Much was said last year about the arrival of Neon Nightmare, the heavily Type O Negative-inspired project helmed by Nate Garrett of Spirit Adrift. Initially presented as a mystery group, the influence of the aforementioned platinum-certified goth metal group was undeniable throughout the project.
As such, recent rumblings of Type O Negative‘s surviving members considering reuniting for a potential tribute show to their late vocalist/bassist Peter Steele have seen Garrett‘s name brought up in the comments. After previously ruling out the idea for years, the band’s guitarist/vocalist Kenny Hickey recently sparked some hope on the ‘Talk Toomey Podcast‘ last month.
When asked if he was open to the idea of paying tribute to Steele with some comeback shows featuring revolving singers, he offered:
“I think so. I would do something like that, absolutely. Because at this point, the band seemed to transcend into a whole new generation and stuff. And I think it would be really cool to get a couple of key singers, real guys, or maybe one guy or whatever, to come and do it as a tribute. Absolutely. Maybe four or five shows, something like that. If we can get Josh [Silver, ex-Type O Negative keyboardist] to do it, yeah.”
Silver‘s current disinterest in music is seemingly a big hurdle to overcome. As Hickey went on to relay the following of his former bandmate, “Josh is just, like, he’s done with music. He feels like he’s moved on, but I don’t know. We’ll see. You get nostalgic after a time, you know what I mean? So you never know. You can never say never.”
The group’s former drummer/vocalist Johnny Kelly also weighed in last month on the idea of getting the band back together for some Peter Steele tribute shows. However, he was more concerned on who could properly handle the bass playing duties, as opposed to who would be singing.
Now, in a recent episode of his ‘Nate Garrett Big Riff Energy‘ podcast, Garrett addressed the idea of those tribute shows. After expressing his various concerns about it being done properly and that he’d prefer if the band would remain defunct with their legacy intact, he admitted he would jump at the chance to front the group, albeit with a few caveats. Here’s what he had to say: (transcribed by theprp.com):
“I don’t think that any of this will even happen. But at some point I decided that if it does happen, I want to do it. So I’m announcing that publicly. If there’s any kind of Type O Negative reunion, or tribute show, or anything like that, I want them do it right. Like there’s no bigger fan of that band than me.
So they have to have Josh Silver — If Josh isn’t involved I don’t give a shit what they do. They can get Fred Durst to play Peter Steele or whatever. But if Josh is involved, I want it to be as cool as possible. I want it to sound as right as possible.
And no disrespect to anybody else; it’s interesting that Johnny was talking about the bass playing specifically, because there’s a few guys that have done real cheap ass, like Peter Steele vocal impersonations. But almost every Type O Negative cover that I hear, or any band that’s trying to sound like Type O Negative…. I don’t want to name any names. I don’t really don’t want to disrespect anybody. But some of these Type O Negative covers, I’m like, what are you doing? There’s just subtleties. It’s the exact stuff that Johnny was talking about in that interview. There are subtleties that I’ve never really heard anybody do right.
I think it’s maybe Pete and I have the same level of Geezer Butler [Black Sabbath bassist] worship and adoration, and we’ve studied him so much that, I don’t know. I’m I’m not trying to toot my own horn here. I read all these comments. I’m just telling you facts of what I saw.
And if they’re going to do it, and Josh is involved, I’m going to do it. I want to do it. If they’re like auditioning super famous people that aren’t going to do as good a job, I’ll take these motherfuckers out, man. It needs to be done right. It doesn’t need to be done… What’s going to make the most money? Who’s the biggest name we could put in there? It needs to be done right.
So I just keep seeing these rumblings. I keep seeing footage of Johnny, like his practice room with a green light, and he keeps putting more and more Type O flags up on the wall and stuff, and I just see where it’s headed in the age of these nostalgia reunions and tributes and stuff like that. And… if they do it, and Josh is there, you will have to pry that gig for my cold, dead hands. So public record.”
