Dee Snider Calls Out Bands Who Reunite After Farewell Tours, Says He Doesn’t Miss Performing With Twisted Sister

In a newly published interview with Ultimate Guitar, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider looked back on his old band’s induction into the Metal Hall of Fame. In honor of the induction, which took place on January 26 this year, the band also got back together to celebrate by performing a few of their classic tunes, including “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” This was their first show in almost years, with their farewell tour taking place in the fall of 2016 in Mexico.

When asked whether Twisted Sister would consider a reunion tour or a one-off performance, especially knowing that people would want to see them play live, Dee responded:

“The band Twisted Sister, as an entity, can do it without me if they wanted to, but if they were to go out, no, I would not participate. I have an incredible love for the guys, and it was great to get up there with them the other night. It was fun to rehearse with them and hang out with them, and we’re still really close friends, but that chapter of my life is behind me now.“

For Snider, this is would be more than just another tour. As he explained, he’s been very open about his negative stance of bands coming back from their retirement. He added:

“I’ve also loudly denounced bands who do the farewell tour thing and then come back a few years later; I think it is such a pile of dogshit.“

“But to clarify my stance on all of that — you could stay forever. Please do stay forever. Never leave us. Stay on stage until you die. If you look at a band like Rush, they played until Neil Peart couldn’t do it anymore. God bless them.“

“Alice Cooper told me he’s looking forward to being on stage at 80 years old. God bless him. He told me that in person, and I said, ‘Dude, I love you for that, but that’s not for me.’ I said I was done, and I promise you, when it comes to Twisted Sister, I am done. I said that I wanted to move on to other things, and I meant it.“

“And you know what? Nobody took it seriously. And why would they? Everyone assumed because nobody else, like Motley and KISS, played by the rules, that I wouldn’t stay retired. They all said, ‘What? That’s not how the farewell tour rules work. Dee has got to come back.’“

“They think that because this whole other rule book was written where people ‘retire’ and then come back a few years later. But not me. Am I open to a quick song here or there or a fun one-off? Yeah, sure. But a whole tour with long sets? No way.“

When asked about bands like Kiss and Mötley Crüe and why they had “such a hard time saying goodbye,” Dee didn’t hesitate to share his honest thoughts on the matter — they’re doing it for the money. He explained:

“Well, first of all, it’s about money, which is weird because it’s not like they don’t have any money. Certainly, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have plenty of money and don’t need it. Still, the desire for more money trumps all, right?“

“I guess it could be that some of these guys miss the stage and the rush, but I can tell you that I don’t. It’s funny; my dad, who is in his 90s, asked me the other day, ‘Dee, don’t you miss it? Don’t you miss the thousands of people cheering you on?’“

“So yeah, my dad asked me that, and I said, ‘No, I think I’m good.’ [Laughs] And that was the truth; I absolutely do not miss it. It’s not like I don’t get adoration from people. I have my moments, whether it’s public appearances or going out and doing a few solo things here and there.”

“So, I’ve got my moments where I get my ego trip here and there. I don’t know, though; maybe other people miss that. I guess guys like KISS and Motley miss it to the point where they can’t let it go.“

During the chat, Dee was also asked whether he ever felt like Twisted Sister might not make it. He said:

“God, we got rejected so many times early on by literally every record label, which was fucking hard. We tried with every major label, and early on, each of them rejected us at least five times. I’m not fucking joking; it was literally that rough.“

“But we finally got a break in the U.K. when we got signed to a little indie label called Secret Records, which was so small that it was almost not even a real record label. [Laughs]“

“So now, we’ve got a deal, but they’re so tiny that it was almost pointless. That’s when we were faced with the reality of, ‘Maybe this isn’t gonna work for us?’ We thought about it long and hard, and at the end of the day, we were like, ‘Well, what else are we going to do? We don’t know how to do anything else. Let’s keep going.’ So, we keep going, and it worked out, but it was a hard fucking road, man.“

“It’s funny, though; I said on stage the other night that it took ten years for Twisted Sister to get anywhere. And the truth is if the heavens had parted back, and God reached out to me and said, ‘Dee, all your rock and roll dreams will come true. You will have the fame, the fortune, and all that comes with it, but it’s gonna take ten years,’“

“I would have said, ‘Ten years? I think I’ll do something else.’ If I had known upfront that it would take ten years, I would have been a doctor. [Laughs]“

Photos: MorganaPhotolive (Dee Snider (27153507822)), pitpony.photography (Sixx A M Rock Im Park 2016 (14 von 15))