{"id":499404,"date":"2026-01-07T17:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/499404\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:34:13","slug":"jay-jay-french-explains-why-twisted-sisters-2026-reunion-tour-probably-wont-feature-setlist-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/499404\/","title":{"rendered":"JAY JAY FRENCH Explains Why TWISTED SISTER’s 2026 Reunion Tour Probably Won’t Feature Setlist Surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a new interview with Don De Leaumont<\/b> of the Talking The Talk With Don<\/a> podcast, TWISTED SISTER<\/b>‘s founding guitarist Jay Jay French<\/b> spoke about the group’s announcement that he and his longtime bandmates are reuniting for a 50th-anniversary world tour in 2026. The reunion will feature TWISTED SISTER<\/b>‘s three core members: French<\/b>, frontman Dee Snider<\/b> and longtime lead guitarist Eddie Ojeda<\/b>. Bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza<\/b> won’t be joining the celebration. Russell Pz\u00fctto<\/b>, who has toured with Snider<\/b>‘s solo projects, will replace Mendoza<\/b> on bass. Joe Franco<\/b>, who briefly played with the group in the mid-1980s, will sit behind the drum kit, stepping in for A.J. Pero<\/b>, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 55.<\/p>\n

Asked if 2026 will see TWISTED SISTER<\/b> embark on an “extensive” tour or if fans should expect “something that’s a little more controlled, like maybe the 14- or 15-show run” that Jay Jay<\/b> and his bandmates “would usually do”, the guitarist responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET<\/b>): “Probably very controlled, because it was never an intention to do it again. Never. I had to be talked into it. And do you really wanna do it? And in a way it’s a victory lap tour. It’s called ‘Twisted Forever, Forever Twisted’<\/b>. It’s 50 years of me and Eddie<\/b> and Dee<\/b>, who we’ve been shoulder to shoulder since February of ’76.<\/p>\n

“Most people who have no idea of the history of the band don’t realize it \u2014 we’ve played with 10 different bass players and drummers,” Jay Jay<\/b> explained. “They don’t even understand that. They don’t get it. We know it\u2026<\/p>\n

“So, it’s called ‘Twisted Forever, Forever Twisted’<\/b>, or I call it ‘Sex, Prescription Drugs And Rock And Roll’<\/b>,” the guitarist quipped. “That’s my secondary tour name.”<\/p>\n

Asked if there are some TWISTED SISTER<\/b> songs that have yet to be played or that haven’t been played enough that he would love to bring out on the 2026 run, Jay Jay<\/b> said: “There probably are some, but the problem is when you’re doing 60 minutes or 75 minutes, ’cause that’s what you’re contracted for, you’re in the same dilemma that any other band is that’s been together 50 years with a million albums. And that dilemma is this. Do you play the 17 songs everybody wants to hear, or do you replace a couple of them with other more obscure stuff? That’s always the big question. And my answer to that question is, if you’re playing for the fans, you give them exactly what they want. That’s my theory. If you’re playing for yourself, it’s different. But if you’re really playing for the fans and you understand most of them wanna hear these 17 [songs]\u2026 I guarantee you, if we laid out, ‘These are the songs we’re gonna do. But we’re gonna remove two of them to put two things in. Which one should we remove?’ Nobody’s gonna want a single song removed. That’s the problem. That’s the problem. ‘Let’s take out ‘Destroyer’<\/b>.’ ‘Let’s take out ‘You Can’t Stop Up Rock ‘N’ Roll’<\/b>.’ ‘Let’s take out ‘Tear It Loose’<\/b>.’ ‘Let’s take out ‘The Kids Are Back’<\/b>.’ No. That’s the problem. So the problem is we’re gonna get together, we’re gonna rehearse and we’re gonna play a bunch of songs. And we have in our mind a couple songs we haven’t played much, and we’re gonna give it a shot, see how it sounds. We’re gonna see how it sounds.”<\/p>\n

