How does the prospect of performing in a former church grab you? I mean, you are aware that Paradiso used to be a church?
Johnny: I was aware of that. I have been to Paradiso many times, but never played there before. Just hanging around.
I don't see it as any kind of sacrilege. I think that Type O Negative playing in places like former churches, adds to the element. It's an extra top on the atmosphere of the show.

When you are on the road touring, do you ever get the chance to do some sightseeing, or do you spend your days sound-checking, rehearsing, sleeping, reading, whatever?
Unfortunately very little sightseeing. Sometimes if there's a day off in a city and when we are not travelling by bus to the next city, I like to get out sometimes. You know, try to experience some of the culture. I think it's important to be a little bit familiar with the other things that are going on around you. Accept that you just all are a little entity of whatever it is, like performing in a band or whatever work you do.

Do you go to see museums?
If I can, yes. I've been in Amsterdam to the Rijksmuseum, the Van Goghmuseum.
I've never been to them
I have never been in all the places in New York and that's where I've been living all my life.

Where in New York do you live?
In Brooklyn
Is the rest of the band also from New York?
Yes, we're all from the same area.

Are you able to keep up any relationships? It must be rather difficult when you are away from home a lot.
I have a girlfriend. I'm living with my girlfriend now for a year and a half. We've been together for about 2 ½ years now. It's very though; it's the constant being together, being separated, trying to sustain a relationship with somebody that you don't get to see that much.

But you keep in touch by phone...
My phonebills have skyrocketed since I've been playing in the band.

It must be difficult for your girlfriend, because I think you got some girls getting after you, or does she think that's OK?
She trusts me. She knows that I'm not getting myself in that kind of environment, even though it is there. It was there before I got in Type O Negative, it will be there after I'm done with this. But she knows what kind of person I am. It's really not that much of a worry.
It is frustrating, just not being able to have a normal relationship where we can do things together all the time.
> But when you are in New York, you can do things together.
Even then when I'm home there's still work to be done. You know Type O Negative isn't like working 8 hours a day and we get weekends off. It's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
You're almost a family...
Yes, it's been like being married to 3 other guys

Does your girlfriend ever come around when you're touring?
Once in a while, if I can afford it, if the timing is right and it's not being an inconvenience to the other members of the band. It would be really imposing to say: My girlfriend is coming out for 3 weeks, just like that, that's wrong.
I've brought her to Amsterdam a couple of times and Paris and England. We'd had some fun there. And only when it worked out. Like there been only 2 shows in 1 week and we get days off and during festivals. When we played with Kiss (At the Donnington Festival: KGH) I had fly her out to England. That was a big thing for me, my parents are from England.

Type O Negative is very pleased to play in England. I've heard that in an interview on MTV, where Peter mentioned that he was very pleased when he could play in England, is there a reason for that?
In the beginning of the band, because of some of the lyrics on the 1st album and Peter was labelled being a racist and a fascist, when the band came to Europe, there where a lot of shows being cancelled. And now over the years, I guess people are seeing that the band isn't a politically motivated band and that there is no political message and motives in our music. Those groups are kind of laid off the band now.
We are able to come into the cities and just perform for the fans who want to see the band. England has been a tough market for us. Up until now, even now, we've played there I think only twice since I've been playing in the band. The first time we played in England, we played in a very small club, for about 500 people. And then we where invited last minute to play on the Donington Festival this past summer. We only get to play half a hour. For us that's only 2 ½ song (laughter). The whole set there was Black No. 1, Christian Woman and My Girlfriends Girlfriend.
It turned out good. We had been playing on the Kerrang-stage. There was a little booth where you could meet the band. We wanted the band scheduled to do that and we stayed there for 2 ½ hours signing autographs . So I think we signed an autograph for every person that saw us on Donington.
But it paid off and now the only show in London that we've had, sold out. That's a 1,500 person capacity. So, it made an impact. That's the good thing about it.

How long have you been in the band
I've been in the band for 3 years.

