MUEN: WE JUST WANT TO GET THE "ZOMBIE" QUESTIONS OUT OF THE WAY, BEFORE MOVING ON TO SCUM OF THE EARTH... OFCOURSE MOST PEOPLE KNOW THAT YOU (RIGGS) AND JOHN TEMPESTA WERE ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF ROB ZOMBIE'S SOLO PROJECT, BUT DID YOU FORM "SCUM OF THE EARTH" BEFORE OR AFTER ROB DECIDED TO WRITE AND DIRECT MOVIES..?

RIGGS: We decided to do other things when he started the second movie ... I'm an impatient mother fucker and cant sit around doing nothing ...

MUEN: WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE WORKING WITH ROB ZOMBIE?

RIGGS: I was in a band called Prong ... Way back in the day ... and I was in the band Skrew ... for the first 2 CD's.

MUEN: HOW MUCH WERE YOU INVOLVED IN THE WRITING PROCESS WITH ROB ZOMBIE, AND HOW WAS HE TO WORK WITH?

RIGGS: Well ... I would come in and there would be some loops or some ideas for a song and I would play guitar over it ... Sometimes Rob would have an idea for a riff and sometimes I would listen to a loop and make something up ... and I would send riffs out to LA from AR and they could work on them there or throw 'em in the trash ...

MUEN: HAS METAL ALWAYS BEEN THE MUSIC OF CHOICE? WERE YOU EVER INTO ANY OTHER GENRES IN THE COURSE OF YOUR WHOLE MUSICAL LIFE? I'M JUST ASKING BECAUSE WHITE ZOMBIE, IN THEIR EARLY YEARS WERE CONSIDERED (BY SOME), TO BE A "NOISE BAND" RATHER THAN A METAL BAND.. HAVE YOU YOURSELF ALWAYS CONSIDERED YOURSELF METAL, OR WERE/ARE THERE OTHER GENRES YOU'D ALSO CONNECT WITH?

RIGGS: I don't know ... I don't think about it , I just write some music and whatever it gets called is out of my hands ... I would like to start a new genre called stripper filth rock/metal ...

MUEN: WHERE ARE YOU FROM ORIGINALLY?

RIGGS: AR.

MUEN: SO JOHN AND MIKE TEMPESTA ARE NO LONGER IN THE BAND? WHAT HAPPENED?

RIGGS: They came in and helped me out on the first CD since we are all friends and I didn't have a band yet ... they were busy working on their own projects and had prior commitments ... and I don't think anyone likes starting from the bottom and trying to claw your way up again except for me ...

MUEN: SO WHAT IS THE NEW LINE-UP THUS FAR, HOW DID YOU MEET THEM, AND ARE YOU STILL LOOKING FOR A BASSIST?

RIGGS: The line up for the new tour so far is Skyla on Guitar - who I never met before he joined the band ... someone told me about him and said he likes gettin' kicked around and treated like shit ... Dan Laudo is playing drums and was the drummer for Prong - and I met him when I was in that band ... and we have Corey on bass, who is from the band Crossbreed and are working on a new cd and I'm not sure how long he will be able to stick around ... Its fuckin' nuts everytime we go on tour with the personal ...

MUEN: ON THE ALBUM, WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO DO "PORNSTARCHAMPION"? AND HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO USE QUEEN'S "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS" IN WITH THAT? DID YOU NEED PERMISSION FOR USING PORTIONS OF THE SONG?

RIGGS: Holy shit that's a long story ... I'll try and make it short and make sense ... I was working on the Any Given Sunday movie soundtrack back in 2000 ... There was me Irv Gotti , Michael Bienhorn and The Neptunes working on that song ... We used it in a couple movie soundtracks and bought the " WE WILL ROCK YOU" samples from Briam May.

MUEN: TELL US ABOUT THE REST OF THE ALBUM... WHO PRODUCED IT, IS THE THEME AND CONCEPT MOSTLY YOUR BRAINCHILD, AND DID YOU PERSONALLY WRITE ALL THE SONGS?

RIGGS: For SleazeFreak ... Yeah ... I produced it and had an idea to tap into the red light district and some other fucked up shit going down in the world past & present ... Like Corpse Grinders is about the dude Von Cossel who mummified his young wife and kept her around for years & years fucking her and talking to her like she was alive "google it " ... its another long story ... I wish I had more time to work on it , I had 2 weeks to get it done ... and that sucked ! ... I takes a week to load the gear in ...

