JOHN 5 Opens Up About His Battle With Nonbacterial Prostatitis: 'It's The Most Crippling Thing'

Guitar virtuoso John 5 is the latest guest on Billy Corgan's podcast, "The Magnificent Others". Corgan sits down with John 5 for a charged conversation about music, mastery, and survival. John opens up about his private KISS museum, the TV-music desert that shaped his Telecaster tone, and a grind honed through Rudy Sarzo, Bob Marlette, Rob Halford and David Lee Roth. He gets raw about grief, discipline, and the ritual of running full MÖTLEY CRÜE sets at dawn — how stepping into that legendary band pushed him to new physical and creative extremes — while revisiting Eddie Van Halen's genius and the chaos of the Marilyn Manson years.

At one point during the chat, John 5 reveals his struggles with mental illness that he says began back in 2003, after he received word that his sister Lynne had died. The guitarist hadn't yet processed her death when his sister Denise succumbed to cancer, followed by the cancer deaths of his mother and father. More tragedies followed: His best friend and guitar tech, Ruben Valesco, died, and soon after, his brother-in-law Dennis passed on.

"I have physical ailments from just of what happened and just horrible, crippling physical ailments from my past of the tragedy and things like that," John 5 said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "It's the worst thing you can ever imagine. So I got this thing — I can't believe I'm gonna even say it, but I got this thing called prostatitis, nonbacterial prostatitis. It's when your pelvic floor squeezes your prostate so hard. It's crazy. And it's just from stress. You can't piss, you can't sit, you can't do anything. That's why I was going to therapy and all this stuff. It's the most crippling thing."

He continued: "I remember I was — I'm just gonna spill it all — I was doing this show [in June 2009] with Slash and Ozzy [Osbourne] and all these people, and we were going to Norway [for an appearance at the Quart festival], and I was bedridden for months with this. 'Cause you can't sit… But I was on this plane with Ron Wood and Ozzy and all this stuff, and I would sit kind of like on my back so I wasn't sitting on the area. And I would act like I was sleeping. And it was just horrible. But luckily, you just get through it. And it's just from all the trauma. Yeah, it's nuts. But that's where it all comes from."

According to the Cleveland Clinic, nonbacterial prostatitis is a condition which causes prostate gland inflammation but no symptoms. You may learn you have this condition after getting tests to find the cause of other symptoms. This type doesn't need treatment and isn't an infection.

John 5 will release a new solo album, "Ghost", on October 10.

Last month, John 5 joined his MÖTLEY CRÜE bandmates as they kicked off their 10-show residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada. September 12 also marked the release of "From The Beginning, The Definitive Collection Of Mötley Crüe Hits" via BMG.

Following the MÖTLEY CRÜE residency, John 5, along with Alex Mercado, will also head out with fellow guitar great Richie Kotzen for the first time ever on an extensive co-headlining tour beginning October 16.

For over 30 years, John 5 has been one of the most in-demand guitar players on the planet. As well as being a songwriter/guitarist for hire, John 5 has shared the stage as axe-man for Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Rob Halford. He has also worked with an impressive array of names, from all walks of music, including KD Lang, Rod Stewart, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, Tina Guo, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, Meat Loaf, Dolly Parton and Ricky Martin. In October 2022, it was announced that John 5 would be joining MÖTLEY CRÜE as their guitarist following Mick Mars's decision to retire from the road.

John 5's most recent solo album, "Sinner", came out in 2021. The first single from the LP, "Qué Pasa", featured a guest appearance by MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine. "Sinner" also included a guest appearance by original KISS drummer Peter Criss on a cover of "Georgia On My Mind", a 1930s classic by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell that became famous thanks to Ray Charles decades later.

In the last four years, John 5 has been involved in numerous projects, including completing his documentary, which includes testimonials from the likes of Joe Satriani, Rob Halford, the late Gary Rossington, Michael Anthony and Rudy Sarzo, among others. He's also announced the opening of his KISS museum, featuring his own personal mementoes and rare artifacts from the group's early years.

Slash has called John 5 "one of the most mind-blowing guitarists around," and Rob Zombie has dubbed him "a fucking shredder."

John 5 has released ten solo albums to date, as well as a remix album.