Johnny Kelly will not sit still, but he has a very good reason. In 2010, when Type O Negative frontman Peter Steele passed away, Kelly was confronted with both the loss of his best friend and possibly his career. It was a shock to the system that has kept the drummer moving ever since. As Kelly puts it, at the time of Steele’s death, he had spent most of his adult life playing in Type O Negative, so he set out to find out where else his musical talents would lead him.
Turns out, Kelly has been quite prolific, having played with numerous bands throughout his now storied career, including Danzig, Quiet Riot, Silvertomb, A Pale Horse Named Death, and Kill Devil Hill.
Kelly’s latest endeavor, Eye Am, is a supergroup featuring members of Type O Negative and Crowbar. Along with Kelly, Eye Am consists of fellow Type O alumnus Kenny Hickey, Crowbar frontman Kirk Windstein, and former Crowbar bassist Todd Strange.
The band’s just-released first single, “Dreams Always Die with the Sun” (listen below) sounds like Black Sabbath meets the Beatles if they were opening for KISS in the 1970s.
Kelly checked in with Heavy Consequence via Zoom from his home in Texas on a rare break in his schedule to discuss the formation and future of Eye Am, as well as some interesting tidbits surrounding Type O Negative’s recent reissues.
With both bands known for their heavy down-tuned riffs, Crowbar and Type O Negative seem like such a natural pairing. How did Eye Am come about?
It was great to finally have the opportunity to work with Todd and Kirk. I’ve known them for years. All of us have been friends for, Jesus, like, 30 years now. Our paths have crossed many times throughout the years, but we never had the opportunity to play together. We kept up on social media, but it was [a mutual friend of ours] Andrew Spaulding, who came up with this idea to have us play together and record a song. He’s putting it out on his indie label Corpse Paint Records.