TWISTED SISTER's MARK 'THE ANIMAL' MENDOZA On A.J. PERO: His Loss Is A Tragedy To Whole Metal World

TWISTED SISTER bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza (pictured) called in to WBAB 102.3, Long Island, New York's rock radio station, last night (Friday, March 20) to talk with DJ Fingers about the tragic passing of the band's drummer A.J. Pero. You can now listen to the chat at WBAB.com.

Said Mendoza: "It was a tragic day today, a real tragic day hearing about A.J. Pero this morning."

He continued: "I don't really know the exact details [of how he died] yet. I haven't spoken to his wife. She's up [in Poughkeepsie, New York] now. She actually had to claim his body. I believe he played last night [in Baltimore] with ADRENALINE MOB, and when he was supposed to get up to leave today [in Poughkeepsie], he didn't wake up. So we're all guessing at this point that he passed away in his sleep."

Mendoza added: "He died doing what he loved to do. He was playing, whether it was TWISTED SISTER or another band, ADRENALINE MOB, he was doing what he loved to do."

The bassist also praised Pero's instrumental skills. He said: "Nobody could keep up with him, man. He was a monster drummer. I mean, the heaviest hitter there is in the business, and it was incredible playing with him all these years."

He continued: "As far as his drumming… I mean, world class. Every drummer… Whenever we did a major show, we did any show, all the drummers watched him play. And I have to say that he didn't play the drums, he sparred with them, and he won every night."

According to Mendoza, Pero's addition to TWISTED SISTER in 1982 "was the final piece in the puzzle. [TWISTED SISTER singer] Dee [Snider] often said that I changed the sound of the band and the look of the band when I joined, but A.J. was the actual final piece. And his drumming and his personality and his person helped define the band and what it turned out to be after all of these years. And there'll be no one that could fill his shoes."

Mendoza also discussed the personal chemistry that the members of TWISTED SISTER shared while Pero was part of the group.

"I spoke to [A.J.'s] son for about a half hour this morning; right after he found out, I got him on the phone," Mendoza said. "The stories we told and the camaraderie that we all had is something that you can almost never have with anything else you do in your life. And I am proud to have him as part of it and the other half of the rhythm section."

He continued: "There's five guys. I'm in a band… and I'm gonna keep A.J. in the current tense. I'm in a band with four of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. And I'm the fifth one. And you do not have a camaraderie like that with people unless your lives are intertwined and you love them and you care about them an incredible amount. And A.J. was without a doubt a part of that. And [he was] probably one of the funniest guys in the band. He was witty. He was funny. "

Mendoza added: "Let me tell you… No matter how he felt, how good or bad… And everybody has good days and bad days. He had a back problem, he had a shoulder problem. He actually had an ankle problem a couple of years ago. He got up and played the same every day. He was a trooper, he was a true bandmate and he made it happen every single night, no matter how many aspirins he had to pop to get on stage and when he got off state. He was an incredible person; he really was.

"His loss is such a tragedy now to not only his family and his wife and his children, but to the whole TWISTED family, and the whole metal world as it is."

Pero was a member of TWISTED SISTER from 1982 to 1986, from 1997 to 1998, and again from 2003 until his death. Pero performed on ADRENALINE MOB's last two albums and recently joined FOUR BY FATE, also featuring former FREHLEY'S COMET members Tod Howarth and John Regan.