Last November, Dee<\/b> spoke to “Steve And Rik’s POTcast”<\/b>, the podcast hosted by Steve Whiteman<\/b> of KIX<\/b> and his friend Rik Parks<\/b>, about why he changed his mind about returning to the road, nine years after the completion of TWISTED SISTER<\/b>‘s “40 And Fuck It!”<\/b> farewell tour, and after he repeatedly slammed KISS<\/b> and M\u00d6TLEY CR\u00dcE<\/b> farewell tours and subsequent reunions as mere cash grabs. Dee<\/b> said: “Why am I doing a reunion with TWISTED SISTER<\/b>? [Sighs] I’ll say that it was my idea. The [other] guys [in the band] couldn’t even believe I was making the call. And it had to do with \u2014 I said this publicly already \u2014 I had a little bit of a health scare. It was okay, and it was okay, but it was enough to make me say, ‘Wow, that was weird.’ I never had to think about those things before. And I’m 70 years old, and I’m, like, ‘Do I wanna go out like that, go silently, or do I wanna go kicking and screaming?’ And I picked up the phone and I called up John<\/b> [Jay Jay<\/b>] and Eddie<\/b>, Jay Jay<\/b> and Eddie<\/b>, and said, ‘What do you think about getting together?’ And they couldn’t believe I was suggesting it, ’cause I told ’em,'[It’s] not happening. [It will] never happen.’ But circumstances, particularly [since] this was emotional circumstances, made me change my mind. Am I regretting it? A little bit right now, sorry to say. [Laughs]”<\/p>\n

Regarding how his voice is right now and whether he is capable of getting through a 90-minute or two-hour set with TWISTED SISTER<\/b>, Snider<\/b> said: “I know that I’ve lost a note. My voice is powerful as fuck. But I’m missing my top notes, and I hate that. I hate that because I know where they were\u2026 So I don’t like that fact that I’ve lost a note or two on the top. And damn if I’m not aching. I was always aching back in the day, but it’s a different kind of aching. And I don’t like that either.”<\/p>\n

He added: “People go, ‘Damn, dude.’ I go out there [and make guest appearances] with [POISON<\/b> frontman] Bret Michaels<\/b> or Lita Ford<\/b> or whoever, and people go, ‘Holy crap, man. Your voice sounds as strong as ever. And you haven’t missed a step.’ I go, ‘For four songs. Yeah, I’m great for four songs. But 90 minutes, 75 minutes, 60 minutes. That’s a lot.’ But, yeah, it’s a lot to carry. So, I’m gonna start. I’ve got like a local band. I moved to North Carolina now. I built a family compound. So I’ve got everybody here. But I’m gonna start weekly rehearsing the set with a local band, just to get going.”<\/p>\n

When Whiteman<\/b> noted that Snider<\/b> is “brave” to stage a TWISTED SISTER<\/b> reunion after not performing a full set with the band in nearly a decade, Dee<\/b> said: “I’m [either] brave or stupid. Up till TWISTED<\/b>‘s retirement, and we did that in 2016 \u2014 I mean, first of all, I was 175 pounds, and I was shredded. I had a 29-inch waist. I was 62 years old, and people were going, ‘What the actual fuck is going on there?’ And I’d take my shirt off at every show and people would go, ‘Damn, look at that guy.’ I saw wives hitting their husbands, going, ‘Why don’t you look like that?’ But what I really loved is the smiles, man. When you hit start singing and you are on and you’re still delivering, the audience would just light up. And I’d see fathers doing like this to their sons, going, ‘That’s Dee<\/b> fucking Snider<\/b>.’ They were being transported back to their youth through the performance. And it was the way they remembered it and I looked the way they remembered. And I loved that. And I walked away and said, ‘Okay, I don’t wanna ever see a look of dissatisfaction.'”<\/p>\n

He continued: “Somebody was reviewing our show and said, ‘When a reunion is good, it makes you feel young again. When it’s bad, it makes you realize how old you’ve gotten.’ And I wanna be the first part. And the review was, like, ‘TWISTED SISTER<\/b> made me feel I was 19.’ But I never wanna be that guy where people go, ‘Yeah, time’s passed,’ and make people feel old, just looking at me on stage.”<\/p>\n

Snider<\/b> added: “But, yeah, I feel a great weight to make sure I’m in shape, to make sure my voice in shape and start rehearsing those three, four, five, 10 songs, to get there and not let people down. I don’t wanna do it.”<\/p>\n

