TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:
“After a long battle with multiple sclerosis, my dear friend Clive Burr [former IRON MAIDEN drummer] passed away in his sleep last night. We worked together on a project called DESPERADO from 1988-1990 and shared some great times and sadly forgotten musical moments. I’m blessed to have spoken to him a couple of days ago on his birthday, shared some memories and a few smiles.
“A rock ‘n’ roll legend has been lost, and the world of music is less because of it.
“RIP, Clive, and ‘hit ‘em hard’ in rock ‘n’ roll heaven.”
DESPERADO‘s debut album was recorded in 1990 and is regarded by many as one of the high points of ’80s rock/metal. Although it was originally never released because of the record company changing its mind about the project due to the explosion of “grunge” at the time, “Desperado” remains a classic of its genre and was re-released on CD in 2009.
DESPERADO‘s lineup was rounded out by guitarist Bernie Tormé (GILLAN, ATOMIC ROOSTER, OZZY OSBOURNE) and bassist Marc Russell.
Clive joined MAIDEN in 1979 and performed on the first three albums — “Iron Maiden” (1980), “Killers” (1981) and “The Number Of The Beast” (1982). Prior to that, he was a member of SAMSON, the band Bruce Dickinson fronted before he, too, joined MAIDEN.
A host of rockers and comedians took aim at TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider last night (Thursday, January 25) at the second annual Rock & Roll Roast comedy series. The exclusive event took place at The Grove in Anaheim, California was aired live on AXS TV.
Last year’s honoree, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY guitarist Zakk Wylde, returned to the scene of the crime Thursday night, however, as a member of the celebrity dais. He was joined by fellow Rock & Roll Roast vets Scott Ian of ANTHRAX, comedian Jim Norton and “That Metal Show” co-host Jim Florentine. The dais was rounded out by rocker Lita Ford, “That Metal Show” co-host Eddie Trunk, comedian Craig Gass and Snider‘s son, comedian and actor Shane Snider. Jose Mangin of SiriusXM and “Headbanger’s Ball” fame was the evening’s DJ. The night also included video roasts by Donald Trump, Alice Cooper, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Sebastian Bach, STEEL PANTHER, Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick, “Gene Simmons” and wrestler and FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho.
Fans were able to follow the action and one-liners live via Guitar World and Revolver‘s Twitter feeds (#DEEROAST) and watch the event live on AXS TV. A portion of the proceeds will benefit MusiCares, a nonprofit organization of The Recording Academy that provides emergency financial assistance and addiction recovery resources to music people in need.
Actor Mark Metcalf (Neidermeyer from “Animal House”) kicked things off by reprising his famous “Whaddya want to do with your life?” speech and introducing Snider, the dais and roastmaster Penn Jilette.
“Good evening, everyone. I’m Penn Jilette, a third-rate magician, here to roast Dee Snider, a fourth-rate musician,” said Jilette as he kicked off his set. “This motley crew — sorry, Dee, I didn’t mean to mention a real rock and roll band — hasn’t seen a television camera or a Weight Watchers meeting since they invented cellphones.”
Video footage from last night’s Rock & Roll Roast red carpet — courtesy of Fuse — can be seen below.
Legendary rocker Ted Nugent, who is an avid supporter of gun rights and antagonist of President Barack Obama, has blasted TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider for “falling for the big lie” by accusing the guitarist of having dodged the draft.
Speaking to AOL‘s Noisecreep, Snider stated about Nugent‘s recent comments about Barack Obama and gun control: “Ted‘s always been a gun-toting conservative. But what gets me is that he was actually a draft dodger! I mean, to the point where he didn’t bathe for a week, and vomited on himself to deliberately avoid the draft. I totally understand why he did that, but all of these Republicans who love Ted don’t seem to know or remember that too well. It’s crazy that he’s become one of the voices of Conservative America even though he was a draft dodger. If you don’t believe me, Google it.”
After the Snider interview was published earlier today, Nugent took to his Twitter to respond: “Shame on @deesnider for falling for the big lie I challenge u to man up to the truth We xpected btr”
Nugent recently wrote an open letter to Vice President Joe Biden, offering his advice and suggestions on how to focus on the mental health care system to stop potentially violent citizens from acting out crimes.
TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider has revealed via Twitter that he has entered a “major” new reality-TV venture, the details of which will be announced on Friday, October 12 on NBC‘s “Today” show.
