Soul On Fire - the Peter Steele biography

[chriswareham]

This year's surprise Christmas present from my wife was a copy of the recently released biography of Peter Ratajczyk, better known as Peter Steele. Not seen much mention of him on this site, but he was the bassist, lead vocalist and songwriter of several influential bands culminating with Type O Negative. He's been a musical inspiration to me and as a fellow tall gangly, guy the amazing physique he had in his prime was also a spur to me getting into lifting weights in a serious way. That's something that probably saved my life when I suffered a life threatening illness that went undiagnosed for several years - the specialists said it was only my fitness that kept me going for so long before I was ultimately hospitalised.

I'm about halfway through the book, and so far it's been a cracking read. Peter absorbed the pop and rock that his five sisters played, but his musical epiphany was when one of them started playing early Black Sabbath albums. He then went on to record a début single with future Type O Negative band mate Josh Silver under the name of Fallout before forming Carnivore. Their early music stood out amongst the other thrash bands of the time thanks to the occasional reflective interludes and unusual lyrics that revolved around a post-apocalyptic theme. Then he started to absorb NYHC (New York Hard Core) influences, which mixed punk with metal. As before, Carnivore stayed distinctive with Peter's unusual lyrics and stentorian vocals.

He continued to absorb an eclectic mix of influences such as industrial, metal, goth and pop, but Carnivore ground to a halt. He formed what eventually became Type O Negative, initially using songs he'd intended for a third Carnivore album. The band got into a lot of bother in Europe due to some people taking the cathartic and personal lyrics at face value (despite people saying us Europeans do irony and sarcasm better than the Yanks). Then the band came back with a series of incredible albums that became more and more absorbing before Peter's untimely death in 2010 at the age of 48.

There's a lot to like about the book from a music perspective, as Steele was definitely someone who wrote about personal experiences from the heart, and it covers the complex reasons why. It reads like an honest account to me, and I think that's why Peter's sisters have now disowned it despite a lot of involvement - I think the author has done a good job of writing a realistic portrait of the man rather than papering over some of the deep problems he suffered from. As someone with Asperger's Syndrome, I do wonder if Steele had it but was undiagnosed, as I'm finding some surprising parallels with my own outlook on life and resulting experiences.

In summary, I'd strongly suggest checking this out - and that's from someone who has found all but two or three biographies or autobiographies of musicians to be a bit of a let down.

[dudewheresmybass]

Thanks for the heads up. I shall be checking this out

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I had no idea this book existed! One for the Amazon vouchers I think!
I love Type O Negative. Bloody love them. October Rust was one of the first 'modern' heavy albums I got into ( I was a bit of a Sabbath obsessive at the time - still am). A genuinely beautiful album. He's a very underrated bass player as well. Died on my birthday, would you believe.

[Anesthesia]

I’ve read the book and I myself have Asperger’s, he had it 100%. Every description of his behaviours, the obsession for details and order, his desire for isolation, special interests in different fields (from literature to maths and physics), even the way he liked to eat certain foods in very specific ways, or the fact that the other band members used to describe him as “controlling”, everything is so accurate that I had the strong feeling of reading a book about autism and not simply a biography.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

This thread is years old 🤦

Edited January 2 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

[Baloney Balderdash]

19 minutes ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

As a person who loves all things metal ( including aternative type metal etc) , I saw a video on tv many years ago from Type o negative . " I don't wanna be me " I think it was called . I thought it was great . Being pre internet, it was a time of checking reviews or taking a punt . I purchased the cd album with that track on it .

 

So I got it home expecting it to have at least a few decent tracks . I liked the green and black artwork at the time .

Unfortunately for me , I found it an awful depressing and confusing listen . I expected something with a bit of sparkle and energy .

Well , they were on raw power tv show which is metal after all . I tried a few more times to see if I could be too hasty in my judgement .

No ...it's awful crap imho ! Sorry to offend . 
 

I then stumbled upon a you tube clip last year of them playing an outdoor festival gig somewhere .

That was a mess . Mr Steele was stumbling about drinking a bottle of wine I think , and if I paid to see that  as a fan I would have disowned him / them . Professional they were not . I persevered for some time , and one or two good riffs do not make a good band .

 

Having said that , I do remember him being mentioned  as being on a porn star magazine  cover back in the day , and that he was living a full on rock lifestyle .  The book sounds like it would be a good read though . 

Try take a listen to their "Bloody Kisses" album, without doubt their easiest accessible album, even with a couple of big hits on it.

 

Also metal is much a broader genre than speed, power and trash metal.

 

Such as stoner, doom, sludge or even drone metal.

 

Plenty of energy in these genres, just not speed wise, instead they put the truly heavy in the metal.

 

It's a heft thing, rather than a speed thing.

 

And Type O Negative in general is to the darker and heavier side of the spectrum.

 

Also this is rock, not Celine Dion or Pavarotti. 

 

Edited January 2 by Baloney Balderdash

[Bassassin]

Holy necro-post! Quite appropriate for the subject matter I suppose. I almost bought this book for my partner (when we met back in '96 a shared love for The Drab Four was part of our early bonding!) but the general tone of the reviews & the fact it was disowned by Steele's family put me off.

