IITB
I’m In The Band, by Sean Yseult – I love this book. I’d been a fan of White Zombie for quite some time, and was very sad that they broke up (since Rob Zombie never fulfilled his potential as a solo artist, in my opinion). Sean’s book is fantastic, in that it’s the first autobiography from any musician of any of the great heavy bands of her era (Sonic Youth, Raging Slab, Corrosion Of Conformity, Warrior Soul, eyehategod, Pantera, the Cramps, etc); it’s also in a cool format, being half-text, half photo collage, and with a weird horizontal flip format! Yes, stylish/garish to the max, everything we’d expect from a good zombie girl!
My one complaint with the book is the one that hit me first – why does the book need a very long 30-page introduction that covers a lot of the same turf that the rest of the book also e covers? But that doesn’t matter, as throughout the whole work the text is fun, light-hearted, and always positive (even in the “guest” sections that were written by others). Sean tends to downplay the hard times (describing them for what they are, without being judgmental, whiney or downbeat), but revels in the good times and the friendships. And while she doesn’t deny that she went through a hard break-up with her boyfriend/lead singer in the band that she co-founded with him (awkward touring and recording and all that), she doesn’t ever properly diss Rob Zombie at all, and even includes him in a few pictures (and a few solo shots!). Not sure what went on between the two, which is a shame as an autobiography is supposed to bring key issues to light (Keith Richards and Al Jourgensen addressed their arrests and heroin addictions in his autobiographies didn’t they?), but the volume still has tons to offer nonetheless.
The books can be broken into three parts: her childhood as an arts princess, the struggling years in New York City with Rob and a young White Zombie, and the nutty big-tour fun that hit them by storm when the band hit the big time (with a little help from Beavis and Butthead – you can actually see the progression of how money came into the compound as the once starchy white band adds tattoos); there’s also an “aftermath” section where she talks about what she’s doing today, none of which is on the same scale as her former life, of course. We also don’t get sex, or drugs (Sean and Rob were vegetarians, and the one temporary band member that did them got booted from the tour – there’s only mentions of booze, and occasionally “funny” mushrooms)… but we do get limitless rock ‘n’ roll, which is how it should be; and we get plenty of style and substance with it as well! And, Keith Richards-style, she also gives pages to friends and collaborators like filmmaker Steven Blush, former guitarist Tom Five, former drummer Ivan De Prume, musician Daniel Rey, the Geffen A&R guy who signed them Michael Alago, guitarist J Yuenger, latter drummer Joey Tempesta, CJ Ramone and production manager Chris Kansy (only no Rob Zombie, of course) to add their say to the legend that was White Zombie. The anecdotes are enormous, and they go on and on and on and on and on…
So those are the words, how about the images? The photos and layouts are gorgeous, with nearly every photo including Sean (as an infant, a pre-teen ballerina, as a raven-haired bass goddess/university student in New York, and as the funky bass chick we know and love), but also lots of other memorabilia – flyers, backstage passes, anything you can imagine… this is the ultimate rock girl scrapbook!! We get fantastic pictures of the band with those cool musicians that they toured with – the Ramones, Glenn Danzig, Marilyn Manson, Trouble, Michael Stipe, the Supersuckers, Monster Magnet, Voivod, the Cramps and Pantera. The best pic is definitely the one of Sean with Lemmy and Joey Ramone! Another one has the band in the studio with Iggy Pop, probably at the time that they did “Thunderkiss ’65″ with them (easy enough – he was already a fan right?).
There’s a picture of her with Rob from 1985, the year the band put out their first recording, there are pics of her many bass guitars, ticket stubs, sheet music (she was a trained musician and could read and write musical notation), limitless photo booth strip-of-four pics, toy monsters, pics of her parents, newspaper ads (CBGB, etc), media coverage, band notebook entries, early tour pics, postcards, concert fliers (White Zombie, Prong and The Obsessed on the same bill!!!), White Zombie’s entry on the Top Lists, album art, set lists, reproductions of the White Zombie fanzine, belt buckles, guitar straps, fashion design pages, pics in the studio, notes, tour diaries, passport pages, art photos, guitar designs, and tons of other stuff.
Interestingly/coincidentally, I ordered this book from Amazon in the same shipment that I ordered the new Al Jourgensen autobiography, and there are three interesting overlaps in the book – both were close to Dimebag Darrell of Pantera, with Sean touring with the band and Jourgensen playing Columbus, Ohio the same day that Dime was killed (Jourgensen claims the gunman even turned up at his gig thinking he was at Dime’s show, then leaving for hit appointment with fate).
The other similarity is that the two dated. And while she’s very gracious, talking about how she had a blast hanging out with Al and Timothy Leary and all of the interesting people that were around at the time, Al is a bit more honest, talking about what a messed up guy he was to her at the time, and how the break-up came when he made a serious mess-up. Interesting couple – what with Al and Rob having similar looks, and similar vocal sounds!
Final overlap… both also have Schechter tombstone guitars. How did that happen?
In fact, Sean is very discreet throughout her book, mentioning Al more as a friend than a lover, and who knows who she dated after the break-up with Rob Zombie, and how many were only guy friends; but she WAS the only rock chick in the boys club (something she plays up in her intro), and it must have been a lot of fun as long as it didn’t get ugly. She mentions her current husband from time to time, and it sounds like she’s happy with her life.
Rock ‘n’ roll, Sean Ysault, rock ‘n’ roll!!!