Snider is no stranger to reality TV, having previously participated in “Wife Swap”, “The Celebrity Apprentice” and his own A&E series, “Growing Up Twisted”. In 2008, Snider was also featured as a contestant on CMT‘s “Gone Country”.
During his time on “The Celebrity Apprentice”, Snider raised $326,000 for his charity of choice, March Of Dimes.
In May, Snider released both a memoir, “Shut Up And Give Me The Mic”, and a showtunes album, “Dee Does Broadway”.
On October 30, Eagle Rock Entertainment will deliver an early holiday treat, with the release of TWISTED SISTER‘s “A Twisted Xmas – Live In Las Vegas” on DVD, CD, and Digital Video/Audio.
According to SickThingsUK, ALICE COOPER will be the main attraction on the Ship Of Fear which sails next Halloween between October 28th and November 2nd. The cruise sets off from Miami, FL passing through Half Moon Cay and Freeport before returning to Miami and will feature a live performance by Alice and his band. Also on the trip will be TWISTED SISTER‘s Dee Snider, directors Joe Dante, Mick Garris and Mary Lambert and actors Tony Todd, Ed Gale, Kane Hodder and R.A. Mihailoff.
TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider joined HAUNTED BY HEROES, often called “the world’s youngest rock band” by some, on the September 6 edition of “America’s Got Talent” to perform the TS classic “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. You can watch video footage of the performance below.
Northern California native twelve-year-olds HAUNTED BY HEROES have played over 100 live performances, and have been profiled on several national news networks. The band recently recorded its debut CD with Sylvia Massy, who has previously worked with such luminaries as REM, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, DEFTONES, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and TOOL.
HAUNTED BY HEROES was recently featured on the “Today” show, where Matt Lauer called them “unique, with a larger-than-life sound.”
HAUNTED BY HEROES‘ next show will take place on October 20 at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.
TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider will headline the “Rock Of Vegas” summer concert series with a free show at 9 p.m. Saturday on the Third Street Stage at the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada. He will be joined by Grammy-winning producer/guitarist Bob Kulick and legendary heavy metal bassist Rudy Sarzo (QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE, DIO), along with the L.A. Horns led by Doug Katsaros.
Fremont Street Experience presents its summer concert series “Rock Of Vegas” with an entertainment lineup of legendary rock ‘n’ rollers from the 1980s. The free concert series in Downtown Las Vegas runs all summer long and ends on Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy this outdoor free concert under the lights of VivaVision and stroll up and down Fremont Street Experience for an exciting evening downtown.
Niclas Müller-Hansen of Sweden’s Metalshrine recently conducted an interview with TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Metalshrine: What was it that made you write [yout autobiography, "Shut Up And Give Me The Mic"] and why now? Is it something you’ve been thinking of doing for a long time?
Dee Snider: No, I wasn’t thinking about writing a book at all, but one of my friends, who’s now become one of my managers, said, “Man, you’ve got great stories to tell. You should write a book!” And I said, “Yeah, people keep saying that, but no one’s ever made me an offer.” He goes, “I’ll get you a book deal.” And so he got me a major offer from a major publisher in the States. They said, “What do you wanna write about?” and I said, “Well, I’d like to write about my rise and my fall.” They said, “Your rise and your fall?” I said “Yeah, I wanna tell the story of deciding I wanna be a rock star, struggling being a rock star, achieving stardom and then losing everything.” And that’s the story I told, which is a different story than virtually anybody else has told. I wrote it by myself and I don’t know. I mean, I think there are enough books out there about sex, drugs and rock and roll and god knows what’s true and what’s not. I think it’s important to share the real story with people. Share your struggles, share your dreams, share your pain and share your failures. It’s important for heroes to be fallible and it’s not to be more heroic. It’s just to let people know, you know, that people fall down, people screw up and we all have dreams, it’s not easy and maybe it’s through your success and your failure everybody gets something out of it. They learn something, get an inspiration or maybe they go, “Whoa, I’m not gonna do that! Man, he’s an idiot!” and that’s OK, too. You know, I’ve got a brother who swears that watching me crash and burn just sort of changed him as a person. He’s so cautious and he goes, “I never wanna see that happen to me. You were just so cavalier and I couldn’t live with that kinda failure.” Then I’ve done my job. [laughs]
Metalshrine: I interviewed Jay Jay [French, TWISTED SISTER guitarist] a few years ago and I’ve read recent interviews with you and you both keep saying that no one wants to hear a new TWISTED SISTER album, but have you heard VAN HALEN‘s new one?
