{"id":242,"date":"2010-10-06T10:56:39","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T17:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/?p=242"},"modified":"2011-01-22T11:12:53","modified_gmt":"2011-01-22T18:12:53","slug":"john-5-interviewed-ahead-of-the-soundwave-2011-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/10\/06\/john-5-interviewed-ahead-of-the-soundwave-2011-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"John 5 interviewed ahead of the Soundwave 2011 Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the run up to the Soundwave 2011 tour next year, John 5 sat down with Annie from the Soundwave website to chat: www.soundwavefestival.com\/news\/exclusive-interview-john-5-rob-zombie<\/a>
\nBest known under his stage name John 5, most music fans would be familiar with John Lowery\u2019s signature guitar work with shock rocker Marilyn Manson and more recently metal\u2019s favourite hellbilly Rob Zombie. Picking up his first guitar at age seven, Lowery was always destined for a life revolving around Rock n Roll. With a career spanning more than twenty years Lowery\u2019s released five solo albums and has worked with the who\u2019s who of the music industry including rock royalty such as Paul Stanley, David Lee Roth, The Scorpions and Rob Halford. In 1996 John auditioned and outplayed more than 200 guitarists for a spot in country pop singer KD Lang\u2019s touring band, a position that would see John tour Australia for the first time, three years later he would return to our shores with the outrageous and outspoken Marilyn Manson. Now Australian fans are gearing up for John\u2019s return to Australia this coming February for the highly anticipated and explosive spectacle with Rob Zombie.<\/p>\n

2010 has been a busy year for this shredding extraordinaire who has spent most of his time on the road with Rob Zombie touring on the chart topping \u2018Hellbilly Deluxe II\u2019, a return to roots album for Zombie which featured the singles \u2018What\u2019, \u2018Sick Bubblegum\u2019 and \u2018Mars Needs Women\u2019. In between touring cycles John found the time to release his fifth solo album \u2018The Art of Malice\u2019 an album which showcases some of the finest finger work and blistering techniques ever recorded. After listening to John\u2019s latest offering it\u2019s easy to see why Lowery\u2019s classed as one of the worlds\u2019s leading and most sought after guitar players.<\/p>\n

I recently caught up with John 5 to discuss his latest solo album \u2018The Art of Malice\u2019 and the recording of \u2018Hellbilly Deluxe II\u2019, we also spoke about the upcoming Rob Zombie shows set to hit Australia in February as well as John\u2019s work alongside some of the industry\u2019s finest. Kick back as \u2018The Nightmare Unravels\u2019 with one of the world\u2019s finest shredders… John 5 <\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> Hey John, thanks for putting some time aside to speak with us today mate, how\u2019s everything going?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> Everything\u2019s going great… I broke my foot on tour but other than that everything\u2019s going well!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> Oh that sounds nasty, how did you do that?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> I was onstage and we have these ego risers… I got up and the lights went out then I stepped down… rolled my foot and broke it. I finished the show and finished the tour on a broken foot!<\/p>\n

Soundwave: <\/strong>Let\u2019s firstly talk about the upcoming Australian tour… You will be returning to Australia in February to take part in the soundwave festivals, no doubt you\u2019re happy to be heading back our way?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> I can\u2019t believe that we\u2019re coming. I can\u2019t wait! I\u2019m so excited; I haven\u2019t been there in so long… it\u2019s one of my favourite places in the world. I love it down there so much!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> These shows with Rob Zombie are Rob\u2019s first ever solo shows in Australia and fans have been waiting a very long time for you guys to get down here, I guess the million dollar question is why has it taken so long for you guys to make it down under?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>I don\u2019t know; that\u2019s a great question… Rob was there with White Zombie so long ago, I\u2019ve always said \u201cwe\u2019ve gotta go to Australia, it\u2019s the greatest there, we\u2019ve got to go!\u201d Rob was like… \u201cYeah let\u2019s do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> For those fans like myself that have been waiting years for this tour to happen… what can we expect when you guys hit the stage come February?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> It will be the best live show that you\u2019ve ever seen! We have Joey [Jordison] from Slipknot playing drums with us, there\u2019s crazy production and so much stuff that happens, all I can say is it\u2019s going to be a crazy wild ride.<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> John, having toured Australia a few times now, you must enjoy heading our way… what do you look forward to the most when you find out your booked to tour Australia?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>I have such a blast there, I love it there so much and I\u2019m not just saying this but when I get there its beautiful weather, really nice people and it\u2019s very relaxing to me. The food\u2019s great, there\u2019s beautiful girls and so much fun. I\u2019ve always said if I was going to live anywhere else but Los Angeles I\u2019d live in Australia, I just dig and enjoy it so much!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> Mate you\u2019re certainly no stranger to doing the large festival tours… you have done the Big Day Out here in Australia, the Ozzfest tours also… are you a fan of doing the travelling festival shows or would you much rather play the headlining club\/arena shows… both certainly have their advantages!<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> Yeah, I love doing both, I love doing the festivals cause you get to see all of these great bands, who else are we playing with Iron Maiden?<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> Yes, the line-up for Soundwave is amazing… Murderdolls, Stone Sour, Slayer, Iron Maiden as you mentioned, the line-up\u2019s shaping up to be one of the finest festival line-ups to ever hit Australia.<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> How great is that? I get to sit on the side of the stage and listen to all of that great music; it\u2019s a blast I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

