Rob Zombie bittersweet about new CD

DETROIT - Assembling the White Zombie boxed set "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" was "weird" and somewhat bittersweet for Rob Zombie.

"The funny thing was when I was putting it together, it seemed so long ago," Zombie said. "It felt like I was putting together a box set of someone else's band. . . . It just seemed weird."

Zombie said that compiling the four-CD, one-DVD collection, which includes 63 tracks and a wealth of rare video footage and other memorabilia he's held onto, "brought up a lot of things I'd forgotten about - unfortunately, some of it was negative."

He was particularly reminded of the waning days of the band, when the group members would tour in separate vehicles and not see each other except at shows. None of the other band members were involved in the set.

Nevertheless, Zombie said he hoped "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" - pointedly titled, he acknowledged, for those who might wonder about a White Zombie reunion - will feed the appetites of younger generations of fans.

"Hot Topic is doing a new line of White Zombie merch. There's always a new wave of kids that gets super-jazzed on a band that's not around anymore."

Zombie, meanwhile, is working on his next studio album, which he predicts will be out in 2009. *