Twisted Sister’s guitarist sets the record straight on why Dee Snider walked away from the 50th anniversary — and why Sebastian Bach was the only call to make.
Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French wants the speculation about Dee Snider to stop — and in a new interview with Detroit radio personality Screamin’ Scott Randall of 94.7 WCSX, covered by Blabbermouth, he drew the clearest line yet under why the singer resigned from the band’s 50th-anniversary reunion.
“Not end-of-life ill — end-of-career ill”
French said his first question when the talks started was simply, “Are you okay?” His answer, per Blabbermouth’s transcription: “He’s not end-of-life ill; he’s just end-of-career ill, like retired ball players or football players or whatever. He just couldn’t perform the way he wants to perform, the way he believes that the fans want him to perform. So he respectfully resigned.”
The guitarist was blunt about the alternative. “If his doctors are telling him, ‘Don’t do it,’ if his family’s saying to him, ‘Please don’t do it, you’re putting your health at risk,’ well, then you don’t do it. It’s that simple.” Twisted Sister canceled the planned 50th-anniversary tour on February 5 after Snider stepped down.
What Dee Snider is actually dealing with
Snider has said it himself: degenerative arthritis that leaves him able to “perform a few songs at a time in pain,” plus heart issues he traced on “The Jasta Show” in March to years of going full throttle — and to the painkillers he leaned on to keep doing it, which began damaging his other organs. His kids sat him down, some in tears, and begged him to stop. The band offered everything, including the crew that wheeled Mick Mars on and off stage; Snider’s manager finally shut it down. “I don’t know of any other way to rock,” Snider said in February. “I’d rather walk away than be a shadow of my former self.”
The show goes on — with Sebastian Bach
French and Eddie Ojeda’s dinner-table question — if we did this, who would we get? — already had its answer. Sebastian Bach now fronts the touring lineup of French, Ojeda, bassist Russell Pzütto and drummer Joey Cassata, debuting August 28 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey, with three more fall shows ahead, including November 12 at Hard Rock Live Bristol in Virginia. French couldn’t resist the comparison: “Freddie Mercury was replaced by a guy from ‘American Idol.’ Steve Perry was replaced by a guy from YouTube. But we get a legitimate superstar… Sebastian was just the perfect choice. And he’s brought a whole new energy. And I’m having a blast on stage, man.”
The 247 Take — There’s a dignity in French refusing to dress this up. Snider didn’t lose his voice or his nerve; his body presented the bill for 50 years of refusing to do anything halfway. A reunion that cost him his health would have been the one ending nobody wanted to take — and with Bach swinging for the fences, the Sister rolls on with Dee’s blessing intact.
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Sources: Blabbermouth
