TWISTED SISTER - I Saw Mommy Kissing Dee Snider
Posted on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 16:34:13
By Mitch Lafon
One of rock’s fiercest machines has switched gears this holiday season by bringing you a collection of Twisted Christmas standards. BW&BK sat down with frontman Dee Snider to find out ‘what the f**k’ they were thinking and is this the end of the band?
Dee Snider: “I really want to talk to you guys (BW&BK) because you really get to the hardcore and I know you’re the ones with the really tough questions like ‘What the fuck?’”
Mitch Lafon: Word on the street is that this is it – farewell album and no more Twisted Sister. Is that true?
DS: “I am the one who has been promoting that message and publicly saying that this was the last year for me in Twisted Sister and that this is the last record, but I’m officially back-peddling like a motherfucker right now. Simply because we’ve shipped more units on this fucking CD than anything we’ve done since the ‘80s, dude, and the guys are looking at me like ‘Dee are you actually going to leave now? It looks like we may have a successful record.’ They’ve got these big puppy dog eyes and I’m like ‘OK, I can’t walk away from a successful record.’ So, I am back-peddling – yes, I did say this was the official end, but with a potentially successful CD I’d be hard-pressed to totally walk away at this point.”
ML: It seems to be doing well in Canada.
DS: “Up in Canada you guys are really pumped about this, so I’m officially saying – definite maybe. I’m open to the idea that if this record has some success of continuing to do select shows and possibly doing additional records. It’s not that I’m a liar or bullshit artist – I’m totally up front about this – I’m saying ‘Hey I said that stuff, but it looks like the record might do something’ and that’s a real motivation to continue on.”
ML: But the guys in Twisted Sister get along great...
DS: “We get along great, but eventually it’s gotta wear thin (laughs). Everyone is getting along good while everything is positive and everyone’s smiling and we’re doing nice big shows like we did up in Quebec City this summer (opening for the Scorpions in front of 80,000 fans). Let’s walk away after that rather than riding it to the bitter end on the ‘Let’s fart in a paper bag’ tour and doing it until nobody is interested anymore, but anyway we may continue on. I was the only one slamming that door shut and saying ‘That’s it!’ So, if people want to see Twisted Sister again – BUY THIS CD!”
ML: It’s great that you’ve changed your mind. Have you ever read a Kiss interview?
DS: “I love to talk about my announcement that it’s over and now backing off. I look at Kiss and I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do the reunion tour and ten years later, not only still be doing them, but you’re replacing the band with guys dressed up to look like the guys. That’s just wrong and I think it’s taking advantage of people. I don’t want to over-stay my welcome and that’s what tortures me too.”
ML: The welcome is not over-stayed. Obviously, ‘We’re Not Going To Take It’ hit the right chord 20 years ago and is still hitting the right chord.
DS: “That’s bizarre and you want to talk about your one or two hit wonders – that song has evolved. It’s almost like a folk song... it’s traditional.”
ML: Well, it’s iconic. You have to hear it at least once a summer.
DS: “A woman’s lubricant is using it in a commercial. It’s been on Burger King commercials. Schwarzenegger used it. It’s used for every purpose – it’s become a message song and it’s not about metal or Twisted Sister. Most people don’t know who wrote the damn song. Everybody knows the song and it’s actually pretty cool to have created something like that and as long as I’m receiving the royalties, I’m a happy fucking dude (laughs). But let me tell you – for the Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles crew out there – I want to say this: that song, at its core, is a middle-finger and it was a statement that I wrote to my parents, to my teachers, my bosses, my peers, the chicks that rejected me, the asshole jocks that fucking hassled me and everybody. It’s a big fuck you, and in the ‘80s it was on the PMRC’s ‘filthy 15’ list. I was in Washington in front of the U.S. Senate defending the lyrics to ‘We’re Not Going To Take It’, but now it’s everybody’s song. It’s a fucking folk song, but yet to me when I see it on a children’s movie or a woman’s vaginal cream or Burger King or a political campaign – all I see is a big middle finger – FUCK Yooouuu BABY! Fuck You! It’s so fucking sweet, man.”
ML: Let’s talk Twisted Christmas. Let’s start at the band meeting – somebody had to say ‘Hey how about a Christmas album’ and did the four others say ‘Yeah that sounds right.’
