Peter Steele Was So Much More ...

When we write on this blog that Peter Steele was much more than a musician ... much more than a song writer ... we are trying to convey that really, he was a composer. After studying the compositions of the great masters of classical music, he took that same route when he created his songs. Did you ever wonder why his songs were sometimes 8 minutes and that he enjoyed songs streaming into one another. He had the ability to hear and imagine each part of the orchestra in his mind, then he put it down into a song.

Here on the blog, we are always proud of what Peter's colleagues and bandmates are doing with their careers -- we don't expect their lives to stop because Peter's life did. So, I thought you'd like to read what's going on with Sal Abruscato, early bandmate in Type O Negative's history.


Excerpted from Metal Insider, Sal Abruscato talks about his new ventures, his friendship with Peter and what it was like being a part of TON:


How much songwriting did you contribute to in Type O and Life of Agony?

Well Life of Agony I wrote music here or there for them. I wrote one song on the last record, a song called “Junk Sick” that I did with Keith. Again, with not being disappointed with getting the vision out, I wouldn’t even turn stuff in. The situation in Type O was more like what I modeled this after. Peter pretty much wrote all the music, and he would play it for you, and he would allow me to write my drums. Sometimes I’d have to argue with him, but I’d get the freedom to write the most appropriate beats and stuff like that. As far as musical writing, musical modes, none of us really had anything to do with that. The only person who came close to that here and there was maybe Josh. But Peter, he would walk in with everyone’s parts done, what the guitar was doing, what the keyboards were doing, what he’s doing, how fast or slow he wanted it. And at times he would kind of be like a dictator about it, but I’ll tell you one thing, I learned how to play guitar and bass because of that guy, and I also learned how to compose music and tune my ear because of that guy. I did nothing but analyze him.

I started at a very young age. I knew him from when I was 14, when I was hanging out with them when they were Carnivore. When I was 14, I was taking lessons from Louie [Beato] , the drummer. As far back as then, I thought this guy was a monster musician. He was theoretically trained also. It was very informative and a learning experience a lot of times, just to sit there and watch him do shit. It would be mind-blowing. He would tell you the key signature of anything, and working with him made me a better drummer. But he’s one of my biggest influences when it comes to the current state that I’m in mentally as a musician. Writing and orchestrating and blending 5 or 6 different melodies at once to make it in to this big thing, it was all influenced by him.


http://www.metalinsider.net/interviews/drummer-sal-abruscato-discusses-a-pale-horse-named-death-and-peter-steele%e2%80%99s-influence