Steel Panther’s Satchel Plays His Favorite Riffs + Solos

Pay attention, kids. Steel Panther's Satchel dropped by the Loudwire studio to not only rock some of his favorite riffs, but also surprisingly gave us one of the more informative episodes of Gear Factor rethinking how we'll envision some of the key moments in rock and metal history.

So where did young Satchel start on guitar? The same place that many rockers do, with one of the most epic riffs in rock history -- Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water." “It’s classic shit. Sounds even better when you’ve got the B3, and who played the B3, Jon Lord. Uh-huh. ‘Smoke on the Water’ is a classic riff and it inspired me to pick up the guitar and become a guitar player,” says Satchel, who also credits Ritchie Blackmore in general spanning both Rainbow and Deep Purple. "His solos are always great and his songwriting arrangements are always awesome. If you haven’t ever gotten into Deep Purple, it’s a treasure trove of awesomeness. It’s where a lot of guys were inspired in the late ‘60s and ‘70s."

Satchel also credits Black Sabbath as an early influence, rocking a bit of "Paranoid." He then regales us with some history, explaining, "I knew that Tony Iommi had plastic fingers because he cut the tips of his fingers off. You know how he did it? Cutting a bagel. It’s the most common way. Get a bagel cutter kids, you should know better. Don’t try to cut your bagel with a knife. You’ll cut your fingers right off like Tony Iommi, which is probably a good thing. Very successful career."

For his own band, "Death to All But Metal" was truly the beginning for the group and it's a riff that Satchel still loves. "It’s still one of our most premiere bitchin’ songs. It’s got everything you need to impress your friends from school, your teachers love it," says Satchel. "Mom loves it when she’s trying to get you to take the trash out and you’ve got it cranked on your earpods. What are they called? I can’t afford them. I'm jealous of all the kids on the subway and shit.”

We also discuss Steel Panther's raucous new album, Heavy Metal Rules. During our discussion, Satchel gives us some of his favorite riffs and solos from the record, pulling out bits of the "Heavy Metal Rules" title track, "All I Wanna Do Is Fuck Myself Tonight" and the Uli Jon Roth-esque riffage on "Let's Get High Tonight." With tongue firmly implanted in cheek, Satchel deadpans, “I like all the solos on our new record because I paid George Lynch a lot of money to do them."

Steel Panther's Heavy Metal Rules album is out now and you can pick it up here. Look for the band returning to the road Oct. 5 in Las Vegas. See all their dates here.

See Steel Panther's Satchel in the 30 Most Underrated Hard Rock + Metal Guitarists