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 Hi Rob!! Out of the ashes of the 80s Horror Metal cult band Ripper a
new fiendish Metal commando has rizen: Tombztone!! So first of all,
please let us know, why you do not continue as Ripper but have chosen a
new monicker.
Rob Graves:
Hello my friend…Yes, TombZtone has rizen…As you know, I’ve been wanting
to do a new Ripper album since the re-release of ATDSR in 2003…I
contacted Johnny Crystal, J.D. Shadowz, and even Sadie Paine
eventually…Johnny and J.D., who both still live in Los Angeles, were not
interested, and Sadie, who lives in Houston like I do, well, lets just
say that our visions for Ripper were no longer in agreement, and having
said that, I gave Sadie my word that I would not reform Ripper without
her, afterall, she ‘was’ the founding member…In April 2006, TombZtone
was born!!!
Please introduce the your new band to us. Who are the other guys in
Tombztone? And are you the only one left from the Ripper days or are
there any other ex-Ripper members involved in Tombztone?
Rob Graves:
I am the ‘only’ former member of Ripper in TombZtone…TombZtone consists
of Steve Bogle/Guitar/Keyboards ( formerly of The Hunger ), Alan
D’Angelo/Bass ( formerly of Livesay ), and Don Ramirez/Drums ( formerly
of Tokyo ), and me/Guitar/Vocals…It was Steve that played the keyboards
on ATDSR, and Don who played the drums on ‘Sinister Minister’…I met Alan
when Ripper was in New York City in 1984, and we’ve been close friends
ever since…Alan’s former band has shared the stage with just about
everybody ‘big’ you can think of, and Steve’s former band toured with
KI$$ for the 96/97 reunion tour…Don is an ‘in demand’ metal destructo
machine, and I’ve wanted him in my band since the Ripper demo days…
What is working with this new lineup alike? Is it fun to share the
stage with them & do they contribute a lot of the Tombztone sound?
Rob Graves:
I love working with these guys…Everyone is so talented and unique, and
extremely important to the overall sound of this music…Its really weird
man, we’re all in our mid to late 40’s and married with families you
know, not at all like the old days when everyone slept in the same
equipment van for weeks on end…Life has definitely become a lot more
civilized…We’re all home owners…LMAO…I cant believe it…
In Ripper you always had a lot of lineup problems and changes... do
you think you’ll have to go through all this struggle again with
Tombztone or does it seem to you as if the current constellation of the
band is a stable one!?
Rob Graves:
Given the fact that everyone here is on a different maturity level than
in the old days, the lineup can be as stable as we want it to be…Ripper
was getting too much advise, and from far too many sources…You never
knew who was bending whose ear in private, and that alone made
everything we tried to do virtually impossible…Its was all way too
political for me in the end…All of us have moved way beyond that now…
Your new album “Rizen” will be out
later this year through Black Widow Records, the label that has also
done the rerelease of Ripper’s “And The Dead Shall Rise” LP some years
ago. You must have been pretty satisfied with their work so far, or else
you wouldn’t have teamed up with them again, would you?
Rob Graves:
Black Widow Records/Century Media did a fantastic job with ATDSR, CD’s,
LP’s, promotion, all stellar man, but as far as TombZtone goes,
everything with BWR is merely pending…Nothing has been drawn or signed
yet…There are a lot of labels interested in TombZtone, and its in our
best interest to see who brings what to the table before we sign with
anyone…We should go public with it by the years end…
You once told me, that all the songs
on “Rizen” have been written by you in the 80s and where supposed to be
on the second Ripper album... unfortunatly Ripper split up in the
meantime, so the songs stayed unused until just recently!! So please let
me know, what was it like to dig out these old tunes again and finally
record ‘em with Tombztone?
Rob Graves:
Yeah, I was starving in Los Angeles in ’87 when I penned the songs for
‘Rizen’…Ripper had’nt even rehearsed the material when the split
came…Its just been buried alive in my head for the last 20 years…No
wonder I was having trouble sleeping…I’ll tell ya Tobi, they sound as
fresh and awesome today as when I first wrote them…You can testify to
that man…
And are those songs still 100% the same as when they were orginally
composed, or have they undergone some changes throughout all those
years...
Rob Graves:
They have remained unchanged since ’87…If it aint broke, don’t fix
it…The approach to recording them however, is another matter
entirely…Long gone are the tape machines and the outdated studio gear of
the old days, where an edit meant watching an expensive piece of 2”
recording tape fall helplessly to the ground…I couldn’t stay in the room
during the editing, but now, its cut-n-paste, click-n-drag…I love it!!!
