 So we're here at the Metal Hall of Fame. This is Neil Turbin, you're watching The Metal Voice, and I'm here with one of my influences, one of the people that I grew up with. Oh, you're being so nice. No, but I was there at Beggar's Opera, and I was there at Hammerheads, and I saw Twisted Sister. This is Mark Mendoza from Twisted Sister. It is, really me. And tonight is the reunion of Twisted Sister. No, it was, we got inducted to the Heavy Metal Hall of Fame. And you guys were really nice. And we made an appearance here and played Reson. He's smarter than me. That's where you got it correct. But it's awesome to get a chance to talk to you, and thanks for taking the time, Mark. And you know, you're Mark the animal Mendoza. That's right, not Mark the Mendoza. Who's that? I'd always yell at him. Mark was a friend of mine, he's cool. Yeah, he's a great guy. He's been on my show. But I always tell him I had the name first. It's true. Drop it. Yeah, exactly. And you're from the East Coast. Yeah, exactly. Don't mess with the East Coast. No, definitely not. I wanted to ask you, Mark, about all the years coming up until now with Twisted Sisters. So you guys were kind of doing your own thing on sort of a hiatus or a retirement, or I don't know what. When? I don't know, is there such a thing? When? In the music business. Well, I'm just saying, like, when was the hiatus? From the last time you guys played live together? It was in 2016. Okay. So that's not really, that's not much. Six years? Yeah, okay, so I get it. Through the math. So the timing was just a good time to pull it back. Well, you know, we all, we did a lot of stuff. We got back together again. You know, of course, we played New York Steel in 2000, you know, in 2001, from 9-11. Right. And then in 2003, the office was so good that we got back together. We didn't tour so much, but we did, you know, one of the big festivals all around the world, and we did it for one of about 14 years, 15 years. And everybody decided they wanted to do other things. And so we never broke up. We just stopped playing. So I have a question for you. So back in the year was 1980, maybe one or 1980 or somewhere right around there. I was walking down Eighth Street, New York, by the electric lady. Yeah. And it had a clothing store flip or something that was right around there back in those days. I remember that stuff, I can't forget. But so I heard on the radio as I'm walking, they were playing at that store, that clothing store, they had the radio going. I heard the first time shoot them down on the radio. I think it was WPLJ. They played shoot them down? Yeah. P.L.J. I think it was P.L.J. Commercial tradition like that? Or W&EW, one of them. You're sure that they didn't just have the album at the time and they weren't playing it on the radio? That was before the album, that was your single? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They didn't have the single or something. And I saw you guys like at Hammerhead, it's not too long before that. And then I came out to the village and I was there and I heard that. And that was a big inspiration for me. Cause it's like, if I heard Twisted Sister on the radio and they don't have an album out, it's like, and you guys, what JJ was saying about playing 7,500 shows or before you guys? It's thousands of shows. It's incredible, the tenacity you guys have. Ten year history before we got signed. It's like holding on and never letting go. Three shows a night, well, when the band first started, it was five shows a night, six days a week. Gotta get good at something doing it that much, right? And then, and there were some great bands in the East Coast, in New York, Tri-State area, and those rat race choir, and Zebra, and Southern Falls, and People Chase, all of them, man, every band was great. You guys were playing out before I was able to go out and see bands, and then it's like, okay, now I can go. And because we were talking with AJ, my friend who was a bit older than me, he saw you guys play at Covster College. Oh, man, that's right after I joined the band. Like the beginning. So it's kind of amazing that you guys held on for so long and stayed focused, cause that's so admirable. We still are, you know, as a matter of fact, 2023 is the 50th anniversary of Twisted Sister. So Twisted Sister is coming up this month. And the Rolling Stones, basically. Well, the Rolling Stones a little bit smaller. They're a little bit older, but I'm the same. But I mean, I was there at their 50th, and it wasn't too long ago, so. Yeah, so Twisted Sister, it's our 50th anniversary, J.J. French, was in the original band. Amazing. Yep. So tell us about what you're up to. You have a TV show? Yeah, well actually, I have a, with my partner here, I have a television network. Wow. Internet-based. Our network is called Area 22 Productions. Cool. Right? Sounds like some top secret installation. Like Area 51. Area, no, we're better than Area 51. We're interesting. Area 22. In any case, we have a multitude of shows. We're just revamping the station now, changing some of the format. But I have a show called 22 Now. Where I interview people mostly from the entertainment industry, mostly other musicians, promoters, managers, some equipment, you know, companies. Once in a while, a business person comes on, and it's a lot of fun. So it's 22 Now on Area 22 Productions, and it is 7 p.m., New York time, Eastern Standard Time, 7 p.m., Tuesday evenings. Most of the time, it's live. So you can come in on the chat. Oh, that's cool. That's the one show we have that's live. Everything else is pretty good. Nice. We do it live. Is that correct? Am I correct so far? That's my partner, Laura, right there. That's so cool. So, yeah, so, yeah, and it's great. It's a lot of fun. And I get to sit back and talk to people. And it's really, it's really like, I try to get people to come on. Everybody's kind of like with two friends hanging out talking. I'm not really interviewing someone. And they can also ask me questions. So it kind of loosens up everything. And everybody comes on. They're skeptical. Some people are skeptical because they think I'm gonna tear them to pieces. None of that. There's none of that. I'm telling you, there really is none of that. Hello, everyone. This is Neil Turbin. And you're watching the Metal Voice. And with us right here is the one and only Chris Impelletary. Chris, it's so great to see you. And congratulations on being inducted in the Metal Hall of Fame. I just want to say, well deserved and amazing to meet you for the first time. Thank you. It's my honor, it's my pleasure. And hello, Jimmy, it's the Metal Voice. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's a great honor. And I'm really happy, mainly for our fans. Because we're really an international band. Most of our popularity in places like Japan, certain places in continental Europe, America, not as much. So to be embraced and be honored like this, it's truly an honor. Well, it's really great to have the opportunity to speak with you. Because I remember, you know, your band, you had the album, Stand in Line, with Graham Bonnet also on vocals. I think Chuck Wright was in the band. I'm trying to think who else was in the band. There was Guy Rassusall was Pat Torpe. Pat Torpe played in the band called Mr. Big. He played Robert Plant. Pat was just an insanely talented guy. We miss him already. But yeah, so it was Pat Torpe. And then Phil Wolfe was a keeper player at that time. And people think, you know, Stand in Line was our first record. It actually wasn't. It was actually our second record. Right, you also did records with Bob Rock. Yeah, he did the first album. We call it, and we did the black EP before Metallica. So we did a thing called the Impelatory Black EP. That was a real black album. It was a real black one. Yeah, it was pre Metallica. And that was a song, or I'm sorry, the music or the record of the recording that kind of got everybody interested in the band, especially in places like England and Japan and certain places of continental Europe. And we were, you know, that first record, it was like, I was telling you earlier, it was like Maiden and Priest on steroids. And yes, we had a lot of the fast solos and the screaming stuff, but we really just wanted to be a metal band. You know, so the Stand in Line record was the full length version. And Graham came in because Robert quit. So we had to completely change our sound really to complement Graham. So it was really a very successful record in various countries, but it was really uncomfortable for me to make because I was like, I'm going from the Maiden and the Priest in the more of the rainbow, you know? It's interesting. But it was an interesting time. And, you know, I will always be grateful to Graham. He was an amazing singer. And he returned eventually. We did a record called System X for them. And then we did Impelatory Music more like the Maiden and the Priest kind of stuff, but now Graham's singing. So that's such an interesting dichotomy. So you have this kind of direction, certainly in the beginning, that was just natural, right? That's kind of what you felt. You had the natural influences. And then the next album, you kind of had to adjust. You had to compensate or adjust and try to, you know, I guess work with Graham. Yeah. And he's a great singer. I was 21 or 22. Great writer, too. I think I was 21 or 22. And I started at least the recording process of those records. And it was a really good education for me to learn. Okay, wait a minute. Rob and I, we grew up playing in bars together doing covers, you know, doing the Aussies and the Deep Purple and all that stuff. So when I got to Graham, it was like, oh, I have to change the writing style to accommodate his voice. At least at that time, I thought I had to do that. So we did. And it was an education of, well, how do we write differently? How do we, you know, use more orchestration and, you know, things like that? But you had the acumen to be able to do that shift because it's not, you know, just because a person can shred on a guitar or play, you know, chords or, you know, just tear it up. Doesn't mean that they're a prolific songwriter. And that's, and also someone who can, you know, kind of be multimodal, go into a different mode of even heavy metal. Yeah, you know, I got to ban us. I've always been first into a really great riff and then a good song and then the guitar solo. It's never been about, okay, now let me write a song or a riff. Never been about that ever. You know, I know, as I was telling you earlier, I got thrown in with all of the shredding type guys and stuff, which, and it was, you know, like I was young when we did those records, so I'm sure I certainly didn't help to put out the fires when I should have like, all right, enough of this. We're not an instrumental band, we're a metal band. But, you know, having said that, you know, over the years, I learned to mature, but I always kept my focus on, all right, if we're gonna make music, everything we do always has to start with that great riff and it has to have a great song. It has to have an anthem for a chorus. It has to have a good melodic structure. Then the guitar solo becomes hopefully like a frosting on a cake. Hopefully it makes the cake taste a little better. Or maybe not. No, that's brilliant. I completely agree. I mean, that's, I couldn't say it better myself. I mean, that's absolutely, what a team player, what a person who is trying to, you know, push the team, push the song is about, as opposed to, you know, look at me type stuff, attention-seeking. Yeah, it's, again, and I can see where people would throw me in that category. Especially, look, I mean, when I did the Impelletary Black EP and Stand in Line, you have to forgive me, I was really young. So for us, when you start having the ability to play fast, you just wanna show off. And we're young, we don't know any better. We don't realize, all right, at a certain point, you're now just wanking her, you know, and believe me, I got labeled as the wanker or, you know, the masturbating guitar player. And to be fair to the critics, there was a certain point in a time where I went back and I listened to something and went, you know, oh my God, I think they're right. I'm going way too far. It's, you know, where's the melody? You know, and then all of a sudden I started listening to guys like Jeff Beck and, you know, and, you know, not to just say I went that direction. I certainly kept doing the speed thing, right? But I tried to learn around that, you know, to see how could I, you know, compliment the song, keep the speed stuff, but be more mature and make it palatable, right? Especially the non-musicians, because that's always the challenge.