CHICAGO, IL -- After responding to an ad in "The Chicago Reader" and auditioning in Trent Reznor's New Orleans Studio, Chicago native Zim Zum landed the highly sought after guitar position in Marilyn Manson (replacing the original guitarist) and performed live on what would be thee most controversial world tours in Rock N Roll history.
His first show with Marilyn Manson;"A Nothing of Night" (Trent Reznor's "Nothing Records" showcase) on 9/5/96 (and only the 2nd time Zim had ever played live), opening for Nine Inch Nails, resulted in the stage destroyed and the show stopped while paramedics removed a bloodied and unconscious drummer from the stage, wheeling him via gurney through the main floor crowd of 5,000 people. Zim has performed for audiences on every corner of the planet, including all 50 U.S States, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Belgium, France, UK, Holland, Italy, Japan, Australia, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, New Zealand and Mexico which included shows at The Reading Festival, Bizarre Festival, Giant Stadium, The Metrodome, Mile High Stadium, World Music Theater, Blockbuster Pavillion, the Dynamo and Pukkelpop Festivals, between Pantera and Black Sabbath on 1997's OZZFEST and in front of a television audience of more than 3 million people on MTV's Music Video Awards as well as the BBC's legendary "Top of the Pops".
He is featured in the 60 minute concert film "Dead To The World" that documents the most controversial tour in music history; "Antichrist Superstar"
Mechanical Animals; Zims second major label writing and recording (his first was Howard Sterns "Private Parts" soundtrack alongside Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Rob Zombie and Deep Purple), charted at number 1 on Billboards top 200 and has since gone on to multi-platinum status Mechanical Animals is still Marilyn Manson's highest selling album to date.
With his unmistakable writing and performing all over the number 1 album in the Country, Zim Zum ventured out on his own, leaving Marilyn Manson. The unprecedented variety if high profile projects and performances (Cher - "Crimson and Clover", Korn - "Got the life Remix" with Producer Josh Abraham, an appearance in Jane's Addictions "Three Days" concert film and a now notorious VH1's Behind the Music) that followed his well publicized resignation from Manson, was no accident. Zim's immediate focus was to distance himself from what he had become known for and at the same time reinvent himself in the eyes of the public. Zim left Hollywood behind and returned home, compelled to explore his musical vision in an art and music district in Chicago.

Treading upon unchartered mental ground, he completely isolated himself in his Chicago studio (25/8) for more than a year, cutting off all ties to the outside world in an effort to guarantee the creation and production of music completely unique in perspective and true to his own definitive musical statement.
As Zim explained during a cover story interview with Guitar One; "For a year I didnt buy any CD's, cut off cable television, rarely spoke to anyone and spent 14 hours a day writing and
recording over 100 songs."

The isolation experiment resulted in songs eerily echoing their creators most intimate thoughts, moods and personal struggles.
"The lure of isolation and possibly some from of self-destruction lurks inside Zim Zum. After coming onboard for Anti-Christ Superstar and Mechanical Animals, he opted out of Marilyn Manson when it would have been easier to simply accept a paycheck. During his self-imposed exile in his hometown of Chicago, IL, he channeled all of his emotions into crafting songs that might assit in redefining hard industrial music for the mainstream. His intention wasn't to do that, instead it was to create something that came from within his soul" "Zim is a highly esteemed mega studio rock star of the highest order" - Sonic Monk Magazine - SonicMonk.Com
Cover stories in such diverse genre (Pop Culture, Sub Culture, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Indie and Alternative) magazines like; Guitar One, Alternative Press, Bizarre, Metal Edge and Kerrang! featuring Zim Zum without any released material or label push, attracted immediate attention.

"Everything has been so watered down that it's time for a change," asserts Zum in Kerrang! "and I truly feel I have that change."

Zim was featured in Bizarre Magazine's "Bizarre Lives" alongside some of the most iconic artists, politicians and musicians of the 21st Century.

"His birth name is no longer relevant. He has become known by the intriguing moniker of Zim Zum, avant-garde anarchist and executant of sounds to chill and thrill" - Bizarre Magazine's Bizarre Lives feature

Guitar One magazine featured Zim Zum as one of the most influential guitar players of the last 4 decades.

"Zim Zum turned menacing gobs of guitar into industrial rock hits" -Guitar One.

Every Major Label release he has written and recorded on has gone Multi Platinum.
Zim's unique Pleistoscene studio/internet project was well ahead of it's time by releasing 2 songs as free downloads which attracted over 500,000 hits in the first month it debuted.

As an hour and 45 minute + non stop live opus, The Pop Culture Suicides is Zim Zum's sonic brainchild and a musical manifesto like no other. Zim Zum has established himself as a musician/songwriter who clearly has his eyes on the future and spends no time trying to keep pace with the trends of the present.
To describe The Pop Culture Suicides sound is as futile as only feeling one emotion your whole life. To truly come to an understanding of who you are is to embrace everything you love and hate about yourself. Traditional music formats are all but nonexistent as the songs play out like movies, taking you through the sonic storyline, always leaving you wondering what is just around the corner and ultimately bringing a sense of resolve in whatever the ending may or may not be. This Chicago quintet is the product of extreme isolation and experimentation. Closing off the outside world in an effort to cleanse the incessant barrage of a massively over commercialized society while exploring and defining exactly who they are and what place they have in this world.

Flirting with elements of Rock Opera, Orchestral pieces and Performance Art, The Pop Culture Suicides play by a completely unique and individualistic set of rules, if any at all. Accepting and presenting nothing less than music as art and approaching each moment is if it were the last, they are loud and thunderous, quiet and introverted, fearless, optimistic and unapologetic all at once.
This band is independent in thought and action from the floor up, taking their music straight to the legions of dedicated fans (self proclaimed Suicide Squads) via live shows that blur the line between performance art and rock opera known as "Anti-Social Pep Rally's", releasing music within days of recording it and bringing about an underground status and cult like buzz not seen from a band in a long, long time.
Zim has finished recording The Pop Culture Suicides conceptual double album that will be broken into and released as 4 EP's. The First II EP's (in a series of IV) are titled "Anti Social Pep Rally" and "Crash Cart Revival". The initial release will be digital followed by the Limited Edition set of CD/EP's.

Stay tuned for the release dates...

http://www.Myspace.com/ThePopCultureSuicides

Source: Zim Zum