Type O Negative are currently hard at work mixing their forthcoming album ‘The Dream Is Dead’… we interrupted to grab a few words with Josh Silver. What’s behind that title? Josh elaborates, “Peter chose it. I think it’s pretty appropriate seeing as it’s our last album for Roadrunner under this contract. I don’t think people realise sometimes how much real work and effort goes into making music, it’s not just one non-stop party. I guess it’s also about perhaps not getting to the level we’d hoped for – being financially secure etc. In 5 years time we’ll probably have all gone back to normal jobs… stacking shelves, whatever.” How long will the mixing take? “A day or a month,” he grins “depends how serious we get! If Monte [Conner, TON’s A&R man at Roadrunner] grows hair we’ll mix even faster! You should put that up, he loves to be immortalised… hell, I’ll tell myself.” So no rest for the wicked then? “I’m too tired to be wicked, I’m just moderately sublime right now!” he laughs. Can you give us the lowdown on some of the new tracks? “Sure,” he says obligingly, “let’s see… A Dish Better Served Cold “This used to be called Truth Decay. Ya know, a play on tooth decay. Did you get that though? We changed it, the joke was based too much on language, people wouldn’t get it. I actually prefer Truth Decay though.” Nettie “This is about Peter’s mother. He has deep feelings about watching her suffer. He’d like to remove all her pain like we’d like to prevent our parents hurting in any way. At least if you’re somewhat sane.” Valentines Day “This is pretty self-explanatory really. It’s a typical Type O kinda theme. Love stinks.” I Like Girls “Hah! This is a spoof about Peter having a gay man try to pick him up. It’s very tongue in cheek. That’s what I miss from some of the other stuff we’ve done. Type O was a mix of tradegy and comedy, a lot of humour. Some of the lyrics from this will definitely piss people off. Actually, this is one of my favourite tracks.” He pauses to say, “I think this album is a more ecletic bunch of material than the last couple of albums. Some of it’s punky, some of it’s slow, some of it’s in the middle. It’s a good mix. It wasn’t planned, it’s just what has come together. We have an identity, a sound, and I like that. It’s better than being generic. The ones who really did the rap + metal thing well were Rage Against The Machine. The only thing new about nu-metal is the haircut.” Angry Inch (cover from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) “You wanna know what this song is all about? Just wait until the next Playboy spread comes out… ha ha ha. Seriously, we just really liked this, we tried a couple of others but they didn’t work as well. It has the comedy and tradegy going on.” “Some other song titles include Anesthesia, I Don’t Want To Be Me, Electrocute, Above All Things, Life Is Killing Me… ah, I’m sorry,” he apologises tiredly, “I was up at 2 with my kid, and she’s learning to say ‘No’ all the time, just like a musician.” I commiserate. They (whoever they are) say being a parent’s rewarding, but they never tell you about the lack of sleep involved. Josh deadpans, “Ah that’s ok, I’ve been working with infants since I was in this band, so at least this one’s cute!” More to come.