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STEEL PANTHER, BRKN LOVE In Ottawa, Canada By Andrew Depedro, Ottawa Corespondent Saturday, October 7, 2023 @ 5:42 PM
Appetite For Destruction blew us all away. POISON looked so good that many males wondered if they - and themselves - were gay. WHITESNAKE made us bang our heads in the still of the frickin' night. Coverdale was bangin' Tawny Kitaen and the world just felt so right.
And there was the time when a teenaged Alanis Morrissette took part in a talent contest at her high school (which happened to be at the same location where this show took place), belted out a seamless rendition of a Whitney Houston number and was booed off the stage.
Granted, 1987 wasn't always a year worth remembering for some. But seeing as Alanis has made enough bank in her career since the 90's to afford every Jaguar that Tawny Kitaen had danced on, it's safe to say that she's gotten over the incident. Meanwhile, the 2,000+ strong audience in attendance came out to relive the year of Reaganomics and the Meech Lake Accord as the infamous On The Prowl tour, well, prowled its way into town.
Whether the headliners were ever aware that the Bronson Center was where Alanis' Grade 8 talent show performance had unspectacularly foretold Ashlee Simpson by nearly two decades, they did bring out the best-named band in honor of my high school conquests in the form of BRKN LOVE. The Toronto-based quartet, who have been a regular fixture to KNAC.COM's playlist for nearly five years, having first emerged on the scene with their self-titled debut in 2020, opened their set with the rollicking raw number "Dead Weight". Led by founder/singer/guitarist Justin Benlolo who happens to be the band's only Canadian-born member (guitarist Kyle Duke, bassist Nick Katz and drummer Russell Holzman all hail from NYC), BRKN LOVE's hybrid of bombastic KISS/SABBATH-inspired classic hard rock and modern ROYAL BLOOD/WOLFMOTHER-sounding alternative rock might be an odd pairing with their 80's Sunset Strip-celebrating headliners at first, but a couple more samples of their catalogue including "Crush", the KNAC faves "Flies In The Honey" and "Shot Down" and a wild rendition of "War Pigs" earned the quartet a rousing standing ovation. And credit goes also to Kyle's sonic power chord wizardry, Russell's raw-sounding blast beats and Nick's Inflatable Tube Man dance moves and strong rumbling bass which made for an entertaining evening overall.
https://www.brknlove.com/
But if there's one thing that STEEL PANTHER are definitely known for sharing with their audience, it's their stage as the band members swap instruments, with Michael Starr seemingly playing acoustic guitar for the first time, Stix trying out the keyboards and Spyder taking on the lighter as their ballad "Ain't Dead Yet" leads into the band inviting a crowd member named Maddi from Ukraine up on stage as her daughter watched them play the literally-improvised "Impromptu Song For A Girl". By the time "Girl From Oklahoma", "Community Property" and the "Contagious"-ly Y&T-sounding "Party All Day (Fuck All Night)" are about to get their live treatment, Starr's already brought up half of the female crowd up on stage with them to accompany them in the aforementioned numbers. And even with the encore track "Gloryhole" closing out the set followed by an extended game of hat tossing, SP still kept the visceral energy of about two dozen of their 80's peers afterwards.
With their second visit to Ottawa in less than a year, STEEL PANTHER played like they'd been away for a decade and relished in the limelight during every moment of their performance. And there was even a reunion of sorts at my former alma mater featuring assorted members of local rock/metal acts ROCKIN' ENGINE, HELLBROS and LYCANTHRO in the audience - all of whom agreed that a STEEL PANTHER live experience continues to match the excitement of the Sunset Strip scene spot on.
https://steelpantherrocks.com/
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With their second Ottawa appearance in less than a year and with an affinity for playing institutes of higher learning, headliners STEEL PANTHER open their set with their most trad metal sounding number "Eyes Of A Panther" to fire up the crowd bearing their patches and mullet wigs. The setlist also featured some significantly different changes from their November visit, with lesser-known numbers such as "Let Me Cum In" and "Friends With Benefits" getting some proverbial playtime in this set. Their biggest hit "Death To All But Metal", normally played as a closing number, was even played in between the middle of the set. And speaking of playtime, the band, comprised of Michael Starr (vocals), Satchel (guitarist), Stix Zadinya (drums) and Spyder (bass), keep both the tunes and the comedy routine fresh and exciting - and allowing for Spyder to promote his new candy product known as Spyder's Booby Bites (now with added cocaine and still keeping that fresh taste of Spyder's granny's undercarriage!). The band's lighthearted banter about DEF LEPPARD's Rick Allen even got an update with a featured impersonation by Stix - not an easy stunt as the secret to the drumming technique, according to Satchel, is "all in the wrist in order to pull it off". And the introduction to the band's latest number "1987" was one of celebration for being the best year for heavy metal: GNR, WHITESNAKE, MOTLEY CRUE and others achieving mainstream status, Satchel's first exposure to chlamydia and Michael Starr finally moving out of his mom's house into Satchel's mom's house. Allegedly.
Setlist: