Hair metal favorites Twisted Sister are set to reunite next year to celebrate their 50th anniversary, but they’ll be without longtime bassist Mark Mendoza.
Despite the big announcement, Twisted Sister didn’t share any key details about the trek, such as when the tour will take place and what cities the band will visit. But the run will mark Twisted Sister’s first tour since 2016, when they embarked on what was supposed to be their 40 and Fuck It farewell tour. Since then, the band has only gotten back together once, in 2023, to commemorate their induction into the Heavy Metal Hall of Fame.
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While Twisted Sister have undergone numerous lineup changes over the years, the 2026 reunion tour will feature the band’s three core members: Frontman Dee Snider, founding guitarist (and longest-serving member) Jay Jay French, and longtime lead guitarist Eddie Ojeda.
On drums will be Joe Franco, who briefly played with Twisted Sister in the mid-Eighties and featured on their 1987 album, Love Is for Suckers. Twisted Sister’s most recent drummer was Mike Portnoy, who took over for longtime drummer A.J. Pero after he died near the end of the 2016 run. Portnoy also performed with Twisted Sister at the 2023 Heavy Metal Hall of Fame gig.
But the absence of Mendoza on bass is arguably the most notable tweak to the Twisted Sister lineup. He joined the band in 1978 and was part of their Eighties heyday, as well as their run during the 2000s, which culminated with the 2016 farewell tour. He also played at the 2023 Heavy Metal Hall of Fame gig.
“Me, Dee and Eddie have performed as Twisted Sister for nearly 50 years with 10 different bass players and drummers,” French said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. “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 well in his future endeavors.”
A rep for Mendoza did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
The Twisted Sister reunion tour will instead feature Russell Pzütto on bass. Pzütto has played with Twisted Sister in the past, and has also been part of the touring bands for Snider’s solo projects.
Beyond the one-off gig in 2023, Twisted Sister stuck firm to their no-more-reunions policy, but Snider admitted during a podcast appearance last year that the band’s thoughts on the matter were changing (via Ultimate Classic Rock).
In a statement announcing the tour, he proclaimed, “If you’re lucky enough to be in a band that people still want to see after fifty years(!), how can you not answer the call? In 2026, Twisted Fucking Sister will hit stages around the world because we still wanna rock!”
French added: “Beginning on February 2, 1976 in a little bar called The Turtleneck Inn in Hunter Mountain, New York, Dee Snider, Eddie Ojeda and I have called ourselves Twisted Sister and stood shoulder to shoulder for nearly five decades, through multiple personnel changes and thousands of performances. We are proud to celebrate a milestone that once felt unthinkable: A 50-year anniversary! We have created a music and performance legacy that has and will continue to inspire millions of fans around the world. Twisted Forever, Forever Twisted!”
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