Type O Negative Drummer – I’d Want a Woman to Sing at Tribute Show
Some bands can't bring themselves to go on after the loss of a member, but doing a one-off reunion can be a nice way to celebrate the departed. Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly said that if they were to do a tribute concert in honor of Peter Steele, he'd want a woman to take on the vocals.
During a discussion with on the Loaded Radio podcast, Kelly admitted that a reunion show has only been "coffee talk" between the surviving members of the band.
"There was never any serious consideration, like, 'Should we do something? Is there even a point of doing it? Or also, is it just a blatant cash grab?' So all these things go through your head," the drummer said. "People celebrate [Steele] all the time. They do it daily. I see it online all the time and the impact that he had."
In order for a concert to take place, Kelly stated that guitarist Kenny Hickey and keyboardist Josh Silver would have to be on board as well. Finding a vocalist to fill in for Steele would be another story.
"I don't know. I'd want a girl to do it. I'd want a female vocalist — like [Heart's] Ann Wilson or something like that. But even so, that's the first thing. When you think about doing some kind of tribute show, you're just gonna get all these people… Yes, Peter was very highly regarded by our peers and stuff like that, and you'll just get a bunch of dudes up there just trying to sound like Peter. And you can't do that," Kelly explained.
"And it's, like, all right, so what's the most remote thing from Peter? You'd have to do something completely abstract. And I would say get a female vocalist," he continued. "I think Peter would get a kick out of… He would get off on seeing a girl sing his songs, seeing a female sing them. And it would really stress the point of doing something as a tribute instead of trying to recreate something."
Watch the interview below.
After seven studio albums together, Steele tragically died in April of 2010 at the age of 48, and Type O Negative disbanded. Considering he was also the group's bassist, they'd have to look for a musician to take over that duty as well.