August 28 [12:00 EDT] -- Type O Negative are certainly one of the more contentious bands out there judging by their unabashed interviews, hellish looks, dark goth songs, kinky videos and backstage fights with tourmates and management.

The band is fronted by the very large Lurch-like Peter Steele on bass with Josh Silver on keyboards, Ken Hickey on guitar and John Kelly on drums. They're a mixture of goth, metal, industrial, psychadelia and alternative, referred to by Steele as "gothadelic."

Steele is a self-professed capitalistic goon and responsible for most of the controversy, much of it sexual. Every inch of his 6' 6" frame appeared nude in Playgirl in '95. He's no shrinking violet with his clothes on, either--his iron fist is legendary, at least when it comes to business. ("We're four d**ks and that's the way we want to be," says Steele).

Type O Negative has been recording in some form or another since the early 1980s. They released their fourth album, "October Rust," last fall, a follow-up to 1993's "Bloody Kisses." The band spent the summer on the road with Ozzfest, now officially deemed the hottest festival tour of the season by Pollstar magazine.