PREVIEW: Rob Zombie and Slayer breathe a little life into Edmonton
Here’s a working theory on Rob Zombie: he’s about as far from the walking dead as you could get, frenetically jamming something new (and creative) into just about every minute of his day, as if he was trying to avoid losing a spare second of his life.
“You can be in a rock band until you drop dead on stage. I’d hate to be a sports star. I can’t imagine being put out to pasture at age 32,” he tells media.
That’s included a number of directing gigs….including a Woolite commercial in which a dude in a slasher mask tortures his laundry. It’s a feeling to which we can all relate.
“I like the idea of doing all kinds of weird stuff. Most movie directors direct TV commercials, they just don’t talk about it. It’s a very odd commercial for Woolite. They kind of went out on a limb.”
Then there’s his desire to turn his flick House Of A Thousand corpses into a Broadway Musical, tredding the same turf as the guys from South Park. “People think I’m kidding, but I’m totally not kidding. The young generation doesn’t want to watch Oklahoma or Showboat.”
He still saves a little time for music, however, and plays Rexall Place tonight with thrash metal legends Slayer.
“A good night of destruction. They are fun guys, especially Kerry King. When we did Ozzfest in ’99, he would come on stage and play with us every single night.”
Zombie’s prop and theatric-heavy show will be “all that but more. The whole year has been spent making the show bigger and bigger — everything we can possibly afford to do.”
A quick turnaround between sets each night — with co-headliner Slayer closing the Canadian shows — means King’s metal monsters will play with a stripped down stage show. King isn’t worried.
“I found out we weren’t doing pyro this time out and we decided to go the complete opposite,” King said. “We’ve got nothing. We just go up there and play.”
Well…nothing’s all relative. King’s lightning fretwork is a hallmark of a band generally considered among the all-time greats. It’s good for the ego to have people competing at a high level, Zombie noted.
“”There’s always that feeling. Any band who walks onstage and doesn’t care about that is… well, kind of weird,” he said.
“I don’t know how you couldn’t. You want to go out there and be the best you can. At the same time, it’s nice when the bands aren’t trying to do the same thing. Our show is more theatrical than theirs, and obviously we don’t play as fast and heavy as they do.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, here.
