Interview: Peter Steele, May 21st, 2007

Here's the interview I did at the bar with the always entertaining Peter Steele, May 21st, 2007 . It's been edited down a bit content wise for clarity , but everything you read below is verbatim. I did leave out acknowledging every time we were laughing, which was pretty much all the time. There's gonna be typos ( no pun intended) n' shit, but this ain't school, it's rock n' roll , so enjoy it for what it is -

JIMMY DUFF: Hey Peter - First off, I want to thank you for agreeing to be the first interview for the DUFF'S website.

PETER STEELE: And thank you, for like, the worst wine for free that you served to me.

JD:Hey, whadda want for for free?

( Peter grabs my hat )

PS: Hey, fuckin' Gilligan, what the fuck?

JD: It's my sun hat, I gotta stay out of the fuckin' sun.

JD: All right

PS: What now, what?

JD: Congratulations on the new Type O record...

PS: You say that to all the bands that come through here

JD: The general opinion among everyone I've spoken to about the new disc is that it's the best TON release since October Rust - How do you feel about the record?

PS: You really took me off guard here, I have to say... How do I feel about it?

JD: Yeah

PS: Not that I'd buy it, but I do like it. I mean, I wouldn't reject it if it was put in my mailbox, or even my female box.

JD: So you're pleased with how it came out?

PS: I'm pleased, but please don't tell anyone.

JD: How are things workin' out with the new label, SPV?

PS: With my STD's?

PS: SPV, actually we're doing really well with them. I will leave what happened today as an isolated incident, ah, experience, whatever.

JD: What happened today?

PS: I had a bunch of interviews to do and it didn't go too well. I mean...

JD: Like this one

PS: They gave me tokens for like the New York City Transit system but they were from 1975. And they didn't work. You know, they look like nickels.

JD: Were they slugs?

PS: I believe that they were real because I recognized them from my childhood. They were like bronze, but they had the Y cut out. And the bus driver yelled at me. And I believe his name was Ralph Kramden. He hurt my feelings. What are you laughin' at?

JD: Nothin', nothin'

PS: You fuckin' look in the mirror with that hat.

JD: Dead Again is the first TON record in 6 years - Can the fans expect a return to a semi regular record / tour cycle, or will it be a long time before we see another release?

PS: What can the fans expect?

PS: Has it been six years since we released a record?

JD: Five or six years, I'd have to check.

PS: When you talk about records, I mean, I believe I was locked up for attempted murder a couple years ago, so I think I have another record.

JD: That's another record altogether

PS: Although I think that was actually your record

JD: That wasn't my record

PS: I have hearsed all about you

PS: So, you have a new car, don't you?

JD: Yes I do. I got another hearse, it's over there

PS: Seats a family of 4?

JD: Yes indeed

PS: I have the exact family in mind - Please change the subject because my dick is getting hard

JD: Say no more

JD: You just recently completed a swing through the US - How did that go - Any highlights?

PS: The USA? Yeah, it was cool, I liked Texas. I love Southern girls, ya know (in a southern accent) "Hi Peter, Hi Peter". Oh my god. Ya know, I mean doesn't your dick get hard with even me sayin' it ? And I have a really high testosterone level. (Southern accent again) "Hi Peter", I'm like holy shit man. I'm like - I'm sorry about the war and Northern aggression... Pardon me about the Youuu-nited states (more indecipherable southern type ramblings). So I just apologize. "Hi Peter" - I'm like, oh, you can do whatever you want to me. Like a fuckin' dingbat outta hell.

JD: All right now, lemme ask you a question - There was a show cancellation in San Antonio. Is there anything you'd like to say to the fans in regard to the cancellation of the show?

PS: Yes, I am ill, of course it's mentally ill, but um... There was, um... sociopolitical problems within the band. I mean we have Democrats, and Republicans, and parameciums within the band, and, ah, I consider myself to be like a e-coli , so I didn't agree, so the show had to be canceled.

JD: So would you like to say anything to the fans about that, if they should be reading this, this transcribed interview?

PS: Transcribed? That's a big word for you.

JD: I don't know what it means

PS: I mean, you can't even afford a fuckin' razor blade...

PS: The show was canceled for reasons that I really can't go into, but I am extremely sorry for the fans. I mean, San Antonio has always been great to the band. And, I promise, as a mammal, that we will attempt to make it up to our fans in San Antonio.

JD: All right, cool.

JD: Some people have been grumbling that sometimes you sit down during the set - Are there any medical problems that make you sit down? I mean, what's the story with that?

PS: No, it's just that I'm even more bored than the audience.

JD: I thought maybe you had bunions or something.

PS: Bunions?? I will tell you something honestly - I fell of my bike a couple of months ago. I have this prototype Harley Davidson, it's called an MT 500. And it was in the shop, and Harley Davidson got my parts from Italy, fuckin' Transylvania... Ya know, so when I finally got the bike out, I had not been on the bike for two years. So I'm goin down fuckin' 18th Avenue in Brooklyn and this car pulls out in front of me, and I'm thinkin' - Do I really want the last thing through my head to be a windshield? So I decided to lay it down. And look (Peter drops his pants to reveal two large gnarly purple scars on his shin and kneecap.) I actually fell off the bike and fucked my leg up. I had no license, no insurance, no inspection, or disrespection, whatever... I just picked the bike up...

JD: What did you do - You just split?

PS: Yeah. I had a friend following me, a cop friend that I won't name, and I said, how did I look when I fell? And he said, 'you hit the ground like a fuckin' ton of bricks.' So now I have an excuse to look the way I do.

