Recently, Andrew Daly caught up with Dee Snider for Ultimate Guitar to discuss his work with Twisted Sister and the band's performance at the Metal Hall of Fame back in January. Following is an excerpt from the chat.
UG: The response from your performance makes it clear that fans want more Twisted Sister. Would the band consider a reunion tour or additional one-off performances?
Snider: "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. 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 Mötley 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."
Read more here.
On January 26th, Twisted Sister were inducted into the 2023 Metal Hall Of Fame at the 6th Annual Metal Hall Of Fame Charity Gala, at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, CA.
The surviving members of Twisted Sister - Dee Snider (vocals), Jay Jay French (guitar), Eddie Ojeda (guitar) and Mark Mendoza (bass) - performed together for the first time since 2016 at the event. The band performed "You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll", "Under The Blade" and "We're Not Gonna Take It". On drums was Mike Portnoy.
Video footage of Twisted Sister's performance (courtesy of Michael Brandvold, and YouTube channel Fortheloveofrock) can be viewed below:
Below are the acceptance speeches from Dee Snider, Mark “The Animal” Mendoza, Jay Jay French, and the daughters of AJ Pero and Eddie Ojeda.
Dee Snider
Mark “The Animal” Mendoza
Jay Jay French
Daughters of AJ Pero and Eddie Ojeda
