Steel Panther recently completed their Claws & Paws Holiday Party tour of the US – a seven-date stint across the country that saw Michael Starr, Satchel, Stix Zadinia and new bassist Spyder spread some high-octane festive cheers.
During their show on December 2, the glam metal outfit brought on stage Lexii Lynn Frazier – the guitarist who recently played electric guitar on Top Gun: Maverick – to perform a cover of Van Halen’s Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.
After introducing Frazier to the stage, Satchel handed her his Charvel signature guitar and, rather humorously, laid down some ground rules: “Remember what the deal was, you can’t outshine me… also, if you break a string you have to pay for it with your endorsement.”
A brief interlude followed, giving Frazier the opportunity to tweak her guitar strap, tune the six-string and make her way round the fretboard to limber up her left hand, before the band finally launched into the 1978 track.
With Satchel stripped of six-string duties, Frazier commanded the spotlight, making her way through the crunchy opening riff and going toe-to-toe with Starr and Satch’s showmanship antics.
There was also ample opportunity for Frazier to flex her soloing skills on a handful of occasions, keeping the whammy bar plenty busy and serving up a range of lightning-quick pentatonic licks.
Frazier – who was already an accomplished guitarist and prolific session musician – shot to mainstream stardom earlier this year when it was revealed she had played the soaring leads of Tom Cruise’s record-breaking blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick.
Speaking to Guitar World after the film’s release, Frazier explained she landed the job without any previous film experience, and despite the fact she couldn’t read music.
At the time, she also blamed her failure to learn to read music on Eddie Van Halen, and said Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love was one of the first songs she ever performed live – making her cover with Steel Panther all the more special.
“I started playing because of Eddie Van Halen, and he always said it’s about your ear,” she said. “You don’t need to go to music school, you've just got to do what feels right.
“When I was first learning, I wanted to be Eddie Van Halen,” Frazier added. “I couldn’t play Van Halen songs all the way through so I would learn my favorite parts and just try my best. One of the first songs I ever performed live was Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, which is very simple but it was so cool.
“My favorite Van Halen song is Little Guitars so it was a dream of mine to learn that. I watched tutorials and covers and just dissected what I thought was right and wrong. That led me to discovering that my ear’s pretty good. I just took that through the years and ran with that.”
