Metal Anarchy

As previously reported, Twisted Sister recently recruited Sebastian Bach as a replacement for singer Dee Snider on their upcoming reunion tour. Now, during an appearance on the “Beardo & Weirdo” podcast, Snider futher discussed the health issues that caused him to pull out of the trek.

Snider said the following:

“First of all, becoming face-to-face with mortality. And as the doctor said to me, ‘Dude, you’re great, amazing for a 71-year-old. But you can’t do that anymore. You’re done. Your body parts are worn out, and you got nothing left.’ And the funniest thing [was] when the surgeon looked at my X-ray, [he said], ‘Do you jump around much?’ ‘Yeah. That’s kind of what I do.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, well, you’re done.’ And so that was the first one. And then when I was going to get a hip replacement and hoping that that would be enough to change things on that level and I could still keep playing, then I was told that I had hypertension and heart issues that — day-to-day living and handling and dealing with it… My dad’s 95, and I’ll be going for a long time, but if I’m gonna go up there and burn rubber on stage and just use it up, so to speak, I had to decide whether or not to stop that. And my family literally had to sit down with me and pretty much begged me to stop. And basically, my kids, they’re, like, ‘Why are you doing this? What do you got to prove? It’s not a financial thing for you. You’ve got everything that you ever dreamed of, everything you wanted. It’s pure ego.’

Also — I blame [IRON MAIDEN singer] Bruce Dickinson. I’m blaming Bruce Dickinson because when I found out that my hip was shot, I get a call from Bruce. I hadn’t spoken to him since the ‘Powerslave’ tour. And he reaches out to say, ‘Dee,’ he said, ‘I’ve had it done twice.’ He goes, ‘And I’m back in action.’ And I said, ‘You’re back in action?’ Now mind you, I think Bruce is 10 years younger than me. I said, ‘You’re back in action?’ He says, ‘Yeah, man. I’m thrusting, I’m parrying.’ I said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. What about the band?’ ‘Oh, yeah, the band too. But I’m fencing, man.’ All he cared about was that he was still thrusting and parrying. But when I heard him say, ‘Okay, back in action a hundred percent,’ I was, like, ‘All right, I could do this.’ And that’s when I was going for the surgery that I found out that I had a heart issue that I did not know about. And that was when they pulled the rug out from under me. And then I still — like an asshole — so I got the hip. It was better. I’m, like, ‘You know what? I’m going out there. I wanna test it out.’ Lita Ford had asked me to do a few songs with her, like I used to do with Bret [Michaels] and stuff. So I go up there on stage and I walk out on stage and I’m going, ‘Damn, this thing feels good.’ I’m thrusting and I’m parrying — bounce, bounce, bounce, and the knee goes. Three bounces — knee goes. And I’m, like, ‘Whoa. Son of a bitch.’ And I’m just hearing that surgeon going, ‘You’re done. You’re done. You’re done.’”

He went on to discuss the final deciding factor:

“So I got the knee fixed, and I was, like, all right, am I gonna keep playing this game? I go out there and then I break something else and I tear something else, or I injure something else, or I enjoy my life. Day to day, I’m living my best life, without a doubt. I built a family compound in North Carolina. I’ve got all my kids, my wife, my grandkids, everybody here. I’m living a good life. I’m directing my first movie in a couple of months. I’m writing. I’m doing other things. I’m still doing my radio show. 29 years I’ve been doing my syndicated radio show, ‘House Of Hair’. So it’s not that I’m lacking any outlet or creativity or tension. But for my ego, do I really need to get up there on stage and I could prove that I could do it one more time?

And here’s the last thing I’m gonna say about this. When TWISTED SISTER retired in 2016 — that was 10 years ago — I had a 29-inch waist, I weighed 175 pounds. I had an eight-pack. I’m ripped to shreds. At 61 years old I am ripped to shreds and I am performing at my peak. And it was a friend of mine [who] said, ‘You really wanna go back 10 years later? You know you can’t take your shirt off. You know you ain’t got no 29-inch waist. That ship sailed a few inches ago.’ And he goes, ‘You can’t possibly compare to that. You went out on a high note. You were 61. You said, ‘Goodbye, everybody.’ And now you’re gonna come back 10 years later and suck?’ And I may not suck, but that was besides the health issues. Even if I go out there, I’m 10 years older. I’m 10 years more worn out.”

[via Blabbermouth]