Dee Snider says that he has no regrets about putting TWISTED SISTER to rest, explaining that he wanted to "step away gracefully" before it was too late.
TWISTED SISTER called it quits in 2016 after completing a farewell 40th-anniversary tour. The band's last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of TWISTED's longtime drummer A.J. Pero.
Asked by SiriusXM's Eddie Trunk if he still thinks it was the right decision to pull the plug on TWISTED SISTER a year and a half ago, Snider said: "I absolutely feel it was. I mean, I love the guys; we're all friends, and we ended on a really great note."
The singer, who recently finished recording a full-on metal solo album with producer Jamey Jasta of HATEBREED fame, continued: "Honestly, I can't do today what I did at the last TWISTED SISTER show — physically. I'm not getting any younger, and stuff is deteriorating, things are deteriorating, and there's things that I knew… I was thrashing like a lunatic, throwing my body on the ground, and I said, 'I can't go much longer.' And I'm doing a metal record now, but I won't be doing what I did in TWISTED physically.
"I felt by stopping TWISTED SISTER, I at least could change gears as a performer," Snider added. "And people go, 'Oh, you're still intense,' and, 'You're still this,' and, 'You're still that,' but TWISTED, for me, was another gear that I had to stop doing."
Snider went on to say that the hopes that the people who come to his solo shows "are not expecting me to be what I was in TWISTED SISTER. Like I said, it's gonna be intense, it will be strong, my voice is gonna be strong," he said. "Jamey Jasta's mind is kind of blown at how powerfully I sing."
According to Dee, reading a comment from SLAYER's Tom Araya about his own health issues served as a wake-up call for the TWISTED SISTER frontman about why now was the right time to bow out.
"I say this with love to Tom Araya — I say it with absolutely love — but I read an interview with Tom talking about how he could no longer headbang on stage because of his neck problems," Dee recalled. "And he said, 'I used to define myself by my thashing on stage, and now all I can do is sit there and groove.' Those were his words. That hit me like a ton of bricks, because a) I felt for Tom, and b) I said, 'I don't want that to happen.'
"Nobody gets to beat gravity," Snider continued. "When somebody defeats gravity, when somebody beats gravity, let me know. Because eventually it takes everybody out and we're all pulled into the ground. So I said, 'I've got to draw a line somewhere so that I can at least step away gracefully in some way.' It's what I had to do. And I love the guys — I just couldn't continue on like that."
Since TWISTED SISTER played its final show, Snider has been keeping busy with a myriad of projects, none of which have anything to do with his former band.
"It's about doing things that are different," he said. "What do they say? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result? Well, I wanna try things that I haven't done before and I hope it goes really well. I mean, I started a production company. I've got all kinds of shows and movies in development right now. I've got a residency in development — serious development — a major residency in Vegas that I can't talk about in detail right now, but it's huge. So, yeah, it certainly freed up a certain amount of time. But more than anything, it's just about trying something new."
Snider's upcoming solo album will tentatively feature contributions from Howard Jones (ex-KILLSWITCH ENGAGE), Mark Morton (LAMB OF GOD), Joel Grind and Nick Bellmore (TOXIC HOLOCAUST) and Charlie Bellmore (KINGDOM OF SORROW). Songtitles set to appear on the LP include "American Made" and "Lies Are A Business".
Snider's last solo LP, "We Are The Ones", was released in October 2016 via Red River Records. Produced by Damon Ranger, the disc was described by Dee as "an album that is think part FOO FIGHTERS, part IMAGINE DRAGONS, part THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS."
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TWISTED SISTER called it quits in 2016 after completing a farewell 40th-anniversary tour. The band's last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of TWISTED's longtime drummer A.J. Pero.
Asked by SiriusXM's Eddie Trunk if he still thinks it was the right decision to pull the plug on TWISTED SISTER a year and a half ago, Snider said: "I absolutely feel it was. I mean, I love the guys; we're all friends, and we ended on a really great note."
The singer, who recently finished recording a full-on metal solo album with producer Jamey Jasta of HATEBREED fame, continued: "Honestly, I can't do today what I did at the last TWISTED SISTER show — physically. I'm not getting any younger, and stuff is deteriorating, things are deteriorating, and there's things that I knew… I was thrashing like a lunatic, throwing my body on the ground, and I said, 'I can't go much longer.' And I'm doing a metal record now, but I won't be doing what I did in TWISTED physically.
"I felt by stopping TWISTED SISTER, I at least could change gears as a performer," Snider added. "And people go, 'Oh, you're still intense,' and, 'You're still this,' and, 'You're still that,' but TWISTED, for me, was another gear that I had to stop doing."
Snider went on to say that the hopes that the people who come to his solo shows "are not expecting me to be what I was in TWISTED SISTER. Like I said, it's gonna be intense, it will be strong, my voice is gonna be strong," he said. "Jamey Jasta's mind is kind of blown at how powerfully I sing."
According to Dee, reading a comment from SLAYER's Tom Araya about his own health issues served as a wake-up call for the TWISTED SISTER frontman about why now was the right time to bow out.
"I say this with love to Tom Araya — I say it with absolutely love — but I read an interview with Tom talking about how he could no longer headbang on stage because of his neck problems," Dee recalled. "And he said, 'I used to define myself by my thashing on stage, and now all I can do is sit there and groove.' Those were his words. That hit me like a ton of bricks, because a) I felt for Tom, and b) I said, 'I don't want that to happen.'
"Nobody gets to beat gravity," Snider continued. "When somebody defeats gravity, when somebody beats gravity, let me know. Because eventually it takes everybody out and we're all pulled into the ground. So I said, 'I've got to draw a line somewhere so that I can at least step away gracefully in some way.' It's what I had to do. And I love the guys — I just couldn't continue on like that."
Since TWISTED SISTER played its final show, Snider has been keeping busy with a myriad of projects, none of which have anything to do with his former band.
"It's about doing things that are different," he said. "What do they say? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result? Well, I wanna try things that I haven't done before and I hope it goes really well. I mean, I started a production company. I've got all kinds of shows and movies in development right now. I've got a residency in development — serious development — a major residency in Vegas that I can't talk about in detail right now, but it's huge. So, yeah, it certainly freed up a certain amount of time. But more than anything, it's just about trying something new."
Snider's upcoming solo album will tentatively feature contributions from Howard Jones (ex-KILLSWITCH ENGAGE), Mark Morton (LAMB OF GOD), Joel Grind and Nick Bellmore (TOXIC HOLOCAUST) and Charlie Bellmore (KINGDOM OF SORROW). Songtitles set to appear on the LP include "American Made" and "Lies Are A Business".
Snider's last solo LP, "We Are The Ones", was released in October 2016 via Red River Records. Produced by Damon Ranger, the disc was described by Dee as "an album that is think part FOO FIGHTERS, part IMAGINE DRAGONS, part THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS."
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