He’s played with David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, yet his name stands on it’s own. That name is John 5. Armed with his signature Fender Telecaster, John has played his way to the top of best guitarists lists and into the hearts of music fans across the globe. When he is not sharing the stage with rock’s most elite front men, John 5 is making music of his own. I had the extreme honor of chatting with John 5 about his new music, as well as his upcoming  projects with Rob Zombie and Ace Frehley. After you read our chat, I have no doubt that you will want to experience this phenom for yourself. Well, you are in luck. John 5 & The Creatures will be playing at The Southgate House this Thursday night, March 10th. You can find a link for tickets at the end of the interview! But without any further ado, ladies and gentleman, this is John 5….
The Music Room:Â Starting at the beginning on 2016 you began releasing a new video on the first day of each month. In January it was âBlack Grass Plague,â in February âBehind the Nut Love,â and just this month you released âMaking Monsters.â I know that these releases are all leading up to an album. Can you discuss your thought process in releasing the songs this way?
John 5: My son is 13 years old and Iâm looking atâŠWeâre older, weâre not always looking at whatâs going on, at whatâs brand new. Kids, what they do is just watch music, okay? They donât even watch t.v. anymore, they just watch their computers or their phones. Itâs a whole other trip that weâre not used to. So I thought to myself, this is very interesting. Why is the record business going down, down, down? It always just fascinates me. So I thought, Iâm going to do a little research here. I was looking at videos. Most of the videos are way, way more plays than purchases. If you look at a Bruno Mars, itâs over a billion views. Any kind of pop single, itâs well over a billion. A billion is a massive number. Itâs unfathomable. So what Iâve been doing, well okay, Iâm going to release a new song and a new video every month. So, instead of just getting a whole alum where people say âOh great, an albumâ and then itâs gone in a month, each month you get something to new to think about, to listen to, maybe learn or talk to your friends about, or wonder what the next song is going to be like. Itâs kind of like The Simpsons, or a t.v. episode. I wonder whatâs going to be on next week. So I kind of looked at it that way, and itâs been working amazing.
TMR: Will this lead to a physical release, or will the videos stand on their own?
J5: All of these songs you can buy on iTunes. But itâs going to lead up to a box set, but itâs just going to be for the album. So youâre going to get the cd, the dvd, a documentary, a t-shirtâŠeverything. Picks, just that go with the album. Itâs going to this whole huge box set documentary, but itâs not going to be expensive.
TMR: And just so everybody knows, the title of the record is âGuitars, T!ts and Monsters.â
J5: The greatest title ever!
TMR: You are also getting ready to hit the road with The Creatures. You are playing The Southgate House on March 10th. What can fans expect to see who have never experienced John 5 & The Creatures live before?
J5: Itâs definitely different from anything youâll see, I guarantee it. First off, itâs an instrumental show. You know, instrumental shows arenât that much fun. But I kind of sketched it aroundâŠI take my wife to instrumental shows and sheâs like Ughh. Because itâs not very entertaining if youâre not a musician. So what I did was make a little show behind it. There is some production to it, so itâs like an Alice Cooper instrumental show. Then weâre doing all styles of music, so thatâs entertaining for people too. Where youâre rocking out and then the band play a Bluegrass song and youâre like whoa, whoa. There is a lot that goes on. There is lots of crowd interaction. Thereâs a lot of really, really fun cool stuff thatâs going to happen.
TMR: One thing I read about you a while back that I thought was cool, and I am sure I will just be paraphrasing here, is that while you have been in bands with some pretty big front men over the years, you said that your role in those band was to support the front man and give them what they needed. That was your role, and thatâs what you do.
J5: Absolutely
TMR: Do you approach these shows differently as youâre more of the main attraction out front?
J5: These shows are like juggling chainsaws, because thereâs so much going on. There is so much musically going on, itâs like whoaâŠare these guys going to drop this chainsaw at any minute? The band is so tight, itâs really well rehearsed. Itâs a well-oiledâ machine. Itâs not like we said oh, letâs go rehearse because we have a tour coming up. No, it takes months of rehearsal for this stuff, because there is so much going on. Itâs really a regimen.Â
TMR: So you guys tour through March 20thâŠ
J5: Yeah, we play every night. There are no nights off.
TMR: Wow, so you play every night util the 20th, then you come home and get ready to hit the road with Rob Zombie for pretty much the whole summer.
J5: I go right into rehearsals with Rob, so thereâs no real down time. I go right into rehearsals, and my gear is not even back. So I have to have two rigs. A Zombie rig, and then a Creatures rig. So, thatâs how crazy it is.
TMR: This is a good lead in for a question that I had planned for later, but I am going to go ahead and ask it now. Do you ever have any down time? Because you seem like one of the busiest guys out there?
