Darryl Sterdan from QMI Agency spoke with ROB ZOMBIE recently about a number of topics including the Western Canada trek on their Hell On Earth tour with SLAYER. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

QMI Agency: In hindsight, do you wish you hadn't swung the pendulum so far toward film work?

Zombie: "I don't think it was possible to do it any other way, truthfully. I slacked off on music because the band I had at the time had become kind of a miserable situation. There was just too much infighting and too much of that nonsense that always takes place. And that was when I had just started doing films. And I just couldn't take the high-school mentality you always get into with bands. So that just naturally took me out of it. But when I refired the band up with new people and had a better attitude, I just naturally found my way into doing it more."

QMI Agency: Touring with Slayer, do you feel some friendly competition?

Zombie: "Sure. There's always that feeling. Any band who walks onstage and doesn't care about that is ... well, kind of weird. I don't know how you couldn't. You want to go out there and be the best you can. At the same time, it's nice when the bands aren't trying to do the same thing. Our show is more theatrical than theirs, and obviously we don't play as fast and heavy as they do."

QMI Agency: You're known for being a movie memorabilia collector. Have you acquired anything recently?

Zombie: "I don't really buy anything anymore. I just felt so overloaded by it all. I was really into collecting vintage movie posters, super-rare stuff. I have more than I could ever display. But really, my friend Johnny Ramone was the collecting friend I had on that subject. And after he died, I lost interest. One of the last things I got was a poster he sent me. He had bought this amazing, huge French Wolf Man poster just before he died. That was the last thing I ever got from him."

Read the entire interview here.

Rob Zombie and Slayer's Hell On Earth Canadian tour dates:

July

24 - Toronto - Heavy T.O.
27 - Winnipeg - MTS Centre
29 - Saskatoon - Credit Union Centre
30 - Calgary - Saddledome
31 - Edmonton - Rexall Place

August

2 - Victoria - Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
3 - Vancouver - Rogers Arena