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Hit Parader: Type O takes so long between albums. It's been three years since October Rust, and it was three years before that to Bloody Kisses. Why?
Peter Steele: That's just the way it is. When you make an album, a band like ours has to go out and tour the world, and that takes time. Actually, this album came out three months before I wanted it to. I would have waited for October - another Halloween release - but the label wanted to do it in summer. That's when they can focus more attention on it, which is fine with me.
Hit Parader : You've expressed a lot of frustration with the label over the years. Is your relationship any better today?
Peter Steele : Not really. I have absolutely nothing against the people who work there - I know they want to make things happen for us. But the simple fact is that they don't carry the kind of clout to get our music on the radio and MTV. They need to get out there and schmooze a bit, and they don't do that. It's different when you're on a label where you might be the biggest act they have. If we were on a major label, where they had some huge acts to play with, they probably could give us more of a push.
Hit Parader : Do you feel as if your anger towards the label carries over to your music?
Peter Steele : That's something we have to fight against. It's really easy to take the emotions you are feeling at any given time and try to channel that into the music. But most of the time that really doesn't benefit your music; who wants to hear "I'm pissed off" lyrics all the time? Now, on the other hand, we love making angry, heavy, moody music, so sometimes being able to draw on actual emotion is very beneficial.
Hit Parader : Let's talk about the new album. What can you tell us about it?
Peter Steele : Well, today we want to call it Things Worse Than Death & Other Acts of God, but it changes almost every day. It's going to be a little different than October Rust on a number of levels. It's not going to be as long - the last one was more than 73 minutes long, this one will probably come in at a little over an hour. And it won't be as lushly produced. Sometimes I feel like we went in too commercial a direction last time, like I was trying to be radio friendly. That's not going to happen this time. We're still drawing on the same Sabbath/Beatles/Doors inspirations, but this is going to be a much heavier album. That one was a very chord-dominated album. This one will be very riff-oriented.
Hit Parader : Some fans criticize October Rust for being over-produced. Do you agree with that?
Peter Steele : Definitely. I think that we may have gone a little overboard by layering the sound too heavily on some songs. I think it took away some of the power that the music should have. We spent three months producing that one. I hope we can get this one finished in half that time. If it takes a little longer, so be it, but we're not going to spend an extra month in the studio just to layer the sound like we did last time.
Hit Parader : We know you love to throw the occasional cover tune on a disc. What's planned for this one?
Peter Steele : Right now our intention is to include our version of the Beatles' Day Tripper, but since Michael Jackson owns the Beatles' song catalouge, we have to wait and get written approval from him. We still don't know if we're going to get permission or not - but if we don't I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
Hit Parader : You've been doing this for a long time now. Do you feel any pressure to "make it big" at this point in your career?
Peter Steele : Yeah, I do. I'm 37 years old, and I don't want to become one of those old geezers tottering around the stage. But I've had the same car for ten years, and I've lived in the same house for the past 35 years. Now there's nothing wrong with that because my car is very cool - I've got it looking like a KGB car - but you do start looking ahead. It would be nice to have enough money in the bank so I could just kick back and live off the interest, but I don't know if that's going to happen any time soon. But I'm doing ok, I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me.
Hit Parader : It seems as if the media sometimes has a field day with you, jumping on everything outrageous that you say. Does that bother you?
Peter Steele : The media needs freaks like me. People who cover rock and roll, whether it's in magazines or MTV or whatever, aren't out there for the betterment of mankind. They're out there to get the most outrageous story they can. Since I do have a tendency to say what's on my mind, they take full advantage of that - and I don't mind. If they can promote me and my band, and I can give them a good story, then their's a good symbiotic relationship going on. It's kind of like the little fish that feed in the shark's mouth - they need one another to survive.