TWISTED SISTER Guitarist Talks About Solo Album

Norway's Metal Express Radio recently conducted an interview with TWISTED SISTER guitarist Eddie Ojeda. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal Express Radio: This ["Axes 2 Axes"] is your first record as a solo artist. How did the idea come to come out with it?

Eddie Ojeda: "I always wanted to do a solo record even back in the days when we started. But we were so busy at the time and we just didn't have the energy to sit down and write a whole album and do something. Over the years I got to meet so many different people and I always wanted to do a solo record with different artists involved and as many people as I could. So, it's something I always wanted to do, but then the band broke up and I started another band. We were together for about a year but we didn't release anything. We got some record interests but it just never turned out. After that I got involved with my brother in a computer business and I was working like a regular job 12 hours a day and I was playing with a local band called VISION on the weekends and we did very well. So, over the last couple of years I've just never had time to put ideas down on tape. But finally when TWISTED got back together we were doing a lot of one-off shows on the big festivals I figured it was a perfect time, because now I had time. Just working with TWISTED only gave me time during the week to work on my solo stuff and plus being back on stage in the public eye, I thought it was a good time to finally come out with this."

Metal Express Radio: How did you choose the musicians for your solo album?

Eddie Ojeda: "Well, I played all the guitars obviously. Ronnie James Dio has always been a good friend of TWISTED SISTER's and recently we started playing together. When I wrote that song 'Tonight' I was singing it originally. And we had done some shows with DIO and I was singing the song and I listened to it and I said, 'Wow, this really sounds like a Ronnie James Dio song. It would be perfect for his voice.' That's how it went. As for Rudy Sarzo, I just called him if he would be interested in doing it. He wanted to hear the song first, so I sent it to him and he really loved it. Then we played together in Puerto Rico. He did the vocals actually in his home studio and then he sent them back to me. Rudy plays bass on two instrumentals and the rest of the album is Chris MacCarvill who plays bass on anything else. Rudy is somebody I always wanted to work with and the same thing with Joe Lynn Turner. So, basically I just asked people who were available for doing it. I just sent them a copy of the song and whoever I asked definitely loved the stuff and were more than happy to do it for me."

Metal Express Radio: Were there any guys that you wanted to have, but couldn't get for some reason?

Eddie Ojeda: "Well, Sebastian Bach [ex-SKID ROW] was supposed to sing 'The Reason' but he was in California and I had to wait another week for him to get back and I had to get the album done by the beginning of August in order to get it released in October, so I couldn't wait any longer. So, I came in and just sung it myself and I'm very happy the way it came out. When you write a song you have a certain feel for it. It would have been nice to have Sebastian on it, but maybe the next album. Sometimes with the scheduling it's very hard. It was a very difficult thing to organise this, because everybody has such a crazy schedule. That was a very difficult task. (Laughs)"

Metal Express Radio: What are the latest happenings with TWISTED?

Eddie Ojeda: "Well, we're just on tour with ALICE COOPER right now. We're just doing ten shows with him. We played Newcastle last night and we're playing like big arenas and tour has been going absolutely great. ALICE is an amazing entertainer and it's just an honour that we work with him. So, TWISTED SISTER is kind of a day by day thing. (Laughs) I know that we're doing two festivals next year and we always kind of do little things here and there. I don't think TWISTED is ever gonna do another full-blown tour again. In fact this is the first time we've played ten days in a row in years, because most of the time we just do the festivals. We're like doing 15-20 shows a year mostly on the weekends. That's what everybody can do and what they want to do. We're all involved in other projects, so it makes it hard to try and do TWISTED full-time."

Metal Express Radio: So, there's no real chance for a new studio album?

Eddie Ojeda: "No, I don't see that happening. But I never say never, because one time we said that we'd never get back together and here we are back together touring. (Laughs) I just take it day by day and that's another reason why I'm trying to develop my own career as a solo artist because I still enjoy playing, touring, travelling and doing all this stuff."

Read the entire interview at www.metalexpressradio.com.