How is the European tour going so far?
So far it's been going pretty well. The attendence to the show have been really impressive. I'm quit shocked to see it. It's not where we used to play in, most of the touring it's been concentrated in the US. And we didn't even play in places in the US that are half the size of where we play here. For me touring in Europe is a lot harder than touring in the US. It must be a psychological thing, being far away from home. I've always been much of a homebody kind of person.
You said you where shocked, why is that?
I'm shocked to see that so many people want to see the band.

Have all shows been sold out?
No, not all. There have been a couple of shows in Germany that haven't been sold out. Last night in Paris (15-12-1996: KGH) wasn't sold out, Vienna, Austria wasn't sold out.
We sold out both shows in Finland, we sold out in Stockholm. The one show we did in Oslo, which we we're told was very impressive at the turn out. Metallica was playing that night around the corner in the big room. That didn't matter, because we were on later. So it was like being advertised by the local promoters: If you've seen Metallica, come see Type O Negative. That worked out well.

Maybe I am not correct, but I don't see you in many interviews. It's mostly Peter or Josh, is there a reason for that?
Most media-people will always focus on the frontman. Everybody wants Peter, which is fine.

It doesn't bother you?
No, no, not at all. It leaves me time to myself. I don't mind that Peter is the frontman.

One has to be
Yeah, and that's the way it's always been. In the beginning days people wanted to talk to Mozart, not his band (laughs).

I think the drummer is the most important musician, he has to keep the rhythm
I always get the most heat if something goes wrong. In most cases, in a live performance, a singer could forget a word, the guitarist or the bassplayer can mess up a note. And most of the time the crowd won't even notice it, or they won't care. When the drummer screws up the song, the whole band gets screwed up.

In an interview on Dutch tv Kenny mentioned he was a plumber in his previous job, Peter used to be a greenworker. What was your previous job?
I've had a million jobs. I've done everything from sell fish, I was a mailman, I worked for US postal service for a year. In my last area of "career" (laughs), I was an automechanic. I worked on old cars, a passion that I have. I worked on four by four trucks, you know, the big trucks.

Who came up with the name Type O Negative?
Peter

Is it his bloodtype?
No, no one in the band is type o negative. I don't even know what bloodtype I have, to be quite honest. My mother said I was
B-positive, but I'm not sure.

A frequently asked question on the Type O Negative mailinglist: What's a Cinnamongirl?
Cinnamon Girl is a Neil Young song that we have covered.
I know that....
The lyrics? I have no idea what they are. I couldn't understand all the years listening to Neil Young sing the song, I still don't know what Peter's singing (laughter). I guess you should use your imagination.

What's your favourite Type O Negative song at this moment?
I would say either "Love you to death" or "In Praise of Bachus" Those are my 2 favourites.

And what's the worst song or the one you like the least?
The song I like the least?? The songs I like most are the songs that bring out emotion to me. The song I like the least, I would say My Girlfriends Girlfriend.

Are there already plans for a new album?
Peter, as I would imagine any songwriter, is always thinking of ideas. And when we're soundchecking at the club, we just screw around with some stuff. There really hasn't been anything solid, where we have songs for another album, we are just trying to concentrate and working on the October Rust album and touring.

You're not playing all the songs of October Rust, because you have to rehearse them?
What happened this time was that we've finished touring and we got home to the rehearsal studio and we just thought of working, getting familiar with the material. Getting an idea in what direction October Rust was gonna go. And then the songs began to grow and we went into the studio and did a demotape of it and listen to it over again and change stuff. And that was happening when we we're working on songs. Peter was still writing songs for the album.

You're not playing all the songs of October Rust tonight?
It's mixed up pretty good, we play one song of the Slow, Deep & Hard album.

Who inspires you to play drums?
I would say, the first and foremost probably Peter Criss from Kiss. My father brought it home. When I was a kid, like 7 years old and he brought home Kiss Alive and that was it. There was an older kid that lived on my block and he wanted to know if I wantecd to play drums and I said "Yeah". It's been downhill since (laughs).

Can you make a proper living out of this job?
Right now we're able to make our payments on everything. I'm not like rich as most people will perceive. They see your video on MTV or they hear your song on radio, they think that you have truckloads of money. But I make enough money to sustain, my girlfriend still works, I drive an old car (laughs).

