Former WHITE ZOMBIE Drummer Comments On Upcoming Box Set

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 Junkie
02. King Of Souls
03. Tales From the Scarecrowman
04. Cat's Eye Resurrection
05. Pig Heaven
06. Slaughter The Grey
07. Eighty-Eight/Fast Jungle
08. Gun Crazy
09. Kick
10. Memphis
11. Magdelene
12. True Crime
13. Ratmouth
14. Shack of Hate
15. Drowning the Colossus
16. Crow II
17. Die Zombie Die
18. Skin
19. Truck On Fire
20. Future Shock
21. Scumkill
22. Diamond Ass
23. Demonspeed
24. Disaster Blaster
25. Murderworld
26. Revenge
27. Acid Flesh
28. Power Hungry
29. Godslayer
30. God Of Thunder
31. Love Razor
32. Disaster Blaster 2
33. Welcome to Planet MF
34. Knuckle Duster
35. Thunder Kiss
36. Black Sunshine
37. Soul-Crusher
38. Cosmic Monster
39. Spiderbaby
40. I Am Legend
41. Knuckle Duster 2
42. Thrust
43. One Big Crunch
44. Grindhouse
45. Starface
46. Warp Asylum
47. I Am Hell
48. Children Of The Grave
49. Feed The Gods
50. Electric Head Pt. 1
51. Super Charger Heaven
52. Real Solution 9
53. Creature Of The Wheel
54. Electric Head Pt. 2
55. Grease Paint And Monkey Brains
56. I Zombie
57. More Human Than Human
58. El Phantasmo
59. Blur The Technicolor
60. Blood Milk Sky
61. The One
62. I'm Your Boogieman
63. 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: