Zombie checks in with Fangoria

Zombie chats with Fangoria, as they “dig a bit deeper into some enduring questions on his turn to crowdfunding”.

Crowdfunding for ’31’ finishes on 31 October. You can still take part and not only help fund the next Rob Zombie project but get your hands on exclusive, rare and once-in-a-lifetime goodies: www.rz-31.com

To read the Q&A, click >> 

Q&A: Checking in with Rob Zombie and “31”

If I’m honest, I don’t know why exactly musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie is presently doing a round of interviews. The performer is currently in the midst of recording a new album, as well as running a polarizing crowdfunding campaign for 70s set Halloween-horror 31, yes, but neither are at a stage of completion. If anything, the opportunity seemed one to simply “check in” with Rob Zombie, one that fans and FANGORIA would take advantage of regardless. 

Speaking to Zombie, who’s always forthcoming, I took the chance to dig a bit deeper into some enduring questions on his turn to crowdfunding. For more on the film, as well as Zombie, see our earlier interview at the start of 31’s FanBacked campaign and pick up our FANGORIA Legends: Rob Zombie issue.

FANGORIA: You’re entering the last phase of this campaign. This being the first time you’ve crowdfunded, and you being a larger figure to crowdfund, what have you learned from the process? Was your perception changed?

ROB ZOMBIE: My perception at first, before I started, was that it seemed kind of weird. As I got deeper into it, my goal was to make it about the fans and what they wanted as opposed to just money. The fans’ involvement and the fans being excited about the films is the best part of the crowdfunding experience. Getting them involved early and talking about it and thinking about it and hearing what they have to say about stuff, even though they don’t really know anything about the movie. It’s still kind of cool, the earlier the fans can feel part of something, the better it always turns out.

FANG: That’s an interesting balance for you. Your films are often completely different from what people expect, and you often seem to shy away from fan demand.

ZOMBIE: I don’t think you can bow to the fans, ever. You can’t make something that’s what they want. They don’t know what it is. All the fans are saying this and you’re doing that. They’re all saying something different. It’s not like you can poll the audience. You always want them to like what you do and you’re always trying to make them happy with what you do, but at the end of the day, the reality of making anything is you have to be passionate about it. You’re the one who’s going to hammer away at the thing for the next two years, and live and breathe it.

I really think part of what we’re supposed to do is try to come up with something new and different, and not just go, “Here’s the same old thing.” If somebody says, “All we want is another movie with The Devil’s Rejects.” Well, that’s because you like THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. No one was asking for that before THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. So of course, they’re asking for more of what you’ve already done.

The Beatles, if you polled all the fans of The Beatles in the early days, they just wanted them to keep writing “She Loves You” over and over and over. Nobody was asking for SGT. PEPPER. Nobody was asking for ABBEY ROAD or THE WHITE ALBUM. They wanted more of what they liked. So sometimes, you have to fight that battle. You want your fans to be happy, you want them to be entertained, but sometimes you have to take them to the next place that you’re headed. If not, you’re kind of full of shit. Because then you’re just doing it as a Las Vegas act. Oh, here’s what they want, I’m going to go up there and do it. That’s not what we do. You want to create fresh, new, cool stuff that people can get excited about.

To read the interview in full, go to: fangoria.com/new/qa-checking-in-with-rob-zombie-and-31/