Dee Snider, frontman for Twisted Sister, is releasing a solo album called “We Are The Ones”, due out this October.
Snider’s new album will include an acoustic rendition of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” a version of which is available to watch on Snider’s YouTube page. Few details regarding the specifics of the album are available, but Ultimate Classic Rock noted that the press release indicates a few song titles and descriptors, such as, “the ‘synth-driven’ ‘Close to You’, the ‘soaring’ anthem ‘Superhero,’ the string-laden ‘So What’ and a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Head Like a Hole.’”
Snider discussed his new direction in the press release, noting that he wasn’t sure about the whole thing at first, but that he eventually realized he was headed down the right path.
“You can’t expect others to embrace what you do if you don’t embrace it yourself. I have to believe it first before I can expect anybody else to believe it. When you’re creating a new record, you want to make a statement, and you want to have music you can stand behind and feel strongly about. So it was a little unnerving when I started heading down this path. After [producer and songwriter] Damon [Ranger] and I cut the first four tracks, I said, ‘Oh yeah, there is a place for me here.’ This is music I feel excited about, and I also look forward to playing it live.
News of Snider’s new album comes as he and his soon-to-be former band, Twisted Sister, finish up the last few dates of their final tour, called Forty and F— It. After drummer AJ Pero passed away in March 2015, the band discussed calling it quits this year, their 40th year as a band. Drummer Mike Portnoy, formerly of Dream Theater and Adrenaline Mob, and also involved with Flying Colors, Metal Allegiance, and the Winery Dogs (among others), has been filling in for Pero behind the kit.
With two other solo projects already released in his career (2000’s “Never Let the Bastards Wear You Down” and 2012’s “Dee Does Broadway”), Snider’s new album is self-described as “eclectic,” and he isn’t looking back on his Twisted Sister days.
“I’ve never been about living in the past. The past is wonderful to reflect on and enjoy, but for me, I’d rather show you the latest thing I’ve been working on. I’m all about looking ahead, and this new record is very much about me moving forward.”
Twisted Sister fans still have a few opportunities to catch the band out on tour before they call it quits for good. Snider and the band are performing at Porispere in Pori, Finland on August 5, the famed Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany on August 6, the Alcatraz Hard Rock & Metal Festival in Kortrijk, Belgium on August 14, the Fox & Friends All-American Summer Concert Series in New York City on September 2, and at the Rock Carnival in Lakewood, New Jersey, on October 1.
For Snider, the end of Twisted Sister isn’t the end of his music career. He noted that his new album is simply the next step in always living the glory days.
“Music inspires that genuine enthusiasm. I’m not anti the past — I’m just not one of those guys sitting there singing about the glory days. To me, these are the glory days, and the days to come are the glory days. And this new record is the part of my next glory days.”
Snider’s new album, “We Are The Ones,” will release in October on Red River Records.
[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]