Rob Zombie

Heavy Metal Musician Rob Zombie: From Carnivals To Horror

Growing up in a carnival atmosphere, along with an interest in the counter culture of the 1960s and horror movies may have set the stage for Robert Cummings to enter the atmosphere of heavy metal and industrial rock. Boron in 1965, he and his brother Michael grew up on the road, children of carnival workers and after a short stint in college, Rob, better known as Rob Zombie work a short gig as a technician on Pee Wee's Playhouse before moving into his love of music.

His career in music has coupled him with some of the leaders of the heavy metal genre, as well as allowing him the opportunity to move into writing and directing of horror flicks.

Influenced by Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath, their styles continue to influence his music, beginning with his first band, White Zombie formed in 1985. After a revolving door of band members through the 1980s and several demos, the band finally broke through with the 1992 release of La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 with the hit cuts from the CD Thunder Kiss '65' and Black Sunshine.

Jay Yuenger, Sean Yseult and Ivan de Prume joined Rob Zombie on this effort. Heavy metal-style guitars and punk rock vocals worked with the groove rhythms to lift this album into public acceptance.

His love of horror movies came through during live performances with their horror-based props and the zombie costume that became his signature through his early career. Three years after the release of the first effort, Rob Zombie joined with new drummer John Tempesta, replacing de Plume on drums, to record his second album Astro-Creep: 2000, which produced the darker style hit More Human Than Human. Most of the punk rock influence disappeared on this recording with heavy metal-style the major flavor.

Rob scored a professional coup when he was able to collaborate with influential Alice Cooper in 1996, recording Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn), for the CD, Songs in the Key of X for a tie-in CD for the X-Files. Nominated for a Grammy Award that year, it was beat out by Nine Inch Nails for Best Metal Performance.

Zombie brought in John Tempesta on drums, guitar player Mike Riggs and bassist Rob Nicholson, better known as Blasko to record his inaugural solo band's CD Hellbilly Deluxe in 1998. Produced by Scott Humphrey this CD gave birth to the singles Dragula, Living Dead Girl and Superbeast. White Zombie dissolved with this CD's release and extensive touring helped promote the release of the CD American Made Music to Strip By, consisting of re-mixes from Hellbilly Deluxe.

In 2001, The Sinister Urge was released, another production with Scott Humphrey and still filled with Rob Zombie's heavy metal, also contained the inclusion of brass instrumentation, adding experimental sounds to the new effort. After two years, his greatest hits CD was released, Past, Present & Future, with songs from his solo efforts and White Zombie as well as the unreleased Two-Lane Blacktop and Girl on Fire.

Taking a hiatus from music, Rob Zombie directed and released two horror flicks, House of 1000 Corpses, and The Devil's Rejects. Both dark, sometimes comedic, films came with a western flavor, possibly influenced by Rob's interest in western movies while growing up on the road, coupled with this love of horror films.

He returned to the music business in 2005 and released Educated Horses with more of an alternative sound over his signature heavy metal that presented the over-riding sounds on his first albums. It also was the first effort to not show the influence of the horror genre in the songs, cover art and even Rob's well-known dreadlocks had disappeared.

Rob Zombie is currently working on a box-CD set of White Zombie music, scheduled for a 2007 release and may contain footage of his 2006 tour. Through the years, he has traveled the gauntlet of heavy metal musician, writer and director and has established himself as a leading influence on the music genre.