Nine Inch Nails: Beside Vader in Time

Though known for playing bass for such heavy-hitters as Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and A Perfect Circle, Jeordie White's music endeavors actually began with a band whose main muse was Star Wars. Around the late '80s in Florida, White and his friends formed the thrash metal band Amboog-a-Lard. Their only album, aptly named A New Hope, focused entirely on the themes and characters of the original trilogy.

"That band was a blatant tribute to Star Wars," White says. "Amboog-a-Lard had members that were hardcore Star Wars fans. We had watched Star Wars literally every day and then wrote songs about Darth Vader and stuff because we were crazy. It sounds very metal like Metallica or Queensryche."

Shortly after Amboog-A-Lard released A New Hope, White left the band to join Marilyn Manson where he took on the stage persona of Twiggy Ramirez. While with Manson, White found like-minded Star Wars fans in the band, often opening live shows with a rendition of the Imperial March. Eventually, White left Manson and played with the bands Mondo Generator and A Perfect Circle before landing in the current line up of Nine Inch Nails.

White can be heard on Nine Inch Nails' release With Teeth and the upcoming release Year Zero. Fans can watch White in action in the Nine Inch Nails live concert DVD, Beside You In Time.

"Star Wars sparked my imagination as a child, it made me want to be creative," White says. "It gave me this whole fantasy world to identify with. As a child it was almost kind of a belief system or a religion. Plus, it was cool toys to play with and a whole entire universe to identify with. I haven't seen anything modern that has that much effect on culture, or kids in general. Something is a fad for six months and then it's gone. I don't see someone hold onto something that came out today as much as when people held on to Star Wars."

White's first introduction to Star Wars floored him, literally. "My first Star Wars memory was going to see A New Hope when I was six, and not being able to sit down in a theater because it was so crowded. But they let us lay down in the front of the first row. I watched the whole thing lying down. It was 1977; there were still some hippies left over, so it wasn't unheard of to watch the movie lying down with some blankets, eating popcorn. I was blown away, like everyone else was."

Not only was he hooked on the films, but he soon became an avid collector. "My first was the Early Bird package that came with a little stand and had Luke, Leia, Chewbacca and R2-D2. The second was when I sent away for the cantina play set. Back then it wasn't like it is nowadays when the market is so flooded with different types of action figures. So I was trying to collect each and every one. I remember being really confused when I was a kid because my Snaggletooth figure was tall and blue. I was bummed out that he was different than the regular one; only later I realized I did have the cool one."

As White grew older, he began to add more impressive items to his collection. "I have a storage unit full of stuff that I haven't touched in awhile. I've kind of slowed down collecting Star Wars stuff because it was taking over my life a little bit. There's just so much out there. Every time I go into a store I see the new stuff and it looks cooler than it was before."

Of his entire collection, White says it's difficult to pinpoint his pride and joy items, otherwise known as "items I'd save if my storage unit was on fire."

"The die-cast TIE bomber would be one of them just because it's expensive and rare," White says. "I wish I would have kept my original Star Wars stuff nicer. I've lost items throughout the years and had to buy them again. The only stuff I have that's original is my Millennium Falcon which is yellow with age now."

"I also really like the autographs that I've collected like Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Dave Prowse, and Jeremy Bulloch; and an Episode I poster signed by George Lucas," White adds.

Getting his collectibles autographed also produced a few lasting memories. "My funniest Star Wars moment would be meeting Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill when I was 19 at the opening of Star Tours at MGM in Orlando, Florida. I had brought my Princess Leia slave outfit Return of the Jedi action figure in the box and I had her sign it. She said that I was 'sick.'"

White also recalls many a childhood Halloween spent dressing as a Sith Lord or a droid, or in one case, both. "I remember being Darth Vader and C-3PO a couple of times," White smiles. "When I was C-3PO I had the mask and I covered myself in aluminum foil and then someone showed up to my Halloween party dressed exactly the same. I also had a Darth Vader mask, so I ran and put that on -- becoming Darth 3PO. Just like the LEGO Star Wars video game."