Steel Panther Drummer Says Prince Acted Like 'Serious Asshole' When They Played Together Way Back in the Day

"It was some serious assholery going on," Stix Zadinia said.

During an appearance on Q104.3, Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia looked back on performing with Prince way back in the day, saying the late musician and his management displayed some "serious assholery."

"I was in a band a long, long time ago," Stix explained, adding:

"We were doing disco covers many years ago up in San Francisco, and Prince played at the Shark Tank, which is the San Jose hockey arena.

"After his shows, he would find a club in a nearby city and he would go in - and his deal was, 'Hey, I'm Prince. I'm gonna come play your club after hours; I'm gonna charge at the door and keep the door. You keep the bar.' And the club goes, 'OK. Cool.'

"So word gets out. We were the house band, just a no-name house band at the time. And Prince borrows our gear because he doesn't wanna bring gear - and I understand it.

"But, he goes on an hour late, we get kicked out of our own dressing room - Prince goes in there and you're not allowed to look at Prince.

"He plays the guitar, and then at the end, he holds the guitar up over his head and he drops it behind him onto the ground. And my guitar player is like, 'What the fuck?!'

"Then he switches and he plays bass, and after the song, he takes the bass and he sets it diagonally on the floor and he takes his little tiny Prince foot and he [breaks] the neck [by stomping it].

"At the end of the show, we came up to his manager and his entourage and we go, 'Dude, what is the deal?' - and the manager flips our guitar player, he goes, 'Here's a hundred bucks,' and he gives our bass player another hundred bucks, 'Here you go. Go get it fixed, guys.'

"And they left, and we were just standing there... It was some serious assholery going on."

"assholery"

Who would have thought?

(only if you were under a rock for 30+ years)

Of course Prince was an asshole. Since day one. That's how he got where he got.

steakfinger said:

Of course Prince was an asshole. Since day one. That's how he got where he got.

.

See his 'ladies'.

See his CONtract(s).

See his (early) aftershow policy.

See what he left.

Just facts here.

with so many stories like this and others, im surprised no one ever bothered to kick Prince's ass...

nayroo2002 said:

"assholery"

RJOrion said:

"Assholery"?? Cute. I guess the real question though is, how much do you think this dude did in camparison to P with regards to philanthropy without credit?? So he broke their guitars. Big f'ing deal. That's rock and roll. Wonder how many hotel rooms this turd destroyed during his own "assholery" days?? Just stop...

Phase3 said:

Never heard of this guy or his band

The rest of the world has

I think everyone here knows that Prince could be an "asshole"....where's the shocker?

Bighead said:

Bighead said:

Phase3 said:

Never heard of this guy or his band

The rest of the world has

Not really, honestly, I've never heard of this guy or his band either, but I have heard of Prince being an asshole to many on several occasions.

[Edited 8/25/20 15:22pm]

RJOrion said:

with so many stories like this and others, im surprised no one ever bothered to kick Prince's ass...

That's why he had Big Chick.

ThirdStrike said:

"Assholery"?? Cute. I guess the real question though is, how much do you think this dude did in camparison to P with regards to philanthropy without credit?? So he broke their guitars. Big f'ing deal. That's rock and roll. Wonder how many hotel rooms this turd destroyed during his own "assholery" days?? Just stop...

They were trying to make it as a band, Prince destroyed their instruments. I'd be pissed too.

endiadj said:

So many?

uh

ThirdStrike said:

endiadj said:

RJOrion said:

with so many stories like this and others, im surprised no one ever bothered to kick Prince's ass...

So many? Maybe he just didn't like the dude. Everybody is an asshole at some point, so whatever.

plenty of stories about Prince being an asshole, even other stories of him intentionally trashing other musicians' gear...wait til Brown Mark's book comes out... he himself said people had to talk HIM out of kicking Prince's ass on different occasions

Fake news, he was like an angel.

Prince obvously didn't respect them and did a little extra but why would he want to borrow their gear in the first place? They're like some retro metal band. I get not bringing a drum kit but wouldn't he be descriminating about what he played a show with?

I'm sure it didn't help they didn't clear the room and give him space. Did they really think they were sharing a dressing room with Prince?

Prince must have had some weird "you weren't using it right" mentality about borrowing and damaging instruments though. Maybe he was too far removed to realize he would be putting these guys out of business for some gigs for no good reason, but we also know the story about the Roots guitarist with an instrument he should have had an appreciation for at the very least.

[Edited 8/26/20 0:36am]

Anyone have any idea what aftershow this was? This is the first I heard about him kicking a bass guitar to pieces.

JorisE73 said:

Anyone have any idea what aftershow this was? This is the first I heard about him kicking a bass guitar to pieces.

.

No idea but an idea to use princevault search.

RJOrion said:

with so many stories like this and others, im surprised no one ever bothered to kick Prince's ass...

Bodyguards.

JorisE73 said:

Anyone have any idea what aftershow this was? This is the first I heard about him kicking a bass guitar to pieces.

PrinceVault doesn't provide an exact answer, but suggests a possibility. Uptown's The Vault, confirms that it was 21 May am, 1997 at the DNA Lounge, San Francisco.

