Twisted Sister

Founded by Jay Jay French in 1972, it wasn’t until the 1976 incarnation of Twisted Sister – featuring guitarist Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda, bassist Kenneth Harrison Neil, drummer Kevin John, and vocalist Dee Snider – that the band started making waves in the industry. Following a series of record-breaking live shows, in May 1978 Twisted Sister recorded a prodigious amount of new material, which wouldn’t surface until “Club Daze” in 1999. Sensing the death of glam rock and with the arrival of ex-Dictators bass player Mark Mendoza, the band cemented their hard rock and heavy metal appeal in this period.

In 1980 Twisted Sister released their debut single “I’ll Never Grow Up Now” on their own Twisted Sister Records. The same year the subsequent single “Bad Boy of Rock’n’Roll” appeared after which the band signed with the independent label Secret Records. Following the release of their debut EP “Ruff Cuts”, the band headed to England to work on their debut full length. “Under the Blade” arrived in 1982 earning a devoted, underground following despite the inexperience and mediocrity of producer Pete Way. Twisted Sister’s subsequent release, the polished “You Can’t Stop Rock ’n’ Roll” was issued in 1983, the lead and title track of which became the band’s first charting single.

Infused with pop sensibilities and pockets of commercial appeal, the band’s third full-length “Stay Hungry” took the charts by storm in 1984. Album sales rocketed to multi-platinum certification aided by the knock-out hits “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”, and led Snider et al. to become household names in the U.S. However, the gimmicky, tongue-in-cheek nature of the record led the label, radio, and MTV to over-represent Twisted Sister in the media and the band struggled to retain their original audience. 1985’s “Come Out and Play” marked this disparity between their roots in hard rock and more recent pop appeal.

By this point audience numbers at shows began to dwindle and rumours were rife indicating a strife between Snider and French. Twisted Sister marched on until sales for their fifth full-length “Love Is for Suckers” proved particularly uninspiring and members went their separate ways. Snider appeared in the late ‘90s as a cross-appeal radio DJ, and also contributed to film production, notably his writing and starring in the 1998 horror film “Strangeland”.

The classic “Stay Hungry” Twisted Sister lineup returned in November 2001 alongside Anthrax, Overkill, Sebastian Bach, and Ace Frehley at a tribute to service men and women following the September 11, 2011 attacks. Popularity for the band grew exponentially in this time and the band embarked on a huge worldwide tour. In March 2004 the band re-recorded their “Stay Hungry” album entitled “Still Hungry” complete with seven bonus tracks, followed by the Christmas album “A Twisted Christmas” in October 2006.

Initially formed by vocalist and costume designer Tomi Petteri Putaansuu or Mr. Lordi as a solo project in 1992, Lordi released his demo album “Napalm Market” in 2002, led by the single “Inferno”. After organising a Kiss cruise for Finnish Kiss fans heading to Sweden, Mr. Lordi met guitarist Amen and bassist G-Stealer who recorded the band’s debut “Bend Over And Pray The Lord”, however due to the label's lack of resources the album never got its release.

Lordi has long been indebted to the band Kiss, not least for the theatrical stage performances and elaborate make-up and masks (which they never take off) but it is in the shared appreciation for Kiss how most of the members met. In 1999 G-Stealer left the band and was replaced by Magnum who Mr. Lordi met at Kiss Army Finland, and who, alongside drummer Kita, recorded the band’s proper debut album “Get Heavy” in 2002. The album shot to No. 3 in the Finnish chart, has been certified triple-platinum and spawned the No. 1 single “Would You Love A Monsterman?”. The subsequent European tour propelled the band to popularity, especially in Germany, and aided the band signing with German record label Drakkar.

Magnum was fired just after the album release, however his replacement Pekka Tarvenen (Kalma) only stayed with the band for the release of Lordi’s sophomore album “The Monsterican Dream” in 2004. With Kalma replaced by Samer el Nahhal (Ox) and Siikavirta replaced by Leena Peisa (Awa) the band released their third studio album “The Arockalypse" in May 2006. The album spawned the No. 1 single “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and was appointed Finland’s official single entry in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, which some religious leaders denounced as supporting the devil.

Their song eventually won the Eurovision Song Contest, scoring the most points in the contest’s history, catapulting the band to further international popularity and starting a wave of media outlets wanting to capture the band without their masks. Lordi celebrated the victory with a free open-air performance in Helsinki’s Market Square. The band’s impressively elaborate and pyrotechnically inclined live show was then showcased in America for the first time, with Lordi playing shows at Bamboozle and Ozzfest, before touring alongside Type O Negative.

Lordi’s fourth studio album “Deadache” was released in 2008 with a more keyboard and horror focused direction, and featured songwriting contributions from all members of the band. After Lordi spent time recording with Jeremy Rubolino and formed Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, Lordi released the single “This is Heavy Metal” ahead of their fifth studio album “Babez For Breakfast” in 2010. The album marked the departure of drummer Kita who was replaced by Otus, who surprisingly died shortly afterwards, leading the band to cancel a number of their shows in early 2011.

The band has subsequently released the 20th anniversary CD/DVD compilation “Scarchives Vol. 1” in 2012, Lordi’s sixth full-length album “To Beast or Not to Beast" in September 2012, led by the single “The Riff”, and “Scare Force One” in 2014.