ROB ZOMBIE: 'All The Classic Bands That Have Been Around Forever, They Came Up Gradually'

Kenny Herzog of Spin.com recently conducted an interview with Rob Zombie. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On listening to opinions of other people:

Rob: "When you have too many people and you're trying to satisfy everybody's input, you usually end up with something so incredibly generic that it has no point of view. There are different times where I've finished a record and I go, 'This is the single,' and I play it for somebody and they go, 'That's the worst song on the record.' And I'll go, 'What? It's a single,' and we'll launch it, and it's a hit. If I made the right decision, at least I know it's my decision. If I made the wrong decision, at least it's my decision. I always get annoyed when I see bands sometimes crying about 'Oh, well, the label wanted us to do that and someone told us to do that,' like they're the total victims of circumstances. I'm like, 'Hey, fuckhead, you could have said no.'"

On being an overnight success:

Rob: "By the time WHITE ZOMBIE got to the stage where we were playing arenas, we were ready for it because we had played so many shows and done so many tours and had played hundred-seat clubs, to 200-seaters, 300, 400. As a band, we built up to it. But I see that with a lot of new bands, they get success fast and you see 'em on a big stage, and they look lost, like, 'Holy shit, what am I doing up here?' They haven't had the chance to develop the skills to work that type of crowd or room, and what happens is they're terrible, and then usually they fail because people will see them and go, 'They're terrible.' All the classic bands that have been around forever, they came up gradually."

On how getting signed to a label does not automatically make you a rock star:

Rob: "I remember back when WHITE ZOMBIE got signed to Geffen, that's when all the bands were getting signed to Geffen Records. There was this one mistake that a lot of bands made, and they still make it: You're still some unknown band nobody gives two shits about. You just happened to be signed to a label. These bands suddenly copped an attitude, and suddenly they were egotistical and annoying, and they thought they were big shots, but they're still nobody. I remember walking into Geffen Records on the first day, when our record wasn't even out yet, and looking at everybody working in the office and thinking, 'Nobody in this office cares if I become a millionaire rock star. This isn't something that's keeping them awake at night.' So you have to go in there, be nice to people, and hopefully they'll become your friends and you'll all work hard and it will happen. But I think bands that rolled in with a big attitude, like they were some big deal, I just found that very strange."

Read the entire interview from Spin.com.