 

@RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE - I saw them 4 or 5 times in the 90s/00s and they were always great live - the bottle of red wine was a stage prop/performance thing, the same as Pete endind a show by ripping the strings off his bass. From the gigs I saw they were never less than professional.

 

Musically their output was always uneven - the peak albums are the aforementioned Bloody Kisses & its follow-up October Rust. Subsequently I got the impression Pete was losing the black irony that had typified their best work & genuinely becoming absorbed by depression & his demons, and some of that stuff's a hard listen. Sadly his death didn't really come as a huge surprise.

 

 

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

6 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Try take a listen to their "Bloody Kisses" album, without doubt their easiest accessible album, even with a couple of big hits on it.

 

Also metal is much a broader genre than speed, power and trash metal.

 

Type O Negative in definitely in general puts the heavy in the metal.

 

Also this is rock, not Celine Dion or Pavarotti. 

 

Thanks for the suggestion . 
I do know rock BTW 🙂 . I have and have had stuff from cannibal corpse to Celtic frost etc .

I may checkout your recommendation though at some stage . Having said that , Pavarotti was cool and I have watched the three tenors on tv 👍  🙂

[Anesthesia]

2 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

This thread is years old 🤦

Sorry if I offended you by not reading the book before

[Geek99]

3 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

This thread is years old 🤦

Resurrection is not unusual here

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

47 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Resurrection is not unusual here

yes granted . 🙂 It was more of a memo to myself, as I and others have contributed to old threads in the past and they soon died off again . That's why I deleted my previous post here . Apologies to all offended . I will probably checkout the recommendation should I get the enthusiasm to do so 🙂

[Geek99]

43 minutes ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

yes granted . 🙂 It was more of a memo to myself, as I and others have contributed to old threads in the past and they soon died off again . That's why I deleted my previous post here . Apologies to all offended . I will probably checkout the recommendation should I get the enthusiasm to do so 🙂

Wasn’t offended at all. Just saying this one wasn’t due yet, had a couple more years in the metaphorical sherry cask to wait

Edited January 2 by Geek99

[Baloney Balderdash]

6 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Wasn’t offended at all. Just saying this one wasn’t due yet, had a couple more years in the metaphorical sherry cask to wait

Seems like you know disturbingly much about necromancy! 

[chriswareham]

15 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Holy necro-post! Quite appropriate for the subject matter I suppose. I almost bought this book for my partner (when we met back in '96 a shared love for The Drab Four was part of our early bonding!) but the general tone of the reviews & the fact it was disowned by Steele's family put me off.

 

From what I understand, the author insisted that the book be "warts and all", which Peter's sisters initially agreed to. The book covers the descent into heavy drug use that destroyed Peter's long term relationship, which then spiralled into violence and incarceration at a prison psych ward. Peter's sisters seem to have had second thoughts on reading this in the draft manuscript, but I've not heard anything to contradict the veracity of what was written in the book. The description of Peter's final hours is quite harrowing as well. Overall, the book could have benefitted from some better editing - the author is clearly a music journalist unused to longer form writing - but it struck me as honest and informative.

 

15 hours ago, Bassassin said:

@RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE - I saw them 4 or 5 times in the 90s/00s and they were always great live - the bottle of red wine was a stage prop/performance thing, the same as Pete endind a show by ripping the strings off his bass. From the gigs I saw they were never less than professional.

 

Saw them about eight times from the mid 90s onwards, and barring one show they were fantastic. The last Type O show I saw was on the disastrous tour where Peter was clearly very, very unwell. He only agreed to continue because the cancellation fees would have bankrupted them, and he almost died the night of the Birmingham show only to try and play the London one shortly after.

 

I then saw him at the Carnivore concert in London, and despite being in poor physical shape he seemed much more like the Peter Steele of old. I was a few feet from him, his humour was back and he seemed to genuinely happy to be playing to hard core fans at a small venue. It was a shock to hear of his passing not that long afterwards.

 

15 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Musically their output was always uneven - the peak albums are the aforementioned Bloody Kisses & its follow-up October Rust. Subsequently I got the impression Pete was losing the black irony that had typified their best work & genuinely becoming absorbed by depression & his demons, and some of that stuff's a hard listen. Sadly his death didn't really come as a huge surprise.

 

 

 

The later albums always had stand out tracks, but as you say they lacked the tongue in cheek humour of the earlier albums.

[Boondock]

On 01/01/2024 at 22:20, Anesthesia said:

I’ve read the book and I myself have Asperger’s, he had it 100%. Every description of his behaviours, the obsession for details and order, his desire for isolation, special interests in different fields (from literature to maths and physics), even the way he liked to eat certain foods in very specific ways, or the fact that the other band members used to describe him as “controlling”, everything is so accurate that I had the strong feeling of reading a book about autism and not simply a biography.

 

[Boondock]

I googled if he had Aspergers and it brought me here. Dude was sensitive and loved his cats among all the things you all have listed. I too believe he was misdiagnosed since it often is. Man was a sweetheart. Me and both my boys have Aspergers and when you live with it you tend to notice that touch of awesomeness in others. People greatly misunderstand it. 

[Maude]

I saw Type O Negative at Donington and Pete Steele played a doublebass on a strap like a regular bass and it didn't look absurb, such was his stature at the time. Absolutely huge but not in a fat way.