Exclusive Interview – Bill Moseley
We were recently fortunate enough to sneak a few minutes of the legendary Bill Moseley’s time and asked him a few questions ahead of the release of Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell this upcoming week on the 16th, 17th and 18th. This is what he had to say:
MHS: Hi there, Bill!
Bill: Hey, Josh! How ya doin’?
MHS: Good, thanks. How are you?
Bill: I’m Well.
MHS: Great. Thanks for taking the time to meet. I can imagine it is pretty hectic leading up to the 3 From Hell Release. How has that been?
Bill: Yes! Yes! Less than three weeks. I know I keep counting it down. I’ve been waiting for this for 14 years! [laughing]
MHS: I remember watching Rob Zombie on MTV cribs when I was growing up and seeing his horror collection and being pretty jealous. Obviously, he is very passionate about horror. What is it like working with Rob Zombie on set?
Bill: You know it’s a lot of fun. He’s all business. He’s very cool. He’s fun and friendly. And he writes great scripts, and he’s very technically adept. So you put it all together, and it’s a very easy package. It’s a lot of fun to work with him. He and his wife are very chill in spite of all of the horror and everything would lend you to believe that they go home and perform human sacrifices. They are pretty cool. I know Sheri, Rob’s wife, is into rescuing goats and they are both vegan, so they are very, very chill. And also really a lot of fun. When you are doing goat rescue, that’s not exactly human sacrifice.
MHS: Right. That’s not something that you hear a lot of people are into, either.
Bill: Yeah. I guess there are goats out there that need rescuing like the rest of us. [laughing]
MHS: Definitely. Speaking on well-known musicians who are into horror, how did your collaboration with Phil Anselmo for Bill & Phil, and the Cornbugs project (with Buckethead) come about?
Bill: Well, first of all, with Cornbugs, I was doing a play in Los Angeles back in the very early ’90s called “Charlie”. It was about Charlie Manson and I was playing the good old Timothy Leary. So it was called Timothy and Charlie. I played Timothy Leary an actor named Gill Gayle played Charles Manson. And Gill was friends with Buckethead, whom I had never heard of back then. And Buckethead was a big Chop Top fan. He wanted to meet me, so Gill introduced us after a performance one night, and Buckethead invited me to come down to his friend’s studio in Santa Monica, which is a part of Los Angeles, and quote “go off” as Chop Top on some music that he had already recorded. So I did that, and we ended up having a lot of fun just improvising together, and that led to Buckethead offering me a plane ticket to New York from Los Angeles.
I ended up playing with Bill Laswell. Bill Laswell produced Buckethead’s Giant Robot album at the time for Sony Records. So I came to New York and did a couple of songs on that. One was called “Onions Unleashed” and the other one was called “I come in peace” and that really kind of cemented Buckethead’s and my relationship. And then I had started doing horror conventions, and instead of just selling 8×10’s I wanted to spice up my table a bit. So I suggested we make a cassette, and we made a cassette of some tunes, and that was the beginning of Cornbugs. Buckethead named the group because I was in his mother’s vegetable garden in Oxnard CA and we were doing a little video and I was in amongst the corn stalks, and I saw an ear of corn and I peeled it back and there were a bunch of bugs on the corn and I went “Corn Bugs!” and Buckethead said “That’s the name of the group.”
With Phil (Anselmo), we had interviewed each other for a music website called ArtistDirect.com. I realized that he knew a lot more about horror than I did, and certainly a lot more about music than I did. So I kind of listened to him for the most part. And we became pen pals. He likes to communicate via email. And so over the course of a couple of years I suggested that we get together and jam and it’s kind of like asking Paul McCartney to play bass in your garage band, but Phil put up with me and finally one day he just wrote back and said, “Look, I’ve got four days next week. If you can make it down to Folsom Louisiana from where you are in Los Angeles maybe we can do something.” So I cashed in some air miles, I flew to New Orleans, I rented a car, I found his house, and in four days we produced the six songs on the EP of Bill & Phil.
MHS: That’s good stuff.
Bill: Thanks, man.
MHS: There are a couple of legendary lines that you have delivered playing Otis. Are there any personal favorites of yours, and do you get to do any improvisation?
Bill: You know, usually, Rob is open to improv if you come up with something off the top of your head or if you have a better idea on how to execute a scene, but the script is usually pretty tight so there isn’t a lot of need for improv. There wasn’t that moment in 3 From Hell like in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 where probably half my lines were improv. I was encouraged by Tobe Hooper.
MHS: Otis seems to be the one to have to kind of take control of the situation when things start to get out of hand which usually can get pretty crazy. Does that sort of burden extend into 3 From Hell?
Bill: It does. It does. You’ll find that Otis is a little more paternal in this one. Just because I think the crazier one is Baby. And then we also have a new family member Foxy, played by Richard Brake. So there is also kind of that reshuffling of the deck, and keeping Baby in line. So there is a paternal element about Otis, but the nice thing is that when the shit hits the fan, Otis is Otis.
MHS: Speaking of Richard Brake, he has been featured in a lot of the promotion for 3 From Hell and is listed in IMDb as “Winslow Foxworth Coltrane”. Without giving too much away, what can you say about this new character?
Bill: Well, I can’t say much about the character, but I can say that working with Richard Brake was really a lot of fun. He’s very funny. He does some great improvising in this. And I certainly follow along with him, but it’s really a lot of fun. I had never met him until I think the day before or the day of our first scene together. And I had certainly heard about him and trust the casting instincts of Rob. And when I met him he was really the nicest guy. And it’s very funny. Usually it seems like the nicest guys play the craziest characters, and certainly, with Richard, he’s very much a part of the family. He fit right in.
MHS: Well, we look forward to seeing you guys in the theater and thanks for taking the time to do this interview.
Bill: Hey, it’s my pleasure. Thanks for supporting 3 From Hell.
And there you have it! Some insight from Otis himself. Make sure to see 3 From Hell in theaters beginning this Tuesday by checking for local showtimes at the link below. Each date has something different to offer in addition to the new film!
Tickets for the September 16th/17th/18th nationwide release of 3 FROM HELL are available at FathomEvents.com/3FromHell
