BLOOD ON THE GROOVES…
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MAN OF STEELE
Interview by Alex Zander with transcription by Jason Harmon
A lot of readers may not know that the reason M.K. ULTRA exists is because of Peter Steele and his band, Type O Negative. As a writer, I had originally done the interview for three publications. 1) Backwards Dog – a ‘zine by Aaron P. Arthurs, but due to his job placement was unable to meet his demands as a publisher, Backwards Dog ceased. 2) Rock Out Censorship – due to financial difficulties, the issue that ran my story was delayed a full year. 3) 3rd Nail – a goth ‘zine out of Pittsburgh, PA., later claimed Type O mocked Goth and denied the story it’s run. In a fit of anger, I burst out that I’d just start my own mag. This great interview had to be read. The music had to be heard.
It took six months, a lot of time, money and sacrifices, but in January 1995, M.K. ULTRA, with Peter Steele and Jesus Christ on the cover, saw the shelves of many record stores, bars, and specialty shops, as well as hands of many concert goers. It also turned out that our artist at the time, Syd Edwards, designed the bands most popular T-shirt, which sold for 30 bucks each.
TYPE O NEGATIVE T Shirt design by former MK ULTRA artist Syd Edwards 1995
I saw Type O Negative go from playing very small clubs and mid-size theaters to sold out arenas, with the likes of Danzig, Pantera, and God for-fucking-bid, Queensryche. I watched Billboard Magazine every week to see the CD, Bloody Kisses, bounce in and out of the top 200 chart. They charted highest with their contribution to the Mortal Kombat disc via the remix of “Blood & Fire.” In June 1995, I got a Type O Negative tattoo by St. Marq at Skin Quake in Indianapolis.
By August, Peter Steele was on the cover of Playgirl and began to make appearances on Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake. It wasn’t until early 1996 that Bloody Kisses finally became certified gold.
Type O Negative busted their butts by touring for over 2 1/2 years to earn that award, the full page ad in Billboard said, “Trust your instinct, gold will follow.” I looked at me co-workers and smiled and thought to myself, “I told you so.” I told my friends, family, co-workers, staff and you readers about this band for a long time. I saw them live 10 times in two years (I’ve seen KISS 16 times in 17 years). I’ve trusted my instincts as well.
I haven’t read a negative review of Bloody Kisses or their live performance since the release of the now gold effort. but it wasn’t always that way (read about it in Interview with the Vampire). But as Peter states, “Bad press is better than none.”
Even Beavis and Butthead got into it early on. During the video for “Black No.1” Beavis says, “This band is like a cross between Danzig and Megadeth.” Butthead responds, “This band is like a cross between Danzig and my butt.” Beavis then replies by saying, “That’s not very nice”, and Butthead ends by stating, “No was, it was a compliment, my butt rules!”
So, as I said, they busted their butts for this gold. Touring with the like of Life Of Agony, Queensryche, Danzig, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails, Motley Crue, and even the Electric Hellfire Club. Type O played clubs on nights the headliners had off. Then, after the tour, they entered the studio, recorded October Rust (due late August ’96) and went back out with Deep Purple and Ozzy. Without a doubt, this has to be the hardest working band this side of White Zombie.
So, after two years, you hold M.K. ULTRA, a magazine whose readers swear by the music of Type O Negative. So, in return, we got not only this exclusive interview with Peter, but also an interview with Josh Silver by Gail Worley in New York, and we’re reprinting my first encounter with Mr. Steele in its entirety for those of you that didn’t get M.K. ULTRA back then and for those of you that already Issue One, there are previously unprinted portions of the interview that ran back in January 1995.
So, this bloods for you ghoulies. Drink up and prepare to intoxicate yourselves in October Rust.
Alex: How’s it going?
Peter: It’s going good. I’m here in the Roadrunner offices the rest of the day, which is alright because they’re feeding me and I can use as much coffee as I like.
Alex: First of all, I wanted to ask you how close you were to Shane Lassen (keyboardist for Electric Hellfire Club, who tragically passed away earlier this year) and how’d you feel about what happened?
Peter: I consider myself a friend of his. It was quite shocking. I felt really bad for him. I felt especially bad for his family. His life ended quite quickly and quite mercifully. His family and friends had to deal with that tragedy, so my feelings aren’t really at the forefront of my concern. It’s really with the people who cared about him the most. I actually spoke to Thomas yesterday.
Alex: How’s he doing??
Peter: He’s doing okay. He sent me a copy of his new tape, which sounds really good. Now there’s a possibility we might be touring with those guys when we go headlining later this year. That should be fun…all for the best.
Alex: I’ve listened to the six song advance sample of the new LP. Is this pretty much summing up the sound of the band now?
Peter: Yes. The songs we left off the sampler are in the same vein as the six you have.
Alex: Being that “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend” is under four minutes, is this the single?
Peter: (laughs) Yes. That was the ready made single, which was unintentional that I wrote that song last and that it wound up on the album. It’s about the two’s company, three’s an orgy type thing.