DS: “Well, it actually went something like that, but when I explain it to you – you’ll understand and this is why I really want to talk to BW&BK because I’m not insane. The guys have been bugging me to do a new Twisted album and I’ve been saying no. I haven’t written new music since the Strangeland soundtrack back in 1998. I’m just not motivated and I don’t think anybody is really interested in what I’m selling – and I’m talking in the real scheme of things – million sellers; not 50,000 hardcore. I love the hardcore, but I want music that reaches the masses and it was very frustrating in the ‘90s to write Desperado and Widowmaker records and not get any airplay, not get video play and not even get help in stores. It hurts quite honestly and I was hurt. I didn’t want to be a musician. I wanted to be a rock star and there’s a difference. I don’t want to be sitting in a blues bar pouring my heart out. I want to be on a fucking stage in an arena, fists raised in the air and fucking larger than life (which is why God gave me this big head). So, anyways about a year ago JJ says ‘Dee what about a Christmas album?’ and I turned to him and said ‘YES!’ and he was shocked because I’m always saying no. Here’s the story, one day in 1984 I’m listening to Christmas music and I got pissed off. I’m listening to disco Christmas music, jazz Christmas music, folk Christmas music, ‘50s Christmas music, classical Christmas music, barking fucking dogs Christmas music. So, I’m sitting there going ‘Where the fuck is the heavy metal Christmas music?’ So I said ‘I’m going to call up AC/DC, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead... and let’s do a compilation Christmas album and give the metal fans an album they can listen to. AC/DC doing ‘Silver Bells’, Maiden doing ‘White Christmas’ – it’ll be great.’ Well, the holidays passed and the feeling passed and I never followed up on it. So, when JJ, 20 years later, said ‘What about a Christmas album’ – bam - it’s 1984 and I’m thinking ‘Where’s the metal Christmas album?’ And I know what we’ve got to do. I was tapping into my inner angry young man from the ‘80s and that feeling I had back then and trust the feelings I had back then.”
ML: ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ done to the tune of ‘We’re Not Going To Take It’ – is that risky to do?
DS: “I don’t know. I just go with my instincts, but that’s another great story. It was the Widowmaker days and Al Pitrelli - we were talking and he goes ‘You got We’re Not Going To Take It from O Come All Ye Faithful’ and I said ‘What?’ So, he says it again and he sees my face and says ‘You didn’t know that?’ and he sings (both songs) – I was like ‘Holy shit, 19 years of going to church every Sunday and singing in the church choir paid off!’ YEAH! I did not know I had channeled this hymn into part of the melody of ‘We’re Not Going To Take It’ and there’s a little bit of Sex Pistols and Slade in there too. So, when I thought about ideas for the Christmas album I said ‘We’ve got to do this. We’ve got to shoehorn ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ into ‘We’re Not Going To Take It’ and we did it. You know as we were working on the Christmas album – we started going ‘You know this could be a big mistake.’ We just may be destroying our careers, but this is it anyways. We’re not putting out records, we hardly play at all, we’re all in our 50s... fuck it! Go for it! We’re having fun and hopefully it comes across to the audience as that and they enjoy it in the spirit in which it was given. We’re not presenting ‘This is our serious new metal...’ This is fucking fun music from a band that likes to have fun for a great holiday and it fucking rocks!”
ML: Now you’ve told me this won’t be the last album. So, what do you do next year? Sit down and start writing a new Twisted Sister album?
DS: “I don’t see that.”
ML: Do you think you might do like Rod Stewart and his Great American Songbook CDs and do this again next year?
DS: “Oh, definitely, but I don’t know if it’ll be next year. I see a Twisted Christmas II (spelled TOO) and if there’s three Santa Clause movies why can’t there be three Twisted Christmas albums? Does getting the attention, the media set you up for doing another record? Yeah, it could. Before this record was released, I was like ‘This is it – goodbye.’ Now, I’m saying ‘Maybe it’s not;’ we’re getting some attention and there’s some sign of life and it’s not that our concerts weren’t great but it takes more than that to make a band a band. It’s more than just stepping out on stage and playing the same old material over and over. At this point in my life and being that well-adjusted happy dude that I am... I’m very successful and I’ve got every reason in the world to be happy – I don’t know if I could go back and write real Twisted Sister songs. Look at Kiss – did they write real Kiss songs on their reunion album (Psycho Circus)? I don’t think so. The New York Dolls just put out a new album – are they writing Dolls songs? I don’t think so.”
ML: It’s hard to write what you were writing 20 years ago. I know I couldn’t.
DS: “Exactly. That’s why I’m not that driven to do a new Twisted album. If we do another Twisted album, it’s not going to be like Police Academy IV, and they had to do it because there were so many questions still left unanswered. If people are interested and we’re still having fun, that might inspire me to say ‘Hey you know what? I’ve got some more anthems I need to sing. I’ve got some more metal to play just because it’s fucking fun.’”
ML: Last question – anything else coming out?
DS: “We’ve just secured the rights to a lot of vintage stuff. The live concert of us in’84 on the Stay Hungry tour which actually came out on video will be coming out on DVD. We’ve got a compilation coming out with all the videos including ‘The Price’.”
ML: When are these coming out?
DS: “We just got the rights so I don’t know, but 2007 for sure.”
For more visit:
www.myspace.com/twistedsister or
www.twistedsister.com
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