TWISTED SISTER Guitarist: 'Nobody Knew The Reunion Was Going To Be As Successful As It Was'

TWISTED SISTER founder and guitarist Jay Jay French spoke to antiMUSIC's Morley Seaver last week about the success of their "A Twisted Christmas" record and what the future holds for the band. Here's an excerpt:

antiMUSIC: So the obvious first question that you've probably answered five million times already. No (or very little) new material since 1987 and you guys have toured very little since getting back together a few years back. How did the idea of a Christmas record come up?

Jay Jay: Ah, we were trying to figure out a way to destroy what was left of our career completely and we figured, doing a Christmas album would just about sink it, and I wouldn't have to do any business with these guys anymore. I mean, nobody knew the reunion was going to be as successful as it was. I thought people would be sick of us in a year and all of a sudden it's gotten bigger every year. We're so sick of working together and we're trying to figure out a concept that would just destroy it completely and put us out of our freaking misery. And all it's done is backfired and now I'm forced to work with these idiots for like another three or four years. And the whole thing has been a complete and utter failure as far as I'm concerned.

antiMUSIC: I've read that part of Dee's [Snider] reluctance of late had been the fact that at this stage in his life, he's not sure he can reconnect with the rage and fury that was part and parcel of the makeup of TWISTED SISTER. Have there been any developments in that area and how does that relate to the live presentation of Christmas music?

Jay Jay: Well, luckily we still hate each other enough to be creative. Which is important because if there's too much love going around, I think we'd just sink the band. The band functions on a certain level of hostility which is healthy, you know. I don't mind us being idiots, you know what I mean, as long as we're creative idiots. So luckily the stupidity and the immaturity of the band has still maintained a certain level. And we can be a functional rock group. I think if we were too mature it would suck completely. So you have to have some element of arrogance, otherwise how can you pull this off, you know. But we are professionally arrogant now. We know how to channel the arrogance perfectly. We summon it when necessary. We hate each other just correctly enough to put on incendiary shows and after they're over with we go out and have a meal. So while we're on that stage I really couldn't stand to be up there. Just like the old days. It's a wonderful feeling.

You can read the rest of the interview at this location.