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You recently directed an episode of CSI: Miami. Is that something you'd like to do again?
Not really. Maybe if something else came up that was interesting. CSI for me was sort of ... I really wanted to do that one because I'd never done it before. It really was bothering me that I hadn't done TV. If something in TV came up, but I didn't have the experience ... it was a way for me to break through and get into that world and understand it because it's very different from feature films. It was a good learning experience.
Does anyone ever ask you -- you have the underlying horror theme in your music, you direct horror movies, you have props and memorabilia in your house -- how you get an escape from that? Or is that where you're most comfortable and love it and it's just part of you?
I'm in a weird position that a lot of people don't get to be in where everything that I do for a living is based around something that I love, so I don't need to get an escape from it. That's just a fortunate position. I don't know if you talk to a baseball player and ask what he does when he's not playing a game that he'll say, 'I wait for the next game. I want to play baseball.' Unfortunately, a lot of people have jobs that they're not passionate about and they're looking for their escape and they go to Disneyland or go fishing. When you do what you love for a living, you're not looking to escape it.
How would you say your music career has changed when you look back at the start? Or even the start of your solo career if you want to look at it that way...
How has it changed?
You've kept a pretty consistent sound, but you're not doing what White Zombie was doing...
I mean, it's kind of... music's tricky. If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that people really perceive music differently. You can show a group of people a movie, and they're all going to more or less perceive it in a similar fashion. Some might like it and some might not like it, but music is weird. People really bring a lot of their own baggage to music. For me, I think the music has kept the same vibe over the years, but changed a lot and evolved a lot, twisted, turned around... But everyone hears it differently. I'll play a new song and someone will say, 'Oh man, that sounds like classic White Zombie.' Another person will go, 'It's so different. I don't like it.' People will say polar opposite things about the same song. A lot of people will always want to bring up an album we made a couple records ago called Educated Horses and say, 'Why is it so different?' I tell them it's not different at all. They looked at the album cover, I looked a little different and that made them hear it completely differently because they got a thought process of what it was. I know that if the album cover looked different, people would hear it differently because the songs are the same style. Some of the songs are the heaviest that we play. People think it's not as heavy, but they somehow perceive that it isn't. It's funny. That's why I think an image is so important with a band. I remember having the discussion years ago when grunge was big and people were so anti-image. No one would have been interested in Jimi Hendrix if he were fat, bald and standing on stage in a Hawaiian shirt. Trust me, no one would give a fuck. They'd think he was a great guitar player, but he'd be a footnote in rock history. The fact he was dressed cool and a sexy, rock god maniac -- that's Jimi Hendrix. It's all bullshit. People can't get past an image. I'm so used to it now that it doesn't bother me, but no matter what you do, movie, music -- people will always say it's not as good as the last thing. They still compare it to the first White Zombie record even though it's been 25 years. How can it be? You've been listening to the last album for three years and every little thing on it and know every pop and crack and you're comparing it to something you've perused for five minutes. Of course it's not special to you. (laughs) It takes time. I think more than ever, it's become a snap decision society. When I was a kid, if I went out and bought a record -- I plunked down my hard-earned money and brought it home -- I'd listen to that fucking thing until I loved it. Now, people just audition five seconds of a song on iTunes and say they don't like it. How could they? Buy it, put it in your car and cruise around with it. There are records that I bought and didn't like and years later I revisit it and go, 'What was I thinking? This is the most brillian record ever fucking made!' It's art. Art is different. Music and movies are all perceived differently by people in different times. People will say, 'That sucks' and I'll say, 'No it doesn't. You just don't understand it.'