To what music do you like to listen?
I like old rock
Black Sabbath?
Yes, Black Sabbath
Deep Purple?
I kind of missed Deep Purple. I mean, I do like it, but I more like Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors. I like some new stuff like Smashing Pumpkins, Sound Garden.
What's your age?
I'm 28
You couldn't have missed Deep Purple!
No, it just wasn't something my father brought home! (loud laughter).

When can we see the new video on tv?
We just got another copy of a re-edit for the "Love you to death" video. We shot the video about a week before we started the European tour, in Brooklyn, in Prospect Park. There where some thing's we wanted to have changed.
Is it different from the My Girlfriends Girlfriend video?
Yeah, this is definitely more of the kind of image that Type O Negative projects. There's some stuff of us, playing a stage-set-up, like a forest. It happened to rain when we were filming. It has more of the atmosphere that Type O Negative tries to create. It's darker.
Is it more like the Black No. 1 video?
the Black No. 1 video was more comedic. I think the band was trying to capture the old horror movies, like old Frankenstein, be horrible, the kind of atmosphere like that. I guess the new video had to have an affinity, a relation with the previous videos, it's been more like the Christian Woman video. But of the things I've seen so far, I think this might be a little bit better video, there's more texture to it.

I've got a question about the lyrics of Black No. 1: you can't go out 'cause your roots are showing, dye 'em black, black No.1 etc. Is Black No.1 the number of the paintcolour?
Yes, it is

What roots are we talking about?
The roots from your hair. Look, mine are starting to show! (laughs).

How did the band find you, when Sal left?
I had known the guys in the band for at least 10 years. Before they were Type O Negative I used to be in a band with Kenny years ago.

What band?
It was nothing.

Not famous?
No, not at all, we didn't had a record deal or anything, we were just 17, 19 years old.
When Type O Negative had formed, I worked for them a little bit. I was a roadie. I drove the van for a couple of shows. I remained friends with them through out the years and once I heard Sal left, I called them and asked them if they were going to continue. That I would like to come down and do an audition if they want to go for another drummer. They called me when they decided and I got the gig.

Are you going back to tour in the US in 1997?
We start touring, I believe, on January 14 or 15 in the States. We go home Sunday, were home for x-mas and than it's pretty much right back to work. Kenny is having a baby (his wife of girlfriend of course: KGH), so he's gonna be home for that.

When is the baby supposed to be born?
The baby is due December 30 th.

How long have you been touring so far?
We've been touring now since about, on and off, this April.

Do you write any songs?
No, it's never really been my thing. All the bands that I've been in, I've never really wanted to write. I don't see it as some kind of ego-trip or power-trip, just because somebody writes the songs, you know. I'm more of a teamplayer. I just work on my drums.

Do you write music?
No, I don't

I think it's a bit hard, for a drummer to write music
I know how to play guitar, a little bit. I like to know how to play guitar to try to understand it more, so I can apply my drumming to it.

Have you encountered anything strange during your European tour. Maybe something you never expected to happen, but did, or would expect to happen, but didn't?
Peter broke his foot.

He's all right now?
It's OK, but it is still broken, it's been broken for about 2 weeks now.

Did it happen on stage?
It happened when he was working out, he dropped a weight on it.

Oh, my god!, how many kilos?
I am not sure. But I didn't expect that to happen.

Do you get any fanmail? No, not me personal. Peter gets a lot of fanmail.

When can we see you in the Playgirl?
You won't see me in the Playgirl. I am not equipped enough.
I have bought the Playgirl with Peter in it, just out of curiosity, but I don't like to look at naked men.
Neither do I

Are you aware of the Type O Negative Mailinglist?
A little bit of it, yeah. I don't have a homecomputer, so I don't get to see a lot of it.
What do you think about it
I think it's cool. Anything where other people, fans of Type O Negative are talking about certain subjects and they get to see tour dates and stuff.
Is someone keeping an eye on it for you on that list?
Yeah, the manager has a computer, he looks at it and tells what's happening. And if I have time once in a while and he has time, we look into the site to check out the stuff. It is interesting to see that people get to ask the band questions. It's just a way to be more accessible, which is something that fans appreciate.

Kitty Giling

I was also very pleased to meet Peter Steele himself!