TWISTED SISTER<\/b> recently announced its first reunion concerts as part of the band’s 50th-anniversary tour. The Snider<\/b>-fronted act will perform at a number of European festivals next spring and summer, including at Sweden Rock<\/b>, Copenhell<\/b> and Graspop Metal Meeting<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Snider<\/b> previously talked about why he changed his mind about returning to the road in a recent interview with John “JP” Parise<\/b> of Long Island, New York’s 102.3 WBAB<\/b> and Tampa, Florida’s 102.5 The Bone<\/b> radio stations. He said: “First of all, I own [my previous] statements [about not wanting to stage a TWISTED SISTER<\/b> reunion]. I said that and more. I singled out bands. I named names. I ranted and raved about this, and I expected to get excrements for this, but I’m getting hit hard.<\/p>\n

“I’m not gonna lie, and I can only tell you so much, but this is the total truth,” he continued. “I turned 70 this year and I had a health scare. And I’m okay\u2026 And it shook me up\u2026 I won’t say [exactly what it was], and I’m okay. But it really made me re-evaluate a lot of things. [When I was] 40, 50, 60, I thought I was superhuman. TWISTED SISTER<\/b> retired 10 years ago when I was ripped to shreds. And then [at] 70, something happened and it was a re-evaluation, quite honestly. And part of that re-evaluation was looking and saying\u2026 Am I ready to go? Well, you never know when you’re gonna go quietly to the night. You never know when your time is up. And do I really wanna do that without rocking one more time. And I stopped doing solo stuff a few years back as well. I mean, I go out and I join Bret Michaels<\/b> or Lita Ford<\/b> on stage [during their shows] for a couple songs, but I don’t go out and perform. And upon talking to my wife and re-evaluating, it was I, me, who called the [other] guys [in TWISTED SISTER<\/b>]. I called them. They never called. I mean, we talk, but they never brought it up because I was, like, ‘This is not happening, guys. It is done. It is over, just like I told everybody.’ But, like I said, I had a life-changing experience and re-evaluation of a lot of things, and I reached out. I said, ‘Guys, what do you think about doing it one more time?'”<\/p>\n

According to Dee<\/b>, Jay Jay<\/b> and Eddie<\/b> didn’t immediately jump at the opportunity to return to playing live shows with TWISTED SISTER<\/b>. “It was a conversation,” Snider<\/b> explained. “At this point, do we wanna take this, for lack of a better word, victory lap, so to speak? But it was a conversation. And then everybody goes, ‘Well, how can you not, with Alice<\/b> [Cooper<\/b>] out there [at the age of 77]?’ Alice<\/b> told me… I said, ‘Dude, when are you gonna retire?’ He says, ‘I’m looking forward to singing when I’m 80.’ So he’s got no plans. [Mick<\/b>] Jagger<\/b>‘s out there [playing shows at age 82]. Paul McCartney<\/b>‘s doing three hours [at age 83]. Now I know he doesn’t run around like I do, but the same time, you go, well, there’s precedents. People are out there into \u2014 there are octogenarians out there [touring] now. So we decided to go for it and go out on a high note.”<\/p>\n

After JP<\/b> criticized some of the media’s coverage of TWISTED SISTER<\/b>‘s return, particularly as it relates to reports of the band “touring” again, Dee<\/b> said: “It doesn’t say that in the press release. I checked. I’m seeing, ‘Tour.’ ‘They’re hitting the road again.’ Wait a minute \u2014 who’s hitting the road? We’re flying first class on an air jet airplane. Private plane.<\/p>\n

“I’m sorry, folks. People are saying, ‘Come to this town, come to that town.’ No, man,” he clarified. “This is a handful of dates \u2014 I’m thinking it’s about 20, 25 shows around the world, festivals almost exclusively. And it’s not a full-blown tour or anything like that. It’s a celebration for us, and I hope you’re celebrating with us for the fact that 50 years ago, next year, we got together \u2014 me, Eddie<\/b> and Jay Jay<\/b> \u2014 and we, against all odds, we had success.”<\/p>\n

