TYPE O NEGATIVE Drummer On SEVENTH VOID: Even 'The Haters On BLABBERMOUTH Like It'

BigMusicGeek.com recently conducted an interview with SEVENTH VOID/TYPE O NEGATIVE drummer Johnny Kelly. Several excerpts from the chat follow below.

BigMusicGeek.com: Stylistically speaking, how would you describe the music SEVENTH VOID creates? Do you feel that the doom metal or even doom rock monikers properly identify the true nature of the group's musical aspirations?

Johnny: "Somebody at a show recently was talkin' to our merchandise guy and he coined the phrase 'new classic rock,' which I thought was pretty appropriate, ya know? It's not completely doom and gloom. The lyrical content can definitely lend itself to that. It's not a happy band. …That seems to be one of the parallels between SEVENTH VOID and TYPE O NEGATIVE. The subject matter still deals with chemical dependency, death and things like that. But at the same time, when I think of doom bands, I think of bands like BLACK SABBATH, TROUBLE and ST. VITUS, ya know? It doesn't strike me as being that much like that type of music. It's like doom with hooks. I think there's strong melodies and strong choruses, things that stay in your head a long time after you hear it. Doom, a lot of times, is really heavy riffs and stuff, but it'll be like, 'Okay. Where's the chorus?' or 'Where's the key change?'. The song structures are a little bit different. Some of the groove is there and we definitely want that heaviness that comes from that type of music, but I think it's a little bit different. I don't think a band like TROUBLE would hear our record and go 'Oh, yeah. They're a doom band.'"

BigMusicGeek: Did you ever feel that it was important that SEVENTH VOID be noticeably different from TYPE O NEGATIVE?

Johnny: "It wasn't really important, but the goal really was to do something different. Why would we put together another band that sounds like what we do with TYPE O NEGATIVE? You're not really branchin' out. You're not spreadin' your wings and trying something different, ya know? If we're doin' the same thing, why don't we just do it with (TYPE O NEGATIVE vocalist/bassist) Peter (Steele) and (TYPE O NEGATIVE keyboardist Josh (Silver)? To me, it would be redundant to do that. I play with DANZIG, but DANZIG isn't exactly like TYPE O NEGATIVE. It's more of a rock-based style of music. To go play with another band like TYPE O NEGATIVE wouldn't really move me. We're very good at what we do, so it wouldn't have any sense of purpose."

BigMusicGeek: Have you or Kenny ever felt pigeonholed or restrained by the trademarks of the TYPE O NEGATIVE sound?

Johnny: "No. As a band, I think one of the hardest things you can do or one of the biggest chores you can have is to have your own sound and have your own identity. I've always thought that about TYPE O NEGATIVE even before I joined the band. The minute you heard a TYPE O NEGATIVE song, you always knew exactly who it was. If you put on the radio right now, I wouldn't be able to tell Eve from Adam with most of the stuff, ya know? There aren't too many bands that have a strong identity. And it's not even just this genre. Back in the '80s and '90s, there were a ton of bands that all sounded exactly the same. There wasn't anything particularly unique about that large group. With TYPE O NEGATIVE, it's always been about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, ya know? We never really fit into anything and we've always just done what we do. It's always been important to us. We've obviously done a lot of cover songs and thing like that over the years, but it was always important to the band that whatever we do sound like TYPE O NEGATIVE, and not us trying to sound like somebody else. We wear our influences on our sleeves, but at the same time, we're not just copying someone."

BigMusicGeek.com: At this point, how well do you feel "Heaven Is Gone" has been received within the hard rock and heavy metal communities? In general, have the reviews been more or less favorable than you would have anticipated?

Johnny: "We're not really sure. Right now, it's hard to gauge because the climate is so turbulent. It's hard for established bands to sell records right now unless you're LINKIN PARK, SLIPKNOT or another band that's a consistent strong seller. I probably couldn't think of a worse time to break in a new band (laughs). (Former PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN drummer) Vinnie Paul and everyone with the label (Paul's recently launched Big Vin Records) and distributor believes in the record and everyone believes the record has potential to be very successful, but in this day and age, it's still very hard to sell records. What we need to do is get the band in front of people and the most effective way to do that is to get on a pretty good tour. If that happens, I think the band can reach high. I think it has that kind of potential. I get the reports from the radio station guy and I've been reading the reviews of the record. The record is getting great reviews, even on Blabbermouth. The haters on Blabbermouth like it. (laughs) There should be a trophy for that. (laughs) Forget about getting a gold record, ya know? You should get an award because the readers on Blabbermouth didn't shred it to pieces. I love it. I even laugh when they're rippin' on us by shreddin' TYPE O NEGATIVE and things like that. I get a charge out of it. I was really shocked to see that we got their seal of approval. I was totally not expecting that."

Read the entire interview at BigMusicGeek.com.