Satirically pretending to be a hair metal band that missed its big break in the '80s, singer Ralph Saenz ("Michael Starr"), drummer Darren Leader ("Stix Zadinia"), bassist Travis Haley ("Lexxi Foxxx"), and guitarist Russ Parrish ("Satchel") hit the club circuit on the Sunset Strip around the turn of the millennium under the name Metal Shop (later changed to Metal Skool, and then Steel Panther). With big spiky wigs, leather jackets, zebra-striped spandex, chops earned from playing in a Van Halen ... (more)tribute band, and lots and lots of machismo, their comic take on sex, drugs, and rock & roll to the extreme caught on quickly, leading to sold-out shows and some unexpected brushes with mainstream success. As their popularity increased, the Hollywood crowd started frequenting their sets, often making appearances on-stage. This led to some opportunities: the band fittingly played the role of a metal band as "Danger Kitty" in a Discover Card commercial; they appeared on The Drew Carey Show as themselves; and their song "FF" was used as the theme for MTV's Fantasy Factory. In May of 2008 the band signed to Universal Republic. After releasing the singles "Death for All But Metal" and "Community Property," Steel Panther's full-length Feel the Steel was released in October of 2009.

THE LUST was formed in St. Petersburg (Russia) 2002 by the former guitarist of Russian bands DISSECTOR and TARTHARIA. After recording of the first demo under the name LAST EMBRACE (mixed in Finnish Astia studio with producer Anssi Kippo, mastering by Mika Jussila from Finnvox Studios) band has got deal with Russian label FONO and released 2004 first full-length album "Tangled" (also mixed by Kippo) under the name THE LUST. One year later THE LUST has signed a deal with Greece label SLEASZY RIDER... (more) and released in 2005 in Europe second album "My Dear Emptiness", which was mixed and mastered by Christian Schmid at Music Factory in Germany. The album was also licensed by Russian label IROND and has got from 7 to 10 points in different magazine reviews, incl. German Rock Hard. The next album “Membrane” was released in summer of 2006 and followed in summer 2008 by the European re-release of album "Tangled" in digi-pack format with 2 bonus tracks. At the same time band has recorded in Russia and Finland songs for its fourth studio album, still unreleased. The mixing/mastering of new tracks of The Lust and re-working of some previous and hidden tracks were also done by Christian Schmid at Music Factory in 2008. Some new demos without vocals were recorded at the end of 2009 in Saint-Petersburg. To this moment mirla was no more a member of the band. In 2010 the album "One Life Ago" with previous unreleased and rare stuff was out in Russia as a self-made release. The same year Yan also took part in recording of the new album "NewEra.com" by the russian post-black/death-metal band with female vocals Satanation.