Showing posts with label White Zombie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label White Zombie. Show all posts

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Brian Sherwin interview with photographer, graphic artist, and musician Sean Yseult (formerly of White Zombie)

Brian Sherwin interview with photographer, graphic artist, and musician Sean Yseult (formerly of White Zombie)
Image used with permission from Sean Yseult

Sean Yseult is a photographer, graphic artist, and musician. She has played in several bands-- but is best known as having been the bassist for the heavy metal band White Zombie. Yseult was a member of White Zombie for over a decade-- and is preparing to launch a book, titled “I’m in the Band”, that details her experiences touring with White Zombie as well as offering insight from others who are involved with White Zombie. The book will contain a history of the band that fans have been denied for years.

Yseult has been involved with bands such as Rock City Morgue and Famous Monsters-- and of course, White Zombie. She has performed with many musicians-- including, Rob Zombie, Jay Yuenger, John Tempesta, Tim Jeffs, Tom Guay, Ivan de Prume, Katie Lynn Campbell, and various others. However, before becoming one of the greatest bassist’s in rock history Sean Yseult had an interest in photography and graphic design. In recent years Yseult has been focusing on aspects of visual art rather than music.


Brian Sherwin: Sean, you were one of the founding members of the band White Zombie-- and played bass in the band for over decade. Needless to say, White Zombie was very successful. I understand that you plan to release a book, titled “I’m in the Band”, that contains tour diaries, a collection of photos, and other information that details your years as a member of White Zombie. Can you tell us about the book and your motivation for writing it? For example, is part of the motivation to give credit where credit is due as far as the band lineup is concerned?

Sean-Yseult: That is a huge part of the book - I actually reconnected with almost all of the past members of White Zombie and asked them to write a piece to go in the book. Whether that was their first impression of White Zombie, their experience within the band, or a few funny tour stories, it was entirely up to them.

I not only want to give credit where it is due to all of the band members who contributed in one way or another, but also to all of the people who helped us along the way - I have pages written by our first record producer, Daniel Rey, our first guy that booked us in the East Village, Steven Blush, our a&r guy who signed us to Geffen, the list goes on.

Part of my motivation in creating this book was hearing from our fans once our box-set came out - they were very upset upon opening it up to find not one liner note or note of reference about the band at all. When we broke up we disappeared, there was no farewell or fanfare, no chance to connect with our fans one last time. The box-set should have been our final word to the fans, but it said nothing.

When I started looking through all of the boxes of White Zombie things I had saved - photo albums, tour diaries, back stage passes, etc., so many memories came back and I felt like I had quite a story to tell, with quite a lot of visuals on hand to illustrate it. Having started off as a photo major in art school, I almost always had a camera around, so I have photos of us from day one until the very end!