Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French has spoken about Dee Snider’s last-minute decision to step down from the band’s reunion tour, as well as the possibility of a more permanent lineup change, in an interview published by Louder Sound.
French reflected on how the band learned of Snider’s withdrawal and how they came to terms with moving forward with Sebastian Bach as a temporary replacement. He also hinted that Bach’s role could become permanent, drawing comparisons to other iconic rock bands that successfully continued after losing their original vocalists.
“About a month before his public announcement, Dee gave Eddie [Ojeda, TS guitarist] and myself a hint of what might be happening,” French said. “Dee told us both he was starting to feel his age of seventy-one.”
French went on to describe the shock the band felt upon receiving Snider’s final decision.
“But when we received the email saying: ‘I can’t do this’, we were gobsmacked,” he continued. “Dee said his family were begging him not to do the tour. Which felt ironic as he had talked Eddie and I into doing it in the first place. For a week or so we were dumbstruck. But of course nobody wants to put anyone’s life at risk.”
Addressing the deeper questions raised by the situation, French acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the band’s future identity.
“Eddie and I felt it ourselves. We know that it brings up a lot of existential questions such as should we even be doing this at all without Dee,” he said. “We believe that if a band can move forward, then it should do so. Although of course the public is in command of whether or not it will be successful.”
French then pointed to well-known precedents in rock history to support the case for continuing without the original frontman.
“But let me remind you, without Freddie Mercury nobody gave Queen a chance in hell, and the same with Journey minus Steve Perry or the David Lee Roth-less Van Halen, and look what happened there,” he added.
The comments suggest that Twisted Sister may be considering Sebastian Bach as a long-term replacement for Snider, though no official announcement has been made.
Snider’s departure comes at a particularly significant moment for the band. The planned shows were tied to Twisted Sister’s 50th anniversary, making his exit an especially painful blow to what was meant to be a landmark celebration of the band’s legacy.
As TicketNews reported, Twisted Sister canceled its 50th anniversary reunion shows after Dee Snider stepped away from performances due to ongoing health concerns. The cancellation marked a major setback for a band that had been largely inactive for years. It left fans who had anticipated a milestone reunion deeply disappointed.
The decision to cancel was not taken lightly. Snider cited ongoing health issues as the reason for his withdrawal, framing the situation as one driven by physical necessity rather than a lack of desire to perform, TicketNews noted. French’s own account of Snider telling the band he was “starting to feel his age of seventy-one” aligns closely with that explanation.
With the anniversary tour now off the table, French and Ojeda find themselves at a crossroads. They are weighing the band’s future against the weight of its history. The fact that French is already drawing parallels to Queen, Journey, and Van Halen signals that the remaining members are seriously entertaining the idea of pressing forward under the Twisted Sister name, with or without Snider at the helm.
Whether the public will embrace that vision remains to be seen. As French himself acknowledged, the band’s ability to move forward ultimately rests with the fans. With Sebastian Bach — a vocalist with deep roots in the same era of hard rock and glam metal — reportedly in the picture, Twisted Sister appears to be laying the groundwork for a new chapter rather than a quiet farewell.
