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If there were one band who could harbor enough animosity to glaze the world over, that band would unquestionably be Brooklyn’s own Type-O-Negative. None more negative. None more pessimistic. None more discontent with society and all that it spawns, the harbingers of goth-metal gloom, libidinous overtones and black locks are back hurling forth their fifth release of, as vocalist and bass extraordinaire put it, “self pity and chemical addiction”. World Coming Down on Roadrunner Records is an epic of lost love, hopelessness and death all set to the key of dismal loveliness only Type-O can convincingly calculate. Featuring keybordist Josh Silver, guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly, World Coming Down is a death march of magnificence. Steele talks about the making of the LP, his utter dissatisfaction with the music industry and his centerfold appearance in Playgirl. Read on.......
UNIVERCITY: Tell me a bit about World Coming Down. It’s a lot different from October Rust in its overall vibe.
Peter Steele: Definitely. I think it’s radically different. Everything we do has always been different from what we did in the past, but it’s never really a conscious thing. With World Coming Down, there were different approaches in the mixing of the record, in the drugs we took, in the alcohol we drank. Everything was totally different in the studio.
UNIVERCITY: Lyrically it seems far more emotional.
PS: I wanted to keep me mouth shut on this record as far as my tendency to get into politics. I’m the most politically incorrect person there is and for some reason, I just didn’t want Al Sharpton banging down my door with this record. This record is almost entirely about people around me dying, about my lost family members. I have a very large family and it feels like the only time I get to see anyone anymore is at funerals. A lot of it is difficult to sing and I never get used to it. It never gets easier.
UNIVERCITY: What about your vocals. Do you think your voice has changed or developed at all since the last album?
PS: Vocals? I don’t know. It’s hard for me to say because I’m the song writer and the vocalist. I always try to sing on key, I guess. Not that that always happens. I think with this record, I just did what the songs require. The vocals are a lot more solemn to fit the mood I was trying to create.
UNIVERCITY: Why was there such a gap between October Rust and this release?
PS: We were on tour for almost four and a half years and we were just sick and tired of each other. There was also a lack of motivation to write another record. I made a huge mistake in getting into this business.
UNIVERCITY: Everyone knows that you’re not exactly peachy happy with being in an active band. In fact, when Type-O released Bloody Kisses, you didn’t even want to tour in support of it (consequently leading to the departure of Sal Abruscato who eventually joined Life of Agony before being ejected from the band). What eventually made you leave your full time, steadily paid position at the New York Sanitation Department?
PS: I wanted to die with a bass in my hand, not a rake. I wanted to utilize my brain more....not that I have so much to use. But this was a hobby that turned into a job. Working for the city gave me a schedule, but when you’re in a band you can’t even plan to take a shit. I wanted financial independence and bands don’t make any money doing this. This business is so fake. It doesn’t matter how good your are. Listen to the radio. It just depends on the market at the moment.
UNIVERCITY: Why do you stay with the band?....even though Type-O without Peter Steele would sort of be like The Doors without Jim.
PS: The rest of the guys have a less negative outlook and it comes down to me making a commitment with them. So for now I’m gonna stick with it.
UNIVERCITY: So the band essentially exploded a year after Bloody Kisses had been sitting on the shelves. All of a sudden ‘Black No. 1’ was on the radio and you were doing Playgirl centerfolds. How did that come about?
PS: (Laughs) Well, the band was finally getting attention outside of Brooklyn. I was approached by Playgirl and everyone; the label, the manager; thought it would be a good idea. We have a huge homosexual audience. I was so incredibly nervous.
UNIVERCITY: But it was done in good taste.
PS: Why thank you. I didn’t just do it though. They wanted to shoot it soft and I said, ‘Look, when I do it, I want to be hard.’ They’re like, ‘Can you do it?’ and I said yes. They were dubious about the whole thing but I just thought, hey, you keep your end up and I’ll keep my end up. A lot of people think it’s fake because I have my hand at the base but it’s all mine.
UNIVERCITY: And I love the watch that you’re wearing.
PS: Do you? Thanks. (laughing)
UNIVERCITY: Did you ever think that you would become this goth-metal sex icon? Every show is laced with scantily clad groupies just itching to sleep with you.
PS: I don’t know what the big deal is. I mean, it’s flattering and some people seem to think that I’m God’s gift to women and I’m really not. But some women will come up to me after a show and say, ‘Hey, are you Peter Steele?’. When I saw yes they say something like, ‘You’re really not that good looking.’ I’m a complete sexist and sometimes I really like these women.
UNIVERCITY: It must impede you from having any sort of a real relationship.
PS: Yeah. Would you deal with it?
UNIVERCITY: Hell no (laughing)......where do you see Type-O in the future.
PS: I don’t know, but things just have to change.
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