Look for an EP soon; the Steel Panther show is the launch party.

"We're working on a second EP now," he says. "We decided to put out two EPs rather than one full length, as there is more art. I hate going to shows and the bands have a burned CD with a piece of paper in it. If that thing isn't for free, you're an asshole."

Podgorski's an angry dude and a funny bastard. He's soft-spoken but passionate. He's suffered a lot but grins like a goon. Having his band back is helping his recovery, to be sure. He has work to do but he's getting closer to "normal." 

He's sums the experience up as a life lesson.

"Getting sick, you understand more about life, politics and shittiness," he says. "With the Panthers, we have a song called "No We Will Not." One of the lines is, 'I won't be seen rollerblading down the street, or support a war before health care that's free.' That's how I feel. I'm being grouped in with a whole group of people, and it's stupid because it's really hard to get health care and I'm insulted when I hear things on television."

He pauses. Then he says, "Near where I live [in Ferndale], there's a Planned Parenthood clinic and it's not even an abortion clinic. It's just people helping people. My whole street was just filled up with motherfuckers with signs about dead babies and shit. I called the cops because they were parked on the wrong side of the road. That's the only time I've used the cops for my own good."

With Steel Panther at the Royal Oak Music Theatre on April 26; 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; 248-399-2980. 

The debut EP, "Your Face," drops Record Store Day, April 21, via Bellyache Records.

> Email Brett Callwood