TYPE O NEGATIVE Frontman Says New Album May Feature Guest Appearances By ANSELMO, DANZIG

Mick Stingley of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with TYPE O NEGATIVE frontman Peter Steele. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

KNAC.COM: [On the upcoming DVD, "Symphony for the Devil (The World of Type O Negative)", due in the U.S. on March 14] Are you proud? Are you comfortable? Are you happy with the results?

Steele: "(pauses) Ah, you know, there is… there are some things in there that I feel should not, maybe, have been portrayed to the public. But everyone else in this band, we kind of like, voted on each other's behavior and stuff. And it was kind of known that, if everyone goes, 'That's funny, that's great! Leave it the fuck in! We don't care what YOU think!' then it stayed. There were things that Johnny did, and Kenny and Josh that they weren't really too happy about, but… 'Fuck you, we're gonna use it anyway!' So what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

KNAC.COM: I don't even know where to begin, but the concert footage… it was shot on the "October Rust" tour, or just after?

Steele: "This was shot in '99. Now I'm gonna have to back up and explain to you that when we started to formulate this video, with various footage, which, I would imagine was around 2000 or 2001, we were just gonna do a home, like a home-movie-type thing. And this footage from this show in Germany, from '99, was not even considered at the time. So it's really… it's a home movie with live footage. It's not live footage with outtakes. Simply because the video came to our attention right before we were actually gonna finalize the home video. We did some research and we found out that we could buy it; and it was 5.1 digital, and there were three cranes and twelve cameras and all this other stuff and we looked fairly, reasonably well-preserved at that time… so we said, 'All right, let's throw this in.' The entire concert was actually going to be a separate disc and then there was going to be this home movie. But then it got into cost-effectiveness of putting two or three discs into a package and all this other stuff. So we decided that, for people like me with ADD, to have a constant sensory assault, and to keep on cutting the footage and going to different things just to keep the average viewer's attention. Because I have no attention span anyway."

KNAC.COM: Well, I think that you guys have this incredible sense of humor, that Brooklyn sense of humor… I mean, you've talked about this. But I guess it gets misconstrued to a lot of people.

Steele: "It does, you know? Because we are so used to being sarcastic to each other, like even within this band. We have guests that come up on to the bus and they're horrified. 'How can you talk to each other like that?' And I'm like, 'You know what? Fuck you too!' (laughs) I've known these guys for over thirty years. I have five older sisters and I always wished that I had brothers, and God gave me these three brothers, Kenny, Josh and Johnny. But after thirty years of beating each other up and cheating on each other's girlfriends and playing hockey in the street and playing football, you know, fuckin' each other over and getting drunk and having great times — there's nothing to talk about!"

KNAC.COM: (laughs)

Steele: "There's NOTHING to talk about. Everybody has their own little corner of the tour bus, and that's it. So, you know… Brooklyn is a very sarcastic place. I like to think that I have a sense of humor and I like people with a sense of humor because one of the greatest feelings I get out of life is actually laughing at myself. Also I like laughing at other things, too; comedies, juvenile pranks and slapstick. Which of course, you saw much of that in the video. So that whole adolescent attitude really comes to the forefront with this DVD."

KNAC.COM: Jumping around again, "The Profit$ of Doom" — that was the working title for the last record, was it not?

Steele: "Yeah. I mean, I lie about everything, so you can't believe me. But it is the working title for right now. I don't have any titles for the songs, but I can say that the album sounds like a mixture of… let's just say… BLACK SABBATH, PINK FLOYD, THE BEATLES, DISCHARGE, THE CULT, THE CURE, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, PSYCHEDELIC FURS, DEVO and LAIBACH. So prepare to be confused."

KNAC.COM: Well… but I don't know. I feel… as a TYPE O NEGATIVE fan who has been following you guys since forever… I feel that, that description would suggest any of your records.

Steele: "It does actually, it's just that… the songs for this next album… you see it's really hard for me to be objective because I'm the songwriter. So, it's like, no mother ever thinks that her newborn baby is ugly. You know? And by that I mean it's hard for me to step outside and say what I think, but I will try. The songs are somewhat shorter, they're faster… I'm asking the other guys to actually do more of the vocals — not because I'm losing any nonexistent talent anyway — but the fact is that the other guys have really good voices and I think that they should be utilized. And, also, I've been making calls to see if people like Glenn Danzig or Phil Anselmo would want to do guest vocals or something."

KNAC.COM: Wow.

Steele: "Because Johnny's very tight with Glenn, because he goes out (on tour) with DANZIG and hopefully, Glenn wouldn't have a problem with that. And (I'll try to) get a hold of Phil. And there's a female vocalist, her name is Jacqueline, she plays in this band called OTTO'S DAUGHTER from Germany, and she's got a really good voice. And some of the stuff that I've written, I believe might call for a feminine touch. So I've been speaking to her about possibly coming in and doing some vocals. But, you know… speaking of CARNIVORE… after this album is done and in the can, I just might be doing a real short CARNIVORE tour…"

KNAC.COM: You're kidding…

Steele: "… but not… with… uh… it's the original members, but it will be, like… somewhat… well-known… rock-and-rollers… that are going to be a part of this…"

KNAC.COM: Wow. Who?

Steele: "(pauses) That I can't mention right now. There's going to be down time… I don't know when this next (TYPE O) album is set to be released. I would imagine that if it's done by May 1st, the label really wants six months of “set-up” time… which I think is somewhat excessive; but when you change jobs, you know, there's a whole set of unwritten rules that nobody tell you, you just have to learn them by making a dick out of yourself. You know? And nobody tells you, like you're not supposed to piss in that toilet you supposed to shit in that toilet. Which is how jail was…"

Read the entire interview at KNAC.COM.