Asked by JP<\/b> “how big the dump truck full of money” was “that showed up in [Dee<\/b>‘s] driveway” that convinced the singer to reunite TWISTED SISTER<\/b> for the band’s 50th anniversary, Snider<\/b> said: “I’m gonna be honest. The numbers are getting higher and higher and higher, but it wasn’t really where I \u2014 I had this place in mind, and it wasn’t there. But like I said, honestly, it wasn’t about the money. Yeah, if there was no money, I’m not gonna do it. I’m not gonna lie about that. But it really was this sort of looking in the mirror going, ‘Hey, man, that was scary. And I don’t wanna go out like that.’ I do not wanna go out quietly. Kicking and screaming, man \u2014 that’s the way I wanna go.”<\/p>\n

Dee<\/b> also talked about the challenges of preparing for TWISTED SISTER<\/b> live performances, particularly as it relates to the physical demands of stepping on a stage for an hour and a half. He said: “I always had a mixed relationship with the concerts. I did so much prep and I got so into it, it was so intense, I made myself miserable. When I go out there, it’s the greatest moment in my life for 90 minutes, and I get off the stage and I feel really good for about 15 minutes, half hour, and then I start [to think], ‘Oh no. I’ve gotta do this again tomorrow.’ And I start getting manic. And [my wife] Suzette<\/b> would never come out the road with me. She said, ‘You’re miserable. You sit in the room, you obsess.’ I sit there, and I’m not one of those people, but I sit there writing a list of the exact time I’ve gotta eat my protein and what time I’ve gotta do my neck stretches and a hot bath and vocalizing. I write it down on a sheet, and I check it off. I’m, like, manic. And so that’s another reason why going back to it, there’s a lot of discomfort in the whole \u2014 and being away from the family and being away from my wife, ’cause she doesn’t wanna be anywhere near me, which I understand. So, this way of doing it, going out and doing a show on a weekend and going out, there’ll still be that day of getting ready for the show because it’s sort of my method. But at least after the show, Suzette<\/b> will be out there and we’ll go and we’ll enjoy wherever we are for a few days and relax until the next one comes. So it’ll be one day of intensity as opposed to just an endless day after day after day of obsessing and making myself crazy.”<\/p>\n

During a September 10 appearance on SiriusXM<\/b>‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”<\/b>, Dee<\/b> stated about Mark<\/b>‘s absence from the TWISTED SISTER<\/b> 2026 tour: “I can only simply say irreconcilable differences and leave it at that. I can’t get into the weeds and I can’t go down that path. And I won’t. But irreconcilable differences. People change, and however it is, and I’m not saying he changed; maybe we changed whatever it is. So in deciding who to use on bass, my bass player on the last two Dee Snider<\/b> albums, ‘For The Love Of Metal’<\/b> and ‘Leave A Scar’<\/b>, was Russ Pz\u00fctto<\/b>. And he was Mark Mendoza<\/b>‘s bass tech, and a great bass player\u2026 So, he did an amazing job on those two albums. He was a great guy to tour with. The band all knew him from years of working with TWISTED<\/b>, and again, he seemed like a likely choice. As a matter of fact, one time he was Mark<\/b>‘s choice to fill in for him. And one gig, it was in Belgium at Graspop<\/b>, and Mark<\/b> couldn’t make it, and Russ<\/b> stepped in and played with TWISTED<\/b>. So he actually has performed with TWISTED<\/b> once before.”<\/p>\n

Asked if he thinks the door is open for Mark<\/b> to play with TWISTED SISTER<\/b> again at some point during the reunion tour, Dee<\/b> said: “I can’t imagine it right now. I can’t imagine it right now. I mean \u2014 I plead the fifth. I can’t go beyond that. But things have happened that I don’t see being reconciled, hence the term ‘irreconcilable differences.'”<\/p>\n

French<\/b> previously addressed Mendoza<\/b>‘s departure in a statement to Rolling Stone<\/b>, explaining: “Me, Dee<\/b> and Eddie<\/b> have performed as TWISTED SISTER<\/b> for nearly 50 years with 10 different bass players and drummers. The band has never discussed internal realignment before and has no intention of doing it now. Suffice to say that almost all bands with a 50-year history have gone through realignment as a byproduct of time. We wish Mark<\/b> well in his future endeavors.”<\/p>\n