MUEN: WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FIRST SCUM OF THE EARTH ALBUM, "BLAH... BLAH... BLAH..." AND THE SECOND, "SLEEZE FREAK?"

RIGGS: More evil and heavy agro fucked up striper shit ! ... Lyrics so horrifying they can't find a song to put on the radio or mtv ... to them ... I dont think the lyrics are that bad.

MUEN: WE LOVE USING THE IMAGE OF MODEL/ACTRESS PENNY LAYNE WITH ALOT OF THE STUFF WE DO, SO HOW DID SHE GET TO BE A CARTOON FIGURE IN THE INNER SLEEVE OF THE SCUM OF THE EARTH ALBUM?

RIGGS: She was a friend of mine and I threw her in there ... That simple ...

MUEN: WHO DID ALL THE ARTWORK ON THE ALBUM AND IN ALL THE PROMOTIONS FOR SCUM OF THE EARTH?

RIGGS: Paul Garner did all the artwork for Sleaze Freak ... that wasn't easy getting past the censors ... he had to change the cover a million times ... And I assume all the art work in the promotions were from him ...

MUEN: YOU HAD A TOUR LAST YEAR, ARE THERE ANY PLANS FOR MORE TOURING, AND IF SO, HOW EXTENSIVE WILL IT BE, AND WHAT OTHER BANDS WOULD BE ON IT?

RIGGS: We are getting ready to hit the road in May 08 and keep on until we have played everywhere ...

MUEN: ON A SCALE OF ONE TO TEN, HOW WOULD YOU SAY "METAL SANAZ" DID ON HER VOCAL PARTS FOR THE SONG "LOVE PIG" ON THE ALBUM?

RIGGS: Really good considering we did it in 5 minutes ...

MUEN: CURRENTLY IN OTHER COUNTRIES LIKE DENMARK, ENGLAND, FRANCE, WALES, CANADA, AND EVEN ISRAEL, PROSTITUTION IS LEGAL.. DO YOU THINK PROSTITUTION SHOULD BE LEGAL IN THE U.S.? AND WHY?

RIGGS: Sex is legal and buying stuff is legal ... So why is buying sex illegal?

MUEN: WHAT IS YOUR LEAST LIKED GENRE OF MUSIC, AND WHY?

RIGGS: Country ... Because its fucking stoopid ! ... and polka , shit like that ...

MUEN: HAVE YOU EVER PASSED OUT ON STAGE? AND/OR WHAT IS THE MOST BAZAAR THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED, IN YOUR OPINION, AT ONE OF YOUR LIVE SHOWS?

RIGGS: I was electrocuted on stage at the Ozzfest in 99 ... I have a blood guitar with a strobe light in it that plugs into 110 power and it fucked me up ... I finished the song ...

MUEN: YOU HAVE FOUR SONGS FEATURED IN THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED CHILLER "DEVIL GIRL"... "GET YOUR DEAD ON," BLOODSUCKIN' FREAKSHOW," "NOTHING GIRL," AND "BENEATH THE LIVING," ... HOW DID THAT OPPORTUNITY COME ABOUT, WHEN WILL THE RELEASE OF THIS MOVIE BE, AND WHERE?

RIGGS: That's too long of a story ... It will be out on dvd in June I think ... Its in our blog ...

MUEN: IS IT HARD FOR A BAND LIKE SCUM OF THE EARTH TO BOOK PLACES TO PLAY FOR THE TOURS? HAVE YOU EVER BEEN BANNED FROM ANYWHERE?

RIGGS: ... Maybe ... We get a bad wrap sometimes for being crazy ... We are totally not.. I mean are or not ... HUH?

MUEN: IF A VENUE IS INTERESTED IN BOOKING SCUM OF THE EARTH FOR A SHOW, WHO SHOULD THEY CONTACT?

RIGGS: TKO booking in LA ...

MUEN: ANY OTHER NEWS YOU'D LIKE TO TELL US ABOUT?

RIGGS: Well... I am working on some new music for the fun of it called SHRED'EM ALL that will be available at iTunes soon ... Taking some SOTE songs and having various shredders come in and tear it up ... So there will be a series of SHRED'EM ALL songs being added to the list as time goes on ...

MUEN: WHAT WOULD BE THE THING THAT YOU'D MOST WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR IF YOU WERE TOLD YOU HAD TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY AND NEVER COME BACK?

RIGGS: I don't care if im remembered or not ... as long as I can pay my electric bill im cool ...

Interview by G. Cataline

myspace.com/scumoftheearth