Former
WHITE ZOMBIE drummer
Ivan de Prume has commented on the upcoming release of a
WHITE ZOMBIE box set, tentatively due before the end of the year. He said, "Finally, man!! There is so much material before we were signed to
Geffen and put out
'La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1' [1992] and it shows an evolution of the band.
"When I joined the band at the age of 17, they had recorded one EP.
Sean [
Yseult, ex-
WHITE ZOMBIE bassist] and I had played together previously and when they needed a drummer, she called me. I was listening to bands like
METALLICA,
SLAYER, and, of course, the
BEASTIE BOYS, who were busting out in New York at the time. We all brought different influences to the table. I was still in high school and just wanted to play drums and had definitely not refined my writing technique or my playing yet. We worked hard, played a lot, and tried to put songs together but we were all really young at making music. I'm sure you'll be able to hear an evolution and growth as the band became more cohesive in what we wanted to do and learned to actually put it all together. This is the process that any young band goes through and I have really fond memories of those innocent times.
"We were a band who just wanted to make music and have it heard and we were lucky enough to be doing it at a time when the industry still responded to that.
"I know a lot of great musicians out there right now making exceptional music but that's not what motivates the industry anymore and I think that's a shame. I wish we could go back to the days where you could have a great sound and people would buy your records but instead we have a nation of people looking to 'American Idol' to tell them what's good. For now, I'll keep doing what I've been doing with my band
HEALER and know that we're being true to ourselves as musicians and hope that bands that are practicing the same philosophy continue to eke their way onto the airwaves and into people's lives."
Rob Zombie formed
WHITE ZOMBIE in the mid-'80s after moving from Massachusetts to New York's Lower East Side. The band slowly built a cult following and became stars in 1992 with its major label debut,
"La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1" and hit single
"Thunder Kiss '65".
The band broke up in the late '90s, with
Rob Zombie starting a successful solo career and pursuing his goal of writing and directing feature films. The singer told
The Pulse of Radio that younger fans of his solo albums don't always know that he was in
WHITE ZOMBIE. "I wouldn't normally think that but, like, if some kid's, like, 15, you know,
WHITE ZOMBIE had broken up as a band when the kid was, like, eight or something so he doesn't remember it," he said. "So there's always confusion, like, 'Hey, was he in that band?' and 'What songs should I listen to?'"
A previous career retrospective, 2003's
"Past, Present and Future", featured selections from both
WHITE ZOMBIE and
Rob Zombie's solo efforts.
WHITE ZOMBIE box set track listing:
01.
Gentleman Junkie02.
King Of Souls03.
Tales From the Scarecrowman04.
Cat's Eye Resurrection05.
Pig Heaven06.
Slaughter The Grey07.
Eighty-Eight/Fast Jungle08.
Gun Crazy09.
Kick10.
Memphis 11.
Magdelene12.
True Crime13.
Ratmouth14.
Shack of Hate15.
Drowning the Colossus16.
Crow II17.
Die Zombie Die18.
Skin19.
Truck On Fire20.
Future Shock21.
Scumkill22.
Diamond Ass23.
Demonspeed24.
Disaster Blaster25.
Murderworld26.
Revenge27.
Acid Flesh28.
Power Hungry29.
Godslayer30.
God Of Thunder31.
Love Razor32.
Disaster Blaster 233.
Welcome to Planet MF34.
Knuckle Duster35.
Thunder Kiss36.
Black Sunshine37.
Soul-Crusher38.
Cosmic Monster39.
Spiderbaby40.
I Am Legend41.
Knuckle Duster 242.
Thrust43.
One Big Crunch44.
Grindhouse45.
Starface46.
Warp Asylum47.
I Am Hell 48.
Children Of The Grave49.
Feed The Gods50.
Electric Head Pt. 151.
Super Charger Heaven52.
Real Solution 953.
Creature Of The Wheel54.
Electric Head Pt. 255.
Grease Paint And Monkey Brains56.
I Zombie57.
More Human Than Human58.
El Phantasmo59.
Blur The Technicolor60.
Blood Milk Sky61.
The One62.
I'm Your Boogieman63.
Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks and Cannibal Girls In a posting on his MySpace page,
Zombie writes, "Well, I am now holding the finished newly master
WHITE ZOMBIE box set in my hands. Yes, it is done! A long time coming but it is here. I'm not sure what the release day is yet, but it shouldn't be much longer. I'm pretty you'll be getting under your Christmas tree. All I can say is boy the early shit is whacked. I haven't heard some of these songs in over twenty years. I don't know what the hell we were thinking. Everything is included on this set. Over 4 and 1/2 hours of music plus tons of never before seen videos. Five discs in all."
Rob Zombie recently spent time in the studio working on material for his next studio album.
Zombie wrote in a May 2008 online posting, "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."
Zombie's next studio effort will follow up 2006's
"Educated Horses", which was his third solo CD. He also released his first concert recording,
"Zombie - Live", late last year. Although he's still apparently committed to making music,
Zombie recently told
Metal Edge magazine that the record labels are "dinosaurs waiting to die."
WHITE ZOMBIE performing
"More Human Than Human" live in Köln, Germany in 1995: