This is an interview of Pete Steele and Josh Silver of Type O Negative. It was conducted by me, Jon Konrath, in the summer of 1992, on-air at WQAX, and later transcribed for my zine, Xenocide. It was done when Origin of the Feces was out, but about a year before Bloody Kisses was released. I am certain there are transcription errors, because I absolutely hate transcribing stuff. I still have a tape of this interview somewhere. Anyway, if you have questions or comments, please contact me.
X=me; P=Pete Steele; J=Josh Silver
X: Lets talk a little bit about your new EP, The Origin of the Feces. Now this said it was a semi-live recording. Exactly what does that mean?
P: What it means exactly is that we did this recording to rip off the record company.
X: Was it actually recorded live at Brighton Beach?
P: No, of course not. We totally made everything up, we got a $100,000 budget, and we spent approximately $2,000 on this piece of shit recording and we went out and we all bought Harley Davidsons and we're gonna kill ourselves just like in Cyclemania. You ever see that cool movie?
X: Oh yeah, I based my life on it...
P: That is the agenda. We did this not just to rip off the record company, but to rip off the fans as well, because we know the average person is a moron... Sorry fans, but we had to rip you off because we need your money.
X: Now you guys are working on a new LP right now, is this gonna be a similar setup there?
P: Well, this LP is gonna be much worse than anything else that we've done before... If people don't hate us already they'll hate us after this next LP. And right now its titled Things Worse Than Death (And Other Acts of God)
X: Any songs done for the LP yet?
P: Well, we have them all written... Right now we're trying to find the best way to scam the record company out of a lot of money, so until we figure out just exactly what our plan is.. We've got 2 or 3 plans we might go with, we're gonna narrow it down and see which way we can get the most bucks out of 'em and then give them some piece of shit, some piece of garbage that they'll try to push on people like bad dope or something.
X: OK, you had a little difficulty with the cover art on the EP.. Did anything inspire you to do that? How did they approach you on that, did they say no right away or what?
P: I dunno Josh, how did that come up, how did we think of that?
J: Well, I dunno, we figured it looked a lot better than our faces so we went for it.
P: Well, that is my best side.
J: We didn't have trouble at all. The record company loved it.
P: They loved it. And I think right now that thing is banned in Germany, and England.
X: I know some US distributors refuse to carry it...
P: Well, they don't know art when they see it.
X: Exactly... I heard rumors you were thinking of recording a Carnivore song for the EP or, do you plan on playing any Carnivore stuff live?
P: Yeah, well, see there were one or two songs in the set, and we were gonna do one on the EP, but we're really trying to push the Type O Negative stuff now.. If people want to hear Carnivore they can go and buy a Carnivore disc, but right now we just wanna stick to our stuff.. Maybe some time in the future if we pull some other scam maybe we'll do a Carnivore song, or maybe a Partridge Family cover or something.
X: As for your live touring, do you know what's going to go on after the album supporting it, are you going to do a headlining tour or a split bill?
P: Yeah, we're just going to do a New York tour, we're going to do a five borough tour, and make it expensive and like a year long, and spend like a month or two at each club.
X: Will you do anything elaborate on stage?
P: Killing ourselves... No, we don't like to do much on stage. Sometimes if we come out and we don't like the looks of the audience, we don't even play. We just walk back out and say "Well, you paid your 15 or 20 dollars and that's too bad, so, goodnight." And then there will be like a riot. Or sometimes we'll actually play one or two chords. We just like to say "We don't feel like playing, so we're not gonna play. And if you don't like it that's too bad because you already paid us. And you can go home and you can think we're assholes but we'll be out tomorrow spending your money and laughing at you!"
X: Lets talk about musical influences. Do you look toward anything for musical inspiration?
P: I guess when I was younger I did. But now, I don't, ya know, I like to write how I feel, I mean, I don't try to follow in anybody's footsteps, and nobody in this band tries to sound like anybody. We are just trying to establish our own crummy identity. Just like even though vomit has the same basic smell, if you put four cups of real hot vomit next to each other, they would smell slightly dissimilar depending on what was eaten for dinner, or lunch or breakfast, too, with all that shit in your stomach.
