By Art Daniels
May 19th 2014: So when we last talked, we had just visited Kenny’s mom. (Check out parts 1 and 2 of the blog if you haven’t yet). Louisiana is a beautiful and scary place. The food is really good. Kenny showed us where he grew up and the tree he used to pee on. Yes, it was a special place. Too bad we had a long drive ahead of us, it would have been nice to stick around. On we went to Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Silver Spring, Philadelphia and Sayreville. (Even though this blog is being posted today on May 23rd, it was written just after the New Jersey show on May 18th, and describes everything up to that point). Orlando
Orlando is truly a magical place. It has Disney World and Waffle House. What else do you need? This peculiar night was going to be a good one. Steel Panther’s tour manager Matt was celebrating a birthday and some of the members of Alter Bridge/Creed were going to be there. My pal Kane was dropping in. Good times were on the way!!! The show was at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. Nobody has any idea how this group was going to be allowed to play there. I don’t know if you have heard but Steel Panther has a lot of nudity in the show. The Mouse is very conservative.
So long story short, this was going to be a crazy night.
The show went off without a hitch. The Villains killed it, as usual. After they play, the guys come to the merch table and sign things and we all hang out and drink. The vibe could not be more perfect. NOTHING could ruin this night. Then it happens…
In my short time of doing this, I have never seen what happened next. We had to remove the rhythm guitarist we had hired right before we left for tour. It was something that was long overdue.
There are a lot of rules about being on tour. Almost all of them of are common sense. The person we tossed has no common sense. None. Almost from day one this guy was not a part of us. He never helped out unless he was told to do so. He would only carry his guitars into venues. One time after we asked him to help out carrying gear, he picked up a guitar rack and walked in with his other hand empty. You couldn’t have a conversation with him unless you wanted to talk about one of three things. 1. Music. 2. A girl he wanted to have sex with or 3. The food he just ate. If you wanted to talk about anything else, you were out of luck. After making many problems for us, by bothering the wrong person, or letting random people into the backstage area (a major problem), as well as other assorted things that he was just not helping with, we had a long talk with him. We let him know he was on thin ice and he needed to keep his shit together.
I won’t get into what transpired to lead to his dismissal but I will say that it was ugly. I even lost my cool. This is not something I’m proud of at all but that dude brought out the worst in some of us that night.
After a lot of screaming and an intervention from the Disney Police, we gave him $300 (more than he deserved) and sent him and all his gear out of our RV. Good riddance. My apologies to Kane, who knows that’s not how Future Villains are but didn’t need to see that crap, brought on by one fool.
The next day was an off day and it was much needed. There was a lot of discussion about the rest of the tour and if the guys could carry on as a four-piece or whether we should find somebody to take in for the rest of the tour. Future Villains had been a four-piece before so that’s the way they would remain the rest of this trip. This was a huge burden off our shoulders. We finally didn’t have to babysit this dude anymore and we could just concentrate on making the band successful.
Myrtle Beach
The last part of the ejection of this dude is that we had to tell the rest of the tour package he was gone. We weren’t sure how they would take it. Apparently he was a thorn in their sides as well because we got more than one person telling us that he wasn’t right for us and was getting in the way of people doing their jobs. We gained a lot of respect for doing what we had to do to keep the band safe from the wrong people. In reality, we just did what we had to do.
The show itself was great. Steel Panther is still fun to see. They change up their show enough to make it fun every night.
Silver Spring
Silver Spring has the distinction of being the best night of the show so far. My buddy Brian, who I haven’t seen in years, stopped by for the show. He’s one of the people who convinced me to move to LA to follow my dreams, so it was great to be able to show him that what I have been working for has been happening. I was able to get him in to sound check for Future Villains. I’m always happy when I can repay a friend for good advice.
The show was great but the after-party was awesome. We partied downstairs in the venue and then hit a local bar. The vibe was incredibly good and I can’t recall a night where everything went so well and we didn’t have to worry about somebody screwing it up. I’m excited that Brian got to see both bands and how well they interacted. Steep Panther is so good to us. Lexxi Foxx is so sweet; I’m convinced that if I gave him my home address, he would show up with a basket of muffins. The party kept going and going and I’m a little fuzzy on the rest of the night, I’ll have to ask around.
Silver Spring brings us the Stix Zadinia story of the week:
This one doesn’t actually include Stix. A drunk girl walked up to Kenny and I at the bar we went to.
Drunk Girl: What’s the drummer’s name?
Kenny: Mr. Zadinia
Drunk Girl: No that’s not his name, what is it really?
Kenny and myself: Mr. Zadinia!
Drunk Girl: That’s not what you call him.
Me: It is if you want to stay on tour.
Messing with drunk people is fun.
Philadelphia
Philly is where cheese steak are from. They make them the best there. This is all I have to say about Philly.
Sayreville NJ
Anybody who knows me, knows I’m from New Jersey. I’m told that when I’m drunk I say it a lot and my accent comes out. I’ll take their word for it. Anyways, I was so happy to be making my return to the Starland Ballroom in Jersey. The show went off great and Dusty gave me a shout-out from the stage. I wish more people I knew were there but on a Sunday night, you get what you can take.
After the show we drove to my brother’s beautiful farm in Northwest Jersey. This is the second band I have brought here. Everybody is surprised to see New Jersey isn’t a garbage dump. We have a lot of farmland too. Beer and BBQ are happening as a relaxing day is needed.
That’s it for now. Tomorrow, we head north to Montreal. Border crossings are tricky so we will see how it goes.
Steel Panther/Future Villains remaining tour dates:
5/20 — Montreal, Quebec — Metropolis
5/21 — Boston, Mass. — House of Blues
5/23 — Hampton Beach, N.H. — Hampton Beach Casino
5/24 — Portland, Maine — The Asylum
5/26 — Toronto, Ontario — Sound Academy
5/27 — New York, N.Y. — Irving Plaza
5/28 — Pittsburgh, Pa. — Stage AE
5/29 — Cleveland, Ohio — House of Blues