Death to All But Metal: Steel Panther, Transkuntinental, Neo Geo @ House of Blues Sunset, 7/18/11

“I’m on the list.”

“That’ll be $5 per person”

“No, you don’t understand…I’m on The List”.

“But you’re not on That List”

There’s nothing like having a group of 5 of your friends start snickering at your list drama, when you’ve been like ‘oh sure, I’ve got a hook up for Steel Panther….let’s go, it’ll be no problem!!” I don’t mind paying $5…but it was just a funny reminder of the glamorous life of a blogger that I live.

This necessitated whiskey shots while watching Neo Geo. They’re like an industrial metal band fronted by Avril Lavigne. From the OC, they will be joining Warped Tour shortly, which is surely their target audience. With a different singer this band would probably be something I could get into, but alas, the vocals made it delve straight into sugary pop territory.

I had no idea there was even another band, so when a parade of drag queens started doing cover songs, I was caught off guard. Transkuntinental was their name…clever. It was very entertaining; especially when a cover of ‘Like A Virgin’ faded into ‘Closer’ and the Madonna and NIN fan inside me got to rejoice at once. They covered that Adele song, the one that everyone knows and loves, no matter who you are…it’s the biggest song since ‘Crazy’….there’s just something classic about it, and it’s everywhere.

There were a couple of Panther virgins in our group, and it’s funny to watch them laughing in disbelief once they ‘get it’. I’d seen them once before, in Vegas, and this show had a pretty different vibe. Though they have a new album coming (err, cumming) out in October; they played mostly covers, including a montage meets ode to Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again’ to show how many bands had ‘ripped off Whitesnake’. There was the girl who got on stage to show her tits, and her friend jumped up and tried to stop her only to be removed by security (HA!). There were all the girls brought onstage to dance, but namely the older creepy one and the completely manufactured one that made my skin crawl. The special guest was Dj Ashba, of GNR and Sixx AM, who shredded on ZZ Top’s ‘Tush’…my weekend had come full circle. It was a night full of laughs and classic metal songs, played by truly talented guys who just chose to go about their fame a bit differently.

Getting home after 1am on a ‘school night’ still seems rebellious to this day, especially when ironically wearing a shirt like this: