Dee Snider - Biography
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Biography
After the 1987 dissolution of Long Island pop-metal hitmakers Twisted Sister, frontman Dee Snider embarked on a series of solo and group projects that kept him busy through the '90s.
Snider first formed a new band called Desperado with guitarist Bernie Torme, bassist Marc Russel, and drummer Clive Burr. The group recorded an album, Bloodied But Unbowed, which was never officially released (although some copies did eventually pop up overseas).
Snider next formed the heavier Widowmaker, retaining Russel on bass and recruiting guitarist Al Pitrelli and drummer Joey Franco (a member of Twisted Sister for that group's last album). Widowmaker debuted with 1992's Blood And Bullets and managed to record one more album, 1994's Stand By For Pain, before disbanding.
Snider next turned his attention to film, specifically the horror genre; he wrote, produced, and acted in Strangeland, which was released in 1998. Snider also performed off and on with an outfit called the SMFs, which was devoted mostly to Twisted Sister repertoire. In 2000, Snider released his first solo album (with Bernie Torme on guitar). titled Never Let the Bastards Wear You Down, the record was composed mostly of songs from the '80s that Snider had never previously recorded for official release. The singer continued to act and do voice work into the '00s before returning in 2012 with Dee Does Broadway.
(Source: Allmusic, 15.1.2013)
Dee Snider says:
I listen to my old demo tapes sometimes. There are literally hundreds of songs I've never released. I chose the songs for this album because they were the ones that stood out to me, the ones I found myself humming when I was driving down the road. These are some killer songs, each of them with it's own reason for standing out in my memory over the years. "Hard Core" for example, comes out of my deep (non-sexual) love for Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead. I wrote that song as a tribute to him. He actually recorded it himself a few years back for a movie soundtrack, but it was never released on disc.
All of the songs are little gems, just things that I liked. "The Wanderers" is something I used to do with Bernie Torme (Desperado guitarist) and I always loved the way it came out.
I wrote 25 songs for Stay Hungry, and there are a couple of those on here: classic Twisted Sister anthemic power-chord pieces. I knew people would be interested to hear those, the almost-made-it songs from that era. I go into my reasons for choosing each of the songs on this album in the disc's liner notes.
In my mind, this is the last album I'll record. I certainly expect to do the occasional song for a soundtrack or something like that. But I don't really have the drive to make a full album anymore. My focus has moved on to radio and filmmaking--my true creative passions right now. Thankfully Koch Records afforded me the opportunity to take care of some old business by recording these tracks.
I know that people are going to be disappointed that I don't plan to be actively recording in the future, but I never saw myself as one of those people who would be doing it forever: touring forever, recording forever, etc. I never envisioned that. You can go back and read old interviews with me, from back in the day, where I say, "I plan to be done by age 35." That vision didn't pan out exactly as planned: I wound up going beyond that. But it doesn't surprise me to now finally be at a point where I don't want to do this anymore.
Rock 'n' roll is for the truly committed. It's a fuckin' lifestyle, it's full-time. When I was in Twisted Sister, that was all I did; all I lived morning, noon and night. It was my entire fucking existence. We were young, dumb and full of cum: we didn't overanalyze the business side of it or anything, we just went out there and played and played and played until the stores were forced to stock our records. After a Twisted Sister show I couldn't fucking walk. That was the end of my night. Maybe I'd be able to drag myself to the tour bus. That was the commitment level. And the songs on Never Let The Bastards Wear You Down were written during that time of relentless passion.
If you like the retro, older-school, vintage stuff; if you wanna know where my writing process was going throughout the different bands, you're gonna love this disc.
(Source: Offical website, 15.1.2013)
Snider first formed a new band called Desperado with guitarist Bernie Torme, bassist Marc Russel, and drummer Clive Burr. The group recorded an album, Bloodied But Unbowed, which was never officially released (although some copies did eventually pop up overseas).
Snider next formed the heavier Widowmaker, retaining Russel on bass and recruiting guitarist Al Pitrelli and drummer Joey Franco (a member of Twisted Sister for that group's last album). Widowmaker debuted with 1992's Blood And Bullets and managed to record one more album, 1994's Stand By For Pain, before disbanding.
Snider next turned his attention to film, specifically the horror genre; he wrote, produced, and acted in Strangeland, which was released in 1998. Snider also performed off and on with an outfit called the SMFs, which was devoted mostly to Twisted Sister repertoire. In 2000, Snider released his first solo album (with Bernie Torme on guitar). titled Never Let the Bastards Wear You Down, the record was composed mostly of songs from the '80s that Snider had never previously recorded for official release. The singer continued to act and do voice work into the '00s before returning in 2012 with Dee Does Broadway.
(Source: Allmusic, 15.1.2013)
Dee Snider says:
I listen to my old demo tapes sometimes. There are literally hundreds of songs I've never released. I chose the songs for this album because they were the ones that stood out to me, the ones I found myself humming when I was driving down the road. These are some killer songs, each of them with it's own reason for standing out in my memory over the years. "Hard Core" for example, comes out of my deep (non-sexual) love for Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead. I wrote that song as a tribute to him. He actually recorded it himself a few years back for a movie soundtrack, but it was never released on disc.
All of the songs are little gems, just things that I liked. "The Wanderers" is something I used to do with Bernie Torme (Desperado guitarist) and I always loved the way it came out.
I wrote 25 songs for Stay Hungry, and there are a couple of those on here: classic Twisted Sister anthemic power-chord pieces. I knew people would be interested to hear those, the almost-made-it songs from that era. I go into my reasons for choosing each of the songs on this album in the disc's liner notes.
In my mind, this is the last album I'll record. I certainly expect to do the occasional song for a soundtrack or something like that. But I don't really have the drive to make a full album anymore. My focus has moved on to radio and filmmaking--my true creative passions right now. Thankfully Koch Records afforded me the opportunity to take care of some old business by recording these tracks.
I know that people are going to be disappointed that I don't plan to be actively recording in the future, but I never saw myself as one of those people who would be doing it forever: touring forever, recording forever, etc. I never envisioned that. You can go back and read old interviews with me, from back in the day, where I say, "I plan to be done by age 35." That vision didn't pan out exactly as planned: I wound up going beyond that. But it doesn't surprise me to now finally be at a point where I don't want to do this anymore.
Rock 'n' roll is for the truly committed. It's a fuckin' lifestyle, it's full-time. When I was in Twisted Sister, that was all I did; all I lived morning, noon and night. It was my entire fucking existence. We were young, dumb and full of cum: we didn't overanalyze the business side of it or anything, we just went out there and played and played and played until the stores were forced to stock our records. After a Twisted Sister show I couldn't fucking walk. That was the end of my night. Maybe I'd be able to drag myself to the tour bus. That was the commitment level. And the songs on Never Let The Bastards Wear You Down were written during that time of relentless passion.
If you like the retro, older-school, vintage stuff; if you wanna know where my writing process was going throughout the different bands, you're gonna love this disc.
(Source: Offical website, 15.1.2013)