It all started for me when I got an email from a fan (not a fan of me, but of Twisted...but I digress) that said that it was being announced on NY radio that Twisted was doing a reunion show on Saturday at a music club called "Montgomery's". I immediately called AJ because he had told me that the band had been rehearsing in secret, but hadn't told me about the show. I mentioned the radio broadcast to him and he said, "Well, yes and no..." You gotta love a clear answer, huh?
AJ said that, yes, they were getting back together for a show, but, no, it wasn't on Saturday and, no, it wasn't at Montgomery's. He said that it was being kept pretty hush-hush for reasons that I promise I will give in a moment. Pero said that everyone from the SMF road manager to the roadies to the promoters were told to "deny everything"...and they did, as far as we know. I was flabbergastted! I figured that if they had decided to do a reunion that it would be on every radio station and billboard in the tri-state area. Here's that explanation I promised you...
AJ said that he, Dee, JayJay, and Eddie had all agreed that if they were going to do a reunion tour, they didn't want it to start in a little club. If they were going to officially reunite, they were going to go balls-out. AJ mentioned wanting to do larger venues such as Nassau Colesium or Radio City Music Hall. AJ finally got around to giving me his story of what happened Friday night...It starts with AJ waiting in the wings...
KJ: and think about how different you look now...
AJ: Yeah, the place just went fuckin' nuts...there had to be about a thousand people. We just, from first song to the last song, just blasted 'em...
KJ: Reception was great...
AJ: Yeah, it just brought back a lot of memories. It was great in one sense and sad in another sense. It was great in the sense that it's great to be back in that type of performing atmosphere with the guys (Zebra, Good Rats, Rat Race Choir) because we opened for each other...
KJ: That's good to hear...
AJ: Well, that's the way I felt. I know everybody else felt the same...we were comin' off the stage high-fivin' each other and sayin', 'Wow, that was fuckin' great!' But in a sad sense, ya know, I miss the old days and I miss what it was all about and what it was like. Now you wake up to reality and it's back to the nine-to-five. I don't know what's going to happen from here. We really didn't discuss anything...We didn't really know what to expect...
KJ: Well, it seems to me that you had some kind of idea...
AJ: Yeah, well things went over fantastic.
AJ says that after another SMF show or two in the following week, Dee was heading back out to Colorado for filming of his movie Strangeland. Therefore, there aren't any upcoming Twisted shows in the works, but time will tell. It will take a while for it all to sink in, for the guys to mull over just what happened on that fateful Friday night before they commit themselves to anything bigger.
One of the original intentions of this interview was just to get a feel for what the crowd reaction was like.
AJ also mentioned Danny Stanton who is the person responsible for setting up Thunderfest and he said that he would be interested in getting Pero, Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row), and maybe even Eddie, in on the festivals playing with musicians from other bands for a jam, just like what Dee did with the 'Band of Doom' featuring Rudy Sarzo, Nicko McBrain and others. These jam-bands play material from each of the groups that are represented.
In all, the show was a success and this is one Sick Mutha Fucking Fan of Twisted Sister that hopes that this show is just a precursor of things to come...
Stay sick...
Return to The Twisted World of Taunter.