Dee Snider reveals more details about the upcoming reunion tour of Twisted Sister

In an interview with SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” on September 10, Dee Snider discussed Twisted Sister‘s decision to get back together the next year to commemorate the band’s 50th anniversary. As transcribed by blabbermouth.net, nine years after Twisted Sister‘s “40 And Fuck It!” farewell tour ended, he was questioned why he decided against going back on the road.

It really was a milestone thing. I turned 70 years old in March. And milestones, they are what they are, but at the same time, they’re reflection times for people. And me reflecting, I realized, wow, next year is 50 years since I joined Twisted Sister since we became — me, Eddie and Jay Jay — became a band. And that’s significant. And the offers kept coming in and the interest is there to have us reunite. And I called the guys up and said, ‘What do you think?’ I mean, almost as a challenge to each of us to say, ‘One more time. Can we do it one more time?’ And certainly we’ve got people like McCartney and Jagger and Alice Cooper out there, and Ozzy — may he rest in peace — and how can you say, well, I’m 70. I’m too old. So, the guys said, ‘Seriously?’ I said, ‘Seriously. One more time. Let’s do it one more time.’

He explained a bit better on what he meant about not returning to the stages.

Eddie, I go to quote you. I quoted you often… We talked about my performing style. We talked about the type of entertainer I am, and you said, ‘Dee, you really did paint yourself in a corner. You created a stage persona, a stage energy that people come to expect,’ and anything less will be disappointing, not just to the audience, but to me as well. So, yeah, I’m in shape and stuff like that, and you’ve seen me with Bret Michaels out there, but that’s four songs, dude. It’s not 18 songs. But you know what? I just said, ‘We’re still here, and let’s do it. Let’s challenge ourselves.’ And we’re doing it for all the right reasons. It’s not about money. It’s not about — none of those typical things. It’s ’cause we want to do it one more time. And there’s interest there all over the world, so, we’re going for it, man. 2026.

Snider basically orchestrated the reunion.

Yeah, and I’m not saying it like I’m the one who made [the decision to reunite]. I’m the one who was screaming from the top of my lungs, ‘Never. Ever.’ You know that. That was your introduction: ‘He’s been saying for a decade now, ‘Uh-uh. Never gonna happen. We retired. That’s it.’ … So the guys didn’t even bring it up to me. And Eddie, me and Jay Jay, we talk all the time, and we know offers are coming in, but it wasn’t even a discussion because it was accepted, ‘Dee’s not gonna do it again.’ And I stopped doing my solo stuff as well as a few years back. So, it was basically that I said, ‘Hey, guys. I’m up for it if you’re up for it.’ And I’ve gotta say, they both — Jay and Eddie — had to think about it, ’cause they, too, were in a certain mindset, like, ‘This is behind us now.’ And then we had a group meeting on it and said, ‘Let’s go for it.’

Snider also discussed his diet and exercise routine, which will help him stay in shape while on tour at the age of 70.

If you’ve seen the web site, the announcement page, it’s a flat line [laughs] and then the heartbeat slowly starts coming back in. That’s not by accident. When Twisted retired, I remember shows where we were doing our farewells around the world, and people were crying in the audience, because I’m saying, ‘This is really it, guys. We’re done,'” he continued. “And people were crying. I go, ‘Listen, I want a pancake. Look at me. I’m ripped to shreds. I want a carb. I’m gonna re-record ‘I Wanna Rock’ [as] ‘I Want A Carb’.’ I said, ‘You know what it takes to look like this? It’s painful. It sucks.’ And I was 60 years old, and [people said], ‘Wow. He is in ungodly shape.’ Yeah. And I was miserable. So I’m not gonna tell you once that, once I was done with that… I’ve been enjoying life. I’ve been out… And COVID hit, and I was always very regimented with working out, and workouts, it was tough to go to a gym, unless you had your own gym. It was tough to go to a public gym. And all of a sudden I fell out of the pattern. So I’m being totally honest here. At 70, I said, ‘This can’t be it. I need to challenge myself to go out in a blaze of glory… I’m going, ‘Okay, March [of 2025]. I called the guys. What do you say? Let’s do it. We talked. All right, let’s do it. When are we going out? Next late spring, summer. Good. I’ve got like a year to get in shape.’ So I’m back in the gym… But still, there’s a big difference between going out and doing four songs with Bret Michaels and holding the stage for 20 songs. So it’s gonna be a challenge. But I sure don’t wanna embarrass myself and the band doesn’t wanna embarrass itself. So, people, you’ll be impressed. I promise I will make some 20-year-olds feel really badly about themselves.

Dee also talked about how veteran bassist Mark Mendoza will not be joining Twisted Sister for their 2026 reunion. Russell Pzütto will play bass on the tour instead. In addition to being a member of Snider’s solo touring ensembles, Pzütto has previously performed with Twisted Sister.

I can only simply say irreconcilable differences and leave it at that. I can’t get into the weeds and I can’t go down that path. And I won’t. But irreconcilable differences. People change, and however it is, and I’m not saying he changed; maybe we changed whatever it is. So in deciding who to use on bass, my bass player on the last two Dee Snider albums, ‘For The Love Of Metal’ and ‘Leave A Scar’, was Russ Pzütto. And he was Mark Mendoza’s bass tech, and a great bass player… So, he did an amazing job on those two albums. He was a great guy to tour with. The band all knew him from years of working with Twisted, and again, he seemed like a likely choice. As a matter of fact, one time he was Mark’s choice to fill in for him. And one gig, it was in Belgium at Graspop, and Mark couldn’t make it, and Russ stepped in and played with Twisted. So he actually has performed with Twisted once before.

The door seems to be closed shut.

I can’t imagine it right now. I can’t imagine it right now. I mean — I plead the fifth. I can’t go beyond that. But things have happened that I don’t see being reconciled, hence the term ‘irreconcilable differences.’