On this week, Wikimetal brings an interview with Twisted Sister’s frontman, Dee Snider. Snider talked about several different moments from his career.
At one point, Snider explained how 9.11 was the reason for the reunion of the band:
“The big thing was 9.11. When that happened, we all wanted to do something to help. And we were part of a New York show with Anthrax and Ace Frehely and Sebastian Bach to help raise money for the victims. And that was what pushed us over the edge to reunite. And it was a good reason, it wasn’t for money, it wasn’t for anything but to help people. That’s why the first shows that we did were shows for the troops and benefit shows.”
Snider also talked about Desperado, the band he formed with the late Clive Burr. About the passing of Burr, Snider also shared an emotional story, talking about his last conversation with him.
“Clive Burr was an amazing drummer. His drumming defined Iron Maiden. He was the only drummer I’ve ever worked with that couldn’t finish his drum part untill he knew all the words in the song.”
“I hadn’t spoken to him for many years. And it was his birthday, I saw on my calendar, and I had also discovered some film footage of Desperado rehearsing, which you can find on YouTube. And I wanted to tell him about it, so I called him up. And MS destroyed all his motor functioning, so he couldn’t even speak. He was just making noises on the phone, it was really sad. So when he gave the phone back to his wife, she said “I don’t know what you said to him, but he was smiling from ear to ear.” And I’ll tell you what I said to him. I had just read a column by Bruce Dickinson that said “The best drummer that Iron Maiden ever had was Clive Burr”.
About the possibility of a new record for the band, Snider explained that he has absolutely no motivation to do so, and why it is difficult for old rock bands to get people interested in new albums. Twisted Sister’s frontman says that on a concert, when a band says they’re playing a new song, everyone leaves to go to the bathroom.
“You want to go to the bathroom, or get a beer? Wait for the drum solo. So as long as new music is bathroom music for the audience, I’m not playing it. I’m just gonna play the stuff that keeps you on the audience, that keeps you rocking. If that’s what you want, that’s what you’re gonna get”
Finally, speaking about the song he wrote and was recorded by Celine Dion, Dee Snider explains how that came to be. Snider wrote and recorded the song as a gift to his wife. Years later, one of the engineers present on the day of the recording called him up to say that Celine Dion wanted to record it.
“I was on a financial down that year and the record sold 8 million copies. So now we call the house that we live in the house that Celine built”.