Home sweet home: Lorain native brings popular cover band Twisted Halo to Lorain Palace

Home sweet home is how Lorain native and Amherst resident Joe Hall is approaching the Lorain Palace debut of his '80s rock and '90s alternative band Twisted Halo at the Broadway venue Saturday, April 24. "It's the first time for the band, but the way we got our opportunity is over the course of 2020 I played solo acoustic shows held under the Lorain Palace marquee," said guitarist Hall, a 1993 Southview High School graduate who by day works at the Ford plant. "As things started to open up, I got the chance for my band to play the Palace." It turns out Hall's history with the iconic Lorain theater not only goes back decades, but also proved to be a pivotal moment in his musical career. "When I was in the high school jazz band at Southview, they put together a little all-star group," said Hall, who as a young kid also remembers seeing Buddy Holly's backing band The Crickets at the Palace. "I got to perform on stage and open up for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra when I was 16. "That was the first time playing live music in front of a large crowd. I was terrified. Then at the same time it was so exciting and such a rush that I was like, 'Oh, man, I think I want to do this for sure.' " Less than a decade later, Hall started playing out with different groups. Eventually, a few of his bandmates formed cover outfit Twisted Halo to scratch the group's itch to play familiar rock hits. "We do everything ranging from some classics by Tom Petty and Night Ranger to Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Poison and Motley Crue," Hall said. "We also do '90s tunes by Alice in Chains and Metallica. "So it's a little bit of everything but with a little bit of a heavier edge to it. I wouldn't say it's metal. It's more hard-hitting rock songs that people definitely will recognize from hearing on WMMS." While normally Twisted Halo — which includes Hall, Jim Rice (vocals), Aaron Klos (guitar), Sean Rine (bass) and John Lindahl (drums) — performs upward of 20 gigs a year, during the pandemic the group went silent. In fact, there were dark times over the last year that had Hall questioning whether Twisted Halo would be yet another casualty of COVID-19. "It's crazy for this to be our first show back," Hall said. "It's been more than a year since we played together. At one point we were all kind of like, I don't know if we'll keep the band going. "But the guys we have in this band, we just click really well. It's kind of when this opportunity came up, we decided to continue." That said, it's quite apropos for Hall that Twisted Halo will be playing Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home" at its upcoming show. "That's definitely how I feel," Hall said. Contact John Benson at ndiffrence@att.net. IF YOU GO WHAT: Twisted Halo WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, April 24 WHERE: Lorain Palace Theater, 617 Broadway, Lorain INFO: (440) 452-1050 or lorainpalace.com