First Published In The Music & Sound Retailer’s September 2007 Issue.
John 5 has forged a career for himself as a respected rock guitarist with bands like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, and also as a solo artist who crosses many musical genres. His newest release is The Devil Knows My Name. Read on to hear more about John 5’s music, memories, and why idolizing Eddie Van Halen led to the biggest mistake of his life.
The Music & Sound Retailer: Your Web site says you started to get interested in guitar as a result of watching Hee Haw?
John 5: Yeah, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the show but it’s this old show. I think it was in the early ’70s. And it was great; great guitar pickers and great music. I have a lot of country influence. That’s why I have some country stuff on my records, and things like that. That show inspired me to play guitar because I saw this little kid on there. He had to be 7 years old, just playing and picking, and I said that’s what I wanted to do with my life. That’s when I started playing guitar.
 |
M&SR: What was your first guitar like?
John 5: It was this black Les Paul copy. It was one of my first guitars and I just loved it so much. I played it all the time. I was a big KISS fan and it looked like Ace Frehley’s guitar. But then I got this Fender Stratocaster when my mom found out I was serious. She got me a little better guitar and I got a chance to meet Stevie Ray Vaughan. He signed the guitar for me and he wrote, “Stevie Ray Vaughan, play with feeling.” And then I started getting into Van Halen and I wanted a Kramer like Eddie Van Halen’s guitar. So I sold…ugh this is a horrible story…I sold my Fender for a Kramer, this kind of crappy Kramer because I didn’t know any better. But if I still had that Fender Stratocaster with Stevie Ray’s autograph on it, it’d be worth well over $100,000. I just sold it when I was a little kid and didn’t know any better. Ugh, it was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made in my life.
M&SR: Do you remember the store? Maybe it’s on eBay these days.
John 5: It’s such a shame. That’s the big one that got away. It’s funny you say [eBay] because I am trying to find one just like my model was. Like the one I had. Just to have it, because I have pictures of me playing it all the time when I was real little.
M&SR: When you were going to retailers, did you find the stores did things to foster your excitement about playing?
John 5: Sure, I think magazines and certain stores…because back then, you know, it was difficult to see what was coming out. You only had magazines. There wasn’t any Internet or anything like that. You have everything now at the tips of your fingers and you don’t even have to leave your house to buy a guitar anymore. Even a vintage instrument. You can get everything off the computer now. Back then, I really depended on music stores, catalogs, and magazines. That’s all I had for information. Now you can type in anything you want and it’ll come up.
M&SR: What have been some of your career highlights?
John 5: When I was a little kid, I was really into Van Halen, like I was saying before. What was so important to me was all I wanted to be was Eddie Van Halen. I wanted to play with David Lee Roth. I wanted to be married to Valerie Bertinelli. That’s all I really wanted. So that was one of my true dreams, and when I got a chance to play with David Lee Roth, I recorded a record with him and it was just a huge, huge monumental moment in my life. Playing with Les Paul was incredible too. I went up and jammed with him one night at his nightclub. And playing, of course, with Manson and loved Rob Halford. I just wrote with Paul Stanley from KISS. I was a KISS fanatic. And I just wrote a song with Meatloaf and Nikki Sixx that’s on his record. Lynard Skynard I did a couple of tracks with. So I’ve been working with a lot of people and I’m so excited about that, and honored to have done it. It’s really great. It’s weird talking about it now and listing all these people.
M&SR: What kind of effects pedals and other gear do you use to create your sound?
John 5: Not anything crazy. I don’t have one of those huge rack mount things because I don’t know how to use any of that stuff. I just have some stomp boxes. I use a chorus and a distortion pedal. And a wah wah pedal. Something out of the ordinary I do use is a Bass Micro Synthesizer. It’s an old pedal made by Electro-Harmonix. But I use a bunch of different guitars and a bunch of different amps. I use mostly my signature model Telecasters, but I also use a double-neck Jimmy Page guitar and some baritone Telecasters. Things like that. And Marshall amps, a Fender Tone Master. A 1955 Fender Champ. And I think I used the Peavey 5150 Eddie Van Halen amp a little bit on this record.
M&SR: Your guitar choices growing up were often based on what your idols played. So how do you think a retailer can capitalize on your star power to help sell your signature guitars?
John 5: I think the best way to do that, and the best promotion, is to see me on stage with it and hear how it sounds. It sounds very big and is very aggressive. A lot of people do see it and they’re like, “Oh wow, what is that?” And then I’ll do interviews or pictures and talk about it. That’s where it all comes together. The best promotion is hearing it live and seeing it, because it looks pretty cool.