In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider talks about the music industry, his podcast, and new music. Below is an excerpt:

UCR: There’s good and perhaps a lot of bad that can be used for good with what the internet has added to the picture that is today’s music industry. Do you think that there’s any chance that the music industry eventually figures things out?

Snider: “They have to. But probably the best route they should take, I think they’ve been playing catchup for a long time — they’re constantly trying to readjust and adapt. I think that probably the truth of the matter, the answer is to start from scratch and create a whole new playbook. Forget everything — they keep trying to adjust what they knew — throw it out the window and say, “Okay, we’re starting out, now how do we create a new music industry, forgetting everything that went before?” Just get it out of your mind. Because it haunts people, it clouds their judgement and they keep trying to recapture — and it all comes down to economics, you recapture that. Well, forget that — start with a blank piece of paper and say, “Okay, now we’re making a music industry. These are the elements we have, this is the way music is created, this is the way music is transmitted, this is how it’s shared and enjoyed.” Build a whole new business plan off of that. I don’t think anybody, at least that I’m aware of, has done that, started with just a blank slate and just started over. I think that’s really what needs to be done. Just level the f—ing building and build something brand new.”

UCR: Do you see some interesting effects from streaming and stuff like that — not the financial side, but just the awareness of new generations and further generations that know Dee Snider that might not have?

Snider: “I have no idea. I saw a hashtag, Twitter in three words hashtag and I wrote, ‘Verdict still out.’ I don’t know if it has value, if it has a place. You probably saw that Dave Draiman has removed himself from Twitter and social media. You know, he’s been a punching bag, he tried to make statements like I have in a way, but even more so, political and really try to raise awareness and do things and he just got tired of hearing f—tards. Hashtag, #f—tards. [Laughs] So I don’t know, for me. I know it has value for some people and I know Andy Biersack and Black Veil Brides, they’ve figured it out. They’ve made it work for them. And no, it’s not the old business plan; it’s a brand new one. He comes from there, you know, Andy, he started in social media and built it from the ground up out of that. He gets it, controls it, uses it, works it, loves it, embraces it and has figured out how to make it work for him. It’s great. So God bless him.”

Read the rest of the interview at this location.

In March of this year, Dee Snider and his Twisted Sister bandmates mourned the loss of their drummer, AJ Pero, and announced that the 2016 touring season (the 40th anniversary of the band’s formation) will be the end of the road for the world-dominating force of nature that is Twisted Sister. While perhaps he is best known as the lead singer of the ‘80s sensation, there is so much more to Dee Snider.
 
Dee Snider is continuing to make music on his own, releasing “To Hell and Back” exclusively via his website, as a free download. He co-wrote the song with Silvertide founder/guitarist Nick Perri. This track will be included in a new album that Dee is currently working on with Grammy, Emmy and Oscar winning writer/producer Damon Ranger (Life Of Pi). The new project will also feature material from Dee's past including his worldwide hits with Twisted Sister.

 
Later this summer, Dee and his band - Nick Perri (lead guitars), Dan McCafferty (rhythm/lead guitar), Nicolai Nifoussi (bass), Joe Franco (drums) - will launch a solo tour which will take him to Europe and South America for festival shows including Rock In Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Rock Of Ages Festival in Baliingen, Germany. He’ll also be performing a number of headlining shows in the US starting with the Legendary Buffalo Chip Campground at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD on August 3rd.
 
Dee Snider has starred in several reality TV shows including appearances in three seasons of Celebrity Apprentice, Gone Country with John Rich, MTV’s Rock The Cradle with his son Jesse Blaze, Growing Up Twisted, an A&E series featuring the entire Snider family and their Long Island lifestyle, ABC’s Celebrity Wife Swap, and Celebrity Holiday Homes. He has also been a frequent host on the MTV Networks and, with more than 20 years on the air in radio, his own long-running, nationally syndicated radio show House Of Hair can be heard on over 200 stations in North America and at Houseofhaironline.com. Dee also recently launched a much-heralded podcast “Snider Comments” on the PodcastOne network. His career as a voiceover artist has resulted in Dee being heard in many radio and TV commercials, animated shows, documentaries and a yearlong stint as the voice on MSNBC.
 
Never setting limits, Dee wrote, produced and starred in Dee Snider’s StrangeLand. This horror movie has become a cult classic, literally creating the torture film sub-genre. The sequel, StrangeLand: Disciple is currently in development. With the success of StrangeLand, DEE was tapped to host a weekly radio show on all things horror, Fangoria Radio, on Sirius XM.
 
In 2002, VH1 signed Dee to star as himself in their original movie production of Warning: Parental Advisory. Co-starring Mariel Hemingway, Jason Priestley and Griffin Dunne, Dee re-created his role during the 1985 congressional record labelling hearings. Battling the Beltway wives, most notably Tipper Gore, Dee, along with Frank Zappa and John Denver, turned DC politics upside down, carrying the banner of his Twisted Sister legendary anthem “We're Not Gonna Take It.”
 
His recent starring role on Broadway in the hit musical Rock Of Ages generated national interest and appearances on The Today Show, CNN’s Joy Behar Show and a legendary spot on The Jimmy Fallon Show where Dee guested with The Roots and Jimmy on Twisted Sister’s self-penned hit, “I Wanna Rock.” The Rock Of Ages run inspired him to make a brand new record for Razor & Tie, Dee Does Broadway, featuring some of the Great White Way's biggest songs, side by side with Broadway legends like Patti LuPone and Bebe Neuwirth, in his own indomitable style. His self-penned memoirs, Shut Up and Give Me The Mic, were released in the summer of 2012 from Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster to critical acclaim, coinciding with Warner Pictures’ release of the Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta Jones, Russell Brand film version of Rock Of Ages, which features two of Twisted Sister’s biggest hits.
 
Since starring in Rock Of Ages and recording Dee Does Broadway, Dee Snider’s Broadway connection has continued to grow. “Dee Snider’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Christmas Tale” (lyrics, music and book by Dee Snider) completed a highly successful nine-week run throughout the 2014 holiday season at Broadway in Chicago, and is heading for Toronto this year. DEE also produced the off-Broadway hit ensemble “Puppet Shakespeare,” (five stars, New York Times) and the international award-winning short film “Fool’s Day.”
 
In 2014, Dee was the recipient of the prestigious Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award for his charitable work spanning several decades. Most notably, he spent twelve years as the national spokesman and Grand Marshal of the March of Dimes Bikers for Babies initiative (for whom he raised $325,000 with his Celebrity Apprentice win), established his annual Ride to Fight Hunger for Long Island Cares, and donated his Gold and Platinum album awards to Broadway Cares for auction.
 
Check out Dee Snider and his band performing the following summer shows:
 
July
26 - Wales, UK - Steelhouse Festival
31 - Baliingen, Germany - Rock Of Ages Festival

August
1 - Wacken, Germany - Wacken Open Air Festival
3 - Sturgis, SD - Buffalo Chip Campgrounds (with Godsmack)
7 - Three Forks, MT - Rockin’ The Rivers
15 - Milwaukee, WI - Wisconsin State Fair
21 - Manistee, MI - Little River Casino Resort Event Center (with Lita Ford)
22 - Sterling Heights, MI - Freedom Hill Amphitheater
23 - Des Moines, IA - Iowa State Fair

September
19 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Rock In Rio (with Angra and Doro Pesch)

(Photo: Tim Tronckoe)