JOHN 5: MARILYN MANSON Is Really Out Of His Mind And That's What I Loved About Him

PureGrainAudio.com recently conducted an interview with ROB ZOMBIE/ex-MARILYN MANSON guitarist John 5. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

PureGrainAudio.com: You're currently on tour playing with ROB ZOMBIE as support for OZZY OSBOURNE. How's the tour been going so far and what's it like to share the stage with the metal legend Ozzy?

John 5: Oh god, the tour has been going amazing. How can I explain it?! When I was touring with Ozzy, you know, when I was with Manson we toured with Ozzy, so many times, we did Ozzfest a thousand times and you know, it seems like I'm always playing with Ozzy in one way or another opening up. But this tour has been my favorite because I love playing with Zombie and we just have this huge show going on and it's just a blast every night, I don't think we've had one bad show, knock on wood. So we've just been having a really good time.

PureGrainAudio.com: You've had quite the astonishing career in music, playing with the likes of Rob Halford, Marilyn Manson and now Rob Zombie and also playing in your own bands such as LOSER. Out of all the musicians you've worked with, is there one in particular who stands out in your mind as being the most fun to play with?

John 5: Um, I would definitely say Zombie has been the best time I've ever had. It is just so great and so fun because you know we all get along so well and you know, it's just like everybody, we're just all friends here and we're just having a really, really, really great time. Writing songs, playing music, it's just a blessing to be around these cool guys just doing this stuff. It's been great, we've been writing songs and watching movies after and you know, playing great songs and the crowds have been going crazy so it's been fun.

PureGrainAudio.com: Your response there sort of eliminates my next question, I was going to ask if you have put your solo career on the backburner since you're back with Rob now, but I guess it's still in full swing?

John 5: Yeah it's in full swing, but the thing is, I just put out these records, so you know, there's so much time in the day so I love to, you know I'm always working so I'm not out like going crazy or getting drunk or anything like that, I'm just always playing, I'm always working, I'm always doing this, that or the other thing. There are a lot of hours in the day and I take advantage of these hours you know so it's fun, I love doing it.

PureGrainAudio.com: Now you not only are out playing on tour with Rob, but you also co-wrote much of his last album "Educated Horses". Are you and Rob currently writing any music together and if not, do you have plans to write with him in the future?

John 5: Yes we are writing. I usually come up with ideas and play them for him, see if he likes them, I usually do that pretty much every day at soundcheck. We've been writing like crazy, it's been great; we've been working on stuff like madmen. Hopefully we'll probably record something soon.

PureGrainAudio.com: Just before you joined up with Rob to play with him full-time, you had your own band going called LOSER. Because of conflicting commitments between LOSER and playing with Rob, you decided to pull out of LOSER last year. How difficult was this decision for you and are you happy with the way things have turned out?

John 5: Well here's the honest opinion, here's the honest answer to that: When I got out of Manson, you know I always like to work so hard, I really didn't know what to do. So I was like, "Oh, god, what am I going to do with myself?" So I said, "Well, I better start a band and get a record deal," so that's what I did. I got these guys together and started a band and then got a major record deal with Island Records and started you know, making the record. Then I started playing with Zombie and it was great, you know, I loved it and I was like, "This is awesome." And with LOSER, we started playing some shows, we went on tour with STAIND, but we were a brand new band so there wasn't like any beautiful hotels or anything like that. And I've been touring like that since 1996 so I'm use to a certain way of touring and to tell you the truth, I didn't want to start over. I loved being with Rob because he was so cool and I just felt like with Zombie, that was a place where I could really not jump from band to band but really stay in Rob Zombie, that was somewhere I would want to stay and not jump to another band because I really like his music and I like who he is and stuff. I picked to just to stick with Zombie because I really liked everything about it.

PureGrainAudio.com: Speaking of Manson, I don't know if you've heard, there was a story recently about him wanting to buy a skeleton of a child or something like that. I just wanted to ask your opinion on it. Often we hear these crazy stories about him and his lifestyle. Is this a lot of media hype or is there substance behind this stuff we hear about?

John 5: Well, that what we're talking about, the skeleton was after my time, but a lot of people wonder, "Oh is it just hype," no, it's real, he's really out of his mind and people don't really want to believe it, but it's the truth, you know, he's really that wild. That's what I loved about him, it was completely real you know, he doesn't go home and take off the make up and watch "Charles In Charge" or something, he is really like that, twenty-four hours a day.

Read the entire interview at PureGrainAudio.com.