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Satchel | |
|---|---|
 Satchel performing with Steel Panther in 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Russell John Parrish |
| Also known as |
|
| Born | (1970-11-24)November 24, 1970 (age 54) Redwood City, California, U.S. |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Guitarist |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Member of | Steel Panther |
| Formerly of | Fight |
Russell John Parrish (born November 24, 1970), better known asSatchel, is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist for the comedicglam metal bandSteel Panther.
Russell John Parrish was born inRedwood City, California. He graduated from the Guitar Institute of Technology at theMusicians Institute in Hollywood in 1989.
After graduating, Parrish became an instructor through the early 1990s while playing withRacer X offshoot Bad Dog with vocalist Jeff Martin and The Electric Fence[1] with Martin on drums andPaul Gilbert alternating guitar and bass. When Paul Gilbert joinedMr. Big, Parrish rented a room in Gilbert's Los Angeles home and house-sat for him when Gilbert would go on tour, simultaneously recording demos in Gilbert's home studio.[2] He has worked extensively with Gilbert and has writing credits on several Paul Gilbert tracks.[3] Parrish is seen playing bass (alongside Jeff Martin on drums) in the tuning section of Gilbert's "Terrifying Guitar Trip" video.
He played guitar forJeff Pilson's band, War & Peace, appearing on theTime Capsule album, a collection of demos released on Shrapnel Records. After the breakup of War & Peace, Parrish was playing in aThin Lizzy cover band when Jeff Martin introduced him toJudas Priest singerRob Halford, resulting in Parrish joining Halford's bandFight and recording theWar of Words album.[4][5]
Upon exiting Fight he joined Cleveland's Outta The Blue, a local glam metal band that closed their show with Racer X covers, and who later becameThe Szuters. In 1995, Parrish played guitar inKevin Gilbert's touring band in support of Gilbert'sThud album. He can be seen performing with Gilbert onWelcome to Joytown – Thud Live at the Troubadour, a DVD and CD released in 2009, documenting the band's 1995 concert atThe Troubador inLos Angeles. In 1996, Parrish played guitar withSebastian Bach on the song "Rock Bottom" for anAce Frehley tribute album,Spacewalk (A Salute to Ace Frehley).[6] From 2002 to 2006, he also played guitar in a Van Halen tribute band with futureSteel Panther bandmate Ralph Saenz (akaMichael Starr) called The Atomic Punks. Around the same time, he was in aRush cover band called Moving Pictures with Atomic Punks drummer Scott Patterson. In the early 2000s, he was the leader of his own band, The Thornbirds, with Darren Leader (future Steel Panther drummerStix Zadinia),Jeff Duncan, and occasionalSteel Panther songwriterDean Cameron.
In 2000, Parrish was simultaneously playing in various bands and acting in the production "Rockalypse Now", a play written by Dean Cameron.[7] Around this time, he and Ralph Saenz started glam metal cover band Metal Shop as the characters Rikki Ratchet and Michael Diamond, respectively, and appeared in a Discover card commercial as "Danger Kitty", a fictional one-hit-wonder band that spends all their royalty money on opulence and goes bankrupt.[8] In 2003, Metal Shop (now renamed to Metal Skool) released their debut album, Hole Patrol, and began incorporating original songs into their live sets. The "classic" Steel Panther lineup was also cemented by this point, with Lexxi Foxx (real name Travis Haley) on bass andStix Zadinia (real name Darren Leader) on drums, and with the Rikki Ratchet and Michael Diamond aliases being replaced with Satchel and Michael Starr, respectively. Six years later, the band renamed to Steel Panther and released their first album under the name, entitledFeel the Steel. They have become successful worldwide, with numerous celebrity fans and selling out arenas and festivals, includingDownload Festival in the UK.
Parrish also appeared withCorey Taylor in theRonnie James Dio tribute album titled "This Is Your Life" on the track "Rainbow in the Dark".
In his early days, Parrish used a whiteIbanez RG770 with sharktooth inlays as his primary guitar. During the Fight era, he primarily played a Heartfield/Fender Talon and was endorsed by Fender. Parrish endorsedKramer Guitars during early Steel Panther, utilizing the Pacer model into EVH 5150 III 100 watt amplifiers through EVH Cabs. He ran his Kramer Pacer to his amp through a Line 6 G90 Wireless Relay system.
In 2014 Kramer released a signature model featuring both a yellow leopard paint and purple leopard paint. It has the same body as a Pacer vintage but has one volume knob, a Seymour Duncan SH-4 and SH-2. In 2017, he was endorsed byCharvel.[9]
In July 2018, the "Pussy Melter", a delay toneprint (preset) which had been manufactured byTC Electronic in an endorsement deal with Satchel, was removed from sale and discontinued following criticism of its alleged sexist marketing strategy.[10] It was subsequently renamed "The Butthole Burner".
Parrish has citedTony Iommi,Ritchie Blackmore,Buck Dharma,Eddie Van Halen,Alex Lifeson, andYngwie Malmsteen as his main guitar influences.[11]
| Year | Album | Band | Credited as |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Time Capsule | War & Peace | Russ Parrish |
| War of Words | Fight | ||
| 1994 | Smoke On The Water: A Tribute To Deep Purple | Various | |
| 1996 | Spacewalk: A Salute to Ace Frehley | ||
| 2003 | Hey That's What I Call Sludge Vol. 1 | ||
| Hole Patrol | Metal Skool | Rikki Ratchet | |
| 2004 | All the Same | The Thornbirds | Russ Parrish |
| 2009 | Feel the Steel | Steel Panther | Satchel |
| 2011 | Balls Out | ||
| 2014 | All You Can Eat | ||
| 2017 | Lower The Bar | ||
| Under the Covers, Vol. II | Ninja Sex Party | ||
| 2019 | Heavy Metal Rules | Steel Panther | |
| 2023 | On The Prowl |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
