Yup, Mark Mendoza (= not Marco Mendoza of Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Dead Daisies etc) played his Grabber throughout his relatively short Dictators tenure (around '77, Andy Shernoff, who had previously handled bass as well as being the brain behind The Dictators, made room for him and played keyboards during that time) though I never saw him playing it with Twisted Sister (he committed adultry with a Stingray there).
Here live from Winterland '77 which shows what a kick-ass band they were, warts and off-key vocals and all. To think that two of these guys would later on be more successful with (IMHO: much) lesser bands such as Twisted Sister and Manowar, talk about dumbing down!
I never knew that Richard Teeter (the drummer) sang Steppin' Out!
The Dictators' Manifest Destiny LP ranks to this day among my favourite late 70ies rock albums. A masterpiece somewhere between arena rock, punk and NYC coolness. They really should have gone somewhere, but seemingly feel through all cracks: Too smart and punkish for the metal crowd, too traditional and AOR for punks and new wavers. Not as an immediately identifiable visual image as, say, The Ramones, Twisted Sister, Kiss or even Manowar either. That Sandy Pearlman, who masterminded BÖC's career, took them under his wing (though he failed establishing them) came as no surprise, like BÖC they were eclectic in their influences and always had a NYC intellectual air about them.
