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Rob Zombie

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Rob Zombie

Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12 1966[1]), better known as Rob Zombie, is an American heavy metal and industrial rock musician, director, and writer. His dreadlocks, gruff vocal style and fascination with Horror Movies have helped him become a distinctive element in American heavy metal. He is best known as founder, lead singer and songwriter for White Zombie. In recent years he has also established himself as a solo singer and film director. His directorial career began with the horror exploitation feature, House of 1000 Corpses, and its sequel, The Devil's Rejects, released July 22, 2005. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, an animated film based on his comic book series of the same name, is due for release in 2007.

Solo Career

In 1996, Rob Zombie collaborated with his long-time inspiration Alice Cooper on the song "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)" for the X-Files tie-in CD Songs in the Key of X. It was Zombie's first work outside of his band White Zombie. The song was nominated the Grammy for Best Metal Performance the same year, but lost to Nine Inch Nails for their song "Happiness In Slavery".

Rob Zombie formed his own solo band in 1998. John Tempesta (drums) came directly from White Zombie, and was joined by Mike Riggs on guitar and Rob Nicholson (Blasko) on bass. They recorded and released Rob's debut solo album, Hellbilly Deluxe, in 1998, produced by Scott Humphrey. This album contained the hit singles "Dragula", "Living Dead Girl" and "Superbeast". White Zombie dissolved after the release of Hellbilly Deluxe. Rob Zombie toured extensively to promote the debut album, releasing American Made Music to Strip By in 1999, an album of remixes from Hellbilly Deluxe.

Rob Zombie next released The Sinister Urge in 2001, again produced by Scott Humphrey. This release contained the singles "Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)", "Feel So Numb" and "Demon Speeding". While the album still featured Rob's signature heavy metal sound, it was also more experimental than Hellbilly Deluxe, such as including brass instruments on "Go To California."

Rob released his 1st greatest-hits album, Past, Present, Future, in 2003, containing hit songs both from his solo band and White Zombie. It also featured a new song ("Pussy Liquor"), covers (The Commodores' "Brick House" and The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop") and unreleased songs ("Two-Lane Blacktop" and "Girl on Fire").

After a 2002-2003 world tour, Mike Riggs and John Tempesta left Rob Zombie to form a similar band, Scum Of The Earth. This put plans for another tour or new album on hold for a while. However, between 2003 and 2005, Rob Zombie released 2 self-directed horror films, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects.

In 2006, Rob Zombie returned to the music world by recruiting former Marilyn Manson guitarist, John 5, and former Alice Cooper drummer, Tommy Clufetos. Blasko and Humphrey remained, and the 5 began recording Educated Horses, which was released in 2006.

Stylistically, Educated Horses is Rob's most experimental release. In contrast to the heavy metal sound of his first 2 albums, this one has a more alternative metal sound to it. The single "Foxy, Foxy" can be described as his most "party-going" song. The other 2 singles, "Let It All Bleed Out" and "American Witch", featured his signature heavy sound. It was also his 1st album to not contain heavy amounts of horror - either in the artwork, songs, or even his physical appearance (Rob Zombie is dressed in regular clothes on the album cover, and his dreadlocks are gone). However, the songs "Seventeen Year Locust" and "The Scorpion Sleeps" featured song topics of creepy-crawlies.

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection: The Best of Rob Zombie was also released in 2006 by his label, Geffen Records. It contains songs similar to his 1st greatest-hits album, but there are also songs on this release from Educated Horses. Sometime in 2007, Rob Zombie plans on releasing a White Zombie box-set and a Live CD/DVD, possibly containing footage from his most recent tour in 2006. He is currently not playing any concerts.

Though Blasko played on the album, he was not on the subsequent Educated Horses tour. He left to play bass for Ozzy Osbourne (he's done this before: in 2005, during Rob's musical hiatus). To fill in, Rob hired Piggy D. of Wednesday 13. Recently, Ozzy finished touring, and Blasko has mentioned that he wants to return with Zombie.

On May 31st, 2006, Rob Zombie was joined by guitarist Slash (Guns 'n' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Gilby Clark (formerly of Guns 'n' Roses) on rhythm guitar, Scott Ian of Anthrax on bass, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue on drums and special guest Ace Frehley of KISS also on lead guitar. The occasion was a 1-time supergroup tribute to KISS for the first annual VH1 Rock Honors Award Show. They played one song, "God Of Thunder," before handing it off to the honoree.

Rob Zombie has recently returned to the movie business. He contributed to the 2007 exploitation film Grindhouse, written by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. He directed a short, called Werewolf Women of the S.S.. He is also working on his 3rd film, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, based upon his comic series, 'The Adventures of El Superbeasto'. Unlike his first 2 films, this one is an animated film. It is also due for a 2007 release. Rob is also working on Halloween (film), a remake of the 1978 classic. It is due for release on August 31st, 2007.

Discography

White Zombie Discography

Studio albums

Other albums

References

  1. ^ Rob Zombie's year of birth is normally stated as 1966, but he gave his age as 41 during a May 2006 Howard Stern Show appearance.
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