X: Do you look toward any movies or books or political sources when writing lyrics?
P: No, I just look into my Swiss cheese soul, because my soul is very blackened and has many holes in it, and there is a lot of powerful things lurking inside of me, following me everywhere I go and I don't have to look to TV or books or anything for any really bad ideas because I'm full of them.
X: OK, you did mention you're trying to get everyone to hate you...
P: Umm, let me clarify here. We aren't trying to get everyone to hate us, we're just trying to be really honest with people, trying to tell people we are only in this for money, and that we are trying to rip you off. If you want to come along for the ride, and laugh with us, or at us.. It doesn't matter, as long as we get to spend your money.
X: Have you been approached by any censorship groups?
P: Actually, if I had kids, I would not let them listen to Type O Negative, so I guess I'm totally for censorship.
X: I talked to a few people who wanted to write-in Pete Steele for presidential candidate in the fall. If by some freak chance you got elected in the fall, what would be your agenda?
P: I would kill anyone under 6 feet six inches.
X: Why?
P: Because I'm 6 foot 6 and a quarter, and I like to look up to people.
X: Do you still have the same day job?
P: Yes. I am a human feces remover. I make $100,000 a year on my job, I do not have to use my mind on my job, so I get to dwell on the things that disturb me greatly, I let these things torment myself and I let them burn holes in me like acid dripping on me, so by the time I get home, I'm really pretty wound up and looking to hurt myself, not so much the other people around me, but because I don't have the balls to kill myself yet, I must supplimate, and I must take these aggressive feelings out in socially acceptable ways, such as transforming these thoughts and feelings into music.
X: I noticed reading through your liner notes mentions of Prozac, Xanax and Doctor Whittaker, is this mention to actual psychotherapy?
P: It is. He is my psychotherapist, who did not help me. He told me I was crazy and threw me out of his office. I won't waste my money now, because I have come to the conclusion that I am not fucked up, this world is fucked up, I am the sanest person I know.
X: If you really hit it big would you move out of New York?
P: I think ultimately I would like to be real rich so I can get out of this city, because I don't like what is going on here too much, as far as what is going on with crime and where my tax dollars are going to. I don't think I would move until I made my fortune and then I would move somewhere isolated like Iceland and never be heard from again.
X: Going back to touring, you toured with a few bands.. What happened on last tour, it got cut a little short...
P: What happened is we were out with Exploited and Biohazard, two bands that we were good friends with and like very much, but we felt it wasn't a very good matchup because we're not a punk band and we're not a hardcore band, we're more like a Gothic band, and a lot of the skinheads we encountered on tour didn't like us too much, and we had problems with them, and over in Germany and Austria we had problems with the left wing over there. But, ultimately that turned out great because it was kindof planned, and we had set the whole thing up ourselves... We had spread rumors that we were the fourth reich coming over to Germany to retake the country, and we took plenty of time to make preparation, and when we got there we phoned in bomb threats to the clubs that we were supposed to play at so the shows got cancelled and we got paid for nothing. We just went out chasing German women, Austrian women, we just went chasing women.
X: If you tour with any bands on the next tour, any ideas on who?
P: I don't think anybody in their right mind would tour with us, so it would have to be someone very desperate.
X: We're gonna have to wrap up here.. Is there anything we should look forward to on the new album?
P: It's gonna be worse than the other stuff, no doubt about it. And I'm sure its gonna be overpriced.
X: Any last words to your fans?
P: Yeah I think you should get your hearing checked.
X: OK, we're gonna cut to the first track on Origin Of The Feces.
P: No I don't think you should. Don't you have anything better to play?
X: Well, lets go into the first track here. I'd like to thank Pete and Josh for talking to me.
P: I'm sorry I wasted your time.