Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale runs from November 17th to January 3rd at The Winter Garden Theatre on Yonge St. in Toronto, Ontario. While in town, Snider has been making the media rounds and stopping by Massey Hall to shake things up (see below), and he recently spoke with Canadian Business about success and branding. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

CB: You’re frequently cited as one of rock music’s greatest frontmen. What’s your philosophy on how to connect with an audience?

Snider: "You let them know you are large and in charge. It’s the way you stand, the way you carry yourself. Being a frontman is less about your voice than your ability to connect with a crowd. A frontman is a salesman. Steve Jobs was a frontman. Wozniak was the great songwriter, but he couldn’t sell the thing he created. He needed the cock rocker Jobs to say, 'Pay attention to this!' I wasn’t always confident, but confidence is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It starts as false bravado—you’re acting like you’re cool and confident even when you’re not—but if you’re convincing enough, people start to believe it. Then you start to believe it and then it’s the reality."

CB: You have said that when grunge hit, it was like being a doctor specializing in a disease they just found a cure for. What did you learn when music trends shifted?

Snider: "When I was in Twisted Sister, I put all my eggs in one basket. I was myopic in my vision. I never thought it would end, and then one day I woke up and I was in my 30s, married with three children, and I’d lost everything. Double bankruptcy. Grunge came, and I still needed to feed my family. My formula for success isn’t necessarily what people want to hear. It’s 10% inspiration and 90% desperation."

CB: Now you’ve created a bunch of new opportunities, including writing your own Christmas musical. What’s your best advice on the topic of professional reinvention?

Snider: "You need to say yes to opportunities as they arise and figure things out as you go. I wasn’t always able to do that in the past. The analogy I use is, while I was getting ready to watch the parade, it passed me by. Now I say yes—I jump in before I have the chance to talk myself out of it. That’s how I ended up on Broadway in Rock of Ages, and how I ended up writing my Christmas musical. In the ’80s, my fortune came from this one thing. Now I’m doing better than ever doing a variety of things. I started doing a radio show and somebody said to me, ‘You’ve got a great voice, you should be doing voice-over work.’ I hit the pavement and I started auditioning. Now I have a six-figure voice-over career. I’ve done documentaries, commercials, I was the voice of MSNBC for a year. I was the one saying, 'Hardball with Chris Matthews, tonight at 8 on MSNBC.'"

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Snider joined Barenaked Ladies on November 13th at Massey Hall in Toronto for a performance of his band’s hit, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. Fan-filmed footage of the performance can be seen below:

As mentioned, Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale is running through January 3rd at The Winter Garden Theatre on Yonge St. in Toronto, ON.

A description follows:

“Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale tells the story of Däisy Cütter, a heavy metal bar band looking to make it big even though the 80s are long over. This year, these four guys are ready to take the ultimate step and, in mythic rock tradition, sell their souls to the devil in exchange for success beyond their wildest metal dreams! But every time they try to seal the infernal pact, their head-banging anthems turn into warm-hearted carols. Soon these rockers are forced to realize their dreams of stardom are no match for the Christmas spirit. Dee Snider, infamous lead singer of Twisted Sister, has created a very funny, very rocking and (sshhh!) Very sweet new holiday musical, guaranteed to rock your whole family's holiday and twist your Christmas.”

Get your tickets now via TicketMaster. Further details can be found here.