Robert Bartleh Cummings
[1] (born January 12, 1965), better known by his stage name, Rob Zombie
, is a Grammy-nominated American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the rock band White Zombie.
He currently lives in Woodbury, Connecticut. He married longtime girlfriend Sheri Moon in 2002, whom he also frequently features in his horror films. Zombie has also established a successful career as a film director, creating the movies House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects
, the 2007 remake of Halloween
and its sequel, and the upcoming Tyrannosaurus Rex
and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
.
He is the brother of Spider One (Michael David Cummings), lead singer for Powerman 5000.
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ROB ZOMBIE TICKETS
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Recording career
White Zombie (1985–1998)
White Zombie was an American
rock band named after the 1932 horror film
White Zombie
, which starred
Bela Lugosi. Based in
New York, White Zombie was originally a
noise rock band in the vein of fellow New York band
Sonic Youth and Texas Experimental Punk band
Butthole Surfers. White Zombie was known for combining heavy-metal music with driving guitar riffs (as on "
Super-Charger Heaven"), overlayed with lyrics heavily influenced by horror films and pseudo-Satanic imagery. Unlike other metal bands of the 1990s, White Zombie was almost exclusively a "fantasy" band, writing songs not about life, but about surreal fantasies.
Following their signing to Geffen Records, White Zombie achieved commercial success, with two 2x platinum albums and a large number of their songs featured in movies and TV shows (notably Beavis and Butthead). The group officially disbanded in 1998 shortly after the release of lead singer Rob Zombie's solo album
Hellbilly Deluxe
. In November 2008 Geffen/UME released
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, a 4 CD/1 DVD boxed set which includes 54 original studio recordings from White Zombie's career, almost all of the band's recordings. The package also contains nine music videos (including their breakthrough Grammy-nominated hit "Thunder Kiss '65"), and 10 live performances of such classics as "I Am Hell" from
The Beavis & Butt-Head Experience. In an interview
[2] to promote the release of Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Rob Zombie made it clear that a reunion with his White Zombie band mates was unlikely, saying, "I don't want fans to think it's the beginning of anything."
Solo career (1998–present)
In 1996, Zombie collaborated with
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 for a
Grammy for
Best Metal Performance the same year, but lost to
Nine Inch Nails for their song "
Happiness in Slavery". 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
Blasko (Rob Nicholson) on bass. They recorded and released Zombie's debut solo album,
Hellbilly Deluxe
, in 1998, produced by
Scott Humphrey. The album was a success, selling three million copies domestically. This album contained the hit singles "
Dragula", "
Living Dead Girl" and "
Superbeast". The
Dragula
title was inspired by the '60s TV series
The Munsters; the
DRAG-U-LA was a dragster built from a coffin driven by Grandpa.
Episode footage of the drag race was included in
House of 1,000 Corpses
. White Zombie dissolved after the release of
Hellbilly Deluxe
. Zombie toured extensively to promote the debut album, releasing
American Made Music to Strip By
in 1999, an album of remixes from
Hellbilly Deluxe
. Zombie next released
The Sinister Urge
in 2001 (the title taken from a 1961 film by
Edward D. Wood), 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 Zombie's signature
heavy metal sound, it was also more experimental than
Hellbilly Deluxe
, such as including
brass instruments on "Go To California." The album has been certified platinum.
Zombie released his first greatest-hits album
Past, Present & Future
, in 2003, containing hit songs both from his solo band and White Zombie. It also featured 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 Zombie to form a similar band,
Scum of the Earth. This put plans for another tour or new album on hold. Instead, between 2003 and 2005, Zombie released two self-directed horror films,
House of 1000 Corpses
and
The Devil's Rejects
.
In 2005, 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 five began recording
Educated Horses
, which was released in 2006. Stylistically,
Educated Horses
is Zombie'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 metal sound. It was also his 1st album to not contain heavy amounts of horror—either in the artwork, songs, or even his physical appearance (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. Following the release of the album he toured the U.S. with
Lacuna Coil.
