TWISTED SISTER Bassist: 'There's Actually A Lot Of Good Will In The Band Right Now'

As an epilogue to his 2006 Bananiversary Celebration, rock 'n' roll comic C.C.
Banana has interviewed all five members of TWISTED SISTER. In the third of these five holiday-themed interviews, C.C. Banana speaks with TWISTED SISTER bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza about their current album "A Twisted Christmas" and the possible future of the band. A few excerpts from the interview follow:

C.C. Banana: Now that the holiday season is drawing to a close, are you pleased with the response received by "A Twisted Christmas"?

Mark Mendoza: Yes, overwhelmingly.

C.C. Banana: Besides "We're Not Gonna Take It", are any of your other hits ripped off from traditional holiday favorites?

Mark Mendoza: Well, "We're Not Gonna Take It" is of course taken from "O Come All Ye Faithful". But on "A Twisted Christmas" there are some places where we actually borrowed from ourselves. I would say that "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is kind of like "The Price". Also, the beginning of "Deck the Halls" uses a riff from a little-known TWISTED song called "Rock N Roll Saviors".

C.C. Banana: What would you give Axl Rose for Christmas?

Mark Mendoza: I don't know, probably a punch in the face. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy as a performer and a singer. I like GUNS N' ROSES and all their songs and stuff, but he's been a real asshole as a professional frontman. So yeah, I'd probably punch him in the face if I ever met him.

C.C. Banana: Is Lita Ford still hot?

Mark Mendoza: I haven't seen her lately, but I'll tell you a funny story about her. This is not meant to be offensive to her, because Lita's a great gal and I like her a lot. Back in the 1980s, TWISTED SISTER was headlining a show at a place called The Pier on the west side of Manhattan. We had RATT as special guest with Lita Ford opening. I hadn't seen Lita since she was in THE RUNAWAYS years earlier, when I was in THE DICTATORS. Back then, those girls were constantly doped up on drugs and alcohol. When Lita came backstage that night, I was there standing next to Dee. She ran up to him and said hi and all that, then Dee asked her if she remembered me. She looked over at me and said, "Should I?" So I told her that I was in THE DICTATORS and that I used to hang out with her and THE RUNAWAYS at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. Lita said, "Did we bone?" She told me not to be insulted because back then she was on all kinds of drugs and alcohol. It was such a crazy time that she just didn't remember. But Lita is a sweetheart and was very receptive to singing and playing some guitar on our Christmas CD. I haven't seen her in years, but I'll bet she's as hot as ever.

C.C. Banana: Pick someone else in the band and give him a new year's resolution.

Mark Mendoza: That's a good one because I'm leaving myself open to saying a lot of things and possibly ending the band! No, I'm kidding. There's actually a lot of good will in the band right now, even though we just spent the past four weeks together. As you know, we did a short tour for "A Twisted Christmas", including all the TV shows and stuff like that. That's something we haven't done since the 1980s. But the scheduling was absolutely hellacious. This band loves playing live but the traveling just kills us. Obviously, TWISTED SISTER is not a full-time thing for any of us. We only play about 25 shows a year, but many of them require up to 30 hours of traveling. That eats up a lot of time. Sometimes we're not even on the ground for 16 hours. If someone were to invent a real "Star Trek" transporter to take us to the shows from our living room couches, I think TWISTED SISTER would play 100 times a year. All that traveling takes us away from our day-to-day business and that makes it tough for all of us.

C.C. Banana: What can fans expect from TWISTED SISTER in 2007?

Mark Mendoza: Well, we just played our last show of the year a few days ago in Atlantic City. Right now, we have absolutely nothing planned for 2007. Does that mean that nothing is going to happen? No. We just need to take it day by day and month by month. If something big comes up and it's worth doing, we'll probably do it. We're trying to not do so many European festivals this year. When most bands go to Europe, they stay there for a few weeks. When TWISTED SISTER goes to Europe, we have to fly back and forth every other weekend. We've done that four years in a row, so now we're a little burned out on it. The only thing we've really talked about is continuing the Christmas thing for next year. Beyond that, we have absolutely nothing planned. That doesn't mean that the band is done, it just means that we have no plans yet.

The entire interview is available at this location.