John 5

There is a monster of an instrumental guitar album right around the corner.  April 3rd will see the release of John 5's 3rd solo instrumental album named The Devil Knows My Name. John is a busy guy, that was first brought to the forefront of music as the guitar player for shock rocker Marilyn Manson.

Not many know that John cut his teeth on tours with people like KD Lang, the brilliant Canadian country singer.  A lot of people may not have known that he is such a virtuoso on the guitar, and capable of blowing you away with country, rock, metal and blues licks that were never seen or heard while playing with Manson.

With the launch of The Devil Knows My Name, John is preparing for a busy year, that will see him working with Rob Zombie, promoting his new disc and probably writing for other artists as well.  John does not seem to have any lack of things to keep him busy, and I feel lucky that I got to spend some time with him to have a conversation about things...Read on

Darrin Buchanan - March 15th,  2007 

Darrin: John, what is the actual drop date here in North America for your new solo CD “The Devil Knows My Name”?

John 5: It is actually April 3^rd, and it is going to be sold off of my website www.john-5.com as it was proven to be very effective, as my first 2 solo albums sold very well from my website and I was thinking to myself, that it would be the best thing to sell this one of the site too. This way, we own everything, and I was able to buy my self out of my contract, which is all really cool. You can also get it off of my Myspace, which is www.myspace.com/John5official  

Darrin: It seems that a lot of artists are moving to that Do It Yourself methodology, and in the long run, do not really have to sell as many albums, to make a lot more money either. 

John 5: Right. It is pretty insane.  To give you an example, you can sell even 2000 copies at say $15.00 a copy, that’s $30,000. That is a lot of money.

Darrin: It is, and you would have to sell more like 30,000 albums the other way to generate that kind of revenue.

John 5: You are exactly right. People are starting to wake up, and saying “Yeah, I am starting to see it!” That is why everyone is panicking these days, because artists are pretty well doing it themselves. They are making more money at it. People are not really even going to the record stores anymore. With Tower Records closing, and things like that. Everybody is doing everything online. You do not even have to leave your house to buy a CD.

Darrin: I can not remember the last time I walked into a record store, let alone buy something in one. 

John 5: Yeah, and I remember when there used to be a real pleasure in that. To go to the store, and just browsing. But now, you just browse on the internet. You can do it in your pajamas pretty much.

Darrin: You now have the unique ability to go and buy Whitesnake’s Greatest Hits at 3:00 am.

John 5: **laughs** Yeah, and you don’t have to be embarrassed to do it. You want to go buy some weird CD you used to love when you were a little kid or something like that, you can do whatever you want.

Darrin: And if needed, you can have it packaged in a plain brown paper wrapper too!! **laughs** 

John 5: Right! 

Darrin: So John, people know what they are going to get with you on a Manson album or a Zombie album, but what can they expect when they pick up one of your instrumental albums?

John 5: Well, of course it is completely instrumental, and it is a real journey, because there are so many different styles on these records. I don’t want to just play one style. It has really worked out well, because I have been doing this or 3 albums now and they sell really well.  I am kind of surprised. They are pretty out of the ordinary. Of course there is a lot of heavy music on there, but there is also some country stuff. Just some good guitar playing and good picking. I am just doing it for the guitar players and for people that just love music. It has really been doing well for me. I am so proud of it. 

Darrin: When you were writing for the latest solo record, were you on the road, or did you take some time off to work on it?

John 5: Because it is all guitar instrumental stuff, there are no lyrics, I am always writing. Every day. Even now, I am just planning for the next record, and things like that.  There is always something going on. I am always just writing, writing writing. I just wrote for the Scorpions, Lynyrd Skynyrd and so I am also writing for other people too. With the instrumental stuff, I never stop.

Darrin: What was the experience like to contribute to Meatloaf’s Bat Out Of Hell 3? 

John 5: Oh, it was really cool. I got to work with Desmond Child, who is amazing, and has written pretty much every hit song out there. It was a real pleasure to be there with Meatloaf and Desmond. I also co-write that with Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue. There were some heavy hitters there. It was a true pleasure.

Darrin: I think a lot of people might be surprised that one of your first tours was with Canadian country legend KD Lang.

