SEBASTIAN BACH And MICHAEL SWEET Defend KISS Against DEE SNIDER's Criticism

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach and STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet have defended KISS after Dee Snider once again criticized Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons for having current KISS members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer dress up as Peter Criss's and Ace Frehley's respective "Spaceman" and "Catman" personas.

In a recent interview with the "Appetite For Distortion" podcast, the TWISTED SISTER frontman said: "I hate what KISS is doing with Ace and Peter's makeup on. I'm not a fan.

"When I left TWISTED and I went out at some point doing TWISTED's music, I never even thought of calling it TWISTED SISTER without the other four guys. Everyone is saying, 'But you're TWISTED SISTER. You wrote the songs.' I said, 'That's not TWISTED SISTER.' And I won't do that out of respect for the other members of the band. I could've made a lot more money doing that, but I would not do that.

"When TWISTED SISTER reunited, the original members — the classic lineup — [bassist] Mark Mendoza walked in, pulled out a gun, put it on top of his amplifier, and picked up his bass. And when people tell me it's tough to put your band back together, my bass player brought a fucking gun to the first rehearsal and openly spoke about hating me.

"I'm a believer that if you're gonna use the brand, you should have the classic lineup — unless someone's dead; then you're excused. You're excused because he's dead. Otherwise, you'd better show up, and it'd better be the original band."

A short time later, radio personality Eddie Trunk responded on Twitter that he "couldn't agree with Dee more on this", adding; "But sadly most fans don't know / care who is or isn't in any band these days and go anyway."

Bach disagreed with Trunk's assertion, tweeting: "Sadly fans go see @kiss anyways? What planet is that on? KISS concerts might never exist ever again! I feel sorry for ANYBODY who was too deluded to miss the last ever KISS Tour on Earth. Your loss! I thank God we went 2 times. @tommy_thayer KICKS ASS!!!! I WAS THERE u were not."

Dee then tweeted: "Here's a question for @TwistedSisterNY fans (I can already hear the none fans screaming 'Who gives a shit!?'): If after I left the band, the remaining members hired a singer and had him wear my makeup, hair style and costume, would you have been cool with that?" Bach, who is friends with Snider, replied: "I wouldn't know if I would be cool with it unless I watch the show then I would know the answer. I thank the Lord Jesus that the last concert I ever went to on this Earth was @kiss with @DavidLeeRoth. Anybody who missed it missed out. I was there".

Trunk then posed a question of his own: "How about this one; if @acdc decided to tour without Angus and put a replacement in a schoolboy outfit would you be cool with that??" He added: "That would be amazingly sad if nobody cared if @acdc played with someone else in the schoolboy outfit. But nothing surprises me. Blows my mind how few care / know who's in bands, or if it's even really live?"

Bach shot back: "How do you know what would be amazingly sad or not? @axlrose was the lead singer on the last @acdc tour + did a great job. What is amazingly sad is someone calling themselves a KISS fan but not bothering to go see the last ever @kiss tour. Then to call people who went sad? #Sad."

Sweet, who often chimes in on controversial topics, offered his opinion on the subject, writing: "I respect what @KISSOnline has done. They built their brand with the makeup and unfortunately two guys didn't play for the team so they replaced them with two guys that would/could. Obviously the majority of fans approve hence sold out shows worldwide;-)"

This is not the first time Snider has blasted Stanley and Simmons for allowing Singer and Thayer to take on the classic personas of their KISS predecessors instead of designing new characters. Back in 2015, Dee told Trunk: "I don't see how people could accept this. Tommy Thayer? I'm sorry. It's insulting. Not only did he play in a tribute band of KISS, he's imitating Ace in his entire act!" Snider went on to bash Thayer for allegedly copying Ace's stage moves. He said: "Oh my God — that's disgraceful. When KISS replaced Ace and Peter, and they brought in guys [Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent] who had their own makeup and their own thing, that was acceptable. That was awesome. They were their own characters."

Stanley got an opportunity to respond to Snider during an interview for Chris Jericho's "Talk Is Jericho" podcast. He said: "Well, let me put it in the simplest terms. In this case, this guy is a wannabe, has always been a wannabe and desperately wants attention and to be taken seriously, and that will never happen because he's obviously clueless that he and his whole band are a bunch of buffoons."