Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French discussed auditioning for KISS when they were called Wicked Lester in a new Rocking With Jam Man interview.
“Let me just say – had they not become famous, it wouldn’t have been a question because nobody cared. I tried for a lot of bands, you just do, they were just around, you audition. So I auditioned and didn’t make it. And that was fine.
“I didn’t think twice about it at the time. So I never thought really much more than that. Of course, they went out to become KISS and that’s great for them.
“But I wasn’t right at the time anyway, so it’s not like I sit there and go, ‘Oh man, I missed my shot.’ I wasn’t ready yet and Ace [Frehley] was ready, and Ace was great. He was the right guy at the right time for that band, 100 percent.”
And what are the odds that you ended up with the frontman who paints up his face anyway…
“Again, Twisted Sister started shortly after KISS formed. Twisted formed within months. They officially became KISS in October of ’72, and Twisted Sister officially became Twisted Sister in January or February of ’73. And then we went through a lot of different people.
“If you go on our website and you look at the pictures of the band, you’ll see a lot of different people who you don’t know because they were all in the band at one time or another.
“So the fact is – the band went through many, many, many changes. And then Dee came in and he was just another singer, so we didn’t know at the beginning how well it was going to work, we just gave it a shot.” Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his comments.
