MY RUIN Frontwoman Remembers PETER STEELE

MY RUIN frontwoman Tairrie B. has posted the following message on her band's official MySpace blog:

"Yesterday the new issue of Kerrang! magazine came out in the U.K. and within its pages was a tribute to Peter Steele of TYPE O NEGATIVE who passed away on April 14th.

"Upon hearing the news earlier this month, I posted a few personal words in remembrance of Peter on my Facebook page and in my Blasephemous Girl Designs blog. Last week a friend from Kerrang! contacted me and asked if they could include some of what I wrote in the magazine's tribute. That being said, I thought it might be nice to repost what I wrote in full here for those of you who were fans of Peter.

"When I heard the sad news that Peter Steele had passed away I really didn’t want to believe it was true because 48 is so young and when someone you know dies it really makes you think about your own mortality and how life can be cut short in a moment. It makes you think of a lot of things.

"I met Peter back in 1996 when my previous band MANHOLE was asked to join TYPE O NEGATIVE on their 'October Rust' tour along with LIFE OF AGONY. We spent two months rockin' the USA together and a cold and grey-skied month in Europe which ironically seemed to be the perfect backdrop for the tour at the time.

"From the first day I met Peter I thought he was so funny but not in the typical funny guy way. He had this self-deprecating sense of humor that was kind of unusual for a frontman in rock and he was definitely not your usual lead singer. He never seemed to take himself too seriously for a majestic man whose 6' 7" commanding presence could come off very intimidating to those who didn't know him. I always found him to be nice and even a bit insecure on occasion even and I used to joke that he reminded me of the Wolfman, Frankenstein and Dracula all rolled up into one sinisterly handsome rockstar.

"I remember being on the road together and after shows people would to ask me to introduce them to him because they were afraid to approach him which I always found funny and so did he when I told him.

"Writers were always curious during interviews as to how he was treating me while on the tour because he had such a strange reputation when it came to women.

"Once when we were doing an on the road feature for Metal Hammer magazine, he came backstage and saw I was doing a photo shoot and decided he wanted to be in a few shots with me so we hammed it up together for the camera.

"Before meeting Peter, I remember thinking he was probably going to be a complete asshole to me but he was actually the total opposite and I was pleasantly surprised. He was very sweet and treated me with respect while on the road which meant a great deal to me at the time. He went out of his way to make me feel comfortable and would always let me use the kettle, mirror and bathroom in his dressing room before we went on stage if ours happened to be a shithole which it was on many nights.

"It may sound silly but it was little things like that which meant a lot to me as a woman on tour with a bunch of dudes.

"Over the years I have heard stories about his battles with drugs and alcohol that plagued him but I believe we all have our tortured and troubled souls to some degree and I'm no one to judge his life. He sang about the darker side of love, loss, depression and death with a vampire-esque vocal style all his own while creating beautifully macabre music and timeless gothic dirges drowning in gloom with touches of tongue in cheek and a wink of the slow, deep and hard rock.

"The last time I saw Peter was in 2008 when MY RUIN opened two shows for TYPE O and HATEBREED in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I heard he had been going through a pretty rough time for various personal reasons and when I saw him he didn't look like the man I remembered. During our soundcheck in L.A. at the Avalon, he walked in the room and stood in front of the stage and watched us and then clapped when we finished as if we were doing a show for him alone. He came up to me backstage and I told him that I used to be in MANHOLE and we had toured together back in the day. He said he remembered and thought I still had a very scary voice. I took it as a compliment coming from the man whose voice is so deep and disquieting that its tones seemed to echo from the very bowels of hell. Later that evening I introduced him to my husband/guitarist Mick and he acted like they were long-lost friends and we took some silly photos together. He was playful, hilarious and cool but he was also different.

"We watched TYPE O's show and it immediately took me back to years ago and the Peter I once knew. No matter how he might have been feeling on the inside while on stage, on the outside he was still the rad frontman I remembered and that's how he will hopefully be remembered by those who knew him and loved his music… with bloody kisses."