JD: Now what was it like to take out Celtic Frost on the road ?

PS: Oh my god... it was... We had too much of a good time. They were great. All the members, we've always been really big fans, and apparently they had been fans of us as well. You know, what do you want from deaf people? Brand New Sin, who Joey Z produced, you know Joey Z from Life of Agony and Carnivore.

JD: Yeah, sure.

PS: Right. You made a fool out of yourself one time at a Carnivore show.

JD: I did, yes I did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itz2Hb2IzcY

PS: Yeah, but I made a bigger fool, cause I was onstage for 70 minutes, you had 1 minute of glory, I was a super dick. But, um, Celtic Frost, they are great guys. It's like, all these creepy, horror, deathrock, satanic bands - They're like the nicest guys in the world. You know, you want them to be like the catering company at your fucking wedding. But only if you're marrying a dead girl.

JD: How about an amusing story from the road?

PS: This one time, when I was young and good looking, which was like, yesterday, when Type O Negative was on tour... I had gone onto the bus after the show and there's a knock on the bus door. Actually, it sounded like bristles, or horns (Peter makes a similar sound.) So I go to the door in my fuckin' underwear, and here's this beautiful "full figured" gothic gal - So I ask her, are you a good witch or a bad witch? And she says, just gimme a fuckin' sandwich!! So of course, with a remark like that, oh baby, you come on. And you know New York City has kneeling buses, where the step goes down? The step went down automatically. And she had these little tiny, like pig feet. I don't know how she found shoes so small, but they were porcelain and black. But she had these big coffee can cans. It was like science, she blinded me with defiance.

JD: In addition to TON, you've been keeping busy with Carnivore recently. Are there any plans for a new Carnivore tour or record?

PS: Why yes. We're doing a European tour for six weeks, and after that I think we'll be doing two weeks in the states, so... I mean, does anyone know that I'm talking to you at DUFF'S and that you are "JD"? Like I shot JD? Like I shot JR ? I shot JD. It should be... to play out here (Peter talking about playing outside the bar on the deck.) Or ya put us upstairs. Like fuckin' let it bleed, like the Beatles. But with, like the whole fuckin' Planet of the Apes thing, it would be great. But you don't want the cops here.

JD: We could hook that up

JD: Our friend Sean Murphy filmed...

PS: (In Irish accent) Aye, Sean !! (unintelligible Irish ramblings)

JD: He filmed the the Carnivore show last fall at BB Kings...

PS: (Irish accent) Aye, Type OHHH Negative, aye, fer Saint Paddies day!! The fuck you laughin' at?

JD: Will that ever see the light of day, or was it just recorded for your archives?

PS: I don't know...

JD: Just tryin' to throw an Irish guy some work?

PS: A six pack and a potato, aye matey, aye .

JD: What's on tap for Type O this summer, I heard you're playing some festivals...

PS: On tap, the segueway from the Irish...

PS: Festivals ?

JD: Yeah, any festivals lined up?

PS: In Europe, yeah. And they are, fuckin' so chaotic. No soundcheck... But (Speaking like a deaf person) When you're deaf who care about soundcheck.
Try to transcribe that.

JD: How do you fly? I mean, I know I have a difficult time flying because I can't fit into a fuckin' seat too well. Do you fly first class usually?

PS: I buy like a fuckin' refrigerator, and then I return it, but I keep the box. And I paint the box white, and I write on the side in stencils in Cyrillic (in Russian accent) - Beautiful Russian bride, please do not tip over because bride is inside with food and water. So I get sent back to Europe as a beautiful Russian Bride.

JD: So what are you up to now, now that you're off the road, since the last gigs at Irving Plaza a couple weeks ago?

PS: We have about two and half weeks off, and now we have to go to Europe, so I have, of course, like personal, social, legal things to do at home, this and that. I was trying keep out of trouble until I made a wrong turn on fuckin' Kent Avenue, and wound up here.

JD: Band business aside, most people don't know that you drive an interesting vehicle. What can you tell me about that?

PS: I have two interesting vehicles, the first one is a modified 85 Grand Prix that I raised up on swamp tires, 33's in the back, 31's in the front. Cut out the wheel wheels, took off the bumpers, welded on I beams with chains... took out the back seat... no dashboard, pretty much it's gas, brake, stick shift, which I put in myself... It used to be a 350 transmission, but now it's... I put a tractor engine in there, and ah, woof woof. I have a PA system in there, I can yell at people... And I also have a Long Island railroad train horn, with the the compressor in my trunk. So when I hit the horn... (Peter makes train horn noise.) It's tuned to Black Sabbath's Black Sabbath, the devils triad.

JD: Is that's the name of the car?

PS: No. My car is called handsome.

PS: Whenever I do an oil change, I dump the oil all over the car. I spray painted it flat black, I put yellow caution stripes on the side.

JD: Nice

PS: (As Borat) It's a nice

JD: Whenever you play local gigs, you always have your friends from the Parks department backstage hangin out (Prior to Type O, Peter was employed by the NYC Parks Department), which is very cool. Do you ever miss having a straight job?

PS: Of course I do. I mean... I traded a shovel for a bass, and I figured, either way, it's, you know, pickin' up shit.

JD: You recently donated an autographed pair of your orange, skid marked, prison underwear... ( True story)

PS: What?!?!

JD: To the bar, for which we are eternally grateful. Do you have any souvenirs, or keepsakes from your numerous tours that you keep around the house?

PS: Yes I do, but bad things come to those who wait.

JD: Where do you hope to be in five or six years?

PS: In five minutes, I hope to be dead. After this interview, yeah .