When Peter Died , TON Died With Him
Swedish television network TV4 conducted an interview with drummer Johnny Kelly (TYPE O NEGATIVE, DANZIG, SEVENTH VOID) at this year's edition of the Getaway Rock festival, which was held July 7-9, 2011 in Gävle, Sweden. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.
On the day he got the news that TYPE O NEGATIVE frontman Peter Steele died:
Johnny: "I was in shock. I was completely blown away. It's still pretty unbelievable to me, to think he's not here. He's somebody I spent a good portion of my adult with. Not only being in a band together and stuff, he was one of my closest friends. Grabbing onto the fact that he's not here anymore is still very mindblowing. Not so much how fans see it, people that really didn't know him, or people that were touched by his music and stuff, it's a little bit of a different situation compared to me, Kenny [Hickey, guitar] and Josh [Silver, keyboards] being involved — and his family and stuff. For us, it hits us a little bit different than a fan or people that met him interviewing him. As far as colleagues and peers, it's a little bit different."
On what Peter Steele was like as a person:
Johnny: "He was a very, very complex person. He was always a clown, always trying to make a joke. He was very self-deprecating, so he had no problems making jokes about himself. As a band, we were very brutal with each other; you didn't hold back anything. If somebody did something stupid, we would all make fun of you and ridicule you for what you did that was dumb. And we still… Kenny and I, when we've travelled together on the road, stories constantly come up. 'Do you remember this time when this happened?' There's a lot of similarities. I'm convinced that he rides with us — wherever we go, he's there with us. It's very unfortunate. He was young. He was only 48 years old. And he had gotten his act together. He cleaned up. He wasn't doing drugs anymore, he wasn't drinking anymore and stuff. He was really, really looking forward to start working on a new TYPE O record. We were getting ready to do that. We had just signed a new deal with Napalm Records. Peter was moving back to New York. We had just found a studio where we were gonna start working and stuff. We were getting ready to get back into it and get back to work, and to have Peter in a good headspace and stuff, who knows what we could have done? But it didn't happen.
We were just getting ready to start the writing process. The first thing that was important to us was to get a new record deal in place, 'cause there were some problems with our old label, SPV — they had some insolvency issues and stuff, and so then we had to find a new record label. And then we finally got that taken care of. Peter was living out of state, he was living in Pennsylvania, and it was impossible to work with him while he was 200 miles away. So he was moving back. We were just getting ready to start writing. So if he had anything written, we didn't hear it. And he wasn't the kind of person to put it on tape, so there's nothing. Whatever's been released, that's it. There might be one song left over. Whatever legacy he left, it's out there already; there aren't any unreleased recordings or anything."
On whether TYPE O NEGATIVE died with Peter and if there is anybody that can his place as a singer so that they could continue with the band:
Johnny: "If there is somebody that could take his place, it wouldn't matter. We don't have any interest — the three of us — in continuing it. It's impossible to continue TYPE O NEGATIVE without Peter. It's impossible. It hasn't even come up in any kind of discussion, like, 'Hey, what do you think? Are there possibilities?' When Peter died, TYPE O NEGATIVE died with him."
On the day he got the news that TYPE O NEGATIVE frontman Peter Steele died:
Johnny: "I was in shock. I was completely blown away. It's still pretty unbelievable to me, to think he's not here. He's somebody I spent a good portion of my adult with. Not only being in a band together and stuff, he was one of my closest friends. Grabbing onto the fact that he's not here anymore is still very mindblowing. Not so much how fans see it, people that really didn't know him, or people that were touched by his music and stuff, it's a little bit of a different situation compared to me, Kenny [Hickey, guitar] and Josh [Silver, keyboards] being involved — and his family and stuff. For us, it hits us a little bit different than a fan or people that met him interviewing him. As far as colleagues and peers, it's a little bit different."
On what Peter Steele was like as a person:
Johnny: "He was a very, very complex person. He was always a clown, always trying to make a joke. He was very self-deprecating, so he had no problems making jokes about himself. As a band, we were very brutal with each other; you didn't hold back anything. If somebody did something stupid, we would all make fun of you and ridicule you for what you did that was dumb. And we still… Kenny and I, when we've travelled together on the road, stories constantly come up. 'Do you remember this time when this happened?' There's a lot of similarities. I'm convinced that he rides with us — wherever we go, he's there with us. It's very unfortunate. He was young. He was only 48 years old. And he had gotten his act together. He cleaned up. He wasn't doing drugs anymore, he wasn't drinking anymore and stuff. He was really, really looking forward to start working on a new TYPE O record. We were getting ready to do that. We had just signed a new deal with Napalm Records. Peter was moving back to New York. We had just found a studio where we were gonna start working and stuff. We were getting ready to get back into it and get back to work, and to have Peter in a good headspace and stuff, who knows what we could have done? But it didn't happen.
We were just getting ready to start the writing process. The first thing that was important to us was to get a new record deal in place, 'cause there were some problems with our old label, SPV — they had some insolvency issues and stuff, and so then we had to find a new record label. And then we finally got that taken care of. Peter was living out of state, he was living in Pennsylvania, and it was impossible to work with him while he was 200 miles away. So he was moving back. We were just getting ready to start writing. So if he had anything written, we didn't hear it. And he wasn't the kind of person to put it on tape, so there's nothing. Whatever's been released, that's it. There might be one song left over. Whatever legacy he left, it's out there already; there aren't any unreleased recordings or anything."
On whether TYPE O NEGATIVE died with Peter and if there is anybody that can his place as a singer so that they could continue with the band:
Johnny: "If there is somebody that could take his place, it wouldn't matter. We don't have any interest — the three of us — in continuing it. It's impossible to continue TYPE O NEGATIVE without Peter. It's impossible. It hasn't even come up in any kind of discussion, like, 'Hey, what do you think? Are there possibilities?' When Peter died, TYPE O NEGATIVE died with him."