Men of steel bring back the spandex

Lexxi Foxx (left) and band play in Auckland next week. Photo / Supplied

Steel Panther bring their mission to revive LA hair-metal to New Zealand.

Lexxi Foxx of Los Angeles glam metallers Steel Panther has partied with the greatest. Charlie Sheen, Hugh Hefner and his bunnies, and Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, among many others. And just before you think about it, don't bag Chad.

"He is bitchin'," says Lexxi. "Chad came to our show and got up and jammed with us. And I don't know if Chad wants this out there, but he borrowed my spandex for a night, he is bitchin'."

But one of the biggest party animals Lexxi and the rest of the Panthers have met is our own Jemaine Clement.

"They [the Conchords] would come to our shows. They are two really really cool guys and they like heavy metal too," he says. "But one night, and I'm not sure if I should say this in an interview, but Jemaine and I got really hammered. Actually, no, I probably shouldn't say this. But him and I have a lot in common."

Lexxi - so named because it rhymes with "sexy" - is, fair to say, by far the prettiest one in Steel Panther. And since forming the band in the early 2000s he has come to grips with the demands that go with it.

"I wouldn't say I'm the best looking, because we're all pretty bitchin', but I would say I am the most feminine - and I like that. And we all have different kinds of chicks who like us, and it's the hot models who like me because I have these feminine features - and I'm okay with that."

So ladies watch out, and lads don't get jealous, because Steel Panther are heading to New Zealand for the first time next week to play Auckland's Powerstation on Tuesday night.

"You will notice at the show all the hot chicks will be on my side of the stage," Lexxi says on the phone from Los Angeles. "And when we play our bitchin' tunes the chicks especially will be super stoked. "

Steel Panther may come across like a parody of the golden age of glam and hair metal, when Motley Crue prowled LA's Sunset Strip. But they take their music - and the lifestyle that goes with it - very seriously.

Their debut album, Feel the Steel from 2009, included the classic Death to All But Metal, and the stand-outs from last year's follow up, Ball's Out, were If You Really Really Love Me and Just Like Tiger Woods.

They are catchy, rifftastic and wild hair metal anthems.

However, be warned, because the Panther's lewd and crude lyrics will make you laugh out loud but then you might also feel a little bit dirty for loving the songs so much.

But hey, it's rock 'n' roll, or more to the point, heavy metal, so get into it.

It's in the liner notes of Balls Out where Lexxi sums up the sentiment and philosophy behind Steel Panther.

"I'd like to thank my fellow Panthers for helping me bring back metal," he writes.

"That's exactly what it is, and what's kind of cool is that although we've been doing this for a really long time, and right now is the best time for us, and although I love all those bands - Motley Crue and Def Leppard, that was such a bitchin' time for all of us - and right now what we're trying to do is bring heavy metal back.

"And it's cool we get to wear make up and look bitchin' and grow our hair out and have it coloured and highlighted and chicks dig that, so there are special privileges that go with being in Steel Panther."

Concert preview
Who: Steel Panther
What: Naughty, sex crazed glam metallers from Los Angeles
Where: Powerstation, Tuesday, October 2
Listen to: Balls Out, out now