TWISTED SISTER Guitarist Jay Jay French

TWISTED SISTER Guitarist Jay Jay French - "There Is A Certain Predatory Aspect To The Band"




The Aquarian Weekly recently caught up with TWISTED SISTER guitarist
Jay Jay French. An excerpt from the interview is available below:





Q: I read somewhere how you get a lot of satisfaction out of playing
these festivals and proving what a great a live band Twisted Sister
have always been. Looking at the lineup at the M3 Festival in Maryland,
it must make you happy knowing how bad you’re going to make the other
bands look.


French: "(Laughs) There is a certain predatory aspect to the band,
but we enjoy doing them. We know that kind of a performance is also what
entertains the fans and makes everybody better. We don’t say to
someone, 'You can’t use the lights, you can’t use the P.A.' If you can
knock us out, then knock us out. We’re proud that we can put on shows
with the same intensity, ferocity and believability as we always have.
And we’ll continue to do so until we can’t."


Q: It must be difficult putting together a setlist. Twisted Sister
have two kinds of fans. Most of them want to hear songs from Stay
Hungry, then there’s a large amount of people, like me, who are into the
Under The Blade era.


French: "It is hard. We can’t do four hours, so we have to pick the
best 15 or so songs. People always say, 'Why don’t you do new material?'
If you play new material, that means you’re taking some standard out.
More people are going to be upset over the removal of a standard than
will be made happy by a new song. Most people, when they hear a new
song, go to the bathroom or buy a beer, anyway. We try to play the songs
that we see are requested. We have the record labels tell us what songs
are downloaded the most so then we can assume that’s the percentage of
choice that people want. Occasionally, people will ask for more obscure
songs. We also have to temper that with the fact that the general
audience may not know it. We do have anthems that we must play. I mean,
we have to play 'Under The Blade' every night, 'Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’
Roll', 'We’re Not Gonna Take It', 'I Wanna Rock'. If we didn’t do these
songs, we would really be under servicing our fanbase."


Click here for the complete interview.