Longtime ROB ZOMBIE bassist Matt Montgomery (a.k.a. Piggy D.) has announced his departure from the band.
In a message posted on his Instagram page, Montgomery wrote: “Dear Friends. My time with ZOMBIE has come to an end. It was an honor to entertain you for the last 18 years.”
He added, “I look forward to the future and wish everyone the best. Peace & Love, Matt Montgomery aka Count D., Piggy D., Giggles”.
Montgomery joined ROB ZOMBIE in 2006 as the replacement for Rob “Blasko” Nicholson. Nicholson left ZOMBIE in May 2006 in order to join Ozzy Osbourne‘s recording/touring band.
Montgomery‘s debut performance with ROB ZOMBIE came on May 24, 2006 during an appearance on CBS‘s “Late Night Show with David Letterman”.
Montgomery played bass on the Rob Zombie studio albums “Hellbilly Deluxe 2” (2010),“Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor” (2013),“The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” (2016) and “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy” (2021).
In addition to his work with Zombie, Montgomery has collaborated with Alice Cooper, John 5 and Wednesday 13. He’s also released solo music and is a member of THE HAXANS alongside NEW YEARS DAY singer Ash Costello.
In the fall of 2022, John 5 left ROB ZOMBIE to join MÖTLEY CRÜE as the replacement for that band’s co-founding guitarist Mick Mars. John 5 has since been replaced in Zombie‘s band by returning guitarist Mike Riggs.
Riggs had previously spent six years as a member of ROB ZOMBIE. Riggs joined forces with Rob in the ’90s and stayed with him into the early 2000s, eventually leaving in 2004 (when Rob Zombie was largely focusing on films rather than music) to start a project of his own. Riggs songwriting and crunching guitars can be heard on Rob Zombie‘s “Hellbilly Deluxe”, “American Made Music To Strip By”, “The Sinister Urge” and “The Past, Present & Future” records.
More recently, Riggs had kept busy with his band SCUM OF THE EARTH, named after a song from “Sinister Urge”. SCUM OF THE EARTH favors the sort of rhythmic, industrial-influenced, mildly funky, hip-hop-minded alternative metal that Riggs honed during his initial Rob Zombie days.
John 5 had worked with Zombie for 16 years, co-writing on all studio albums since “Educated Horses”, and composing the score for Zombie‘s 2013 movie “The Lords Of Salem”.