Rob Zombie Tour Goes On Despite "Hellbilly 2' Album Delay

Rob Zombie decided to push back the release date of his "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" album because "everything was turning into a chaotic mess."

Zombie's fourth solo studio album -- and the sequel to his 1998 solo debut -- was originally slated to come out on Nov. 17. But he told Billboard.com during a conference call for his upcoming concert tour that he felt "the basic structure of releasing a record" was not adequately in place for the project.

"Basically the label (Geffen) wasn't really in a position to promote it or deal with it," Zombie explained. "It was basically everything, from getting advance copies to the press to...There wasn't even time to make a video (for the first single, 'What?') and we were leaving for the tour. There was the sense that every little thing about the record was rushed -- not the music, 'cause that was done for a long time, and that was the thing that was so annoying. We spent so much time crafting the record, we didn't want it to be something that was so chaotic that it became, 'Oh, that's done and gone' two weeks later."

Zombie has not set a new release date for the album but promised the announcement would come soon, possibly even this week.

Meanwhile, he and his band are still gearing up for the tour, which kicks off Thursday in Phoenix. He said fans can expect a return to the lavish stage production he'd abandoned in supporting 2006's "Educated Horses."

"It's pretty awesome," Zombie noted. "I have the stage set from the first 'Hellbilly' tour in storage; I toyed with the idea of pulling it out...and using the actual set. But it felt so tired and contrived to do that. It seemed fake. So we've sort of gone back and created what seems like the new version of that...the modernized update of that. There have been some incredible advancements in digital technology. It's pretty high-tech stage show going on. The stage feels very fresh, very modern, very high-tech. It has the spirit of that first show."

Zombie is also planning an "extra special" version of the show for his Halloween night performance at the Palladium in Los Angeles, re-creating the concert scene from his latest film, "Halloween 2," complete with a performance by Capt. Clegg & the Night Creatures and more pyrotechnics than he'll be using during other stops on the tour.

"I hate the idea of going to a concert on Halloween and they don't really make it a Halloween event," Zombie says. "We went to great lengths...It's the concert but also a giant Halloween party."

Zombie will be including some "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" songs -- including "What?" and "Werewolf Women of the S.S." -- in his concerts, even before the album is released, and he plans to be on the road until the fall of 2010. He has more movie work in his crosshairs, too: he just completed work on a director's cut of "Halloween 2" that should be out on DVD in time for the holidays; a rumored remake of "The Blob" is likely but unscheduled: and another film is lined up that will take him out of the horror and gore realm. "If (that's) the next movie," Zombie said, "people will be shocked."