we were on a festival or in the same room, I’m not gonna ignore the guy. I’m a fan. I’m gonna go up and say hi. And if he wants to not be my friend, then that’s one thing, but I would totally walk up to him and say hi.”
Check out Little Punk People’s interview with Steel Panther:
