Quiet Riot drummer Johnny Kelly talks to The Hair Metal Guru
METAL SLUDGE / November 10th 2026 – In his continued series of podcast interviews with some of rock n’ roll’s finest musicians, the 741st video from The Hair Metal Guru channel on YouTube is an interview with Johnny Kelly.
Kelly is the man behind the drum-kit in Quiet Riot since the passing of Frankie Banali who hand-picked Kelly himself to replace the legendary drummer.
He has also spent time on the road with Danzig and of course Type O Negative where he had his biggest success during the 1990’s.
Kelly shares a ton about his younger years growing up in Brooklyn New York and tells The Guru about his job history which included; being a mailman (for a year), a super market worker (for a summer), a roofer (for a day), a construction worker, a carpenter and an auto-mechainc too.
Kelly laughs as he runs down his list of work experience and admits to having every job imaginable… but… he makes note that he never worked at a McDonald’s or a Burger King.
“I never worked in fast-food.” Johnny Kelly
The Brooklyn native who now resides in Texas shares his highs and lows from his time in Type O Negative… including the death of the band’s frontman Peter Steele.
However, at the time of the singer’s death it came as a shock to Kelly… as he states his long-time friend and band-mate was actually sober at the time of his passing.
Kelly talks about on-going arguments, in-fighting from rehearsals to writing and recording or being on the road stating; “It always felt like the wheels were about to fall off the bus.. all the time.”
But regardless of the constant uncertainty within the Type O Negative camp, he tells it all hinting at good ole’ brotherly love… and then explains how things eventually changed for the better.
“When we were touring with Danzig, that’s when things really started to pick up. The band was selling a lot of records and we were getting a lot of (radio) airplay. MTV finally caved in and started playing our videos and Beavis & Butthead liked us,” says Kelly laughing.
Kelly continues; “They were goofing on Peter (Steele) which was fine, but they were goofing on it in a way that they liked it… and that kind of opened the flood gates.”
Guru then asks the drummer about his relationship with Banali, how he ended up with the gig in Quiet Riot and how it felt to get the nod to replace him.
“Frankie (Banali) was one of my influences as a kid… when I first started playing… “Metal Health” was it… I think I played “Bang Your Head” in the first band I was ever in,” says Kelly.
“We were friends,” adds Kelly… “A lot of it was on MySpace and stuff and we’d geek out about our vintage drums and talk like that.”
“When I would go to Quiet Riot shows (with Alex), we (Frankie and I) would talk more in person, it was more friendship then MySpace friends or Facebook friends. A lot of it had to do with (us) talking about vintage drums… he (Frankie) was really knowledgeable about old vintage (drum) kits; he was a great resource in that sense.”
Kelly on receiving the call to be anointed as the drummer to replace Frankie Banali; “I took it as an honor… cause Frankie… he’s a legendary drummer… he’s iconic in that sense… I thought it was pretty flattering that my name would get thrown into the mix as someone to carry-on his legacy.”
Watch the full near 2-hour interview with Johnny Kelly below as seen on The Hair Metal Guru.
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