An interview I’ve wanted to do for many years. I finally had the opportunity to chat with Riggs, the former guitarist for Rob Zombie, and currently of his own band, Scum of the Earth.

If you’ve never listened to SotE, but you love the Zombie, then you should definitely listen. The video for their newest track is below the interview.

 

AV: Hey there Mr. Riggs! What’s goin on?

Riggs: Ah, just driving. Multi-tasking. Always busy.

AV: So when are we able to expect a new Scum of the Earth album?

Riggs: I don’t even know about releasing a whole album. I mean I’ve got enough songs to do one, but it seems like only a handful of people even care about albums anymore. Now it’s all streaming and 1 song at a time. If it was up to me I’d put out an album anytime. I could tomorrow.

AV: So it’s been a decade since the last Scum of the Earth release. What have you been doing all this time?

Riggs: Oh… just life. Just normal everyday stuff. Nothing exciting. I’ve got other businesses going on that I can actually make money from. Going on tour, you can’t make any money. And then my whole family will starve to death, and not be able to go to college.

AV: What were your initial goals when starting out in the music industry?

Riggs: I don’t know. I didn’t really have any. I just wanted to play music and make a living at it. Back in the early 90’s, you could still do that. I bounced from here to there. I came from a small town in Arkansas out in the middle of nowhere, where I didn’t know anybody. Just took off and tried to figure out how to do the whole music thing. It worked out and I just kept on.

AV: I know Rob (Zombie) collaborated with several musicians on the first couple albums. What were your contributions early on?

Riggs: Whatever songs I played guitar on, I just came up with guitar parts.

AV: Do you remember the first shows you played with Rob?

Riggs: Yeah I remember we got up onstage and played with Powerman 5000 at the Whisky A Go Go, before Hellbilly Deluxe came out. Me and Rob got up there. Before the album came out, we played this TV show. But pretty much we just jumped on with touring with Fear Factory and Monster Magnet maybe? It was a long time ago.

AV: When the split with Rob Zombie happened, was it a mutual parting, or were there any bad vibes?

Riggs: Nah there’s no bad vibes. He just called me up and said he wanted to work on movies. No big drama.

AV: When you started working on Scum of the Earth, were those tracks and riffs you’d been working on over the years?

Riggs: Oh yeah. I had some laying around for years and years. Those first 2 albums were definitely some riffs I had. I just had to record them and get them out of my head so I could move on and do stuff.

AV: Is there anyone you’ve specifically wanted to collaborate with?

Riggs: Not that I can think of. I definitely like collaborating with people, I do it all the time.

AV: What’s the strangest show you’ve ever played, or the most obscure place you’ve performed in?

Riggs: Nothing really stands out as the weirdest. Definitely a lot of them. Too obscure. A lot of places over in Europe, they’d have an underground bombshelter that are just dugout under old buildings and shopping malls. I guess I just never think about it. We just show up, set up our stuff, play, move on to the next town.

AV: Do you have a favorite song you’ve done, or 1 that stands out as something you would show to anyone who asked?

Riggs: Probably just whatever the newest one out is. I don’t have a preference.

AV: When you joined Rob, what were some of the first songs you jammed on, or material that you brought in?

Riggs: I think…. I think one of the first ones we worked on was “Dragula”, I believe. We just bounced ideas around and record them, have an idea that doesn’t fit with 1 song and end up building songs with different ones.

AV: How long did you play with Skrew?

Riggs: With Skrew? It was during those first 2 albums, “Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame” and “Dusted”. I’m not sure what years those were. ’91-’92, I think I was there for like 3 years, for those first 2 albums.

AV: When can we expect more new music?

Riggs: I don’t know, I mean they’ve already asked me about it. I have 3 or 4 totally finished and ready to go. So it’ll probably be pretty soon. I don’t know if they want to do it closer together or what the plan is. It’s out of my control.

AV: I did see you perform once with Rob Zombie back in 2002 with The Damned and Sinisstar, but I never got see Scum of the Earth play. I’ve been following ever since the 1st album, so I’m hoping to be able to catch you one of these days.

Riggs: Oh thanks, cool. Yeah we toured a lot on those first 2 albums, seemed pretty constant. They’re talking about trying to get us back out in October. So we’ll see if the world starts crumbling apart again or not. If it doesn’t, then hopefully we can get out and start playing more shows.

AV: I appreciate your time Riggs, thank you so much for talking with me.

Riggs: Yeah cool thanks for having me!

Interview by Marcus Miller

New video for “Ziggurats of Mesopotamia”:

#Riggs #MikeRiggs #ScumOfTheEarth #RobZombie #Skrew