ROB ZOMBIE Guitarist JOHN 5 Says Having 'Crazy Musicianship' Is A 'Lost Art'

Mitch Gallagher from Sweetwater Music recently conducted an interview with guitarist John 5 (ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON). You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his approach to releasing music for his upcoming JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES album "Invasion":

John: "I'm releasing, once a month, a new song, a new video. It's a lot of fun, 'cause people just watch music nowadays. And it's cool, because YouTube is kind of like where people are listening to music or streaming and stuff like that. And I think it's great. Before, I would remember, you've got to get dressed, you've gotta get in your car, you've gotta go down to the store, you've gotta find a place to park, you've gotta do this and that. But now you can just roll over and look at it on your phone or on the computer, and there you go. I think it's wonderful."

On touring with ROB ZOMBIE:

John: "That is a blast. Don't let Rob hear me say this, but it's the best. It's so much fun. We just have a blast. We laugh and we play these huge venues and people are going crazy and we get our friends. It's just a wonderful life. I can't complain at all."

On how he has prepared for the various session gigs he's landed:

John: "I think people will just say, 'Oh, I know this guy that will do this session, and he knows this kind of style, or he knows that.' I think it's really just word of mouth and knowing producers or the other musicians or things like that. With [LYNYRD] SKYNYRD, that came through my publishing, Chrysalis Music Publishing, or [songwriter/producer] Desmond Child hooked me up with SCORPIONS and MEAT LOAF, Ricky Martin. So it is kind of like a word of mouth. But I'm a fan of all these artists, so I'll know to play… 'Okay, I know how to play this kind of style or that kind of style for this certain kind of sessions I'm doing.'… I love doing it. It's great. I love doing the sessions, 'cause you're kind of like in a different band every day. I used to do them all the time. I think my first one was John Wetton from U.K. and ASIA and all that stuff, KING CRIMSON. It was so great. Really a lot of fun. And then it just escalated from there."

On what he looks for when selecting musicians for his JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES solo instrumental band:

John: "With that kind of stuff, it's very difficult. If these guys left, I'd be in pretty bad shape, because the music is so difficult. I went to MI [Musicians Institute] and I said, 'Give me the top ten bass players you have here.' And I went there and I said, 'Okay.' They lined up, and the first guy was amazing — schooled it. Perfect. I was, like, 'This is gonna be great. If this is the first guy.' And then it was all downhill. So he's the guy [Ian Ross] I have today, and he introduced me to the drummer, Logan [Nix]. But it is difficult, 'cause that music is so difficult. And it's kind of like a lost art, having that kind of crazy musicianship. There's not a lot of people that do it, unfortunately. And hopefully more people will do it, 'cause it's a lot of fun."

On how he approaches recording music in a studio:

John: "It depends on the song, of course. With the new ZOMBIE record, I played around [Rob's] vocals. So, he had all these great melodies, all these great lyrics and I just played around them and it worked so well. I couldn't believe how well it really worked. And it was a great way of writing. And I hope we do it [again] in the future because it really… With the new record, which it'll come out — I don't know when it's gonna come out — but how we did that, it was so cool. I had never done that before, and hopefully we record like that again. I just played around [his finished vocals]. And it was wonderful. It was really cool."

On how he has worked with Rob Zombie in the past:

John: "We write together. We definitely write together, and he's, like, 'Oh, try this, try that.' That's how we usually write. And he'll say, 'Oh, I like that riff.' Just like all the bands. Most bands kind of write like that. But this time, it was a little unorthodox, and it worked really well."

JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES — comprised of John 5, Ross and Nix — will release "Invasion" this summer. Just like 2017's "Season Of The Witch", the album — produced and mixed by Barry Pointer — will be entirely released via a series of music videos.

JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES will kick off their North American "Invasion" tour on February 26 in Mesa, Arizona. Select dates — specifically, the shows in Mesa; Hollywood, California; Anaheim, California; and Sacramento, California — will feature very special, high-caliber mystery guests to be announced very soon. The tour will feature support from blues-rock guitarist Jared James Nichols.