Alex: That’s always a lot of fun, and so is the song. Are you doing a video for that one?
Peter: Yes we are. Actually, we’re doing it next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Alex: What’s “In Praise of Bacchus” all about?
Peter: Bacchus was the Greek god of wine, the woods and merriment, and so I kind of pictured myself drunk out of my mind on wine, sitting under a tree, and feeling sorry about myself or for myself having been dumped once again. There I am thinking over and over again, she hates me. I’m thinking, “Bacchus, where the fuck are you?”
Alex: “Red Water” Is this your Christmas song?
Peter: Yeah. My father passed away last year so last Christmas wasn’t that happy of a time for me. You know, not only thinking about him, everyone else I lost. “Red Wine” …some people might think it means blood, but it’s really the red wine that I’m drowning my sorrows in, so that I would not have to stay awake and see ghosts.
Alex: You’ve been using the word gothadelic to describe your music now. How did you decide on this as the Type O sound?
Peter: It was either that or junk rock. I thought gothadelic was kind of clever sounding and it really hits the nail right on the head. Being that we’re a dark band but er have a lot of 60’s influences, so hence maybe music that would have been made by dead hippies.
Alex: You seem to keep ahold of the hardcore fans, and now you’ve got the brooding Goths. Do you intentionally try to please both groups?
Peter: Not true. I mean, it’s true that we’re trying to hold onto the fans that we made…but we try to please ourselves first. If we don’t and we go onstage and just go through the motions of playing, that attitude will come through loud and clear to the audience. And I would think that at that point, we would start to lose fans.
Alex: You guys bust your asses touring continuously. Do you enjoy the lifestyle?
Peter: I hate touring. It’s a necessary evil.
Alex: How do you keep from burning out?
Peter: I drag about 400 lbs. of weights with me. Um, I have some friends in each city I get to spend some time with. Those of the female type tend to keep my mind off touring for a while.
Alex: Scary Lady Sarah? (Mutual friend from Chicago)
Peter:I know Sarah. She’s a very nice and very intelligent person, not to mention a beautiful person.
Alex: What’s this I heard about you diving off Phil’s (Anselmo) balcony into his pool?
Peter: That was probably one of the stupidest things I have ever done in my life. I was at Phil’s house one night and he showed me his pool, which is this huge circular pool with a pentagram on the bottom and uh…strangely enough there’s a volleyball net that goes around the whole pool, which is very contrasty there. And I asked Phil if anybody ever jumped off his balcony, which is about thirty to forty feet you know, over the pool. And he goes (slips into a whisper) “Ah man, no!” So I start taking my clothes off and he says, “Don’t” and then he says, “If your gonna do it, wait and let me get the video camera.” And I told him, “No, this is between me and you” (laughing). So I stood up on the ledge and fuckin’ jumped in.
Alex: Are these typical antics you do to keep yourself amused?
Peter: No, this is way…way out of character for me.
Alex: Two of your favorite bands, Electric Hellfire Club and Lycia, you’ve had the chance to tour with. Do you feel a responsibility to the public to turn them onto bands like this?
Peter: (takes a very deep breath) Um, I think the best way to answer that is to simply say yes. I tried to put together an interesting package that I felt if I was a fan I would want to see this package, that I would want to see all three bands.
Alex: How did hardcore fans react to a band like Lycia?
Peter: Some of our fans are quite rude. At some point, I felt like I wanted to go out and say something to these few people who were giving the opening bands a hard time, but I figured that might egg them on even more, so I just let it be.
Alex: Projekt uses the quote you did with us in the first line of the Lycia press kit.
Peter: (Laughing) Where I said it was, “devastatingly beautiful?”
Alex: And why even bother getting dressed when you can just slit your wrists. They loved that.
Peter: (Laughing) That’s great music, man.
Alex: I’ve had some of the best sex in my life to them. So now that you’ve achieved celebrity status, how’s it changed your attitude towards life?
Peter: (Very deep breath) I really don’t know what to think of this new status. I bleed like everyone else and I would think if the average person thinks I’m a celebrity, then I really have to question the intelligence of the general public.
Alex: Obviously you can’t be suffering as much mentally as we were interpreted through the music on the first record especially. How does fame affect creativity? I mean, are you still able to be true with suffering?
Peter: Well, it’s really hard to write songs in the back of a tour bus. It’s hard to get motivated when you’re looking at all these landscapes in passing and each one looks like a different planet. I really had to do some soul searching in order to come up with ideas for these songs. So, I had to dig real deep and put a little grain of truth, and I exaggerated a bit so that the song wouldn’t be too boring, and actually tried to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Alex: What about the woman you wrote about on Slow Deep & Hard? Have you heard from her since achieving this status?
Peter: No. Actually, that song was basically about one person, but I’ve never said publicly who it was. Nor shall I ever, simply because it would make her head swell even larger.
Alex: The Playgirl spread helped you in terms of exposure…
Peter: Literally
Alex: Yeah. What do the people close to you have to say about you doing that?
Peter: My mother called me a fucking slob, but she was only kidding. My friends and my family understood that it’s not because I want to be the porno king that I did this. They understand it was a career move.
Alex: I saw your story in New Rave porno mag (Peter posed with a porno starlet). Does this mean you’ll see more of Peter Steele popping up in porno mags?
Peter: Well, I definitely don’t want to get into that area. From time to time it wouldn’t hurt to do those little features. It’s an area I think I would like to avoid.
Alex: We get a lot of fan mail about you guys. Every person says the same thing that you’re very nice to your fans. But there was a time onstage that you were as rude as your fans can be. What changed the attitude onstage?
Peter: I think that thinking I was being funny out there, and thinking that people knew that this was all a joke. But then I found out a lot of the fans were getting really upset, because they didn’t get the joke, they thought I was serious. So I figured let me try to be myself ands what happens, instead of being this wise guy from Brooklyn. So it seems to work lots better. It’s true that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. So, now I go for the honey rate.
Alex: Do you ever miss that sarcastic insulting of the crowd? I had a lot of fun when you did that.
Peter: Sometimes, when I get really drunk, that side seems to pop up, but I try to stay conscious of it because it is easily misinterpreted.
Alex: What was your favorite part of that two year stretch of tour you did?
Peter: Always coming home. Other than that, I enjoy seeing fans. I like talking to the kids, and some older people that come by. I like finding out how they live and what they do with their free time. I hate being called a rock star. I hate when people feel they can’t approach me or ask a question. I like answering questions, especially when they’re interesting questions. Not like, “What was your first bass?” or something like that. If a person really wants to find something out about me, I don’t mind answering personal things.
Alex: What about the Misfits connection? I heard Kenny sang with them on Halloween, but there was another rumor saying you were going to be the new singer for the Misfits.
Peter: Actually, two Halloweens ago, they had asked me if I wanted to do a series of Halloween shows with them, but because of my commitment with Type O Negative, I could not. But, I was honored by the request. So, we became friendly with them after that. Actually, we’re trying to put together a tour with those guys and EHC around September, which I think would be a really interesting package.
Alex: What is the title, October Rust, all about?
Peter: It seems to roll off the tongue really nice. I love Autumn, and since I’m getting old, maybe I should change my name to Rust instead of Steele. So, I thought that was pretty funny. My cursed attempt at being humorous. October Rust just has a real nice ring to it.
Alex: You recently said America should be overthrown. Why do you feel this way?
Peter: I just don’t like how things are run. I don’t like all the political bullshit. I don’t like living in a society where the weakest members are glorified and catered to. I pay taxes and there are people who live off the social system who seem to be doing better than I am, thanks to me and people like me.
Alex: Assuming it did happen, where would you see yourself?
Peter: I think that the country should be run by a group of women. They should be mothers, because mothers seem to be a lot more sympathetic towards human life than, say, a thirty-five year old male ruler. So, I probably would be a commissioner of parks for this country.
Alex: What exactly did you do when you worked for the Parks Department?
Peter: I was a heavy equipment operator.
Alex: Is it true the kids called you “the green man”, and what was all that about?
Peter: That’s correct. Well, I would drive up in my truck and jump out of my truck wearing my green uniform and I was always very friendly with the kids and talked to the mothers, and shot the breeze with them, and the kids really liked me. So, they started calling me Green Man because of my uniform, or maybe it’s my eyes or my teeth.
Alex: What’s the song “Green Man” about?
Peter: It’s about working for the Parks Department and about having to make the change. About how I quit the job and moved on, because nothing lasts forever. There are a lot of paths there. You can’t just look back.
Alex: The last time you interviewed with us, you told us about Lycia. Since then, we’ve featured them and really come to love the music. Are there any bands you can turn us onto now? That maybe we haven’t heard about?
Peter: You know, I’ve been so out of touch for these last two years because of all the touring. I haven’t gone to Tower Records once in like two years to see what else is out there. I’ve been listening to a lot of old Beatles, Black Sabbath, Devo, and Laibach. These are my favorite bands. I’m still searching for dark stuff. I would say that anything on the Projekt label would be worth checking out.
Alex: Are we going to get to see Type O soon?
Peter: We’re leaving for Europe, where we are playing ten festivals in seven countries, then we come back here and then back to Europe and start a full-fledged tour with hopefully the Misfits and The Electric Hellfire Club in September.
Alex: How’d it feel to get a gold?
Peter: Well, it didn’t really feel like much, man. I mean, it took us two and half years touring to get it, so it didn’t happen overnight. I really don’t care about it. It’s just another piece of junk in my house.
I then asked Peter to leave a taped message for one of our readers and a huge fan that thirsts for him so badly she sent M.K. ULTRA poems and short stories about him. He very kindly left her a message thanking her very sincerely. After she received that taped recording, I feel she nearly had a heart attack.