John 5: Oh man, the amazing KD Lang. She was incredible. That was probably one of the best times of my life.  Actually, that was the best touring time of my life, and I have toured with a lot of people.  And I have thought since, that I will probably never reach that again, with such a fun and amazing band, but I have found that now with Rob Zombie.  Amazing and fun. The guy is just amazing. But with KD it was incredible.  She never had a bad night. She sang just beautifully every single night. It was amazing. It taught me so much about music, and everything.  It was really incredible. I am so thankful that I was able to do that.

Darrin: What was it like to play with David Lee Roth?

John 5: David Lee Roth… When I was a kid, I wanted to be Eddie Van Halen.  I wanted to be married to Valerie Bertinelli, and I wanted to play with David Lee Roth and that was all I wanted in life. If someone had asked, “What do you want in life?” definitely it would be to play with David Lee Roth. I just reached out to his manager and I knew everything there was to know about Van Halen, writing riffs and guitar parts that Dave would like. I showed them some songs, and they liked them. He told me to come on down to the house, and we hung out and made a record. It was something that I will cherish forever. He was my god, you know? And I did it. It was a true pleasure, and I am still very good friends with Dave and I am pretty good friends with Eddie too. It worked out really good for me.

Darrin: I found it a bit sad that the tour they were planning together got put on hiatus.

John 5: They are going to do it, everything is still set. The dates are still set, and they are all good to do it.

Darrin: To think of the guitar players that have now played with Dave.  Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Jason Becker.  John 5.  A pretty nice club going on there. A very eclectic line up. 

John 5: It IS a very eclectic lineup. And great to be a member of that family. It is really a pleasure to be a part of that group of people that you just mentioned. It is great to be a part of it.

Darrin: Let’s talk a bit about the time you had with Marilyn Manson. I think my own real exposure to your playing was in Manson, and I had no idea that you were the player that you are. In Manson, it was hook filled and catchy, but not guitar virtuoso stuff.  You never really got to show your stuff.  Did you find that frustrating at all?

John 5: Marilyn Manson was just not that kind of a band. It just wasn’t a real guitar shredding kind of band by any means. I played FOR Marilyn Manson, I did not play for myself. So, I played for Manson, and I think that is why I worked so much still, is because I do play for the artist. But that is why I also did the solo instrumental stuff, because no one really knew I could play at all. I wanted to be able to show people that I could do this stuff too, and not just play Sweet Dreams.

Darrin: You must be getting sick of people always talking about how you leaving the band was in bad terms, and that Manson kicked you ion the head at a show, and all the general crap that follows a member leaving a popular band. 

John 5: It was a very amicable split. It really wasn’t a bad breakup at all. We still talk and he has a new record coming out, and I just hope all the best for him. He is going to do great. He is a very smart man, and he knows what he is doing.

Darrin: I have heard he is a brilliant producer as well. 

John 5: Yeah, he sure is. He is a very, very smart man. 

Darrin: How did it come that you made such a drastic switch from Ibanez to Fender?

John 5: Well, one year I was at the NAMM show, which for people that are not sure what that is, it is a big convention for musicians. A few years back I was there, and I went over to Ibanez to say hello, and there was not any pictures there of me at all. I found that was odd, especially as I was in Marilyn Manson at the time, which was a really big band and doing my thing and I was kind of shocked. I went over to Fender, because I have always played Telecasters, as long as I have been playing. So I went over there, and there is a HUGE picture of me and I am not even sponsored by Fender. And there is a picture of me playing a Telecaster, and I was up there with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Hendrix and all that stuff. Fender knew how I could play, and they pulled me aside, and told me that they knew I was with Ibanez, but they wanted to give me my own signature model and have me come over to them. I said Absolutely. So that is when I made the jump. With the way Ibanez had no pictures or anything over at their booth, I think they made the answer pretty clear for me.

Darrin: I have seen your recent commercial/promo video for the Blood Drive made by Coffin Case.  They are a very progressive company to work with.

John 5: Very smart, smart people. They are doing stuff with the Coffin cases and the company they started is doing so very well. Everybody really likes the stuff, including myself.  I think it is really cool that they can take something out of nothing, and do something so cool with it. And they are really doing stuff.

