By Aaron Small

Peter Steele, Josh Silver, Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kelly have returned to haunt you with their brand new release on Roadrunner Records, October Rust. Currently on tour with Life Of Agony, Type O guitarist Kenny Hickey elaborated on the quote "Functionless Art Is Simply Tolerated Vandalism. . .We Are The Vandals" which appears inside their third studio album. "That's the truth, that wasn't a joke. Our art is completely functionless. There is no use for it except for listening pleasure or killing time. The rest of the album is a joke!" While many of the bands' rabid fans would cry foul at such a statement, Kenny does not see Type O Negative as being extremely significant in the greater scheme of things. "Any art that changes political or social structure, can help people in some way, psychologically, or can bring enlightenment . . . you won't find anything like that on our album. The creative process for this album was more to create something that was beautiful to listen to and erotic and soulful to listen to rather than to get out our frustrations. No great important purpose that was necessary to life."

Each of the members in Type O Negative have unique and compelling personalities, yet lead vocalist/bass player Peter Steele is the sole songwriter/decomposer. Kenny explains the reasoning behind this, "Peter is a very prolific songwriter and he always has been from the beginning. The band's been that way from day one since we were rehearsing together six years ago. We throw in our little tits and tats and add our pieces but I don't think Type O Negative would have been the same band without any of the three members, it would have been different. I personally think it's working the way it is right now. Why destroy something or take a chance with something that has been working great for six years. Plus for me personally, it's less responsibility and less to regret."

The lyrics found on October Rust provide great insight into the psyche of Type O's enormous frontman, Mr.Steele. Take for example the line "Am I Good Enough For You?" from Love You To Death. Kenny explains, "that's the one line of truth in the song. For the earlier part of our lives nobody wanted us so that feeling insecurity still lasts through." Red Water (Christmas Mourning) is another distinctive track which is not exactly in line with Rudoplh the Red-Nosed-Reindeer of Jingle Bells. "There are some Christmas Carols that are written that are sad but none about the truth of the joy that gets sucked from the holidays as you get older, as you lose the people that you love, who are close to you" states Kenny. "The holidays just become a marker for bad memories. I think Peter wrote that more for the loss of his father. I have been fortunate enough so far not to lose anyone really close to me. But it's coming, just like for everyone else."

Type O Negative have always been a magnet for controversy. In the past they have been labeled racist, misogynistic, the list goes on and on. The guys themselves have not changed a bit but this time around the general media vibe is much more positive. Kenny reacts to this changing of the tide, "Actually I'm happy about it but now I feel less dangerous and that was always an important part of Type O, that we upset people, that we had the ability to agitate people. It got a lot of frustration out for us. I'm sure there's a lot more damage and disappointment to come in the future and we'll get frustrated all over again." But for now Type O Negative's popularity is rapidly growing. This was clearly evidenced by their headlining slot on the second stage at this year's Donnington Festival in England in August. Kenny talks about that fabled day,"I hate festivals! It is never anything but chaos. You're subjected to the weather. If it starts raining, which it had, it's raining right on your head. There's two hundred band playing, there are filthy people everywhere, mud everywhere. If you wanna take a piss you gotta walk a mile and a half, if you wanna eat something you gotta walk a mile and a half. It's nothing but chaos, it's horrible conditions to play in." But something did manage to come out of all that mess, "the crowd was great actually and we got good reactions. It was great exposure, festivals are fantastic exposure. They don't have anything like that over here [in North America]. The most people we've ever played in front of was Dynamo. I think two years ago, it was 130,000 people. I basically shit my pants but by the second or third song it just looks like one glob of people." Returning to the topic of Donnington, Kenny elaborates, "I'm happy with the way it worked out. I wasn't happy with the time slot. 3:00 in the afternoon is not a very conducive time for Type O Negative to play onstage. But there weren't too many people at the small stage, then when we went on it was packed right to the back. So our fans, the people who were interested in seeing us came." The question beckons, would Type O Negative ever play Lollapalooza? Kenny replies "sure, we'll do anything. We are basically prostitutes. We'll do anything and everything that's put in front of us and that's a big reason for Type O Negative's success."

Success has its spoils making the road ahead look long and prosperous. "We'll be going to Japan for the first time and possibly New Zealand, South America. I'm dying to see these places. We've been chasing our tails around the United States forthree years over and over again. I've seen every buttfuck place in America at least four times and Western Europe over and over again. The same places, Germany, Britain, Scandinavia, France, Belgium." Follow the trail of Burnt Flowers Fallen and you shall arrive at the mystique that is Type O Negative!

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