The latest guest on Appetite for Distortion was former Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly. Type O Negative singer and bassist Peter Steele tragically died in April 2010 from heart failure brought on by an aortic aneurysm.
Alternative Nation transcribed some of AFD host Brando and Kelly’s conversation about the possibility of Type O Negative finding a new singer to replace Steele, like Stone Temple Pilots have done with Scott Weiland and Alice In Chains have done with Layne Staley.
Brando said, “With STP, when [Blind Melon guitarist] Christopher Thorn talked about STP [on Appetite for Distortion]: ‘Whatever those guys want to do, whatever their healing process is, that’s on them.’ But when it was first announced, I’ve heard other fans say that they feel like it’s too soon.”
He added, “Everyone handles it differently. So how did you handle it, did it ever occur to you guys and the other band members in Type O Negative, because again, how do you replace Peter, how do you replace Scott Weiland, how do you replace Layne Staley?”
Kelly responded, “For us it was literally a two sentence conversation: that’s it. There’s no recovering from this, and you can’t take that element out of Type O Negative and call it Type O Negative, you can’t. It was a no brainer to move on, there was never any, ‘Maybe we could do this.’ There was never any of that. There have been discussions, we’ve been approached about doing some kind of tribute or something like that. Who can come in and do something with Type O and make it cool, and make it credible, and make it something interesting. Peter was too much of a character.
“Peter was such a character more than just a singer and bass player.”
“I would never ever ever consider doing a reunion. You can’t do a reunion. A reunion requires all of the members to be there, particularly alive.”
“When someone passes away, you can’t reunite with someone who isn’t here anymore.”
An hour and 7 minutes in he also discusses his reaction to Steele’s death the day he died, and how he was in disbelief when he got the phone call, as he had been trying to reach Steele about finding a studio. Listen to the full interview below, and if you’re interested in having an Alternative Nation podcast, email altnationadvertising @gmail.com.
Listen to “Ep. 60 – Johnny Kelly, Type-O Negative/Danzig/Hookers & Blow” on Spreaker.