Dee: Yes.
Metalshrine: They took a bunch of old demos and it sounds awesome. Classic VAN HALEN and couldn’t you do something like that with TWISTED SISTER and give it that classic ’80s sound? Not trying to be like 2012.
Dee: I don’t know what VAN HALEN sold record-wise?
Metalshrine: I think it’s around 400,000 copies in the U.S. so far, which is pretty good these days.
Dee: Exactly. That’s VAN HALEN. They’re much bigger than TWISTED SISTER, so reduce that by the proper amount and you get down to 40-60,000 copies. Not that it’s all about money, but for me… I call it going back to the future. I expect the doctor, what’s his name, “Great Scott, Marty! They put an ’80s album in the 2010s. Let’s hope they don’t see each other, because it will break the space time continuum!” [All in the voice of Christopher Lloyd] I’m just so passionate about what I’m doing next that I just don’t feel motivated. Even if it was the biggest-selling record in the world. Well, if it was gonna be the biggest-selling record in the world, maybe. Fans don’t wanna hear a new record and then when you make an old-sounding record, they’re just like, “Eh, it sounds like the old stuff.” It’s not timely. You’re not gonna get radio airplay, you’re not gonna get TV or video airplay, there’s no stories to carry itself. You’ve got no outlet. I host an ’80s retro show and we never play new music. That’s not me. That’s the radio station and the producers. I say, “Just give them a taste! Just play the first chorus!” We talk about the new record, saying, “Well, RATT‘s back in the studio and they’ve got a new one called “Defecator” coming out. It’s a sphincter with some shit hanging out of the ass.” No reflection on the writer and they say, “Nobody wants to hear it.” And I’ve said it before, it’s the bathroom song. New material has always been the fucking bathroom song, even going back to seeing ZEPPELIN do “Kashmir” before the album came out. “This one’s off the new record. It’s called ‘Kashmir’.” [Dee stands up and walks away.] “You wanna beer?” It’s fucking “Kashmir”! You wanna go, “Where the fuck are you going? Sit your fucking fat as down!” I just don’t see it happening.
Metalshrine: But you did the Broadway thing? What was the thought and the plan behind that?
Dee: Sheer insanity. It’s one of those insane things. I got an idea and everybody said, “You’re fucking nuts!” and I said, “Maybe so, but I wanna do it if somebody is willing to put up a little money to have me do it.” I had more fun doing it… Again, something new, something challenging, something that allowed me to take chances and expand and you can’t really do that in TWISTED SISTER. People don’t wanna hear a more musical TWISTED SISTER, you know. They don’t wanna hear QUEEN vocals on a TWISTED SISTER record or orchestration and I wanna be able to challenge myself. Reviews of the record have been 99% positive and 1% I think haven’t even listened to it. People listening to it either love it or “I gotta admit, I like it. I’m surprised. I didn’t expect to like it.” And I didn’t expect everybody to like it. I didn’t know if anybody was gonna buy it or if they were gonna sell it or who would play it or what they’d do with it, but I wanted to do it. That was the challenge. It’s just a matter of what’s challenging.
Metalshrine: I was kinda wondering and it hasn’t really anything to do with music, but I just celebrated 10 years this last Friday with my wife. You’ve been married for 31 years and you’ve been in the rock and roll business longer.
Dee: We’ve been together 36 years.
Metalshrine: How do you do that? With all the temptations and the drugs and booze and rehab and you’re still there. One of few in the business I guess.
Dee: You know, actually, I have a list and I’ve been studying the subject and there’s a long list of entertainers with long marriages and there’s a commonality. One of the commonalities in this long list, which includes Bono, Bon Jovi, Brad Whitford, Dennis Dunaway from ALICE COOPER, Alice Cooper himself, but I’ve noticed in the entertainment industry that… Paul Newman with Joanne, Mel Brooks who was with Anne Bancroft, Kevin Bacon… 99% don’t live in Las Vegas, Miami or L.A.
