Rob Zombie Had to Stop His Old Guitarist From Filling His Instrument With Maggot-Infested Meat
Back in the day, Rob Zombie guitarist Mike Riggs, who performed on 1998’s massive Hellbilly Deluxe and 2001’s The Sinister Urge, would play a clear guitar filled with pig’s blood. Midway through the show, he would uncork that baby and douse himself in blood, sometimes spitting it into the crowd. Now, in a new interview, Riggs reveals that he had other, more grisly ideas for the ax — but that Rob put a stop to them.
Speaking to Ultimate Guitar, Riggs was asked about the ins and outs of playing his transparent guitar. He described how he got ahold of it…
“I played live guitar for Prong during their Rude Awakening album and Tommy [Victor] and [Paul] Raven were endorsed by Fernandes…I originally didn’t like the Vertigo shape / H Series…but they offered me an endorsement and I was thinking ‘no one uses these things and maybe I can make it my thing’. I really liked the way they played, just not the look…so I junked them up a bit and ended up really liking them.
“I call the clear one The Blood Guitar and the green one The Re-animator…I got the idea when someone told me “There’s nothing new you can do to a guitar / everything’s already been done to a guitar”. So I came up with the idea of a clear guitar you can put different stuff in…originally I had a ‘dead’ albino snake I was going to put in it and I had the idea to add rotten meat that would fill up with maggots and I believe Rob [Zombie] said something like ‘it’s going to stink up the trailer’ or something like that…So it ended up being blood and that worked out best since it gets the audience involved and covered in blood.”
Riggs makes it clear, however, that he still found a way to make it disgusting:
“Originally, I used blood that I would buy from a meat packing plant in Austin, Texas.”
Thing is, we get why Rob didn’t want a guitar filled with meat in his gear trailer. Besides the fact that Rob has been a vegetarian since his teens and a vegan for a long time now, the vibe I get is that tour vehicles are smell chambers. Not taking a shit on a bus toilet is one of the oldest rules in touring with a band.
Anyway, there you go — shame we never got the rotting maggot guitar. Check out Riggs performing in the “Dragula” video below, and catch Rob sans maggots at one of his upcoming tour dates:
Wed Jul 20 – Maryland Heights, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO [tickets]
Thu Jul 21 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Centre [tickets]
Sat Jul 23 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live [tickets]
Sun Jul 24 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion [tickets]
Tue Jul 26 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre [tickets]
Wed Jul 27 – Atlanta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre [tickets]
Fri Jul 29 – Camden, NJ – Waterfront Music Pavilion [tickets]
Sat Jul 30 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center [tickets]
Sun Jul 31 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts [tickets]
Tue Aug 02 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake [tickets]
Wed Aug 03 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center [tickets]
Fri Aug 05 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre [tickets]
Sat Aug 06 – Council Bluffs, IA – Westfair Amphitheater [tickets]
Wed Aug 10 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre [tickets]
Fri Aug 12 – Irvine, CA – FivePoint Amphitheatre [tickets]
Sat Aug 13 – Las Vegas, NV – Michelob ULTRA Arena [tickets]
Sun Aug 14 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre [tickets]
Tue Aug 16 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
Thu Aug 18 – Del Valle, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
Sat Aug 20 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena [tickets]
Sun Aug 21 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion [tickets]
