Peter Steele is not a man of pretense. The lead singer, bassist and songwriter for Brooklyn, New York's goth-metallurgists Type O Negative doesn't wax poetic when asked why his band has been demoing material for their upcoming fourth album for eight months. "One, we want to know exactly what we're doing when we go into the studio at $250 an hour," he replies in his deep, rumbling voice. "Secondly, our contract reads that any money left from the recording budget, we get to pocket. So we'll be punching a time clock and sitting on each other to make sure we work really quickly."
More importantly, Steele adds, "we want to come out with a quality product that we ourselves would buy, and that hopefully our fans will like, and that will buy the record company [Roadrunner Records] a new office someday."
With a working title of The Profits of Doom, the new album promises to be heavier than 1996's October Rust, whose slightly more accessible sound left some fans disgruntled. "I shouldn't have listened to the label, who had asked me to think more commercially, or more radio-friendly," Steele confesses. "So now I'm not thinking that way at all. I'm just writing music that I'd like to hear, which is somewhat more riff-oriented, and therefore heavier and doomier.
"I don't think October Rust is a bad album. I like it, but I'm just a little concerned that I compromised my goals and ideals, which I will not do again."
Steele is hoping to get into the studio next month, because recording is, as he puts it, "one of the few pleasures I get out of my occupation." Already notorious for his dislike of touring and performing live, Steele reveals that a growing disenchantment with the music business has led him to consider making The Profits of Doom the last Type O record. "I'm not too fond of this industry and how it works," he says. "And I'm thinking that if this album doesn't do well I might go back to school and perhaps try to change careers. Which is not to say that I would not write and record music -- I would love to still do that on the side."
And if the new album is a multi-platinum smash? "It probably wouldn't change my life that much right now," Steele says. "But my concern is looking down the road. I don't really feel I'm set for life, and this business is so flaky that I'm thinking I should change careers before I get too old."
With a recent trip to Iceland to "clean his mental health" behind him and The Profits Of Doom ahead (an early summer release is planned), Steele is non-committal about Type O's future. And if he did return to making music as a hobby? "Maybe I can start my own website and send out CDs for free to fans, who could send me a donation for what they feel it's worth," says the former NYC Parks Department employee. Then he adds -- with the slightest hint of self-deprecation -- "So I guess I could expect a bag of shit in the mail."
DON KAYE
(December 28, 1998)