TWISTED SISTER – "Our Live Show Is The Best It’s Ever Been; Now Is The Time To Walk Away"

Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French and bassist Mark Mendoza recently spoke with The Aquarian about the band’s farewell tour. An excerpt is available below.

Q: So, is this really the end for Twisted Sister? I mean after all, Twisted Sister did go away for a little while back in the ’90s and you came back as Bent Brother…

Jay Jay French: “Well, we went away for 12 years. That wasn’t really a little while. That was a big while. We went away and never expected it to happen again, so when people ask me about it this time, I tell them the band’s history covers a 40-year span. That’s a long time and we’ve been through a lot. We have certainly learned some crazy lessons, but I think we’ve done just about everything that we wanted to do. So, there comes a point where you just go, ‘It’s time!’ The band’s performances have been phenomenal. Our live show is the best it’s ever been. Now is the time to walk away.”

Mark Mendoza: “What we’re doing really is retiring from the live shows. If TV shows came up or a movie part or appearances, I mean we’re still a band. We’re not dissolving the band. We’re just not doing the live concert circuit that we’ve been doing for the last 13 years.”

Q: I read somewhere that when the band eventually calls it a day, Dee Snider already stated he will continue as a solo act, but what’s to become of Jay Jay French and Mark Mendoza?

Mark Mendoza: “Right now, I’m speaking with a couple of guys from other major bands that still wanna play and those bands aren’t available to play anymore. I can’t say who it is because of contract involved with the people. But it looks like we’ll be a band called Animal Tactics next year, and those people will be in that band with me and we’ll continue on doing maybe some originals, but especially old songs from the bands of the guys who are in that band. I love what I do, and I intend to keep playing. If you’re asking me my personal feelings on everything, I was the only guy in the band that didn’t want to retire. Jay Jay, Eddie and Dee, they don’t wanna do this anymore, but me? I’m gonna continue doing it. It’s in blood and I will do it till the day that I can’t do it anymore.”

Jay Jay French: “Well, I have a book to write, and I do mentoring and I do motivational speaking. And that’s the focus of me. Playing occasionally…I have a side project that’s a lot of fun with some really great musicians like the drummer from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Michael Cartellone, the guitarist from Whitesnake, Joel Hoekstra, the producer for Joe Bonamassa, Bobby Helm on bass. We have a really great band and we play some shows here and there which is really fun to do, but as for touring and at the level we used to do it at, I don’t have much interest in doing that playing.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Twisted Sister performed on the FOX News Channel program FOX & Friends on September 2nd as part of the ongoing All American Summer Concert Series. Pro-shot footage of their set is available below.

The setlist was as follows:

“I Wanna Rock”
“The Kids Are Back”
“Burn in Hell”
“The Price”
“We’re Not Gonna Take It”