LIFE OF AGONY / ex-TYPE O NEGATIVE drummer Sal Abuscato recently discussed a number of subjects with MetalGeek, including late Type O frontman Peter Steele's intentions to reform CARNIVORE in 2010. An excerpt is available below.

Peter Steele died of apparent heart failure on April 14th:

Q: Did you ever regret leaving Type O Negative?

Abruscato: "Yeah, sure! There were some times after I left that I thought "Ah man, now they decide to do all these big tours…" The Type O albums after Bloody Kisses started to sound a little bit the same, but that’s just how Peter wrote. He did what he did as an artist. But for me, Bloody Kisses was the pinnacle. It had a lot to do with the chemistry at the moment, it became what it became."

Q: Did you at any point notice that Peter had a drug problem?

Abruscato: "Pete wasn’t doing drugs when I was in the band. That shit didn’t start until after I was gone. And I think if I was in the band, I wouldn’t have allowed it to get to him like it did. He used to be straight! All the time! He just used to drink a little bit. He used to criticise the rest of the band for smoking weed! He used to call us hippie drug addicts! When I heard about all that kind of crap (Peter’s drug problem) I couldn’t believe it!"

Q: When did you last see Peter?

Abruscato: "I saw him in person in October when he did a show with Type O Negative. In February we were talking on the phone, because he wanted to do another version of Carnivore. And he had asked me to play the drums in that version of Carnivore. He wanted to play some shows in Europe now, in the summertime … so we were talking about that. Then I had to go to Europe for a couple of weeks with Life Of Agony. When I came home I got this phonecall … that he passed away. I was at the wake every day and I went to the ceremony because I knew his sisters for a very long time. The funeral procession … being at the grave, everything. The last time I actually saw him was when I touched his shoulder when he was laying there in the funeral home."

Q: Did you think that Peter knew he could be facing death due to his previous drug abuse?

Abruscato: "I don’t think he did expect to die. There was things going on with him but I think death did surprise him at that very moment. He was nine months sober and he was clean and he wasn’t drinking and he was really working hard to get back on his feet and back on top with Type O, Carnivore and everything … nine months really working hard and that’s when he died. That’s from all the years of abuse, things that went wrong. He had some things going on inside his head which people didn’t know. His mind was restless."

Go to this location for the complete interview.