Every once in a while a celebrity/musician’s death has a huge impact on me. I’m always sad when people I like or enjoy pass away. Always. But, there are a few artists/musicians/”celebrities” whose work has touched me in a special way where their passing means a little bit more on a personal level. We can all relate to this. One of those musicians happens to be Peter Steele, lead vocalist/bass player for Type O Negative. Their music was incredible, moving, powerful, heavy, dark and beautiful. The band died w/ their lead vocalist on that day.

I’ll never forget getting the news that he passed. Tears flowed. I was extremely upset. Why? I had had a few conversations w/ Peter a few years before when I first got to Philadelphia at WMMR. There was something about him that was special. Peter was a wonderful human. He often put those he loved in front of himself. He was a blast to speak with. Sadly, I never got to shake his hand in person, but, my conversations with him were gold. My interview w/ Peter in 2008 following the release of Dead Again was so much fun. We laughed a lot. We also ended up sharing personal feelings regarding the passing of our fathers. It was powerful. That part was removed from the interview. Too personal for me to feel comfortable sharing. But, the rest of the conversation gives a feel for what a wonderful person Peter was. He had a great sense of humor and a great passion for life. He loved his family very very much. Peter was close to his bandmates and had a deep love for them. I can only imagine how crazy and fun both recording sessions and tours were with him. I think my favorite memory of Peter is the message he left on my voicemail one day. It went something like this. “Hello Markus (in his Brooklyn accent) It’s Peter. I’m downstairs. I’m coming up to kill you and fuck your girlfriend. Call me back.” I have it somewhere in my thousands of audio files. I hope this conversation w/ Peter brings back good memories for you also. Thank you for listening. RIP Peter Steele. Thank you for being who you were.

This was the repost of my 2008 interview after he passed: I know Peter passed away a few weeks ago, but, I finally found my interview/conversation with him. It was right before the Dead Again Tour came to Philly. It was supposed to be an interview, but, due to the fact that he was such an amazing person, the conversation went all over the place and the interview part disappeared. It may sound chopped and jump from place to place because there are some things that were edited and cut out of respect to his privacy and mine. We chatted a few times after this as well, and every conversation was amazing. Wanted to share this with you to show you how remarkable Peter was and how much he will be missed for not only his music, but his person as well.