Franco<\/b> played on TWISTED SISTER<\/b>‘s 1987 album “Love Is For Suckers”<\/b>. Mike Portnoy<\/b>, who took over for Pero<\/b> after he died near the end of TWISTED SISTER<\/b>‘s 2016 run, is busy touring with DREAM THEATER<\/b> and is unable to participate in the upcoming TWISTED SISTER<\/b> live activities.<\/p>\n

In a separate interview with Joe Rock<\/b> of Long Island’s rock station 102.3 WBAB<\/a>, Jay Jay<\/b> was asked if there is any chance of TWISTED SISTER<\/b> releasing at least one new song to coincide with the group’s upcoming shows in 2026. The last new track French<\/b> and the rest of TWISTED SISTER<\/b> recorded was “30”<\/b>, which TWISTED SISTER<\/b> laid down for the 25th-anniversary reissue of the “Stay Hungry”<\/b> album in 2009. Jay Jay<\/b> said:
“We played [’30’<\/b> live]. I love the track. We made a video. It’s a great song. And Dee<\/b> [Snider<\/b>, TWISTED SISTER<\/b> singer] predicted that nobody would care. We played it several times on the tour following the release, and Dee<\/b> said, ‘This is the bathroom song coming up, everybody.’ People were looking around going, ‘What’s that bathroom song?’ You know the point in the show where someone says, ‘This is a new track,’ and you all get up and go to the bathroom? He goes, ‘We have a bathroom song that’s coming up. I’ll give you plenty of warning.’ And so he made such a point of saying it that nobody would get up and go to the bathroom, ’cause now they were completely humiliated. So he’d say, ‘Coming up in two songs is the bathroom song.’ And we would play it, [and] everyone was there, everybody clapped.”<\/p>\n

French<\/b> continued: “But I guess here’s the important point. If you’re gonna play 15 songs or 16 songs, whatever the amount songs are, and you laid them out on a grid and you said to a fan, a real fan, ‘Okay, we’re gonna play this, this, this, but we’re gonna put this new track in and we’re gonna take this track out.’ How do you think the vote would go? You know the answer to that question would be 95-5 against or maybe 99-1 against. And that’s the truth. That is simply the truth. I don’t care how you wanna cut it, but when you’re a classic band like us who’s had a ton of product out there and we have five albums and everybody knows who they are, and with [returning TWISTED SISTER<\/b> drummer] Joe Franco<\/b> on drums, we’re gonna play songs from the album that he played drums on, ’cause he was a bonafide member of the band, it becomes a situation where if we did, what are we taking out to put that in? And that becomes a Dee<\/b> issue. I trust his vibe as a frontman to control the audience, ’cause he’s great at it, have control of the ebb and flow of the night. Now, having said that, he wrote a song and he presented it to us and we’re considering recording it. We’re considering it, and if we do, then we may play it. But we haven’t done it yet. It could happen. However, like I said, if you asked a hundred fans what they wanna hear, you would get a response of almost zero on a song they didn’t know.”<\/p>\n

Three years ago, TWISTED SISTER<\/b> staged a one-off reunion at the Metal Hall Of Fame<\/b> in Agoura Hills, California. On hand to be inducted into the Metal Hall Of Fame<\/b> were Snider<\/b>, French<\/b>, Mendoza<\/b> and Portnoy<\/b>. Ojeda<\/b> was absent from the event after contracting COVID-19; filling in for him was Keith Robert War<\/b>. TWISTED SISTER<\/b> played a highly charged three-song set consisting of the staples “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll”<\/b> and “Under The Blade”<\/b>, as well as the anthem “We’re Not Gonna To Take It”<\/b>.<\/p>\n

TWISTED SISTER<\/b>‘s original run ended in the late ’80s. After more than a decade, the band publicly reunited in November 2001 to top the bill of New York Steel<\/b>, a hard-rock benefit concert to raise money for the New York Police And Fire Widows’ And Children’s Benefit Fund<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a new interview with Don De Leaumont of the Talking The Talk With Don podcast, TWISTED SISTER‘s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":499405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,975,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-499404","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115855023378114195","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}