JOHN 5 Says New Album He Recorded With DAVID LEE ROTH Is 'So Great'

Rob Zombie's guitarist, John 5, has spoken in more detail about new album he recorded with VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth, which he says is "great" and which he hopes to release at some point in the near future.

John 5, who got his first big break playing on Roth's solo album, "DLR Band", before landing stints with Marilyn Manson and now Zombie, told Jude Gold of Guitar Player magazine (hear audio below): "[Roth and I] did another record just recently — you know, now, I guess, a couple of years ago, or a year ago. I would just go to his house and I'd write these songs with him, and he would say, 'Let's go into the studio.' So he would go to Henson studio and record these songs. They came out… They're so good. They're so good. And we've got Gregg Bissonette playing drums on it, and I played the bass, and they're really great songs."

John 5 recounted one particularly funny episode that happened during the recording sessions for his latest collaboration with Roth. He said: "We [originally laid down all the guitar tracks] without click. 'Cause [Dave] wanted that natural feel. And I was, like, 'Great.' And he wanted to get drums on and some percussion, and the engineer was, like, 'Well, we're really gonna need click.' And I'm leaving for a tour with Zombie in, like, 40 hours… So [Dave] called me and he said, 'John, you've gotta come in and record the whole record again with click.' Now, we're talking overdubs, harmonies, doubling… everything. And I said, 'Dave, I'm going on tour in, like, 20 hours.' [He said] 'You've gotta do it. You've gotta come in and redo these guitars on the whole record.' Anybody else, I'd be, like, 'You crazy,' but it's Diamond Dave, and so I was, like, 'Okay.' So I went in there — I was exhausted — and I played this record to the click — everything; all the harmonies… everything. And [I] did it to click."

John 5 added that the album "is so great" and expressed hope that Dave will release it one day. He said: "I know one thing: Dave loves the record. He loves the record. But he's doing VAN HALEN, which is doing great too. So we'll see what happens in the future."

The guitarist said that Roth's vocals on the album sound "like nothing you've ever heard. It's old VAN HALEN — sounds like 'Could This Be Magic?' or anything like that. It's just that sound, that tone."

John 5 has been playing in Rob Zombie's band since 2005 and has been the longest-running member of the group.

John 5 released his eighth solo album, titled "Careful With That Axe", in August 2014.