Rob Zombie has spent the last few months touring in support of his latest album, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2," and when his drummer, Tommy Clufetos, left to join Ozzy Osbourne's band, Slipknot's Joey Jordison jumped in. Jordison took time away from his band Murderdolls to play with Zombie who was in a lurch left by Clufetos' departure.
This isn't the first time Ozzy has hired one of Rob's bandmates — in 2006, Ozzy lured Zombie bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson away to join Osbourne's band.
The Artisan News Service asked Zombie backstage at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival what he thought of Ozzy poaching important members of Rob's band.
"I think there's ways to do things and I think there's ways to not do things and I think the way they've chosen to do things is not how I would do things; I think it's kind of rude," Rob replied. "I mean, if my guys that I have wanna go play with other people, that's fine; I don't own them. But I think there's ways to do things in a respectful way and there's ways to just be shitty, and I feel that the way things have gone down lately has been pretty shitty. But whatever... What comes around goes around. But I'm just happy because every time I've lost somebody, I've gotten somebody ten times better, so I'm thankful for that. So if somebody's band wants to be made up of my cast-offs, enjoy."
Zombie told the Artisan News Service that it wasn't the first time he's said it, but he feels that the band he currently has is the closest one he's been in.
"That's totally true," Rob said. "I mean, I love these guys. I thought the drummer I had before [Tommy Clufetos] was a good guy, but you find out some people are just phony. But the greatest thing that ever happened was him hitting the road and Joey coming in and replacing him, 'cause it's always great to replace somebody with a better drummer. But it's not just that — it's just the vibe and the person and everything about, really... I don't know. It's hard to explain. It was the perfect personality to come in and make the four of us work."
Video footage of Rob Zombie making the above-mentione remarks to the Artisan News Service can be viewed here.
In a recent interview with Stefanie Heminger, Clufetos explained his decision to switch from Rob Zombie to Ozzy Osbourne, "Ozzy called me to join his band, and how could I say 'No' to Ozzy Osbourne? It's the pinnacle, so that's why I did it."
When asked if he was still really good friends with Rob and whether Zombie understood his decision to join Ozzy's band, Clufetos said, "I hope so. I haven't spoken to anybody since I left the band, but I wish everybody the best. Rob was great to me when I was there. I've learnt something through everybody I've worked with and had the greatest time of my life at that moment and tried to enjoy it to its fullest, and I've always done that, and this [playing with Ozzy] is just another level of that."
Ozzy and Zombie collaborated on the song "Iron Head" for Rob's 2001 album "The Sinister Urge." Zombie also directed the video for "Dreamer," a song from Ozzy's 2001 CD "Down To Earth."
As previously reported, Zombie has recorded three brand new songs for the upcoming CD/DVD re-release of his latest album, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2," which is due out on September 28th. The tunes will be the first recorded with Zombie's current touring band, which includes Jordison. A bonus DVD featuring live footage and a 30-minute touring documentary, titled "Transylvanian Transmissions," will also be included.
The three new songs are "Devil's Hole Girls And The Big Revolution," "Everything Is Boring" and "Michael." Also included will be a reworked version of the track "The Man Who Laughs."
Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper and Murderdolls will team up for the "Halloween Hootenanny" tour in September and October, with dates and cities yet to be announced.
