Friday Flashback - Twisted Sister

Twisted Sister will be in Oklahoma City headlining on Friday July 23rd date of the Rock N America festival and in honor of that I thought I would make them the subjects of my Friday Flashback. The band was originally formed all the way back in 1972 and had their highest level of fame in 1984 with the release of their 3rd album Stay Hungry. Our first two videos came from that album and shot them to stardom mainly due to their humor coupled with their anti-authority messages (what teen boy didn't want to rebel back then?) and their heavy sound.



Current members
Dee Snider – lead vocals (1976–1987, 1997–present)
Eddie Ojeda – lead guitars (1975–1987, 1997–present)
Jay Jay French – lead guitars, backing vocals (1972–1987, 1997–present)
Mark Mendoza – bass, backing vocals (1978–1987, 1997–present)
A. J. Pero – drums, percussion (1982–1986, 1997–present)



The band broke up from 1987 to 1997 and then re-formed to perform various gigs over the years. They were at the inaugural Rocklahoma festival in 2007 performing in full makeup in the Oklahoma summer heat but I couldn't see them because they played on Sunday and I was only able to go to the Friday edition of the lineup. Hey, my son wasn't even 2 months old then and some things are more important in life. They returned the following year but in my opinion the festival had already started going downhill and I never went back due to what I considered overall poor daily lineups. Now I don't know if I'll be able to see them this year either because my main focus is seeing the Scorpions on their goodbye tour and it's doubtful I'll be able to afford to go to more than one day of the festival. Times are hard and money is in short supply. Maybe one of the local radio stations (they do still exist) will have some tickets to give away. If not we'll just have to see what can be done.

Rock 'N' America July 23rd-25th Zoo Amphitheater

As I reported yesterday there is a new 80s metal festival in Oklahoma City called Rock 'N' America scheduled for July 23rd-25th and it will be headlined by the German band Scorpions. I just checked the Zoo Amp website and it has been updated with information about this event. You can go to www.zooamp.com or to www.rocknamerica.com for more info.



Now granted that there isn't a great deal of info yet such as what bands are playing on what days, ticket prices, etc but at least they have something up now. I expect that the bands opening for Scorpions on their world tour will all be playing on Saturday the 24th and Twisted Sister will be playing on Friday the 23rd but after that it's anyones guess as to who else is playing on what day. Interestingly enough Cinderella has the 24th listed on their website but isn't listed yet as being on the bill. The lineup has a lot of names that were on the first Rocklahoma lineup (when they shot their wad) but it looks even better. If I can see Scorpions, Ratt, Cinderella, Dokken and a few more bands all on one day I will be extremely happy! The summer is definately looking up. Stay tuned for further details.

Rush Touring This Summer and A New 80s Metal Fest

I heard some great news today, at least for me that is. According to Melodicrock.com Rush will be touring this summer. It gets better. The band has been working on new songs and are about to go into the studio to work on 5 or 6 tracks for a new album and want to go out on about a 45 city tour that will last from June to October. The idea is to showcase some new tunes and pull some older songs out of the hat. Afterwards they will go back to the studio and finish the album and possibly release it in the spring of 2011. They will then follow it up with a more substantial tour of about 75 cities. Great news as perhaps I'll get to see them on consecutive years as long as they come within 4 or 5 hours of Tulsa. I've seen them 6 times in concert (should have been 9 but oh well) and this will be the icing on the cake.



In other news, as I mentioned in earlier posts the Scorpions are releasing their final album and will be touring the world for about 2 years before calling it quits. An article in the Tulsa World yesterday stated that the German metal band will be headlining the 3 day Rock 'n' America Festival on July 24th at the Zoo Amphitheater in Oklahoma City. That's less than a 2 hour drive for me but wait! It gets better. Headliners for the festival should also be Twisted Sister, Vince Neil (boring) and Ratt. Other bands mentioned are Warrant, Dokken, Great White, Sebastian Bach, Faster Pussycat (wish they were the old cat), Winger, Toxin(?), Bang Tango, Enuff Z'Nuff (never liked them), Firehouse, LA Guns and more.

Interestingly enough the Zoo Amphitheater website doesn't say anything about this but a friend said he had a message on his facebook page from them about this very event. Ever the cynic and aware of what today is, I decided to play detective and went to the Scorpions website and indeed they are listed as playing at this event. I also went to the webpages for Twisted Sister and Cinderella (who will be opening some dates for the Scorpions) and both bands have this event listed. So unless this is an April Fool's Day joke of immense proportions it looks like it's for real. More details to follow as they become available.

If you like 80s metal (and I do) like this then there you go. Since (C)rocklahoma sold out this year completely and booked a bunch on new rock and nu-metal bands (that all sound the same) it appeared that Oklahoma would be left out in the cold this year but now things are looking up. If you don't like this music well, do an old guy a favor and just go away and let me revel in my youth.