Stix Zadinia states in the story (starting at 27'30'') that the incident occurred before he was playing in Steel Panther ('a long, long time ago'). He says he was in a 'no-name' house band' doing disco covers , performing at a club residence on 'The Strip' in San Francisco.

He also says that Prince was performing at 'The Shark Tank' (the indoor arena originally known as the San Jose Arena).

He indicates that the aftershow was not in San Jose itself, because Prince would find a club in 'a nearby city' for his aftershows, which suggests that the show was in San Francisco.

However:

1. Prince performed at 'The Shark Tank' (when the Arena was known officially as the HP Pavillion between 2002-13) six times during his career, according to PrinceVault, between 2004 and 2011.

http://www.princevault.co...P_Pavilion

There were no aftershows recorded in PrinceVault as having beeen played after any of these appearances.

2. Steel Panther (or at least the band later named Steel Panther) was originally formed in 2000 (as Metal Shop) performing their style of music (not disco covers) on Sunset Strip.


All of this suggests that this tale, goes back before 2000, and Prince possibly performed an aftershow in San Francisco after an appearance - possibly, but not necessarily - in San Jose (and unlikely to have been 'The Shark Tank') as suggested.

Again according to PrinceVault, Prince is known to have performed three other times in San Jose, at the smaller SSJU Event Center Arena:

http://www.princevault.co...nter_Arena

He is noted as having played one short aftershow on 21 April (am), 1997 at the DNA Lounge, San Francisco, after the second show in San Jose in 1997:

http://www.princevault.co...il_1997-am


As it transpires, the incident is actually recorded in some detail in Uptown's The Vault, which confirms the above date and states that the house band whose equipment had been borrowed was called, 'The Grooveline'. The detail in The Vault describes Prince damaging the borrowed guitar following the performance of 'The Ride'.

However, when the band returned to continue the show, The Vault states that Prince appeared to be teaching Rhonda Smith the bass part during 'Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa', after which the guitar was smashed again. It could be that Prince had borrowed a bass guitar for this song, when this second incident occurred.

langebleu said:

JorisE73 said:

Anyone have any idea what aftershow this was? This is the first I heard about him kicking a bass guitar to pieces.

PrinceVault doesn't provide an exact answer, but suggests a possibility. Uptown's The Vault, confirms that it was 21 May am, 1997 at the DNA Lounge, San Francisco.

.

Weird.

See the normal shows in the Shark Tank.

I see no Shark Tank show in 1997.

^ See my edits in original post above, now with fuller answer.

udo said:

JorisE73 said:

Anyone have any idea what aftershow this was? This is the first I heard about him kicking a bass guitar to pieces.

.

No idea but an idea to use princevault search.

Did that and came up with nothing conclusive.

langebleu said:

JorisE73 said:

Anyone have any idea what aftershow this was? This is the first I heard about him kicking a bass guitar to pieces.

PrinceVault doesn't provide an exact answer, but suggests a possibility. Uptown's The Vault, confirms that it was 21 May am, 1997 at the DNA Lounge, San Francisco.

Stix Zadinia states in the story (starting at 27'30'') that the incident occurred before he was playing in Steel Panther ('a long, long time ago'). He says he was in a 'no-name' house band' doing disco covers , performing at a club residence on 'The Strip' in San Francisco.

He also says that Prince was performing at 'The Shark Tank' (the indoor arena originally known as the San Jose Arena).

He indicates that the aftershow was not in San Jose itself, because Prince would find a club in 'a nearby city' for his aftershows, which suggests that the show was in San Francisco.

However:

1. Prince performed at 'The Shark Tank' (when the Arena was known officially as the HP Pavillion between 2002-13) six times during his career, according to PrinceVault, between 2004 and 2011.

http://www.princevault.co...P_Pavilion

There were no aftershows recorded in PrinceVault as having beeen played after any of these appearances.

2. Steel Panther (or at least the band later named Steel Panther) was originally formed in 2000 (as Metal Shop) performing their style of music (not disco covers) on Sunset Strip.


All of this suggests that this tale, goes back before 2000, and Prince possibly performed an aftershow in San Francisco after an appearance - possibly, but not necessarily - in San Jose (and unlikely to have been 'The Shark Tank') as suggested.

Again according to PrinceVault, Prince is known to have performed three other times in San Jose, at the smaller SSJU Event Center Arena:

http://www.princevault.co...nter_Arena

He is noted as having played one short aftershow on 21 April (am), 1997 at the DNA Lounge, San Francisco, after the second show in San Jose in 1997:

http://www.princevault.co...il_1997-am


As it transpires, the incident is actually recorded in some detail in Uptown's The Vault, which confirms the above date and states that the house band whose equipment had been borrowed was called, 'The Grooveline'. The detail in The Vault describes Prince damaging the borrowed guitar following the performance of 'The Ride'.

However, when the band returned to continue the show, The Vault states that Prince appeared to be teaching Rhonda Smith the bass part during 'Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa', after which the guitar was smashed again. It could be that Prince had borrowed a bass guitar for this song, when this second incident occurred.

Thanks!!

Amazing. This thread should have a three month shelf life.