One on One with Rob Zombie
Interview
ROB ZOMBIE is one of the busiest people in show business today. His underground hits “Thunder Kiss ‘65” and “More Human Than Human” put him on the road to superstardom down more than one path. The Hollywood resident has sold over 15 million records to date beginning with his hugely popular rock band White Zombie in 1992 prior to branching out on his own with hits like “Dragula” and “Never Gonna Stop”. He can also add music video director to his long resume. Not only has he directed videos for his own band (including the award-winning ‘Human’), but also for legends like Ozzy Osbourne. With his current line up of musicians (featuring ex-Marilyn Manson guitarist John5), Zombie just keeps getting more and more popular around the globe.
He recently decided to take on the daunting task of the next “Halloween” feature film, set for release October of next year. His animated movie “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto” is due out in 2007 as well. He will also host the weekly show “TCM Underground” for Turner Classic Movies showcasing horror and cult classics.
Zombie, an extremely friendly, giving individual (and vegetarian since 1980 – who knew! Okay, well I did…), granted The Tolucan Times a rare and exclusive interview while on his American Witch Across America tour supporting his latest release “Educated Horses”, which debuted at No. Five on the Billboard charts. The CD has already gone gold and spawned the bone fide hits “American Witch” and “Foxy Foxy”.
Denise Ames: Of all your projects which is the biggest challenge?
Rob Zombie: Movies are the biggest challenge. They are the most difficult because they involve so many people and they are incredibly hard to get off the ground. They are kind of like a giant boulder: it’s possible to get it moving, but once you do it starts rolling down hill and moves too fast! You know, making records and all that – I’ve been doing that for so many years, that it’s not a big deal.
Ames: You are starting to become more main stream popping up on “Jimmy Kimmel” and “The Tonight Show”, getting onto more mainstream radio vs. strictly heavy metal underground, etc. Why do you think that is?
Zombie: I don’t even know if it is now. I mean, it may just seem that way. Even with White Zombie, we were on “Dave Letterman” a million times. Those are the types of things I don’t even pay attention to - I don’t even notice.
Ames: Why call your current tour “The American Witch Tour”?
Zombie: Oh just because it was the name of the single at the time and I liked how it sounded.
Ames: How is it going on tour with John5?
Zombie: Oh, it’s great! We have the best time. I wouldn’t even bother doing it without John. John is sort of like the reason why I wanted to keep doing music. We got together and it was such a blast. I love working with John.
Ames: What happened to [band mates] Riggs and Blasko?
Zombie: I don’t know what happened to Riggs and Blasko is off in Ozzyworld. We replaced [Blasko] with a new guy, Matt Montgomery. He’s f**n awesome and he’s going to stay!
Ames: Godsmack will be joining you on the road…How did that come about?
Zombie: It was just one of those things; I don’t know how it came up. One day, my booking agent told me ‘Godsmack called – they want to know if you want to do a tour together’. I was like, ‘okay’. It really was just as simple as that. (Laughs)
Ames: Do you talk to anyone from White Zombie?
Zombie: No, I don’t talk to them. Haven’t talked to anyone since the band broke up, I don’t have anyone’s phone number, I don’t know where they live and I don’t know what any of them are doing. (Laughs)
Ames: How are you going to approach the new “Halloween” movie?
Zombie: Well obviously there is not going to be any comedy concerning “Halloween”. The way I want to approach the film is very different than “House of 1,000 Corpses” and “The Devil’s Rejects”. I want to make “Halloween” a very dark, very serious film because that is just the way I see it. That was why I was attracted to it. I wanted to do something that stands apart from what John Carpenter did, a different type of approach. Not that he did comedy, but I see it as a very dark somber movie.
Ames: Will Sheri (Moon Zombie – his wife) going to be in the film?
Zombie: I haven’t cast anybody yet, but I’m sure we will work together, yes. She won’t be playing the Jamie Lee Curtis part though because the movie is going to be very different.
Ames: How did your fascination with horror start?
Zombie: I was just a little kid watching TV, it was just a great time for horror and I think it just hooked me. It was the late 60’s with things like “The Munsters”, “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits” and “Creature Double Feature” and all that. That stuff is pretty attractive to a kid!
Ames: What happened to you doing Universal Studio’s Citywalk Haunted House?
Zombie: They stopped doing that with anybody. I did it for two years and they just stopped; I don’t know why. They used to do their Halloween Nights and... now they don’t!
Ames: How did you get Paul Giamatti to do ‘El Superbeasto’? (He plays the villain)
Zombie: We were working with this company IDT [Entertainment] and Phil Roman on “El Superbeasto”. One of the producers over there had produced the movie “Robots”, which Paul Giamatti was in. He knew Paul, said he’d run it by him and see if he’s interested…and he did and he was! It was great. I only worked with him for one day because he was so good that he came in and nailed all the stuff in just a day. It was a blast and he is just an awesome, awesome guy. I’d love to work with him again.
Ames: You recently made the segue from radio to television hosting – on TCM. How did that come about?
Zombie: It is the same weird thing as the Godsmack tour. Somebody called and said, ‘Hey, we want to talk to Rob about doing this TV thing for Turner Classic Movies. Do you think he’ll be interested?’ I was on tour during Ozzfest and when I got to Atlantic City, which is the home of TCM, I met with all the producers and we talked about the show. That’s how it happened.
Ames: Besides the tons of projects you have got on your plate, do you have anything else coming up?
Zombie: The main thing going right now is working on “Halloween”, working on putting out a 20th century masters compilation of all my records, working on a White Zombie box set, and working on a new album with my new band, John5 included.
Ames: Do you run your myspace or even look at it?
Zombie: Oh yea, it’s ALL me! Who else would it be? (Laughs) All the guys in the band have one and most run our own. It’s fun because we like interacting with the fans. It is kind of a new experience as I have never been on tour with something like a myspace in existence; it’s cool to play a show and take pictures with kids. The next day you go online and they are telling you about their experience at your show. It’s a really good way to know just what the hell is going on!
Rob Zombie is playing the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine on September 30th. For more information on him please visit www.robzombie.com and www.myspace.com/robzombie.
Story and interview by Denise Ames