Darrin: All that and they have some pretty attractive spokespeople. 

John 5: Yes, very attractive spokespeople. Hey, guys like to play guitar, and they love hot chicks. There you go.

Darrin: Rob Zombie.  How did it all come about? How are you enjoying it?

John 5: Rob Zombie, is by far, the best band I have ever been in. It is a bunch of guys n the coolest working atmosphere ever. I would not leave this band for anything. It is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I am as happy as can be. I do not really have any complaints, we just love touring together and making records with each other and we recorded our last tour as a live record.  We will also be having a live DVD come out, which is something different that Rob has never done before. Everybody is very excited about all of that. Rob has been working on the Halloween movie right now, which is why I have had time to work on the instrumental album. So I am really excited about it. I am so happy to be in the band. I think Rob is really happy too, because I am so excited. I want to be there. I think he really likes that, having someone that really appreciates being there.

Darrin: Are you thinking about touring your new solo CD at all?

John 5: After I am finished touring with Zombie, I will definitely tour my own instrumental thing. For the time being though, I am going to focus everything on the Zombie thing. But I will definitely go out and do live shows.

Darrin: Do you ever go out and do any clinic work with Fender?

John 5: Actually, I put so much work into these instrumental records, I do not just want to go up to a music store or CD store and play with a DAT machine. I think that the fans deserve a bit more than that so I am going to wait and do it right and kick ass. I want to put together a decent production and do it right.

Darrin: Don’t forget Canada when you do it. **laughs** I have to get my Canada plug in there. 

John 5: No way.  I love Canada so much.  I have been all over Canada of course with KD.  I have been everywhere. I love Vancouver and Victoria on the island there. 

Darrin: So, you have the new solo cd, you have the Zombie stuff going on, what do you like to do when you are not doing music?

John 5: Hmmm, I do not know, because I am always doing music so much. I love playing guitar, and I love watching movies. But when I am watching a movie, I am usually playing guitar. I guess just play with boobs, and play with guitars. That is about it.

Darrin: Are you a Devils Rejects fan?

John 5: I love Devils Rejects. I love House of 1000 Corpses. Even if I wasn’t, I wouldnever say so.  **laughs** But seriously, I love Devils Rejects. 

Darrin: What is coming up in the short term, over the next couple of months?

John 5: Um, just promotion for my instrumental record.  Writing with Zombie  coming up in July, and just writing with other artists. I am having a really good time keeping really busy.

Darrin: I just realized that you did some work on the Paul Stanley Live To Win album. 

John 5: Yeah, I wrote a song for that. I love KISS so much, and that was a definite honor. I have known those guys forever, but I have never worked with them. It was an amazing honor not only to write the song with Paul, and have my name next to his on a CD for songwriting but to just be playing on his record. 

Darrin: It struck me as cool, because I just finished working with the entire Rockstar Houseband, and they have been on tour with Paul during the Live To Win tour. It was something cool to hear Rafael Moreira playing Kiss and Paul Stanley music, as well as a bit of John 5 in there too! 

John 5: Yeah he is a phenomenal player.  I saw that tour, and those guys are all just awesome. They are a great, great band.

Darrin: So what has been your favorite part of this journey of yours so far?

John 5: Favorite part? That is a good question because really, I like recording, but when I am tired of that I love to play live and go on tour. I think that my favorite part is right now, playing with Rob Zombie. I know it sounds kind of hokey, but even if I was playing with someone else, I would probably say …playing with Rob Zombie. It is a perfect combination. I really enjoy everybody in the band, Tommy on drums and Piggy D on bass..and of course Rob. It is just such a great family. Sheri, Robs wife is just so nice. I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I think that really has to be my favorite thing right now.

Darrin: What would have to be your favorite track on the new solo CD if you had to pick one?

John 5: It would have to be The Black Widow of La Porte. I t is just so live and really aggressive.  It really came out great. I really like that track a lot. 

Darrin: Thanks so much John and I look forward to hearing the new CD.  I wish you the best of luck with Zombie. 

John 5: Thanks! I hope you enjoy it.