|
In 1998, Riggs appeared in the Rob Zombie video for "Return of the
Phantom Stranger" playing a guitar adorned with a jagged carving that
read, "Scum of the Earth," words that are also tattooed on the
rocker's stomach. Scum of the Earth is the name of Riggs' publishing
company. "I always thought it was the coolest name for a band since I
was a kid. There was that movie Scum of the Earth and I had some of these
great 'Scum of the Earth' comic books I really liked."
And so the debut solo outing by Zombie guitarist, Riggs, became
Scum of the Earth. His new album, Blah… Blah… Blah…: Love Songs for
the New Millennium, is built around high-propulsion riffs, mechanized
beats, growling vocals and horror film soundbytes. Throughout, songs like
the carnivalesque "Get Your Dead On" and the surging "I Am
the Scum" illustrate the type of dynamic, granite-solid musicianship
Riggs exhibited for six years with Zombie.
"I'm really proud of the work I did with Rob, so I don't mind
being compared to him. As long as people don't say Scum sounds like
something that sucks" Riggs jokes. "But I did want to do things
a little different, so I threw on a couple of acoustic songs that I've had
around forever, 'Little Spider' and 'Give Up Your Ghost' so it's not all
in-your-face, bash, bash, bash."
Most of the songs on Blah… Blah… Blah… were written by Riggs
over the past decade, and stored on his computer for a stormy night. Then,
when Rob Zombie decided to put his music career on hold to focus on making
horror movies, Riggs found himself with extra time on his hands. At the
behest of a dedicated fan, he hooked up with some old friends - including
bassist Clay Others, former Powerman 5000 guitarist Mike Tempesta, drummer
John Dolmayan and Scum of the Earth was unearthed.
"There was a girl who had a Riggs fan site that I had gotten
to know over the years," Riggs says. "She called me to see what
I was doing, and I said, 'Nothing.' Two days later, she sent me a list of
all these record companies that were interested in what I was up to, so I
just dumped some stuff off my computer in my room and sent it to them and
they liked it."
What's not to like? Blah… Blah… Blah… is a raucous
celebration of crunching guitars, booty-wagging beats and propulsive
rhythms produced by Riggs and mixed by Frank Gryner and Brandon Belski
(Velvet Revolver). The first single "Get Your Dead On," one of
two tracks co-written with former Powerman 5000 guitarist Mike Tempesta
(the other was "Altargirl 13"), combines syncopated beats,
blasting riffs and gurgling keyboards to devastating effect. The track
featured drumming by Rob Zombie drummer John Tempesta (who also guests on
"AltarGirl13" and "Beneath the Living"), and marks the
first album collaboration between he and his brother Mike.
"I don't know why they've never done anything before,"
Riggs says. "I thought maybe they didn't get along and they'd fight,
but they got on better than any of us. Basically, Mike sent me the song,
and I just arranged it a little bit." Another highlight is "Pornstar
Champion," which was one of five songs written for the film "Any
Given Sunday," and features contributions from Grammy winning
programmers The Neptunes and hip-hop luminary Irv Gotti. The track, which
was co-written with producer Michael Beinhorn, combines hip-hop beats,
surging guitars, scathing vocals and samples from the chorus of Queen's
"We Will Rock You."
"We did that before anyone knew who the Neptunes were, which
was cool," Riggs says. "The idea was to get the dudes that
program for Jay-Z and Mystikal and have them make up some beats and have
me do some guitar on top and then get some people to sing. I think it
works really great."
Much of Blah… Blah… Blah… bubbled out like lava from a
volcano -- a force of nature that's beyond premeditation or control. At
the outset of the project, Riggs had over 100 songs in various states of
completion, so he pulled out the ones that seemed the most finished and
messed around with them, adding new segments and guest musicians almost on
a whim. SOAD's drummer John Dolmayan, who Riggs met on Ozzfest, added
tribal percussion to "Spider" and funky clatter to
"Bloodsucking Freakshow."
"He's really on his shit," Riggs says. "When he came
in he hadn't really heard the songs. But he just played them a few times,
then packed up his shit and left, and they were perfect."
Also pitching in on "Bloodsucking Freakshow" were Riggs'
six year old son and drunk rock groupie chick. "It's a simple song,
so I was trying to think of ways to make it more interesting, and I said
to my kid, "Hey, come in here and sing on this." I had to bribe
him with all kinds of money and gifts because he was too scared to sing
it. But he ended up doing it and it sounded cool. Then, really late one
night, one of my cousins came over with a bunch of drunk chicks so I had
one of the drunk chicks sing the other part on it. She was pretty wasted
and was laying on the floor in the studio when she did it. She wants that
song to do really well so she can meet some movie star and marry him. Her
goal is to lure one of the little elf guys from Lord of the Rings."
Such spontaneity was pretty indicative of Riggs' creative approach.
While he was recording "Give Up Your Ghost," for instance, Peggy
Roman Jacobson, a violinist who was a friend of a friend, dropped by the
studio, and Riggs asked her to record a fiddle part. "I just never
knew what was gonna happen through the process of creating this whole
thing," Riggs admits. "I just thought I'd just do some shit that
was totally uninhibited, and see how it turned out. And it turned out the
exact same as anything else I've ever done."
Maybe musically, but lyrically Riggs addresses the kind of personal
issues and problems he sought escape from in his past projects. "Give
Up Your Ghost," for instance," is about the recent death of his
grandfather, one of the two people who raised and supported Riggs. And
"Nothing Girl" is about the see-saw qualities of romantic
relationships.
"A lot of these are towards-the-end-of-your-relationship
songs, when you want to fucking kill each other," Riggs reveals.
"That's where I'm always at. There's never a beginning or a middle,
it's just always the end for me. It's starts out at the end and goes on
for years. And finally it ends, kind of."
|
