It's the October 1996 Issue with Kurt Cobain swimming with his guitar on the
cover, boasting a "Lost Interview".  I think I did see it in the stores
already and was wondering where my copy was.  No transcription to Type O
Negative in there, they aren't even mentioned on the cover which is why I
was surprised that there WAS an interview.

And now, reprinted WITHOUT consent:

blood on THE TRACKS by David Grad
Type O Negative's gruesome twosome, Peter Steele and Kenny Hickey,
go for the jugular on October Rust.

"Sometimes women ask me if they can taste my blood, and even though I know
it's not a safe thing to do in this day and age of AIDS, I occasionally give
in to their wishes and open up a vein with a razor and let them stick their
tounges into my flesh," confesses Peter Steele, bassist, vocalist and
guiding light of Type O Negative.  If his words strike you as nothing more
than the idle boast of a repulsive tale teller, guess again.  The hulking
bassist has multiple scars on his arm to back his nauseating claim.

Actually, Steele is no stranger to letting his love interests eat him alive.
On Slow, Deep and Hard (Roadrunner, 1991), the band's debut release, his
suffering at the hands of unfeeling women caused him to bellow like some
wounded creature of the night; even the band's faithful listeners feared for
his sanity.  But a funny thing happened to Steele on his way to the asylum.
He got over the women who had done him wrong, reestablished his equilibrium
and became America's newest, extremely heavy, underground sound and sex
sensation.

"I think people were really sick of hearing male vocalists who sound like
little girls having their feet tickled," he says.  "We are the answer to that."

Along the way, Type O Negative transformed themselves from Brooklyn
metalcore ruffians into sophisticated, soundscaping goths.  Asked about the
"metal morphosis," which turned the band into a brutal blend of Sabbath and
the Cocteau Twins, Steele laughs, then says seriously, "We have gone from
being a hate band to a love band."  Well maybe, but the twisted sexuality
and brooding obsessions showcased on 1994's Bloody Kisses (Roadrunner) are a
more appropriate soundtrack for a hell-bent dungeon romance than they are
for a wholesome walk in the park. Fans, however, have responded to the
band's iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove aesthetic.  As a result, Bloody Kisses,
helped along by successful tours with Ozzy Osbourne, Nine Inch Nails, and
Motley Crue (not to mention Steele's posing, scars and all, for Playgirl),
went Gold last year.

To Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey, the band owes much of its success
to "people who want to escape from their boring lives and fantasize."  While
Hickey admits that playing night after night before thousands of rabid women
waving Steele's Playgirl centerfold "gets tiresome," he adds that looking at
pictures of Steele in his birthday suit is a small price to pay for success
for someone who played for years with "metal punk yokels in Brooklyn."
There is little doubt that, like Hickey, drummer Johnny Kelly and keyboard
player Josh Silver are ready to follow the group's front man to the very
gates of hell.

Guitar World: So, are you pleased with the new record?

Peter Steele: I think it will make the record company some money; I'm not so
sure about us.  What I'm really happy about is that after being together for
six years, we have finally developed a style that we're totally comfortable
with - something soft and fluffy on the outside but with a foundation that's
rock-solid and heavy.  This is our style now.  We like to hit our fans over
the head with a fur-covered sledgehammer.

Kenny Hickey: It's the most focused thing we've ever done.

Steele: We had a much larger budget for this record, so we didn't have to
settle.  It has depth and strata and I love it's lushness.

GW: For a band whose roots are in New York hardcore, Type O has become a
very melodic outfit.  How do you explain the evolution?

Steele:  It's a strange thing.  When I was in my former band, Carnivore,
people would come up to me and say "You know Pete, I think you're a dick and
I hate your fucking band, but I can't get your songs out of my head."  That,
to me, was the ultimate compliment, and after I shook their hands and
thanked them, I punched them in the mouth.  Type O has always been into
memorable songs and melody; if you listen closely to SD&H, they're in there.
It's just on that one I also screamed my head off.  Then on the next album,
BK, I thought it would be more of a challenge if I sang on key and came up
with more interesting melodies. I kept thinking of what the Beatles said,
that you should write every song like it was going to be the single.

GW: On October Rust, you seem to be going for a really synthetic sound.

Hickey: Yeah, I use a Fernandes guitar with a lot of chorus, distortion and
delay.  There is never one dominent guitar sound or line.  There's alot of
layering - with a heavy sound, an alternative sound on top of that, and then
the keyboards embellishing that.

GW: So you write the guitar parts?

Hickey: Not really.  Peter writes the basis of the songs - the guitar, bass,
and keyboard lines - and we go into the studio and it grows from there.  We
never deviate far from what he writes originally, though.

GW: So Peter, you really run this band.

Steele: Yeah, it's a dictatorship.  We will talk about things, but if
something can only go one of two ways it's going to go my way.

[To be continued...]

[Continued in next message...]