Simon Rushworth
He’s the frontman of one of the UK’s fastest-rising sleaze rock monsters and he’s gonna be a big, big star. That’s why we grabbed Micky Satiar for an exclusive chat now…while we still can!
Enjoy the second part of our chat with one of the most pleasant men in music and don’t be surprised when he lists the biggest influence on his hair metal roots.
rushonrock: You’ve signed with Global Music now (formerly Demolition) and you seem to dig the label. Why’s it so right for Dear Suoerstar?
Micky Satiar: When we’d recorded the album we always wanted to record we took time to look at our options. We looked at another self-release but there was a lot of interest from labels and in the end Demolition emerged as the best deal. It’s where we always wanted to be. It took a long time to track them down but we knew the bands on their roster and for any fan of hard rock it’s the place to be. They’re not just bothered about older bands – they’ve done a great job for McQueen and The Sound Ex – but of course they have some big names too. We just looked at the fact that they had Sebastian Bach, Twisted Sister. Wednesday 13 and the like and we thought that’s where we want to be. There’s no other label like it in the UK. We’ve got no regrets where our record label is concerned.
rushonrock: A lot of your songs are a real throwback to the sleaze and hair metal of the late 80s. Is that your era?
MS: I grew up listening to bands like Ratt, Motley Crue and Def Leppard. I’m listening to Avenged Sevenfold right now and we’ve just completed Hanoi Rocks’ last ever UK tour. These are the bands that I relate to and the bands that mean something to me. The Hanoi tour was very special for us. They’re a legendary band and yet the guitarist, Andy McCoy, made time for us every night of the tour. It was weird sitting in the pub with him listening to his stories and benefiting from his advice. The guy has been there, done it and got a load of T-shirts!
rushonrock: Are you excited by the revival in commercial rock?
MS: Of course! I went to see Ratt at the Astoria this year and I remembered why I got into this music in the first place. It was insane. All I’ve ever wanted to do is see that band live but I was too young when they were touring the UK at their peak and never got to see them. Suddenly these bands are back and they’re better than ever. The whole 80s thing is back in a big way and when you look at the new records by the likes of Leppard, Crue and Whitesanke you wonder why it ever went away.
rushonrock: But you’re not just another gimmick band cashing in on the trend of the moment?
MS: We never went into Dear Superstar to be a flash in the pan. The bands we love are still doing what they do best after more than 20 years and that’s what we aspire to. We’re in this for the long haul. It’s the only way to do it. We’re going to be working solidly until December 2009 pushing Heartless and proving our credentials to rock fans all over Europe. We’ve done a lot of supports in the last few months but we headlined our own tour in the summer and it was cool.
rushonrock: Is it time for the UK to wake up to Dear Superstar and Heartless in 2009?
MS: I hope so. The album’s done really well in Germany, Holland and Scandinavia and we can’t wait to get back over to Europe and ride on the back of that success. But we’d love to be as big as we are over there, over here. It’s going to take time but we’re determined to make a breakthrough.