Current Lee Aaron and Coney Hatch guitarist Sean Kelly has written a special article to the Metroland Media Group about his life on stage and in classrooms. 

“I owe it all to Twisted Sister,” he says. “It was after seeing the video for ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ for the first time in 1984 that I was able to answer, with an unshakeable conviction, a question that all of us must face at some point: What do you want to do with your life? And just like the video’s teen protagonist tells his domineering dad: I wanna rock.”

Christmas of 1984 brought the magic power of the music to me (thanks, Triumph!) in the form of a pawn-shop electric guitar, a beat-up amplifier, and a desire to emulate what I was hearing on albums by Van Halen, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, Helix and, of course, Twisted Sister. I was enthralled by the long hair, makeup, high-heeled boots and leather. It’s true, not all superheroes wear capes. Some wear studded belts and leopard-print spandex.

But it was the sound that lit the fire in my heart: the distorted guitars, pounding drums and anthemic choruses. Each power chord I was able to get under my fingers gave me confidence, identity and a sense of accomplishment. My guitar was a divining rod that guided me through the perils of teen awkwardness, the high school battles of the bands, and later through the rough-and-tumble bars of Northern Ontario. There, I learned lessons they don’t teach you in any school: trust your gut when it’s time to leave, make friends with the toughest guy in the room and be ready to play ‘Born to Be Wild’ at a moment’s notice.”

Read the entire article here. 

Kelly, who also fronts his own band Crash Kelly, has toured the world with Nelly Furtado and performed with Helix, Honeymoon Suite, Glass Tiger’s Alan Frew, Carole Pope, Lita Ford and many more!