White Zombie was an American heavy metal band that formed in 1985. Based in New York City, White Zombie was originally a noise rock
band. White Zombie is better-known for its later heavy metal-oriented
sound. The group officially disbanded in 1998. In 2000, White Zombie was
included on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, ranking at No. 56.[1]
Early years
White Zombie was co-founded by writer, vocalist and graphic artist Rob Zombie, after coming up with the band idea in 1985 while attending Parsons School of Design in his junior year. Zombie's girlfriend at the time, Sean Yseult, was the other co-founder. She had been playing the Farfisa keyboard in the band LIFE with Ivan de Prume, but the band soon broke up. Ena Kostabi owned a recording studio,
which he would rent out to different bands. When he met Yseult, she
asked if he could teach her to play bass. They then recruited Peter
Landau to play drums and began to write and record songs. White Zombie's
first release, Gods on Voodoo Moon, was an EP and was recorded on October 18, 1985. It was released under the band's own label Silent Explosion,
under which they would release most of their early work. Only 300
copies were pressed, of which only 100 were sold; the band members still
retain possession of the remaining 200.
In 1986, Zombie hired Tim Jeffs,
his Parsons School of Design roommate, to play guitar to replace Ena
Kostabi, and Yseult brought in De Prume from their days in the band LIFE
as the replacement for Landau. It was at this time the band started
touring, making their live performance debut at CBGB on April 28, 1986.[2][3] White Zombie released their second EP, Pig Heaven,
that year. The release contained two songs, "Pig Heaven" and "Slaughter
the Grey". The EP was recorded at 6/8 Studios on Houston St and
Bleecker St in NoHo in New York City. Other songs that were recorded
during the session but never released were titled "Follow Wild", "Rain
Insane", "Paradise Fireball" and "Red River Flow". After touring for a
year in the band, Tim Jeffs left and was replaced by Tom Guay, often known as Tom Five. The band released a second pressing of Pig Heaven
with different cover art, but retained the same recording with Jeffs on
guitar. Only 500 copies of each pressing were released on vinyl.
In 1987, the band released their third EP, Psycho-Head Blowout. Later that year, the band released their first full-length album, Soul-Crusher,
which was their first release to feature sound clips from movies in the
songs, a trademark that would continue for the remainder of the band's
lifespan. John Ricci replaced Tom Guay shortly after the release of Soul-Crusher.[4]
In 1988, the band signed to Caroline Records, permanently discontinuing their old indie label. Their second album, Make Them Die Slowly, was released in February 1989.[4] The album was a musical shift for White Zombie. While their previous releases had been strictly punk-influenced noise rock, Make Them Die Slowly had more of a heavy metal sound. This is also the first album crediting "Rob Zombie" instead of his previous stage name, "Rob 'Dirt' Straker".
Ricci's carpal tunnel syndrome severely affected his ability to play guitar, forcing him to leave the band when Make Them Die Slowly was finished. Jay Yuenger, or "J", replaced him before the album's release, affecting their future sound.[5] One of the most obvious examples of this direction is the difference between the songs "Disaster Blaster" on Make Them Die Slowly and the re-worked version, "Disaster Blaster II", on the God of Thunder EP.
Major label years
After searching for a record label and being turned down multiple times, the band turned towards RCA Records. However, Zombie opted for a recording contract with Geffen Records. Michael Alago, a representative of Geffen, became interested after hearing God of Thunder and watched one of their shows at Pyramid Club and liked them, mostly for their song "Soul-Crusher". The band produced a demo with the help of J. G. Thirlwell of Foetus and were signed to Geffen.[6]
On March 17, 1992, White Zombie released La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One,
the album which launched them into mainstream recognition. White Zombie
began a two-and-a-half-year-long tour for the album soon after its
release, during which the band gained a large cult following. During the tour, Ivan de Prume
left the band to pursue a successful career as a producer/engineer as
well as drummer/percussionist and opened his own studio, Burningsound.
He was replaced by Phil Buerstatte. The music video for the song "Thunder Kiss '65" went into heavy rotation on MTV in 1993. The popular TV show Beavis and Butt-head began featuring their music videos, boosting the band's popularity.[4] By the end of 1993, the album had been certified gold by the RIAA. By the time the tour ended in December 1994, Zombie and Yseult had broken up, and La Sexorcisto had gone platinum. Due to artistic differences, Buerstatte was let go, and John Tempesta, who had previously worked with Exodus and Testament, was hired to record White Zombie's second major label album.[4] In 1995, Astro Creep: 2000 was released, featuring the hit single "More Human than Human". In 1996, an album of remixes was released under the title Supersexy Swingin' Sounds. After making one last song for the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-head Do America, titled "Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks and Cannibal Girls", White Zombie broke up in 1998.[4]
After disbanding
After the breakup of White Zombie, Sean Yseult joined the surf rock band The Famous Monsters, and started playing bass for horror-themed New Orleans-based band, Rock City Morgue. She also briefly played bass for The Cramps.
Tempesta continued his musical relationship with Zombie, drumming for him on his first two solo albums, Hellbilly Deluxe and The Sinister Urge. He is no longer with Zombie, and has gone on to play for Scum of the Earth with his brother, Powerman 5000 guitarist Mike Tempesta, and ex-Zombie guitarist Mike Riggs. Tempesta has toured with Testament (as shown on Testament's DVD, Live In London). On February 14, 2006, he was hired as the new drummer for The Cult, before which, he played with Helmet.J. produced records for Fu Manchu and New York-based Puny Human.
In July 2006, original members Tom Five and de Prume reunited to
perform with de Prume's band, Healer, a middle eastern infused metal
band, for several concerts in Southern California for The Vans Warped Tour.[7]
De Prume continues to write and record music with Healer, as well as
recording, producing and engineering for special projects in his studio,
Burningsound. His drums and percussion work can also be heard on Sony's
"Ghost Rider" score. In 2009, de Prume began hosting the weekly radio
show, "Metalopolis". His studio guests have included Rob Halford, Dave Mustaine, Max Cavalera, Vinnie Paul and Tom Araya.
De Prume is also a member of the band KREEP, and has completed a West
Coast tour in spring 2010, and is planning an East Coast tour in fall
2010.
In November 2008, Geffen/UME released Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, a boxed set
which includes sixty four tracks featuring every White Zombie album and
EP (except the remix albums), all remastered. The package also
contained nine music videos (including their breakthrough
Grammy-nominated hit "Thunder Kiss '65"), and ten live performances. In
an interview[8] to promote the release of Let Sleeping Corpses Lie,
Zombie made it clear that a reunion with his White Zombie band mates
was unlikely, saying, "I don't want fans to think it's the beginning of
anything."
In December 2010 Yseult released "I'm in the Band", a book containing
tour diaries and photos as well as detailing her eleven years spent as a
member of White Zombie.[9][10]
In June 2011, in an interview with Metal Hammer
magazine, Rob Zombie was asked why White Zombie split up, in which he
replied: "It had run its course. Success is a big thing that you can
never plan for, because it affects everybody differently. I don't want
to blame myself or anyone else in the band — it's just that the band
didn't work anymore. Rather than continuing on and making shitty records
and having it all fall apart, I thought: 'Let's just end it on a high
point'".
In May 2013, former drummer Phil Buerstatte died.[11]
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