DEE SNIDER Rules Out TWISTED SISTER Reunion Tour: 'That Part Of My Life Is Done'

Nearly five months after TWISTED SISTER's one-off onstage reunion at the Metal Hall Of Fame in Agoura Hills, California, Dee Snider was asked in a new interview with 94.5 KATS about the possibility of more live performances from him and his bandmates. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I'm a man of my word, and I said that we were retiring in 2016. And that's it. People reacted very positively when I said I could see TWISTED getting together for a charity event for a few songs. We got together for the Heavy Metal Hall Of Fame induction [in January]. I can see something like that. We're all friends, and it's fun. But going out, hitting the road…

"I was offered a role… They're doing a new Broadway production of 'Peter Pan', and they want me to play Captain Hook," he continued. "And they wanted me to go out on tour for two years, playing Captain Hook, and then bring it to Broadway. And I was going, 'I am flattered. I would be an amazing Captain Hook, now that I think about it. But at the same time, that part of my life is done. That living out of a suitcase — I'm done.'"

This past April, Dee told Yahoo! Entertainment that the band will come back together next year for special performances "at different political rallies that need our support." The singer added: "We were all in favor of gonna go down to support Beto [O'Rourke], but we couldn't schedule it. You know, the band has a concern that the [classic TWISTED SISTER] song ['We're Not Gonna Take It'] is being co-opted by the extreme right… and we want to make sure that people still know it's a song for everybody and it does not represent that selfish micro group. It is really for the mass people, the moderate people, the people that just want to live their lives, be themselves, and not have people tell 'em they can't be themselves. So, I think you'll see us at political rallies and stuff like that. We'll be out there next year."

On hand to be inducted into the Metal Hall Of Fame were Snider, guitarist Jay Jay French, bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza and Mike Portnoy, who has played drums for TWISTED SISTER since the passing of former member A.J. Pero. Guitarist Eddie Ojeda was absent from the event after contracting COVID-19; filling in for him was Keith Robert War.

The highlight of the ceremony — which also saw FOREIGNER singer Lou Gramm, NWOBHM heroes RAVEN, and guitarists Chris Impellitteri and Doug Aldrich honored — was TWISTED SISTER's highly charged three-song set consisting of the staples "You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll" and "Under The Blade", as well as the anthem "We're Not Gonna To Take It".

In late January, Snider told Eonmusic that there were no additional TWISTED SISTER reunion performances in the works. "A hard 'no plans'," he said at the time. "No plans at all to do that."

Going on to reference both OZZY OSBOURNE and MÖTLEY CRÜE's retirement and returns, he added: "You know, I've said when people retire, they should leave the stage, and all those bands, I'm tired of buying 'No More Tours' shirts and seeing people signing contracts in blood and then they show up three years later. I don't believe in that bullshit, so I don't think it's going to happen."

In March, French told Canada's The Metal Voice that the Metal Hall Of Fame performance shouldn't give fans the impression that there will be more TWISTED SISTER performances to follow. "There's no reunion to speak of," he said. "I'm not gonna be so cynical and say that it couldn't lead to conversations, but we never had a single conversation about a reunion prior to this. Not one.

"People always go, 'When are you guys getting back together?' I say, 'Well, we talk all the time, but we never talk about playing. But we talk about business,'" Jay Jay added. "Why do we talk about business? Because 'We're Not Gonna Take It' and 'I Wanna Rock' are the most licensed songs in the history of the music business; they're in more TV commercials, movie soundtracks… So we do licensing deals all day long. It's really what we do. I'm in the business of music licensing, which is a business I didn't know existed."

In 2016, TWISTED SISTER embarked on one final trek, titled "Forty And Fuck It", in celebration of its 40th anniversary. These shows featured the band's "core lineup" of Snider, French, Ojeda and Mendoza, along with Portnoy. The band's last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of Pero.

TWISTED SISTER's original run ended in the late '80s. After more than a decade, the band publicly reunited in November 2001 to top the bill of New York Steel, a hard-rock benefit concert to raise money for the New York Police And Fire Widows' And Children's Benefit Fund.

The surviving members of the classic lineup of TWISTED SISTER previously reunited virtually in March 2021 for a special episode of Mendoza's Internet TV show "22 Now". The hour-and-a-half-long program was a tribute to Pero, who died exactly six years earlier at the age of 55 while on tour with the band ADRENALINE MOB.

Prior to the March 2021 virtual reunion, the four surviving members of TWISTED SISTER reunited for two days and nights in November 2019 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the band's classic album "Stay Hungry".

In a 2021 interview with the "Metal From The Inside" podcast, Snider was asked if he is still steadfast about not wanting TWISTED SISTER to reunite. He responded: "[I am] one hundred percent committed to not reuniting. Now, let me just be clear: we're friends. I did a [solo] show a couple of weeks ago [on June 11 at Stereo Garden in Patchogue, New York] and [TWISTED SISTER bassist Mark] Mendoza showed up, and we did [TWISTED SISTER's] 'Under The Blade', and it was awesome. I talk to the guys all the time. I can show you my text messages. We have a little text group, and we were sending messages back and forth.

"To me, that was the reason to reunite, was to fix the relationships [between the members of the band], and we did fix' em, and we're friends," he explained. "I feel we did what we could do without just doing the same thing over. And I wanted to do some new, challenging things that I couldn't do within TWISTED. And the solo records I've done I could not have done with TWISTED SISTER. I could not have done 'Dee Does Broadway' with TWISTED SISTER — 'Twisted Does Broadway'. And I could not have done 'For The Love Of Metal' with TWISTED SISTER; people would never have accepted it. But as a solo artist, I'm allowed to change and evolve. And some things [fans have] liked; some things they've not liked. But at the same time, I'm allowed; no one's ever questioned [it]. And, again, if TWISTED SISTER did it, it would be, like, 'Hey, it doesn't sound like TWISTED SISTER anymore'; it would have been that kind of thing."

Circling back to the prospect of TWISTED SISTER reuniting, Dee said: "I could see us doing a charity — a couple of songs for charity, for the right reasons. We got [back] together originally for charity, which was a good reason to get together. I could see [talk show host Jimmy] Fallon — he's a big fan — if he said, 'Hey, guys, can you guys come on '[The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'] and do 'White Christmas' for us?' Fuck yeah. But to do a tour, to do 90 minutes, two hours on a stage, I don't see that happening. And credit to everybody in the band, and I know some people — without naming names — some guys, they would have kept going; others did not wanna keep going. But I'm sure we get offers. Jay Jay French is the manager of TWISTED, 'cause it's still an entity — there's still royalties and licenses and things like that, and merchandise — he's not presented one offer, and I'm sure we've gotten 'em. 'Cause we're not even considering it. It doesn't matter what they're offering; we're not doing it."