TYPE O NEGATIVE Drummer Hopes It Won't Take Four Years To Put Out Another Record

The Duff's Brooklyn web site recently conducted an interview with TYPE O NEGATIVE drummer Johnny Kelly. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Duff's Brooklyn: What can we look forward to in terms this next leg? Are you going to change up the set list at all?

Johnny: The intention is to change up the set list a little bit, but we'll have to see how rehearsals go (laughs). And if rehearsals go well, then yeah, the set list will be changed up a little bit

Duff's Brooklyn: So, since now DANZIG is actually out gigging the same time as TYPE O, who is going to be playing drums for DANZIG now? For anyone who doesn't know, Johnny is the skins basher for DANZIG, TYPE O takes priority, but... So who's playing drums for DANZIG now?

Johnny: Honestly, I have no idea.

Duff's Brooklyn: You don't?

Johnny: I can't get a straight answer from anybody. (laughs) I talked to Glenn, and I talked to his manager, and I'm very good friends with Steve Zing...and anytime I talk to anybody, I'm like, who's playing drums for the run? And nobody really has a straight answer. So I wish I had one for ya. I know that it just got announced that Todd Youth is gonna be doing it. And I think that the drummer that Todd plays with is gonna be playing drums for that run. I think, I'm not really certain, but ... I suspect.

Duff's Brooklyn: What's it like playing with DANZIG?

Johnny: First off, it's a fuckin' honor to do it. I mean, that's rock n' roll royalty right there. That's it. You look at his catalog, and what he's accomplished over the years, from starting out in Jersey, to now. It's really impressive. So to be a part of that family tree now, to me, that's huge. Playing with him, it's a very a stress free environment. And that's mission accomplished (laughs). I mean, one aspect is that I earn a living doing it, but at the same time, it's really a lot of fun!

Duff's Brooklyn: Having Kenny along for the tour must have been a trip as well (TYPE O's Kenny Hickey played on the last DANZIG tour along with Johnny). What was that like?

Johnny: With all the different people that I've had an opportunity to play with, playing in DANZIG, that one felt right. It seemed like the band that was behind Glenn, with Steve Zing, Kenny and myself, we were really trying to bring it ... it's was respectful, and it really felt right. It seemed like it was part old, part new. Kenny was doing his thing, adding his own style, he was putting his impression on it, but at the same time, he was staying true to the originals, so people weren't like, "What's this guy doing ?" In that aspect too, it didn't feel like we were playing in a cover band.

Duff's Brooklyn: So the TYPE O tour is wrapping up on Halloween, the band is likely going to take a year, a year and a half off, hopefully not too much longer...

Johnny: God, I hope not (laughs)

Duff's Brooklyn: So what's next for you, after Halloween?

Johnny: Honestly, I really have no idea. Glenn's out on the road at the same time as we are, so I'm not going to be part of that. Playing in DANZIG is what has been keeping me going between the "Life is Killing Me" and the "Dead Again" records that TYPE O did. It kept me busy for a lot of that. And, so now, I don't have any definitive plans, everything is pretty much up in the air right now. My goal, right now, is to make sure it doesn't take four years for TYPE O NEGATIVE to put out another record. 'Cause we're all gonna get our AARP cards pretty soon! (Both laugh) For now, now that this trip is going to wind down, I'm hoping that we don't take as long as a break before we start working on the next TYPE O record. I really don't see a reason why we should take that long of a break.

Duff's Brooklyn: Are you going to focus now more on SEVENTH VOID?

Johnny: Well, yeah, now that TYPE O is winding down, Vinnie Paul has been playing a big part in what we've been doing, and Vinnie Paul is very busy at the moment, you know, with HELLYEAH, so ...now we have to see, now that we have a lot of free time, we have to see how much free time he has, and hopefully, for us, SEVENTH VOID, Vinnie isn't gonna be THAT busy (laughs). Yeah, so that's the next thing. Really, the way SEVENTH VOID started was something of a vehicle for us to keep playing, to keep doing something in between what TYPE O was doing, because it seems the track record for TYPE O now is three years, you know, with Halloweens in between.

Read the entire interview at this location.