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
. In 2007 Zombie released his first Live CD, which was supposed to be accompanied by a live DVD & picture booklet. So far, only the CD has surfaced. Blasko, Zombie's bass player, left the band after the Educated Horses Tour, shortly before the American Witch Tour (The 2nd leg of the tour), to play bass with
Ozzy Osbourne. To fill in, Zombie hired
Piggy D. of
Amen and
Wednesday 13 fame as a permanent replacement.
On
May 31,
2006, Zombie was joined by guitarist
Slash (
Guns N' Roses,
Velvet Revolver),
Gilby Clarke (formerly of
Guns N' Roses) on rhythm guitar,
Scott Ian of
Anthrax on bass,
Tommy Lee of
Mötley Crüe on drums and special guest
Ace Frehley of
Kiss also on lead guitar. The occasion was a one-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. Zombie then went on tour with Ozzy Osbourne.
Zombie has also started work on a currently untitled follow-up to 2006's Educated Horses. In may of 2008 he posted an update on his website stating: "Well, we have for the first time ever written more songs than we need for an album. Everything isn't 100% finished, but everything is moving along great. No release date yet." In August 2008, a new (instrumental) song entitled "Tyrannosaurus Rex" , featuring John 5 on guitar, was uploaded onto Zombie's MySpace music page. In an interview published in December 2008, Zombie spoke about his new band lineup ( John 5, Piggy D, and Tommy C), and how happy he was with his new band members, saying, "I've never had a band that I could call my good friends until now
[2]."
Zombie has his own official
Youtube channel, which he created on 12 December 2005. He has two "blog" videos explaining his tours and another one wishing his fans a happy
Halloween. On the latter video, Zombie recommends Halloween horror videos to his fans. Rob Zombie recently released a new single entitled "
War Zone" from the
Punisher: War Zone
soundtrack. The song entitled "The Great American Nightmare" is the opening theme for the
Howard Stern Show on
Sirius Satellite Radio. Rob Zombie's new album is rumored to be released in 2009. Piggy D. stated on a Metal Messiah Radio interview with DJ Lovely Laura that the band had been working on material since February 2008 and the album had been finished since late December of 2008 with no release date yet.
Rob Zombie is scheduled to perform at
Japan's
Loudpark Festival in October 2009 along with
Megadeth,
Judas Priest,
Slayer,
Arch Enemy,
Children of Bodom, & . He is listed on the Loudpark Festival website (). This is his first performance in almost two years.
John 5 gave an interview to Artisannews.com on May 28th 2009 about the new album saying, "It's finished. We do not have a title but it is finished and mixed. Not mastered but it is unbelievable. He says and people say it's his best work. So, I love it." He also stated that it should be out sometime later in the year. Rumored song titles (from MTV.com) are "Jesus Frankenstein" and "Sick Bubblegum"
Rob Zombie appeared on "
The Howard Stern Show" on August 18, 2009 saying the new album is complete, although he has not yet set a title, and scheduled for release on November 10.
Film and television
Film career
House of 1000 Corpses
was Rob Zombie's directorial debut and his first horror film. Zombie wrote the screenplay as well as directing the film. It took four years to make (1999–2003), and was finally released by
Lion's Gate Films in 2003, after Stacy Snider, then-head of
Universal Pictures, sold the film to them. It featured a great deal of violence and gore. The movie told the tale of a group of unlucky teenagers who stumble upon the Firefly Family, a family of sadistic and vicious murderers. The film was shot in a surreal and over-the-top style that alternated between dark and campy humor. The film was mostly panned by critics but had its share of fans.
The ''House of 1000 Corpses
sequel,
The Devil's Rejects, which Zombie also wrote and directed, showcased a much different style. Whereas
House
was at times comedic and bizarre,
Rejects
was darker, more serious and grittier. Released in 2005,
Rejects
had the Firefly Family on the run from the law and a particularly vengeful sheriff whose brother had been murdered by them in the first film. It had a higher critical reception than
Corpses
. Zombie contributed to the 2007 exploitation film
Grindhouse, by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino by directing a faux trailer, called
Werewolf Women of the S.S.'', starring his wife, exploitation veterans
Udo Kier and
Sybil Danning, and
Nicolas Cage, who appeared free for fun.