J5: Well, me and my wife are taking a vacation. Weâre taking a trip to Hawaii. Thatâs going to be really great because we havenât had a vacation in a very long time. Itâs probably beenâŠ.I donât know how many years itâs been, but itâs been years since weâve had a vacation. So, weâre definitely looking forward to it.
TMR: So we have the tour with Rob, but we also have a new record on the way. Itâs called âThe Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser,â coming out on April 29thâŠ.
J5: Very good.
TMR: Yeah, thatâs a mouthful there. Can you give us an idea of what to expect with the record? Obviously, we have heard the first single, âWell Everybodyâs F*****g in a UFO,â will the rest of the album have the same kind of vibe?
J5: Talking as a Rob Zombie fan, or a White Zombie fan, this record to me is my favorite Zombie record. Itâs my favorite White Zombie record because the songs are great. How can I explain it? If you do a shuffle with the new songs and put them in with âAstro Creepâ or âHellbilly Delux 2,â they fit in with that era. These songs are a monster. Really great and really really cool. Great hooks. Great melodies. Weâre really super excited about the 29th!
TMR: And you just got done filming the video for UFO as well.
J5: Yeah, that was exciting. There have been a lot of videos in my life latelyâŠ.
TMR: And as if all of the was not enough, you also scored Robâs new movie, â31â as well.
J5: Yeah, weâre all finished with that. I just watched the whole movie and itâs a great movie. My favorite Zombie movie. Iâm not sure of when that comes out, but itâs top notch. He really hit it out of the park with this one.
TMR: How hard is to take what you know as a recording artist to go in and attempt to score a film?
J5: It is very very difficult. Very difficult. Youâre creating emotion. Youâre creating suspense. Youâre creating tension with music. It is a real challenge to do something like that. Itâs something that weâve been working at for a long time. Thereâs something like 26 cues. That means 26 little pieces of music, and thatâs a lot. I donât think I would do it for anyone else but Rob.
TMR: Okay, I want to touch on a couple of other things here before I let you go. I know that you are part of the Ace Frehley âOrigins: Vol. 1â record. You recorded two songs with him on that. âSpanish Castle Magicâ from Hendrix, and of course the Kiss classic, âParasite.â
J5: How awesome is that?
TMR: For sure. I know you have been a huge Kiss fan all of your like. I remember reading about how you went and bought Love Gun and how important that was to you. I know you guys have been friends for a while now, but does that ever lose its wow factor having Ace call you to play?
J5: Itâs so rad, cause Iâm really close with Ace, and with Peter and Paul. But to be a part of music that will live on forever, especially playing âParasite,â I was like, whoaâŠthis is crazy. It was so cool because Ace was like, okay, letâs trade off solos. I said Ace, why donât you play the âParasiteâ solo, and then weâll start improvising from there? He goes okay, and plays it in one take. One take, and thatâs whatâs on the record. Heâs really great. He is really on fire right now.
TMR: Are you doing any future work with David Lee Roth? There have been rumors that there is a record already in the can that you have played on with him. Or are there any plans to record new music with him?
J5: I donât know. I love Dave, and am great friends with Dave, but I donât know. I mean, I am so busy. If there were two of me, yeah.
TMR: I mean, what else are you doing?
J5: Yeah, really. Itâs wild because I am going to be gone for so long, you know? And Iâm so busy. But I love Dave, and we right great music together. So, who knows what will happen?
TMR: The last few things here are just kind of rapid fire questions and weâll wrap it up. First off, what is the longest you ever go with out having a guitar in your hands?
J5: I would say, traveling. If Iâm going overseas, and then you get to the hotel and kind of fall asleep. I think thatâs the longest.
TMR: Its seems that a lot of guys in rock are either Strat guys or Les Paul guys. What makes you a Telie guy?
J5: Itâs from childhood. Itâs just like if you liked Spiderman or Superman, or monsters or whatever. It was the Telecaster for me. I knew I wanted to play the electric guitar. And I saw the Telecaster and I thought that was the only electric guitar there was. I didnât know there were any other shapes or makes or models. So, I was so obsessed with the Telecaster and I think that stuck with me in my head since I was a child. Cause you know, when go to look for stuff on Ebay, itâs always stuff from when you were a kid.
TMR: Last question. When people think of John 5 and Rob Zombie, certain thoughts come to mind, like Electric Warlocks and such. What would people be most surprised by when it comes to life on the road for you guys?
J5: Itâs discipline. I think that is the thing that people would be most surprised at. The discipline and the respect for the show and the audience. Itâs making sure that we feel good and put on the best show for the audience. And thatâs the truth.
TMR: Well, I saw you guys here last summer in Cincinnati, so I know thatâs true. Obviously Iâm looking forward to seeing you and The Creatures Thursday at The Southgate House. And then the opportunity on August 7th to see you again with Rob Zombie and Korn.
J5: Yeah, youâre going to sick of me.
TMR: No way man, everyone here in Ciny is looking forward to it!
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