JOEL HOEKSTRA Says He Has No Intention Of Cutting His Hair Anytime Soon: 'I'm Just Grateful It's Still There'

In a new interview with Dale Holford of Dales Gig Reviews, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA guitarist Joel Hoekstra, who is also well known for his work with WHITESNAKE, Cher, NIGHT RANGER and the show "Rock Of Ages", was asked who uses "the most hair products", Joel or his "lady". The 55-year-old Hoekstra responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, my lady, for sure. I don't really use much, dude. Surprisingly, I'm just a guy with it. I can't believe we're talking about hair care on a podcast, but I tend not to shampoo very much. I find it dries my hair out and makes it scraggly and it all just falls out when you take a comb through it. So I just condition a lot — I [use] a lot of conditioner. And I let it air dry. I know my hair looks like shit if I blow dry it. If I use a blow dryer on it, it's all scraggly and all blown out and looks really weird. But I think you'd be surprised how much I don't really give a fuck about it that much. I mean, I do, but I don't. I don't wanna look like shit, but I also don't give that much of a fuck about it. I just try to make sure it's in generally the right shape or whatever. I'm lucky at my age that this much of it is still in there. That's the main thing, dude."

Joel went on to say that he understands why some fans pay attention to his hair. "I get it. It's, I guess, become associated with my rock career, definitely, me having long hair," he explained. "Because I did some videos earlier in 2025 with something where I assumed like an alternate look. 'Cause she's a younger artist, Austen Starr, and I co-wrote and produced her album. She's [in her] thirties, young thirties at that, so I went with more of an emo look. We just pinned the hell out of my hair — 10,000 bobby pins back — and just kind of made me look like an emo guy. And, man, people freaked out. They got all upset online and all pissed off. And I thought, 'Jeez, come on, man. What's up? I'm just having fun here. I'm in a music video just assuming a different look.' But she made four great videos, and the record's very cool too. [She's] just a brand new artist, first record, whatnot. But anyway, it was funny. I thought that was amazing how much people really cared about the hair. I thought, 'Wow. Yeah, that's a really big deal to everybody. Man. I'm fucked. I can't cut this stuff anytime soon.'"

Joel added that he has no intention of cutting his hair anytime soon. "I'm pretty used to having it right now," he said. "I used to say it'd be nice to cut it 'cause it can be sometimes… I wear it back a lot. If I'm not doing something professionally, it's usually back in a ponytail, out of my neck and face. And even when I teach, my hair is back. So I do wear it back a lot, and sometimes I think, 'Ah, it's a pain in the ass. It'd be nice to maybe have short hair.' But I don't know — at this stage of the game, now I've gotten so far in, I'm glad I have it, and I'm, like, I'm just gonna be grateful it's still there."

Joel will release the fourth album of his solo project JOEL HOEKSTRA'S 13, "From The Fade", on February 27 via Frontiers Music Srl.

Once again, guitarist and composer Hoekstra is joined by an elite cast of rock veterans: powerhouse drummer Vinny Appice (BLACK SABBATH, DIO),legendary bassist Tony Franklin (THE FIRM, BLUE MURDER),virtuoso keyboardist Derek Sherinian (DREAM THEATER, SONS OF APOLLO) and rising vocal sensation Girish Pradhan (GIRISH AND THE CHRONICLES, THE NAIL).

New York-based Hoekstra is also well known for his fill-in work with FOREIGNER, ACCEPT, his annual sets on the Monsters Of Rock cruise, recording projects like REVOLUTION SAINTS, ICONIC, viral collaboration videos with the likes of Dino Jelusick, Arnel Pineda, Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan and his acoustic shows with Brandon Gibbs.

Exhibiting a knack for music education, he has also been a frequent columnist for Guitar World magazine, taught at Musician's Institute, Rockstars Of Tomorrow, Guitar Workshop Plus, and has often been a counselor at Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp.

Over the years, Joel has released three instrumental solo albums and three critically acclaimed albums with JOEL HOEKSTRA's 13. Most recently, he was the guest guitarist on "Dancing With The Stars" ("hair metal" episode) and played with Cher at her Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction and the "SNL 50" homecoming concert.

Photo credit: Mike Polito