I TALKED WITH A ZOMBIE

Rip It Up, Issue 215, 1 July 1995, Page 20

I TALKED WITH A ZOMBIE

And now, ladies and gentlemen, for your reading pleasure, we present White Zombie, the Interview, White Zombie, the Interview stars Sean Ysealt as the fearless interviewee, dealing with moronic questions in a typically laid back and totally cooool way.

Disappointingly Pleasant and Intelligent? Ice breakers — the Titanic was one and so is the question: What can you see outside the window? "I’m in a big warehouse armoury building, and there are no windows. We’re in Buffalo NY, and there’s no better place to play. The armoury really sucks.” Last time you were interviewed for this magazine, you were described as being ‘disappointingly pleasant and intelligent’. Please comment? “That’s a bizarre compliment. I don’t know who wrote that!” Enough idle chit chat. Let’s have some hard hitting rock and roll facts. Hard Hitting Rock Facts • Rob Zombie’s hair is real. It is not a wig. “It’s all real. We started the band together 10 years ago, and I’ve seen it grow.” • White Zombie are bugged by: “Hootie and the Blowfish — they’re very popular here and we can’t figure out why.” • How Sean sees the lads in the band. Rob Zombie: “Very much keeps to himself.” Jay the Guitarist: “Bouncy kind of guy. Fuelled on Caffeine.” John the Drummer: "He’s a kick arse kind of guy. The kind of guy you could slam a beer with." • Sean’s favourite movie is: “Spider Baby, and I’ve always loved Ed Wood movies. Harrhausen films, like Clash of the Titans, and stuff with the tripped out special effects.” • Speaking of movies, White Zombie appeared as themselves (fairly convincingly) in Airheads. “We play ourselves performing at the Whisky. I don’t think it’s that incriminating.” • Given the choice of Johnny. Depp, Keanu Reeves or Brad Pitt, Sean was unable to decide who was spunkiest. However, once Mr Pitt was removed from the equation, the choice was simple. “Definitely Depp.” Enough hard hitting facts. Let’s get back to the idle chit chat. Wondering what sort of bands White Zombie checked out on their nights off? Then wonder no more...

Favourite Bands and Vile Satanic Practises “I would go see the bands we’re touring with now, Melvins and Reverend Horton Heat. I’d also go and see the Cramps, Eyehate God, Man or Astro Man, and a new band I’d like to check out is New York Loose.” Noticing Sean has omitted Danzig, I bring up the question of this sinister, steroid ridden super group, who White Zombie at one time supposedly idolised. “We toured with Danzig for about three months. I don’t know about ‘idolised’. They’re all really cool. They’re good guys.” Hmmmm, Danzig are surely not good guys. They are dark and evil men, and well known followers of the left hand path. Could, perhaps, White Zombie be disciples of the ‘lord of this world’ as well? Given that their last album was called La Sexorcisto Devil Music Vol 1., there can be no shirking seeking the truth. Are White Zombie practising Satanists and, if so, are they any good yet? “Ha ha... I definitely don’t live my life as a Christian by any stretch of the imagination. I think Christianity’s the root of all evil more than anything else, so I figure Satanism’s gotta be OK. It’s something that’s funny to us, but it’s damn cooler to believe in than Christianity, that’s for damn sure.” For ‘damned’ sure, more like. And what better place to be damned than in that well known nest of vipers? The Viper Room “I've been there quite a bit. It’s gotten kinda gross. It was kinda fun when you’d find Gibby behind the bar making Texas margaritas. When they have something secretive and explosive it can still be fun, or when they have local bands playing once a week. The rest of the time it’s a gross dance bar. It can be cool. I saw Cher there on a stage three inches big, belting it out.” So far this rock and roll caper sounds kinda fun, but be warned: it’s not all beer and skittles. It’s hard yakka and mindless determination that have got White Zombie where they are today, bloody hard yakka...

A Typical Day “There’s not much sleeping involved. Drive and drive some more, play another show, drive some more, play another show, grab a shower.” Yep, it’s long and winding highway to the top, and there’s no time for Weetabix pit stops. "I haven’t been able to eat a breakfast in about four weeks.” All this living in tour buses may have something to do with a motel disaster some years back. Motel Hell “The manager of Motel 6 came in and started screaming about getting out of a certain room, and screamed so much that he had a heart attack and fell over and died. So, we had a bizarre fatality among showering roadies and a motel manager. He was trying to kick everybody out of the room. He walked in there and saw somebody was still in the shower, and got himself all worked up and had a heart attack and died.” Even when on the road, White Zombie find adventure and excitement’s never more than a dreadlocked hairsbreadth away. Sean tells about the time something pretty dashed disastrous happened in... Swiss Alps Terror Ride to Disaster! “\Ne were up in the Swiss Alps playing a little club, and we had to get to Paris. Our driver started driving through a big snowstorm in the Swiss Alps and the headlights went out, so we had no headlights. He proceeded for the rest of the drive along unmarked roads to drive with no headlights, using a flashlight pointed out the window. In the middle of the Swiss Alps! [This practice is not recommended by the New Zealand Road Safety Authority.] I went to sleep, hoping for the best, and woke up half way between the French and Swiss border, and the driver had gone to sleep there. We ended up getting interrogated for about three hours, had our bus torn apart, had our mattresses slashed. It was a total nightmare they were sure they were going to find some drugs. We ended up getting into Paris 10 minutes before we were supposed to go on stage.” Given the bloody outrageous way the White

Zombies choose to dress, it’s hardly surprising the forces of public decency view them with suspicion. Even though they’re now almost squillionaires, after the success of Devil Music, the Zombies still find it difficult eating posh nosh alongside decent, normal folk. We Don't Serve Zombies, Madam “Me and my friend went to meet our manager at a hotel. They totally hassled us and wouldn’t let us sit in the restaurant. Our manager totally threw a fit and screamed at everybody that worked there for about half an hour. They still wouldn’t seat us. It’s weird to still get shit like that.” In fact, fame and wealth seem to have had little impact on the Zombie lifestyle. “We still eat shitty food. I just had a slice of pizza, as a matter of fact.” At least, thanks to their success, once they get off their bus they’ll be able to enjoy their all new apartments. Who knows? Maybe after the success of Astro Creep 2000 they’ll be able to get jacuzzis and Sky TV to watch OJ, America’s answer to yachting. “Everybody’s watching OJ. I guess they’ll be getting bored with that and have to start fighting in Yugoslavia. Americans are fascinated by celebrities and murders, so it’s a double whammy for us.” A double whammy for us is the possibility the four coach riders of the Astro apocalypse might be coming down here sometime in our Spring. As the interview nears it’s conclusion, I can’t help but feel I’ve left out something vitally important and yet, at the same time, stunningly obvious.” Suddenly it hits me; I haven’t mentioned White Zombie’s latest magnum opus, Astro Creep 2000. Time to quickly transmogrify into Super Rolling Stone Journalism Man... Astro Creep 2000 Making sure my voice is suitably pompous, and at the same time patronising and knowledgable, I forge ahead with the question that must be asked: Is your new album bigger, louder and groovier than the last one? “Pardon?” Question is repeated. "Yes, that’s the American way — excess in everything.”

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