Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda

Twisted Sister

Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island, New York. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest along with a driving hard rock style that is similar to AC/DC. While the band members’ famously cross-dressed appearance might seem to link them with the 1980s glam metal movement, Twisted Sister’s aggressive musical style was coupled with a more grotesque use of makeup and women’s clothing resulting in a product quite distinct from the more hedonistic androgyny of glam metal groups like Mötley Crüe and Poison. The band considers the “glam metal” tag to be inappropriate.

Twisted Sister are also ranked No.73 in VH1’s 100 greatest artists of hard rock.

Although the band was formed by guitarist Jay Jay French in December 1972, all of their songs were written by Dee Snider from 1976 onward. Snider remarked to David Letterman that the proposed name for the band was “This” but was rejected for fear of fans saying “This sucks”. He describes Twisted Sister as “Slade meets Sex Pistols”. Twisted Sister’s most well-known hits include “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”, both popularized in the USA by regular airplay on MTV in the 1980s. Many of the band’s songs explore themes of parent vs. child conflicts and criticisms of the educational system.

What gear were you using in the Twisted Sister era?
Eddie Fingers Ojeda: Basically I used all Marshall amps with a different array of stomp boxes, like your digital delay and distortion boxes like that. I think I had a Boss overdrive at the time with a Marshall head, a couple of Marshall heads, Marshall 50’s and then we went on to the 100’s. So as far as amplifiers I would have to say that we mostly used Marshalls live. In the studio we also used Mesa Boogies as well, along with the Marshall amps. As far as guitars went, I had several different guitars in the early days. I had a couple of Ibanez guitars, and then when BC Rich guitars came out I started playing those for quite awhile. I had a Mockingbird that I really liked and played for a while, I also had a BC Rich “Bitch” that was custom made for me and I was using that as well. Shortly after that, Charvel Guitars emerged on the scene with the Custom Strat type guitars. I ordered my first guitar, which was of course the Bullseye guitar, that has become synonymous with Twisted Sister, and that I used in oh so many videos and played throughout the world with. Once I got that, I was just using it all the time, it just felt like a god in my hand, it was just one of those things, just the way it looked, it was just so cool looking. So many people made so many comments and it just really fit the band very well. Shortly after that, after I had that guitar for about a year, they made me the Twisted Sister logo guitar. Throughout the whole Twisted Sister era I basically used those two guitars, I just went back and forth between the two of them. I had two other guitars on the road with me but I didn’t really use them much, it was basically the two Charvels. The Bullseye guitar has a Duncan Custom pickup in it, with a pre-amp boost but I didn’t really use it much as far as the pre-amp boost went. The Twisted Sister logo guitar had an EMG pickup in it. So they sounded different but they both had a really great sound to them so that’s why I used those two guitars exclusively. I was also very happy to find out that Wayne was making guitars again. Basically I called him up to make another Bullseye guitar for me. That’s when the whole idea came up to do a limited edition Eddie Ojeda Bullseye guitar. I’m really happy to be working with Michael and Wayne Charvel on this project. I think it’s going to turn out really well.

Duncan Custom pickup

Kramer Come Out and Play

Mesa Boogie

Dee Snider Autographed guitar

Jay, Jay French used Marshall JMP-50 MKII Head , Marshall Cabinet / 4×12, Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, Ibanez Destroyer, MXR 10 Band Equalizer and GHS Guitar Strings gauge 9S Medium