Zombie next wrote and directed
Halloween
, a
reimagining of the
1978 classic that was released
August 31,
2007. Although it was a success and opened at number #1 at the box office with $26 million, it registered only 27% at
Rotten Tomatoes.
[4] It would go on to gross over $78 million, his biggest hit yet and the highest grossing "Halloween" film of all time (when not adjusted for inflation).
Zombie is the executive producer of the forthcoming animated film
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
, based upon his comic book series,
The Adventures of El Superbeasto
(which appeared in his
Spookshow International
comic book).
The film is due for a 2009 release. It features Paul Giamatti, Zombie's wife
Sheri Moon, and Rosario Dawson.
Zombie directed a sequel to
Halloween
entitled
Halloween II
, which was released on August 28, 2009. Filming began on February 23, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia with Tyler Mane returning as Michael Myers.
[5] Zombie will next be directing a new movie for Dimension Films known as
Rob Zombie's Tyrannosaurus Rex
. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto is officially announced with a Sept. 22nd release date. Piggy D stated that the new album would be shortly there-after. In an interview at Comic Con 2009 with his younger brother Spider One of Powerman 5000, Zombie stated that his album would be released in October with a tour following.
Variety
Magazine announced the weekend before the release of 'Halloween II' that Zombie will be directing a remake of the 1950s/1980s films "The Blob" .
[6]
TV host
On Friday,
October 13,
2006, Zombie became the host of
TCM Underground
on the
Turner Classic Movies channel. It premiered with the screening of a double feature of
Ed Wood's
Plan 9 From Outer Space
and
Bride of the Monster
. Until January 2007, Zombie hosted a different double bill every Friday night at two in the morning.
[7] He also hosted Fearfest '08 for
AMC, counting down eight horror films before and during
Halloween.
Music Video Direction
Zombie is responsible for the direction of all
White Zombie's music videos, with the exception of "
Black Sunshine," "
Thunder Kiss '65," and "
Welcome to Planet Motherfucker," as well as all of the videos during his solo career. He has even lent a hand to other artists, directing the videos for
Ozzy Osbourne's "
Dreamer,"
Black Label Society's "
Stillborn,"
Powerman 5000's "Tokyo Vigilante #1,"
Prong's "
Rude Awakening," and The
Ghastly Ones' "Hauling Hearse" (who were signed to Zombie's own record label
Zombie-A-Go-Go Records).
Filmography
- 2003: House Of 1000 Corpses
- 2005: The Devil's Rejects
- 2007: Halloween
- 2009: Halloween II
- 2009: The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
(animated)
- 2010: The Blob
- 2011: Tyrannosaurus Rex
Discography
- 1987: Soul-Crusher
- 1989: Make Them Die Slowly
- 1992: ''La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1
- 1995: ''Astro Creep 2000
- 1998: Hellbilly Deluxe
- 2001: The Sinister Urge
- 2006: Educated Horses
- 2009: Untitled
Solo band members
;Current lineup
- Rob Zombie – lead vocals (1997–present)
- John 5 – guitars (2005–present)
- Piggy D. – bass (2006–present)
- Tommy Clufetos – drums, percussion (2005–present)
;Previous members
- Mike Riggs – guitars (1997–2003)
- John Tempesta – drums, percussion (1997–2003)
- Blasko – bass (1997–2006)
References
- Rocker Zombie does horror in Halloween
- Rob Zombie: All Boxed Up
- Rob Zombie: All Boxed Up
- http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1179254-halloween/ Halloween review on Rotten Tomatoes
- Zombie making "Halloween" sequel
- {{cite web|url=http://weblogs.variety.com/bfdealmemo/2009/08/zombie-remakes-the-blob-.html
- TCM 2006-2007 Programming Slate