There isn’t too much that can be written about Type O Negative that has not been written already. Known for their diverse sound / style of metal, Type O Negative has garnished many accolades and generated a fanbase which spans the globe.

Type O Negative recently rolled through St. Petersburg, Florida promoting their latest release, Dead Again . Prior to the band’s sound check, Kenny Hickey (Lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals) gave a few minutes of his time to speak with Fears.

Fears: The band has enjoyed much success and it can be said that the willingness to go beyond the traditional means of creating music has been the key element. From a member’s point of view, what uniqueness set aside Type O Negative from the bands back in the day.

Kenny Hickey: I think that we definitely mixed ingredients that nobody had mixed before us, which are elements of hardcore, industrial and gothic.

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Fears: With many albums now under the collective body known as Type O Negative and with many life experiences to draw from, has the writing process become effortless?

Kenny: No. It is still a large undertaking. I mean the music is so detailed and has so many changes, you know, the growth of a song is a long process. The only thing we did a little different for this album than what we are use to was we jammed out a lot in the rehearsal studio. Nothing was written. The beginning of September Sun was the only thing Peter had pre-written and came down with. So everything just sort of grew in the studio starting out from a lick to the other.

Fears: Describe those jam sessions.

Kenny: Every song had like these super 70’s jam outs.

Fears: The 70’s influence does resonate throughout the songs on the cd.

Kenny: But those are the edited versions you heard. I mean when we were rehearsing, like September Sun, it could go on for over an hour.

Fears: As you said, the buying public is hearing edited versions of each song, but still some of those are lengthy as well. Do you feel that having a lengthy song could translate into the loss of the listener’s attention?

Kenny: Of course. It happens sometimes. But that’s the way the song came out and grows itself.

Fears: What do you like about the sound your band?

Kenny: The slow heavy dirt stuff. That’s my favorite part. Well, you know, there’s other stuff too. I like when we get poppy, but not in a stupid way and sometimes we do get stupid poppy. Like Tripping a Blind Man is awesome. That’s great pop art. It’s really well written and has a great melody. It’s very Beatles and it’s not stupid.

Fears: Dead Again , to me, starts off slow, but gradually gains momentum and ultimately is kicking ass at the end. Was this a conscious effort for the cd to start and end is this fashion?

Kenny: That was just a natural thing that developed in the studio. We took about six months developing it in the rehearsal studio. Five days a week about five to eight hours a day. It was torture, but that’s where all that comes from. It was just natural stuff and we would just go off wherever the music took us.

Fears: Now that you did the jam session as well as the other methods of writing, which way do you feel benefits the band more? The jam sessions perhaps?

Kenny: It’s not a way we usually use. It worked this time. I think it’s one of the best Type O’ albums, but we usually don’t use that (method).

Fears: Well, you may want to consider more jam sessions. The cd is very good. Kenny, how do you keep your guitar playing skills sharp?

Kenny: Well, I play with Danzig now so it seems like I’m always playing.

Fears: When you are home do you still pick up the guitar or take the time to relax?

Kenny: All the time. All the time. I mean after a tour I’ll take a break, definitely, for maybe a week or something, but I’ve got to start writing again. This is what I do for a living, but the best way to keep yourself sharp is to go to shows and see your favorite musicians and watch great musicians play because that inspires you.

Fears: There are many great guitarists that have graced the lighted stage. You mention the last name of Page and immediately it invokes thoughts of superiority and masterful.

Kenny: Well, Jimi Hendrix.

Fears: Very true. But what makes a great guitarist?

Kenny: I think it’s personality and style of playing. Something that’s identifiable. I think it’s something that you really can’t create, you know, everybody’s fingers are different. Everybody’s approach is different. I could show you the same lick and you’ll play it, but it won’t sound like me. Everyone’s vibrato is different which is natural and what you want.

Fears: Well, for all of us non-musicians, I must say that it is intriguing to know that the thoughts in one’s mind can work their way to the fingers, those fingers will strum the chords and ultimately those thoughts will be heard coming from an amp.

Kenny: (laughing) Sometimes it doesn’t (laughing)

Fears: What is your writing process? How do you translate the ideas in your head to your guitar? How do you develop a riff, etc.?

Kenny: You hear it first. I mean, there’s a lot of ways to write. You can write by just improvising. You play and say, “That sounds really good or that sounds really good.” Or you can just sit down and listen to the music in your head.

Fears: What is your musical background? Do you have family members that are also musicians?

Kenny: Nah man.

Fears: Then what inspired you to pick up the guitar?

Kenny: I bought Kiss Alive II in 1977 and that was it from there.

Fears: Would you support your children if the wanted to delve into the music industry?

Kenny: Of course. My daughter has a beautiful voice. She’s got a lot of talent.

Fears: Even with Dead Again just being released in March of this year, I would think thoughts of the band’s next endeavor is always looming. Have plans already begun with regard to the follow up to Dead Again?

Kenny: No. We’re going to support this (Dead Again) and when it’s over, we probably won’t see each other for at least a month.

Fears: Are breaks from each other necessary? Do you feel like the tension at times is tearing you all apart?

Kenny: It’s always tearing us apart. This is a loonie bin dude (laughing). We are well known in the industry (laughing). “Oh I hear you are going out with the band Type O’ Negative. They’re fuckin’ nuts.’

Fears: Are you happy with the choices you have made in your career?

Kenny: Some of them.

Fears: If you had a chance to turn back the hands of time, which choice would you reconsider?

Kenny: First of all, I wish we didn’t climb just half way up the ladder and that we would have gone all the way up. That’s number one. Number two, I wish we could have done that without drug addiction or alcohol addiction.

Fears: I want to show you images of various Type O album covers. Please provide your thoughts on each.

Kenny: October Rust was like what I would see is the beginning of the decline. Not musically, but just as like, uh, as a working band. A lot of problems started coming into the mix. Drugs and this and that and this was a direct outcome of that – World Coming Down . And this is a brilliant album (The Least Worst Of ). I think it’s brilliant. This is one of my favorite Type O albums even though I know it’s a pretty big pill for most people to swallow. But it’s got a lot of emotion in it and reality and truth.

This is a turd that Roadrunner made us put out to finish our contract. This is my least favorite Type O Negative album, Life is Killing Me . I think it’s basically, besides anesthesia, a piece of shit. This (Origins of Feces ) reminds me of when my career was first starting. I was 25 years old and had been working on it since I was 14. I was working on trying to be a musician. I finally got on the road and it was a disaster.

Hell, our first tour was with Biohazard and Exploited in ’91 and we just basically toured our ass halfway across the country until Peter just couldn’t deal with it anymore – it was a van tour. He fucking flipped out. He said, “That’s it, I’m going the fuck home.” This is after Exploited canceled a number of shows. And he (Peter) just couldn’t deal with the chaos and the disorganization of it.

I’ll never forget in Kansas, this is where we clicked our heels and went home, I walked out of the hotel and Peter was sitting on top of the van with this crazy look (laughing) on his face. I said, ‘It’s over.’ Then we proceeded to try to go to Europe and in Europe they didn’t like some of the lyrics to the songs.

The Germans felt that they (the lyrics) were right-wing and like Nazi lyrics. So not only did they cancel the shows, but they were threatening bomb threats, they broke the windows in the bus, we almost got beat up a couple of times in the streets of Malin. Then we went to Holland and all those shows got canceled too because they called us sexists. They called us sexists because of the “Slut Whore Cunt” (lyrics from the 1991 release Slow Deep and Hard from the song Unsuccessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty Of Infidelity). In one town, the mayor of the town ordered the show closed and stopped.

See now, this is the beginning of my career that I had worked sixteen seventeen years to see my dream come true and that’s what that album (Origins of Feces) is about.

Fears: And finally, Dead Again . What are your feelings about this cd?

Kenny: A lot of hard work it was. I don’t know why, but it seemed like a bigger task than all the rest. I see it as a revival, artistically, for the band. I think it’s a good album. It’s definitely one of the better albums.

Fears: Does the hunger or drive to continue to top your last effort or progress in your guitar playing ever go away? I ask this because out of hungriness, a band’s best work can be created, such as new bands wanting to get signed. They are going to put everything they have into their debut cd to get signed and fulfill their dreams of stardom on the road.

Kenny: No, absolutely not. In fact I’ve got a whole other band on the side called, Seventh Void that I’m in the middle of recording right now and I’m going to be delivering it to Vinnie Paul (of Pantera fame) in between his “Hell Yeah” tour.

Fears: Really? Vinnie Paul?

Kenny: Oh yeah, Vinnie’s working it. He’s mixing it. He loves the stuff. It’s real heavy (pause) just hard rock. He will probably release it on his label.

Fears: And when do your fans get to hear the finish product?

Kenny: I would say, probably, at the end of the year.

Fears: Do you ever find yourself splintered between your projects?

Kenny: Not Yet.

Fear: Are there elements of Type O Negative or is it an entirely different feel and sound?

Kenny: Oh no, it sound totally different than Type O. I mean there is some Type O influences, there’s got to be because I’ve played in the band for seventeen years.

Fears: I want to change gears here for the last part of the interview.

Kenny: Okay

Fears: Fears not only covers music, but also the movies as well. With that said, the horror movie industry is closely associated with metal music. Do you watch horror movies and if so, what are some of your favorite films?

Kenny: Oh I love that stuff. Ever since I was a little kid I grew up watching Creature Features. I used to stay up ‘til 2 o’clock in the morning on Saturdays to watch Chiller Theatre. As for my favorite titles, there are just so many. I like the remake of The Thing. Hokey ones like, Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things. I like the real offbeat ones.

I think that for a long time, especially during the 90’s, the horror film genre really went downhill. Now they’re starting to make some stuff that’s just making the hair on my nape stand up. I take my ten-year-old daughter to see this stuff as well if I feel the movie is appropriate. Whatever the newest horror flick is, we go see on Saturday nights. What I hate is when they do this hokey computer animation shit and it just doesn’t look real. Did you see the remake of The Hills Have Eyes?

Fears: Of course.

Speaking of graphic...

Check out more about the band at: http://www.typeonegative.net and Road Runner Records

And become a Friend at Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/typeonegative

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