Gruesome imagery, a penchant for disembowelment and an otherwise unhealthy obsession with the occult has made shlock rocker-cum-slasher movie director Rob Zombie a proverbial poster boy for All Hallow's Eve. For the second time in six years, however, the Haverhill, Mass. native found himself sparking up his Yule log with a fellow decibel-deliverer from the dark side, Ozzy Osbourne, on a holiday trek that includes a Jan. 8 stop at Worcester's DCU Center and a Jan. 12 engagement at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun.
Your friendly neighborhood Nightcrawler was fortunate enough to gain access to a recent Zombie "teleconference interview," in which dozens of reporters plied the multimedia artists with queries in a round-robin format. Not surprisingly—particularly when considering his unique perspectives and the sheer longevity of his professional career—the rap session with Rob proved equal parts entertaining and enlightening. The following represent a few, choice highlights.
Zombie likes: Every tune he writes, apparently. When asked how he goes about putting his records together, Rob had this to say: "I mean, it's really funny. A lot of bands—and I don't know how they do it, God bless 'em—but they're always like, 'Oh, we wrote 50 songs and whittled it down to the best 12.' [On] literally ever record that I've ever made, those are all the songs we ever wrote."
Zombie dislikes: Price-gouging, noting that while touring is one facet of the business that is actually still profitable, "You're starting to see these that are really raping and pillaging the crowds" with tickets that are "$200, $300, $400 and $500. The industry just seems to be eating itself now, and it's kind of a bummer."
Zombie is deeply disconcerted about: Current trends in recorded music delivery to fans as well, to the surprise of few. "The downloads don't match the record sales, so you know most people are stealing everything," he says, later adding that this whole concept seems empty on some level in that one cannot walk up to an artist and inquire, "Can you sign my download?"
Ultimately, he concludes, "Record companies will all be out of business soon. They just can't support what they're doing anymore."
Speaking of Rob Zombie's likes, the Crawler also suspects that he may really have enjoyed the sounds and macabre style of fellow Bay Staters Angry Johnny & The Killbillies. Too bad he—or anyone else, for that matter—will never be able to catch the Killbillies live.
After more than a decade peddling a patented amalgam they call "American bloodgrass," the quirky quartet that purports to hail from "Killville, Mass." called it quits on Dec. 1, 2007.
For the official statement, a couple of farewell holiday mp3s and more, kindly point your browser to www.getangry.com.
In other break-up news, Piebald, with founding members from Andover, Mass., officially ended their decade-plus audio assault this summer. According to singer/guitarist Travis Shettel, via the band's website—www.piebald.com—however, the 2004 Warped Tour veterans are currently planning a farewell excursion for the spring of 2008.
In keeping with the Middle Eastern theme, the same venue in Cambridge will host the premiere of a Boston rockumentary titled Counting Backwards this Saturday, Jan. 5. The flick traces the origins of The Middle East club, as well as Fort Apache Studios and The Pixies, Throwing Muses, Dinosaur Jr., Morphine and more. The evening will include a birthday bash tribute to Fort Apache's Joe Harvard and a set by Noho faves Spouse.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
