TYPE O NEGATIVE
BY SEAN PALMERSTON
Over the past three years, New York's Type O Negative has risen to
international prominence. That rise may be as related to non-musical achievements
as it is to musical ones. The band's 34-year-old singer/bassist Peter Steele
has proved to be a magnet for ongoing controversy. It started with earlier
songs such as "I Know You're Fucking Somebody Else" and "We
Hate Everyone," which had several major music magazines branding him
as racist and misogynist. Steele later helped fuel the fire himself by
agreeing to pose naked in the August 1995 issue of Playgirl magazine as
the "sexiest man in rock."
All this publicity has done wonders for the band's profile, and Type
O Negative's new record, October Rust, nearly lives up to the hype. Gone
are the NY hardcore elements that were faintly present in older material,
and in its place are much more lusciously crafted songs like "Love
You To Death," "Be My Druidess," and "In Praise Of
Bacchus," linking the band to '80s goth like Bauhaus, the Sisters
of Mercy, and the Mission. I recently had a conversation with the Pagan
Love God Peter Steele himself. While I must say I did find him to be very
charming in his ways, I admit to feeling very doubtful as to just how sincere
Steele is, in general. It is one thing to be polite to everyone you meet,
but it is an entirely different thing altogether to mean it.
!*@#: October Rust is a much more symphonic sounding record.
Steele: Well, two things might account for that. We had a much larger
budget to record with, which allowed us to experiment a bit more — to texture
and structure our sound to a new level. The other thing is, we used a total
of 56 tracks on each song, as opposed to the sort of usual 48.
!*@#: In the past you have always said you never felt your studio records
lived up to your own expectations. Would you say the new record has finally
managed to live up to the standards you wanted?
Steele: I think that October Rust is about 95 percent accurate. But
when I listen back to it myself, I hear nothing but errors — things that
are out of tune, musical mistakes, vocals that could have been better —
so it is really hard for me to put the disc on and say that I am proud
of it. I can live with it.
!*@#: How do you feel about the negative way the press likes to portray
you and your band? It seems to me when your last album Bloody Kisses was
released, there was a lot of uproar.
Steele: I actually find a lot of it quite funny. When we played in
Toronto on the last tour, there were a bunch of people harassing our fans
outside of the venue, and so Johnny [Kelley] and I decided to go and hang
out with the protesters, and none of them knew who we were. We went and
stood across the street and started chanting "Fuck Type O Negative"
and started throwing bottles at the club. These people came over and started
joining in, they did not even know who we were.
!*@#: How much of an impact do you feel you posing nude in Playgirl
last year has had on the success of the band? Have you picked up a lot
of new fans since then?
Steele: I really do not think it has helped us get any new fans. As
far as the whole Playgirl thing goes, from what I understand over 90 percent
of their sales are through direct home subscriptions — whether the people
who subscribe want me in the centerfold or not, well they got me. When
the thing came out last August, there was a slight increase in album sales,
so I mean it did what I hoped it would do — expose us to a new audience.
!*@#: The band seems to be a lot less serious live than on record.
Steele: We are definitely not serious. We are just a bunch of clowns
that are paid to entertain. After the show we take our make-up off and
we shit and bleed just like anyone else does.
(taken from http://exclaim.shmooze.net/9611/nf/features/type-o.htm