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After etching his new blend of rock and metal sonics upon the unsuspecting
masses, Zombie again designed all of the media surrounding his new solo image
— from concert posters to t-shirts to comic books to music videos.
Additionally, he expanded his art direction to put on one of the biggest touring
stage shows in rock history, incorporating lights, video and pyrotechnics into
the set.
The Meld of Music and Visual
Even before blending his music world with film, Zombie was on a
visual plane with music. “I’ve always thought of music in a visual
way,” says Zombie. “I know the song is working when I start picturing
things in my mind. I know music does that for everyone when it’s finished,
but for me, that happens when I’m writing. And when I’m writing,
that’s always how I’ve always approached things.”
Drawing and
painting were two ever-burning embers in Zombie’s creative path toward
becoming a filmmaker, and ultimately these passions led him full circle —
through the music — to deliver him unto feature filmmaking.
“I’ve always done the artwork for all the t-shirts and album covers for
all these years — that was something I always loved to do,” he says.
“But then I always loved movies and music, and as a kid, you just want to do
everything. And at this point now, it’s like I really have the opportunity
to bring everything all together as one.”
The Zombie phenomenon quickly became so huge that comics and toy kingpin Todd
McFarlane made Zombie’s likeness into an action figure — which became
the best selling action figure ever.
Zombie’s Feature Film Directing Debut
But that wasn’t enough. Zombie took things even further, blazing his
hellfire trail straight into feature filmmaking, not only writing and directing,
but also acting in the slasher-from-hell film, “House of 1000 Corpses”
(HO1KC). Not so surprisingly, the film blends Zombie’s fixation with
1960’s exploitation and horror/sci-fi flicks with trash hot rod culture.
Following his feature film directorial debut, Zombie went on to make yet another
feature-level film — the sequel to HO1KC — called “The
Devil’s Rejects.” Both of Zombie’s films were distributed by
Lionsgate Films and “The Devil’s Rejects” film quickly made the
Top 10 DVD Rentals list alongside several higher-budget blockbuster films like
“Star Wars,” “Batman” and “Charlie and The Chocolate
Factory.”
Yet despite charging full-throttle into filmmaking, Zombie has
not betrayed his dedication to the sonic side of his identity, and still enjoys
recording and releasing records and playing his music out live. In fact, Zombie
just completed a new record, again working with tried-and-true, co-songwriter and
producer Humphrey at Humphrey’s elaborately designed and equipped recording
studio, The Chop Shop.
Next page: The Making of “Educated Horses” at The Chop Shop
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Rob Zombie
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Interviews