A lot of people have recently become aware of John 5 through his guest appearances on That Metal Show and as the guitarist for Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson. His career however, is quite impressive. He has done studio work with Matt Ball, Avril Lavigne, Rob Halford, k.d. lang, Garbage, Meat Loaf, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, FeFe Dobson and has written and recorded with southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. One of my favorite projects he has done was RED SQUARE BLACK. Featuring: Mark Binder – Vocals, John Lowery (later to become John 5) – Guitar, Randy Castillo – Drums, Angelo Barbera – Bass they released one EP in October of 1994 entitled “SQUARE”.

 

With tones of metal, and industrial this band was ahead of its time. Sadly they only had the one release and the members moved on to other projects. Here’s a listen to “Violent Pause” from the EP:

John 5 also co-wrote  “The Monster Is Loose” with Nikki Sixx and Desmond Child for Meat Loaf’s 2006 release Bat Out Of Hell III. 

 

Currently John 5 is playing with Rob Zombie, a new record and tour are in the immediate future. Here’s “Foxy, Foxy” from the 2010 release Educated Horses:

 

John recently released his sixth solo record God Told Me To on May 8th of this year.

 

A great release full of smoking and innovative licks I HIGHLY recommend getting this. Here is the video for “Welcome To Violence”:

 

If I had to sum up John 5 in one word it is, AWESOME!

 

the Hellion