Fame & Fortune: White Zombie's Rob Zombie Obsession with detail fuels his business reincarnations
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Rob Zombie: It's because there's nobody else to handle it, really. That was the one thing I learned quickly. In the early days, when you don't have anyone working for you because you're flat broke, it's up to you to carry your own equipment, book the shows, hang up the flyers, and copy the flyers. It's up to you to do everything, because there's no one else. When I signed to Geffen, I thought, maybe now there are all these people to do these things for me, and I quickly learned that there aren't. There are people who will do their jobs, they'll do marketing to radio and they'll do press, but all that other stuff is up to you. I learned that quickly, that this is not going to be less work being signed to Geffen, this is going to be 10 times more work. And that's what it is. You can see that anyone who's been around for a long time, there's somebody in that band who's like that. For Metallica, that's Lars (Ulrich), who's just obsessed with Metallica. Metallica, Metallica, Metallica, all day long. Somebody has to be that guy, because there's nobody else to do that for you. When I walked into the record company and saw people sitting in their offices and cubicles, I thought, there's nobody in here that's dying to make me a rock star. They're probably thinking like, "another jackass just walked through the door." You gotta work hard -- that's all it is.

Bankrate: So many creative people aren't business-minded. Would you say you're unusually business-minded for a creative person?

Rob Zombie: Probably, because a lot of people I know don't think about it, and it's really sad to watch. And I never understood it. If you worked at McDonald's and you got your check, you would look at the amount on the check, wouldn't you? You wouldn't just assume, "Oh, I got paid 25 cents for the week, that's probably right." It's just common sense. But for some reason, people get into the music business, and they don't pay attention to everything. It's like every episode of "Behind the Music." They all wonder why they had 50 million dollars and now they have zero. It's for that reason. Every time a limo pulls up, the first words out of my mouth are, I ain't paying for that, or, who's paying for that. Everybody's very happy to spend your money. Sure, they'll get you a limo, they'll get you a private plane, they'll get you anything you want, because you're paying for it. They would love for you to be in a private plane so they can fly with you and then charge it back to you. Why not? Give you advances on records you haven't even made yet -- why not? Then they can take their percentage of your money that you haven't made yet, then when you make that record, and it stiffs, guess who's out of money? You. It's so funny, I see these bands on tour all the time. No one's going to tell these bands they can't each have their own bus. What do they care? Let them all go broke. Nobody cares, because nobody's looking out for you. That's the thing. I have people I trust, but I don't trust them as much as I trust myself. Bands get in there and it's like it's cool to be a moron or something, and they all end up broke. It's really sad to watch.

Bankrate: Between music and film, which is more financially lucrative for you?

Rob Zombie: Probably music is still more lucrative, but just by a little bit.

Bankrate: As hands on as you are, I'm assuming you're hands-on with your finances. Are you completely handling your own stuff?

Rob Zombie: You have to trust people at some point. Unfortunately, unless you're a lawyer or certified accountant, you can't do everything. I sign my own checks and pay attention to everything, and that's what you have to do. People make mistakes. So many people get outright screwed. "Oh, Billy Joel was cheated out of 50 million. How is that possible?" Because it gets very confusing. You have a lot of things going on, there's money coming in over long periods of time, you have a lot of records, there are royalty checks coming in from all around the world, you're touring, there's merchandise ... if you're not paying attention, it's really easy for ... you've got to find good people. I've had the same people for a long, long time, and I trust them, but at the same time you've got to pay attention, because they're not robots. They're not perfect. They're not getting everything right all the time.

Bankrate: Are there any kind of investments you prefer? You sound like you'd be conservative.

Rob Zombie: I am. I've been investing my money since the first moment I got any, but I always do stuff that's totally safe and secure. Because in this business, who knows? It's not like you're a dentist and people's teeth will always be rotting. You don't even know why you're popular in the first place sometimes, so how are you going to stay there? Most people function as if the success is never going to end. I always function as if it's already over. It's the only way to do it.