Type O Negative will not reunite despite receiving substantial financial offers, according to guitarist Kenny Hickey, who spoke on HardLore podcast about the obstacles that make a reunion impossible.
Hickey explained the practical reasons why the band cannot come back together, even with money on the table. He addressed the difficulty of finding a replacement for late vocalist and bassist Peter Steele, whose distinctive playing style would be impossible to replicate.
“We’ve had offers, yes,” Hickey said. “We got offered one show for a lot of money. We couldn’t do one show for a lot of money. It’s such a large undertaking. It would have to be a lot of shows for a lot of money.”
He went on to describe the scale of work required to make a reunion happen. “To get the band back together, to figure the music out again, to get a visual going for the show, everything you would need, find a guy that can pull [Peter’s vocals] off with taste, never mind his bass playing. The bass playing is the hardest thing. There’s a lot of guys running around singing with a deep voice pretending they’re Peter, but play bass like him? Forget it. Nobody can play bass like him.”
Hickey acknowledged that while offers continue to arrive, a full reunion remains unlikely. “The offers are out there, but, logistically, it’s just not gonna happen now, if it ever happens. It’s not gonna happen. Well, it might happen. I never say never… [I don’t see it happening] outside of maybe a tribute show sometime in the future, if it can be logistically put together, yeah, and it’s viable doing.”
The remarks came as Hickey reflected on the practical and artistic challenges of reviving Type O Negative. His comments suggest that while some form of tribute might eventually be possible, a full reunion is not on the horizon.
Steele died on April 14, 2010, and in November 2010, the remaining members chose to dissolve the band. The decision reflected their belief that Steele was irreplaceable, with drummer Johnny Kelly stating at the time that Type O Negative died with him. The band’s last show together took place in Detroit on Halloween 2009.
For years after Steele’s death, band members held firm against any reunion possibility. Hickey and Kelly have both rejected the idea of the band continuing with a replacement vocalist, viewing such a change as impossible to execute. Their stance has remained consistent through the years, even as offers continued to arrive.
More recently, Hickey has opened the door to a different kind of project. He has expressed willingness to do tribute shows that would honor Steele’s legacy, saying he would bring in guest singers to perform the band’s catalog as a tribute. However, former keyboardist Josh Silver’s involvement would be crucial for such shows to happen. Silver retired from music after the band’s split and became a paramedic, and despite Hickey and Kelly’s efforts to convince him otherwise, he has reportedly shown no interest in returning to the stage under the Type O Negative name.