Metalshrine: Well, that might have something to do with it. [laughs]
Dee: They live with a degree of normalcy and they remove themselves from temptations. That is the key. Not drinking… Look, I’m a dude. We’re all dogs and we all want to. It’s a matter of are we domesticated enough to not? By not drinking and not doing drugs, your resistance isn’t weakened by not accepting the invitation to the grotto at the Playboy mansion. You have a better chance of not fucking up. It’s boring, but I’ve opted to say, “OK, I’m not going to that party. I’m not gonna get high, because if I do, I’m gonna fuck everything in the room and that’s the end of my life.” It’s the end of my life, of my family, my relationship, the money I’ve earned, everything gone. So, I will tell you, young master, the longer you go without, the easier it gets. The less of a reality it becomes. You still see them and you still go, “Damn!” There was one at the book signing today and I turned around and said, “In another life. I’m not doing it, but in another life.” It does get easier. On a marriage level, my wife says the key for her is she is my wife and my mistress and she acts like it. 36 years in, she takes care of herself and surprises me all the time. As a matter of fact, she surprised me on my cell phone earlier today. “Oh, Jesus, this is awesome!” The toughest picture I’ve ever deleted. Can’t take a chance of that being discovered or hacked. [laughs] On your end, just say yes. It’s not masochistic, it’s not sexist. Women internalize, we externalize. We process and then we pronounce, they say it and wanna hear it.
Jesse Blaze Snider, the son of TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider, has just released a new solo single, “Twisted”, via Radley Records. An audio sample is available at Amazon.com.
Jesse Blaze Snider is currently working on his first solo album with producer Matt Squire (KATY PERRY, PANIC! AT THE DISCO, ALL TIME LOW). He is also the face of the Sony PlayStationnetwork as the host of their signature show “Qore”.
Jesse worked on his family’s reality show “Growing Up Twisted” on A&E, for which he wrote the show’s theme song and composed other music for several episodes. He’s also formerly well known for starring in the popular MTV show “Rock the Cradle” where he received acclaim from fans and critics alike for his “back-flipping” performances.
TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider was recently interviewed on “Better”, a nationally syndicated lifestyle TV show. You can watch video footage of his appearance on the program in two parts below.
Dee‘s new studio album, “Dee Does Broadway”, was released on May 8 via Razor & Tie. The CD features Dee‘s powerful voice and theatrical persona as he exudes his rock ‘ n’ roll take on several Broadway classics. The new album coincided with the release of his first-ever autobiography, “Shut Up And Give Me The Mic” (Gallery Books) on May 8.
“Dee Does Broadway” features several special guest stars, including Broadway and television icon Bebe Neuwirth on the DAMN YANKEES song “Whatever Lola Wants”, Broadway legend Patti LuPone on a “West Side Story” medley “Tonight/Somewhere”, pop icon Cyndi Lauper on SWEET CHARITY‘s “Big Spender”, Clay Aiken of “American Idol” on the GUYS AND DOLLS classic “Luck Be a Lady Tonight”, the stars of the Broadway hit musical“Priscilla Queen Of The Desert” (Will Swenson, Tony Sheldon, and Nick Adams) on SOUTH PACIFIC‘s “There Is Nothin’ Like A Dame”, Mark Wood of the TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA playing violin on the “Phantom Of The Opera“ ballad “Music Of The Night”, as well a special rendition of “The Joint Is Jumpin” from “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with Dee‘s oldest son, Jesse “Blaze” Snider. Songs are also featured from classic Broadway shows including “Cabaret”, “Chicago”, “The Threepenny Opera”, “Anything Goes” and “Sweeney Todd”.
Snider‘s first-ever autobiography, “Shut Up And Give Me The Mic”, was released on May 8 via Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Filled with entertaining anecdotes and candid confessions, “Shut Up And Give Me The Mic” takes you through the good times and bad with a heavy metal star who worked as hard as he played, and who did it all for his wife, four kids, and millions of fans. As lead singer and songwriter of TWISTED SISTER, Dee Snider became the poster boy for heavy metal, hair bands, and the wild side of rock. Now, in his twisted new memoir, he reveals the real stories behind the crazy makeup, the big hair, and badass hits like “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”. In his journey from every parent’s worst teenage nightmare to Renaissance man, Dee avoided the usual pitfalls associated with rock stars. But that didn’t stop Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center from targeting him — a fight that led him to testify before Congress with Frank Zappa. He may have been slapped with a Parental Advisory warning label, but, through it all, Snider stayed positive and focused on being the best he could be.
