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.
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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.
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