Rob Zombie had already announced that he was pushing the release date for his new CD, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2," from mid-November to early 2010 when he spoke to reporters in a late October teleconference interview.
A couple of days later, a big reason for the delay became apparent when Zombie, a Haverhill native, announced that he had left his longtime record label, Geffen Records, and signed to Loud & Proud Records, a division of Roadrunner Records, and "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" would be released on Loud & Proud.
Zombie wasn't about to disclose that significant move during the teleconference interview, saying only that there would be a big announcement made within a few days. But he also suggested there was more to the decision to push back the CD release than a change in record companies.
"The record was done, and we were like, 'You know, we just love the record,'" he said. "We're like, 'It's the best record we ever made. Why are we — it feels like we're cutting corners and rushing on everything to get it out there now because we just felt like we ran out of time.'
"And we go, 'You know what, rather than just sacrifice the record, we might as well just stop, you know, calm down for a second, push it a couple of weeks. It's not going to kill anybody. We're not going to cancel any (concert) dates. We're not going to do anything, and it will be fine.'"
Indeed, the release of "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" had been originally timed to coincide with a fall tour that began Oct. 29. So now, Zombie is on the road, but without the new CD he intended to promote. He's decided that's not a big problem.
"The new songs from the record that we'll play on tour, they're out there on iTunes, out in the world," he said. "So it's not like kids will be confused as to what we're doing."
Zombie said the idea of doing "Hellbilly Deluxe 2," a sequel to his 1998 CD, "Hellbilly Deluxe," had been kicking around in his head for years. But it wasn't until he had finished recording that he actually knew his next album would be the long-planned sequel.
"We thought about it for a long time," said Zombie (whose real name is Robert Cummings). "I just didn't want it to seem like 'Oh well they just slapped this title on there and it makes no sense. It doesn't tie in with the other record, it doesn't make sense.' But when we were done, it really felt like a perfect companion piece for the first record."
The original "Hellbilly Deluxe" turned out to be a pivotal album in Zombie's career.
He had come onto the music scene as frontman for the band White Zombie in 1985. When that group fell apart in 1998, Zombie went on to start a solo career, and "Hellbilly Deluxe," released later that year, was his commercially successful solo debut.
He has released a pair of studio CDs since — "The Sinister Urge" in 2001, and "Educated Horses" in 2006, and enjoyed considerable popularity as a solo act.
One reason Zombie hasn't released more studio albums is because he has also been building a thriving career as a filmmaker.
He began his career as a writer/director with several low budget films, including the horror flick "House Of 1000 Corpses" and a sequel of sorts to that film, "The Devil's Rejects."
He made a breakthrough on the film scene in 2007 by directing a re-make of John Carpenter's horror classic, "Halloween." Although the film received mixed reviews, it did well at the box office, and Zombie went on to do a re-make of "Halloween 2."
Zombie's version of "Halloween 2" will soon be available on DVD in a director's cut he had just completed in the days leading up to the teleconference interview.
"I really like this version of the movie better," he said. "This is really the version I always wanted it to be, and I think when people see this, the movie will make — not that the movie doesn't make sense — but it will make even more sense to them."
With that project finished, Zombie is now able to concentrate on his tour. And as with his previous outings, he promised that his new show will be a visual and musical treat for fans.
"I toyed with the idea of actually pulling out the ("Hellbilly Deluxe") set from like 11 years ago and using the actual set, and we started doing that," he said. "But there was something about it that felt so tired and contrived to do that.
"So we've sort of gone back and created what seems like the new version of that. It's like the modernized update of that. You know, the stage feels very fresh, very modern, very high tech, but really has the spirit of that first show."
Rob Zombie with Nekromantix and Captain Clegg
When: Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: House Of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston
Tickets: $45, $35
Info: 888-693-BLUE or www.hob.com/venues/clubvenues/boston/
