Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie (born Rob Cummings on January 12, 1966 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA) is a solo singer and formerly the lead singer of the heavy metal group, White Zombie. With his dreadlocks, gruff vocal style and fascination with B-movies, he has become a distinctive element in American heavy metal. He is probably best known as founder, lead singer and songwriter for White Zombie, as well as being a solo artist in his own right. However, in recent years he began directing movies and videos, including his debut horror exploitation feature, House of 1000 Corpses, and its sequel, The Devil's Rejects, released July 22nd, 2005.

Major Label Years

White Zombie only released two major studio albums, but their impact was enormous and their fan base loyal. In 1992 La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1 became an underground smash, shifting more than 1 million units in America alone. Released through Geffen, its combination of low-slung bass, metal guitars, industrial production and Zombie’s half-growled, half-barked lyrics about monsters, liquor and souped-up street racers caught the public imagination. Along with Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, White Zombie mixed heaviness with a shamelessly danceable beat and a sleazy sensibility. Yseult became an inspirational figure to a generation of young female rock and metal fans by not playing on her sexuality, only her bass. Zombie, on the other hand, became a more unique figure than ever. With the financial backing of a major label, he could take his vision further than ever before, and play to a bigger audience. White Zombie live shows became famous for big visuals and amazing showmanship, helping to catapult them from cult status to stadiums. However, during this round of touring, Zombie and Yseult split up.

Related Topics:
Nine Inch Nails - KMFDM - My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult

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In 1995 White Zombie released their second studio album for Geffen, Astro-Creep: 2000 songs of love, destruction and other synthetic delusions of the Electric Head. The music was credited to White Zombie and again all lyrics and the sleeve art came from Rob Zombie. By this stage, only Rob and Sean survived from the original line-up, boosted by the returning J. on guitar and former member of Bay Area thrashers Testament John Tempesta on drums. Tempesta, whose brother Mike played guitar for Zombie’s brother Spider’s outfit Powerman 5000, replaced Phil Buerstatte, who had replaced Prume during the La Sexorcisto tour. Buerstatte never made a studio recording with the band.

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Astro-Creep continued in La Sexorcisto’s mould with songs about drag racing, robots and evil clowns. However, many initially regarded it as lacking the freshness of La Sexorcisto and rumours quickly circulated that there were problems within the band. However, others argued that this was the densest metal album in decades. Much of the recording session had been Zombie creating fake samples from fictitious B-movies – in part, an act of necessity, as rights approval for some samples on La Sexorcisto had lead to delays in its release. In part, however, this was Zombie taking the opportunity to fulfil his vision for the band. Zombie’s collage approach to production seemed to use the music of the band less as a base to work from and more as a component of the finished mix.

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In interviews, the others would admit that they often did not understand exactly what he was trying to achieve – in conversation with Pulse!, Tempesta admitted that “a lot of that is up to Rob. You’ve just got to trust him”. A sign of Zombie’s commitment to the project was to be found when he submitted a proposed 16-page art layout for the cd insert booklet. When Geffen agreed only to pay for 4 pages, Zombie paid for the additional 12 himself, rather than make a compromise.

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The following tour was to cement White Zombie’s reputation as one of the most inventive and outrageous bands in 90s America. Giant puppets, pyrotechnics and projected visuals made some describe them as the true successors to Kiss. There was some disappointment on the European leg of the tour that they were not bringing, due to expense, the full US stage show with them, but warm reviews of the stripped-down shows proved that they were still a successful rock act, minus all the stage theatrics.

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A follow-up remix album, Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds, was released in 1996 but this was to be the final White Zombie release.

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