Maine’s Greatest Hard Rock Band of All Time
If you were in Portland in the '90s and 2000s and into the hard stuff, then you were a loyal disciple of Twisted Roots. Or as we call them, TFR...Twisted F'ing Roots! These guys were as good as it got, and were one of the Portland bands that "made it." They got signed to a record label, toured, were in magazines, on TV and radio, and made lots of albums. Their sold-out show at the State Theatre in April of 1994 was one of the greatest moments in Portland music history. "Let The Flower Fury Begin!" the legendary Brian James would say to intro TFR...and the band went OFF.
The original lineup was Adam Powers on guitar, Scott Partridge on bass, Pete Giordano on vocals/guitar, and his brother Phil Giordano on drums.
Neil Collins came on as the bass guitar player in 1990. The great Sonny Robinson came on as the drummer in 1991. Mark Lennon replaced Neil on bass, but then Neil came back.
When twisted Roots first started, Geno's was the only club that would book them. Then Zootz, T-Birds, and the Garage up on Forest Ave. My favorite was when Twisted Roots would promote themselves by showing up at the end of random State Theatre shows, playing at full volume on a flatbed truck on Congress Street. The crowd coming out of a concert would love it!
Twisted Roots cracked Portland's hard rock scene wide open and paved the way for bands like Car, Rotors to Rust, Rustic Overtones, Tripe, Twitchboy, Uncle Jack, Goud's Thumb, Headstart, 6Gig, Colepitz, Jeremiah Freed, and others. TFR showed the world the music coming out of little Portland, Maine, was as good as what was coming out of NYC, Seattle, or anywhere else.
Check out this concert on the 25th-anniversary of Turn To Stone, back in 2018 at Portland House of Music. As good as ever!
All Hail the Power of Portland's Twisted Roots!