After a long time auditioning for a new bass player, Steel Panther settled on continuing with Spyder as Lexxi Foxx’s replacement. According to Satchel, choosing Spyder to fill in for Lexxi was nothing more than ‘filling dumb shoes with dumb feet,’ as he revealed during a recent conversation with Heavy Interviews.
Back in 2018, Lexxi Foxx took a hiatus and missed a Steel Panther tour to go to a ‘sex rehab.’ After the news, Joe ‘Spyder’ Jester, who was also the band’s tour manager, filled in for him. Although Lexxi returned to Steel Panther for their next tour, he still missed some of the dates, during which Spyder again replaced the bassist.
In 2021, it was announced that Lexxi Foxx permanently left Steel Panther to focus on his side business ‘Sexy Lexxi’s Prettiest Pets.’ So, the band had to find someone to join as their new bass player. During the auditions, Rikki Dazzle joined as Steel Panther’s touring bassist. Finally, in September 2022, Spyder was selected as the new full-time bass player.
Speaking in a new interview, the band’s guitarist Satchel jokingly said they chose Spyder because he’s not smart enough to do many things except play the bass. He then argued that one needs to fill dumb shoes with dumb feet, implying the bassist was the perfect fit to fill in for Lexxi Foxx.
The interviewer then asked the guitarist to be serious for a second and comment on Spyder’s contributions to Steel Panther. Satchel said the bassist had a great groove and played well alongside Stix’s drumming. After that, he praised Spyder’s bass playing on their new album ‘On the Prowl,’ especially on the songs ‘Friends With Benefits’ and ‘1987.’
Asked about his opinions on Spyder, Satchel said the following:
“Well, Spyder’s a bass player, so he doesn’t know how to spell or do a lot of things. That’s why he plays the bass. If he were smart, he’d probably be doing crypto, running a website, or something. But he’s not smart, so that’s why he’s a bass player. That’s also why we got him in the band — we don’t want somebody smart. That would be really hard to manipulate. You have to fill dumb shoes with dumb feet.”
With a more serious approach, he continued:
“Honestly, he’s a great bass player; we’ve known him for a long time. He’s definitely got a great pocket and a great groove. You listen to his bass playing on this record, and he just drives much of it with Stix. I mean, Stix is a great drummer, and he plays great with Stix. He holds it down.
I mean, you listen to some of the bass lines on ‘Friends With Benefits,’ where he and I were doing unison lines. It’s not easy to play, and he just kills it. ‘1987’ has a lot of great bass playing on it, too. This whole record is full of great bass playing. You know, we had a lot of auditions; we had over 500 people audition for the gig. Even though Spyder is a horrible speller, he gives great bl*wjobs, and he’s a great bass player.”
Steel Panther is getting ready to release their new album ‘On the Prowl’ on February 24. Fans caught a glimpse of Spyder’s bass playing on the first two singles, ‘1987’ and ‘Friends With Benefits,’ and Satchel promised that the bassist showcased his talent on the whole album.
