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‘Malta’s One Of Those Mystical Places’: Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider Speaks Ahead Of His Massive Metal Concert

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If there’s one man alive today who has truly rocked, who has actually never taken it, it is Dee Snider.

The legendary Twisted Sister frontman, metal pioneer, and all around outspoken madman is about the tear the house down on the 31st of May at Aria Complex in his highly-anticipated Malta concert as part of his For The Love Of Metal tour.

Ahead of his concert, Lovin Malta spoke to Dee Snider about the state of metal in 2019, the most important moments of his career, and that time he went in front of the US Congress to school them on art and censorship.

‘Malta is one of those mystical places you hear about’

Chatting to Lovin Malta from his studio in New York City, Dee Snider wondered how in all his years of global touring, he’s never made a stop on our island.

“You know, I have never been to Malta,” Dee Snider said after a thought. “It’s one of those mystical places you hear about and you don’t think you’ll ever see it, but I’m gonna see it, and it’s very exciting. I’m bringing my wife and daughter to spend a week there, so Malta’s definitely not a one night stand!”

Even though he’s never been to the island, he knows all about it – or, all about Malta’s military history to be more precise

“My dad he told me all about it from his military history; Malta was very important during WWII and the strength and courage of the Maltese people is widely-known – they didn’t give up, and you’re the only county to ever receive the George Cross,” he said respectfully.

Noting his wife’s family was from Naples, he said he couldn’t wait to see the mixture of influences on the island.

“It is its own country, and it’s got all the great influences from that region and for a small island it’s got an amazing amount of history and interesting things,” he said.

He’s especially excited to see the Hypogeum – he’s already got tickets for it and everything.

“Oh yeah, we’re visiting the underground temples, for sure, definitely, it’s high on my wife’s list, like, ‘we gotta go see that’, so of course we’re going – but she said you have to plan it in advance because everybody wants to see it,” he said.

Dee is a man of many hats – metal frontman, widely syndicated radio host and voice over veteran – but one of his most important moments in his life had to be when he took on the US Congress to stand up for artists’ and musicians’ freedom of expression.

“I’m aware it’s become legendary,” Dee said when asked about the 1984 video which has slowly gone viral over the last few years.

“You know, my career with Twisted Sister had it’s time, it’s had its window, and we had the reunion time of my career – but that moment in time made me something different, something beyond just a rockstar. It’s pretty cool because at the time it just seemed like I was a young crazy guy, and they were like ‘do you want to testify?’ and I was like ‘yeah, fuck yeah!’ you know, so I was ready for them, but it didn’t seem as big a deal at the time as it has become,” he said.

On the topic of censorship and hysteria, Dee noted the shift in the way people try to shut others up

“Here’s the thing, hysteria isn’t a good word for it anymore; it was hysteria back then but oddly it changed from the right-wing conservative censorship mentality to this kinder gentler, softer, left-wing liberal censorship,” he said. “So now it’s the left which go ‘oh you can’t say that, that offends people, that hurts people’.”

“If you use certain words today, people will be very upset with you, so to me that’s like that kinder, gentler extreme censorship to the point of silliness,” he said.

Though Dee has seen the world while touring with Twisted Sister and created some of the most memorable rock songs ever, there was one moment when he was truly humbled by his fans

“It was during one of the farewell shows in 2016 in Germany, either during Wacken or Bang Your Head Festival, when 90,000 people gave us a standing ovation during one of our last shows together,” he recounts.

“People were cheering, people were crying and it was kinda like… wow, these people really love us, there are fans and then there’s this… there’s got to be more to it than that to get people like this and get that effect,” he said.

With his highly-anticipated show selling out quickly, Dee Snider had one big message to his Maltese fans ahead of the show

“My message to Maltese fans is to expect the best of the old and the best of the new,” he says with a laugh. “I thought I was retiring in 2016 and then people started to go ‘oh, you’re not done yet.’ I’ve written an album that was actually one of the top metal albums in the world. My audience is exceptional, they like the new songs now and they’re playing the new songs which is so rare for and it keeps the audience excited,” he said.

“I want to thank the fans of Twisted Sister,” he ended, “and the fans of the new things I’ve done. So far I haven’t had a disappointment in any audience – or maybe no one’s brave enough to say they’re disappointed to my face.”

Rn M Event Dee Snider

One of heavy metal’s most powerful and distinctive vocalists, Dee Snider is heading to Malta as part of his For The Love Of Metal Tour on the 31st of May at Aria Complex, San Ġwann.

Expect some of Twisted Sister’s biggest hits, including anthems such as We’re Not Going to Take It, I Wanna Rock and Burn In Hell in this classic heavy metal concert, he will also be singing tracks from his new album.

The supporting acts will be Noogie’s Crew and Grotium.

You can get your tickets by following this link.

Rock’N Malta are offering three lucky winners the opportunity to win two tickets to this amazing show.

To enter the competition, just tag one friend in the comment section on Facebook to be in with a chance! You also have the opportunity to enjoy VIP treatment and have an exclusive meet and greet with Dee Snider after purchasing a ticket separately and following this link!

Tag a Twisted Sister fan!

READ NEXT: The Seven Unmissable Rock, Metal And Reggae Concerts You Need To Attend This Summer In Malta

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]
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Rock’N Malta is responsible for bringing over some of the most celebrated foreign artists from various rock genres to the island. As the rock hub of Festivals Malta it also provides a platform for local talent in the field. Rock’N Malta produces the concerts in partnership with NnG Promotions.
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