Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French has described late drummer AJ Pero as the band’s John Bonham or Keith Moon.
He passed away earlier this month at the age of 55, while on tour with Adrenaline Mob. It’s suspected he suffered a heart attack.
In an emotional interview with Eddie Trunk, French says: “What John Bonham was to Zeppelin, what Keith Moon was to The Who, AJ was to us. I just mentioned two legends – and AJ’s up there with them.”
He continues: “We’ve been together longer and spent more time together than we do with our own families. I think metal’s the only genre where that happens.”
Bassist Mark Mendoza adds: “We had a team. We still have a team. When you’ve got to replace a guy it’s tough, because everything was a huge amount of teamwork.”
Twisted Sister are expected to reveal their future plans in the coming days. Frontman Dee Snider predicted the band would continue – although French later revealed they’d been considering retirement before Pero’s death.
