Twisted Sister played its first show with Sebastian Bach behind the mic on August 28 at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey, and by most accounts the packed house left with no doubts left about the new lineup.
The band billed the gig under its longtime warm-up alias, Bent Brother, a name Twisted Sister has used for two decades to quietly test new material and lineups before a tour kicks off. Guitarist Jay Jay French told the crowd the tradition started when the band came back years ago and wanted a low-pressure way to shake off the rust. Word got out anyway, and fans who caught on early treated it like an inside secret.
Bach’s arrival came together fast. Snider stepped away from touring earlier this year due to health issues, on the advice of his family, and the planned 50th-anniversary dates were scratched. Within two weeks, French and co-founder Eddie Ojeda had Bach on the phone. French later recounted the call from stage, saying he asked Bach if he wanted to take over on vocals and got an answer before he finished the sentence. Bach was already naming songs he wanted to sing.
Onstage, Bach was joined by French and Ojeda on guitar, Russell Pzütto on bass filling in for Mark Mendoza, and Joey Cassata on drums covering for Joe Franco and the late A.J. Pero. There was no elaborate stage show, no backing tracks, and no click tracks. Five guys walked out, tuned up, and played.
The set ran 17 songs over about 90 minutes and leaned into Twisted Sister’s rawer, heavier material rather than a straight greatest-hits run. “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)” opened the night, followed by “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Deep cuts like “Under the Blade,” “Shoot ‘Em Down,” “Tear It Loose,” and “Ride to Live, Live to Ride” got their first outings in over a decade, alongside staples “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” to send the crowd home. Bach also worked in two Skid Row songs, “I Remember You” and “Youth Gone Wild,” a nod to his own roots on the same regional circuit Twisted Sister came up on in the late ’80s.
The between-song stretches turned into storytelling as much as banter. French walked the crowd through the band’s 1973 start in Ho-Ho-Kus and its first-ever gig at the Satellite Lounge near Fort Dix, where exactly 29 people showed up on a Tuesday and 3,000 soldiers packed the room by Friday payday. He dedicated the night’s energy to the Tri-State scene that raised the band, name-checking Long Island and Westchester alongside New Jersey.
Dedications ran through the set. “I Remember You” went out to Dolly Parton and Tim Curry before turning serious, tied to the upcoming 25th anniversary of 9/11 and the New York Steel benefit that brought Twisted Sister and Bach together in the first place after metal bands were initially left off the bill at the Garden. The band also honored A.J. Pero and Joey Cassata’s late brother, David, who died in a car crash. Bach dedicated “The Price” to Snider directly, crediting him for the songwriting behind the entire catalog getting celebrated that night.
Vocally, Bach didn’t try to copy Snider’s delivery. He sang the material with his own power and phrasing, and more than once told the crowd the songs made him feel like a kid discovering the band for the first time. At 58, he’s the youngest man on stage next to a 74-year-old French, and he leaned into the physical demands with visible enthusiasm rather than caution.
Fan reaction across social media has been overwhelmingly positive. Viewers of the full show upload praised the lack of backing tracks and called it real rock and roll from a band with nothing to prove. Facebook commenters who attended described goosebumps, said Bach was a perfect fit, and pushed back hard on anyone questioning the lineup change before hearing it for themselves.
Twisted Sister featuring Sebastian Bach carries the momentum into a run of fall dates, including stops at Niagara Falls and Windsor in October, putting the new lineup within driving distance of Southern Ontario fans this fall.
I’m Drew, the founder and editor of Front of the Stage. I have a strong love for music and photography, which started at a very young age. There’s just something I love about experiencing live music and capturing memories that will last a lifetime, and that’s how Front of the Stage came to be.