Will you do all the vocals on
"Rizen" or will there be different singers in Tombztone, as there also
were in Ripper? If the latter is the case, in what way do the other
guys' voices differ from yours?
Rob Graves:
Yes, all of the vocals on 'Rizen'
will be me this time...Steve, who I think has a
killer voice, has opted not to sing for the first album...I’ll get him
to open up for the next album for sure though...only time will tell if
Alan or Don will
ever sing, but if they want to in the future, then I'm
all for it...I want Tombztone to be deep
man...that was my favorite thing about Kiss by
the way...they all sang...precious few bands do that anymore...
Now that we’ve talked quite a bit about the songs, please introduce
at least some of them to us... what will be the song titles, what topics
will you deal with in the lyrics and what will they sound like!?
Rob Graves:
Well, you already know about ‘66AngelEyez’, which is a story about a
modern day vampire chick that stalks the historic West End of downtown
Dallas…Next will be ‘Hemicidal’, a fast paced thrasher-thriller about
the American street racing dominance of the 426 AAR Hemi ‘Cuda, but this
car is alive and she races and kills on her own accord…Then theres a
mid-tempo chunker called ‘Love Me To Death’, which means everything you
think it does, the extremely heavy, eerie-n-doomy ‘U.S.Tank’, a
testament to Texaz Horror Metal, and the slow pounding metal tonnage of
‘Driller’, a title worth a thousand pictures, I assure you…The next 5
begin with ‘The Tall Man’, a meticulous chunky-thrasher inspired by the
character Angus Scrimm from the horror movie Phantasm, the epic
‘Cryptonight’ dealing with the ever drawing lure of the cemetery at
night, the creepy-n-anthemic ‘Kill Or Die’, which is about the vital
importance of the survival of heavy metal in the mainstream, and how we
should not allow it to be driven completely underground where it has no
voice, the ruthless and overpowering title track entitled ‘Rizen’ ,
featuring lyrics penned by bassist Alan D’Angelo ( D’Angelo also wrote
the lyrics for ‘Driller’ and ‘Kill Or Die’ ), dealing with the
unavoidable transformation from Ripper to TombZtone, and last but
certainly not least, the relentless and devastating ‘In The Raw’ , a
song so awesome that it scares even me…(Actually performed by Ripper in
the mid 80’s, but never recorded by the band )
You’ve already uploaded one appetizer by the name of “66AngelEyez” to
your MySpace page (www.myspace.com/tombztonerizen)!!
What reactions has this song earned so far? Did the fans like it or have
there also been some words of criticism?
Rob Graves:
No criticism has reached my ears so far, but then again, the song was
only revealed to a precious few before it was actually posted there…As
far as I know, all of the reactions have been positive, but more
importantly, I write stuff that ‘I’ like to listen to, and if I dig it,
then it doesn’t really matter to me that someone else may not…For the
record though, everyone in the band, and all associated with TombZtone
are thrilled about this song and this album…You cant please everyone…My
main concern was getting it out to a few key people in the business,
such as yourself…
You’ve told me in an email that “66AngelEyez” is the softest and
least heavy of the “Rizen” songs. So in what way do you think is it
representative for the album? If one likes “66AngelEyez” will one also
enjoy the other tracks?
Rob Graves:
I don’t see why not…’66’ may be the least heavy of the 10, but that in
no wise takes away from the fact that it’s a very heavy song in its own
right…I’d be willing to bet you that that whoever likes ‘66’ will
definitely like the album as a whole, and yes, I do feel that ‘66’
represents this album extremely well…The eerie haunting vibe in that
song runs throughout the entire disc from start to finish…
Will Black Widow only release “Rizen” on CD or are there also plans
for a vinyl release? If so, will it continue any goodies like bonus
tracks, special artwork, colored wax, etc...
Rob Graves:
If the album get released by Black Widow records, then I’m sure they’ll
release it on CD, LP, with special artwork, bonus track, and re-mix
editions…That’s what they live for man…Laughs…The job they did for
Ripper was absolutely first rate in every sense…I was totally impressed
with their dedication, ability, and drive…They wanted ATDSR to get the
kind of release it always deserved…
Is Tombztone only a studio project or will you also play concerts?
And if the latter is the case, will you also unleash a horror show on
stage like in the old Ripper days!?
Rob Graves:
Originally, I was going to do it as a gift for all of the diehard Ripper
fans, you know, playing all of the parts myself, but the more I
discussed it with friends, the more the idea grew into actually forming
a real band out of the project…We now fully intend to bring TombZtone to
the stage, in a full blown ‘horror metal assault’…I think its only right
that we make TombZtone everything Ripper never got a chance to be, and
then some…Watch the skies, theres still a storm brewing in Texaz!!!
And will you only play new material or will a couple of old Ripper
classics creep into your playlists as well!? If so, which Ripper tracks
would you like to play live again the most?
Rob Graves:
TombZtone will definitely play everything on ‘Rizen’ as well as on
ATDSR, eventually…Since ‘Rizen’ would have been a Ripper album anyway,
its just feels right, but for opening spots with a limited amount of
playing time, we would perform only material from ‘Rizen’…In those
situations, TombZtone will receive first priority…I already have the
next TombZtone album waiting in the wings…
Do you already have some kinda
visual concept for Tombztone? Will you have a special stage design and
costumes like in the old Ripper days? Or will you let the music do all
the talking and not accompany the horror image by special clothes,
makeup, etc?
Rob Graves:
Absolutely...The image and concept of TombZtone is
already in the deep planning stages, and should easily exceed what was
done in Ripper, without a doubt...The music will definitely do its own
talking, but I love horror-metal far to much to not be just as visually
exciting...It wont be like Ripper though...It’ll be like TombZtone...My
theatrical roots run very deep...We’re planning an ‘all out’Texaz Horror
metal assault...You have been warned!!!
What goals and aims do you still have as a musician? The last
interview I did with you (back in 2002) ended with the words: “Like I
always say, its better to be a "has been" than a "never was"... I almost
made it. Hell, maybe I still will...”!! Do you think Tombztone has the
potential to take the hearts of the horror and metal freaks by storm and
bring you back to the spotlight again?
Rob Graves:
Without a doubt man…Just sit back and watch it happen…TombZtone will not
be underground like Ripper was forced to be…The level of experience and
expertise in this band is nothing short of extraordinary…It’s a whole
different ball game today my friend…The networking and marketing
abilities from the web alone bring us light years ahead of where we used
to be…I still desire to ‘make it’…My wife Denise and I have a dream of
building a home in Germany, near Birkenfeld/NAHE, where she’s originally
from, and one in Italy too of coarse…TombZtone can actually make that
happen…I want to record and perform horror-metal for years to
come…That’s what I do…
And as we’re talkin’ about hopes and dreams right now, what do you
think in what way would your life have turned out different, if Ripper
had signed that deal with Metal Blade back in the 80s... do you think
you could have made it and Ripper could have survived?
Rob Graves:
Its hard to say Tobi…I don’t know if it was just bad luck, bad timing,
or both back then, but had we actually signed the deal, I’m sure we
would have survived…We desperately needed a new album and a tour to get
things rolling, but it wasn’t meant to be…The trouble would have
eventually surfaced anyway, so the end was most likely inevitable…Ripper
will always live inside me though, and I am proud of what we did…
Before we come to an end, there’s just one personal question I’d like
to ask you... what has Rob Graves done for Halloween this year!? ;)
Rob Graves:
Rob Graves and his beautiful wife Denise sat on the front porch of their
home in Houston, listened to horror-metal, drank wine, and handed out
candy to the neighborhood kids…The pumpkin I carved was BAD ASS, the
best one I ever did…We had green lights on outside with lots of torches
burning for atmosphere, and we had a great time, as usual…We wanted to
visit some haunted houses, but never got around to it…I aint gonna tell
ya what we did later :P’’’
OK, Rob, that’s it... thanks a lot for your answers I can’t wait wait
to hear the complete “Rizen” album!! I wish you good luck with the
release and cross my fingers that you and your bandmates will make it to
Europe one day, so that I can stand in the front row and bang my head to
Tombztone’s killer Horror Metal!! All the best, my friend & See you
soon!! TOBI
Rob Graves:
I cant wait to hear it either…Laughs…This time Tobi, you’re gonna get
your wish, ‘cause we’re comin’…You know man, you were there for me
during the Ripper re-release in ’03, so its only fitting that you we’re
first for ‘Rizen’ too, and after ‘that’ show, we’re gonna drink ‘til we
float away…After 20 years of waiting, you can bet your ass that I’m one
thirsty motherfucker…Texaz Horror-Metal Cheers little brother, and you
‘will’ see me soon!!!
Rob Graves
TombZtone
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