Soundwave: <\/strong>Whilst we\u2019re on the subject of touring… you\u2019ve been in the game for years now, how does touring today compare to 15 \u2013 20 years ago?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>Of course there\u2019s good and bad you miss your family, but you have your family out on the road. I kind of feel like I have two homes, one is the world and one is here in California. I\u2019m lucky and blessed enough to have great people that I really enjoy playing and touring with and it makes it so much better!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> I wanted to speak with you also about your most recent solo album \u2018The Art Of Malice\u2019 what a killer album! Looking back over the recording process is there anything you would\u2019ve changed or wish you\u2019d done differently?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> Nope [laughs] I love that album, it came out just perfect. People are really enjoying the album, I\u2019m really lucky to be doing this, a lot of people don\u2019t really dig instrumental music all that much but I just do it for the love of guitar and the love of music and that\u2019s why I keep doing them!<\/p>\n

Growing up as a massive Kiss \/ Ace Frehley fan, I was thrilled to see you cover Ace\u2019s \u2018Fractured Mirror\u2019, which in my opinion is one of the coolest instrumentals of all-time. From all the songs you could have covered, why did this one stand out from the pack?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>That was the first guitar instrumental song that I ever heard and it changed my life, I loved it so much, and I loved ace. He\u2019s a great friend of mine today and I just wanted to pay tribute to him and say thanks the best way I could have. I wanted to keep it true and have some kids listen to this great song and become inspired to listen to Ace!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> Besides \u2018Fractured Mirror\u2019 other stand out tracks on the new album for me included \u2018The Nightmare Unravels\u2019, \u2018Can I Live Again\u2019 and \u2018The Last Page Turned\u2019, where did you find the inspiration for the killer tracks on this album?<\/p>\n

\n

John 5: <\/strong>Well, I was inspired by all these tracks and I just wanted to do something different. I wanted to expand myself and I\u2019m always looking for inspiration that\u2019s what I do.<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> John being such a great songwriter and player do you find it more rewarding writing and recording your own music rather than operating in a strict band environment?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>I love doing both, I love recording, touring and writing my own stuff, and writing with a band. As long as I have a guitar in my hand I\u2019m happy!<\/p>\n

Soundwave: <\/strong>The latest Rob Zombie album \u2018Hellbilly Deluxe II\u2019 is a return to roots album for Rob, an album which you played a large part in! How did you guys push each other to get the best results possible for the album?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>We did it old school… We wrote it on the road, jumped into the studio to record it, we used a lot of weird instruments, I even slashed my speakers to make it sound crazy and distorted. We worked really well together and gelled really well together, we always have a good time recording and touring together. We just did this re-release with three new songs on it, with Joey [Jordison] playing drums, thirty minutes of behind the scenes footage and all new art work, its great!<\/p>\n

John we\u2019ve hit the part of the interview where our readers get to find out more about the real you… As we all know you\u2019ve toured Australia a few times in the past but many rock fans would be surprised to know that you actually toured here with KD Lang… How did you end up working with KD?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know, I went on an audition and no one knew me at all… I really dug in cause I was so hungry for a gig and I just learnt everything. I learnt all the songs, and I actually learnt all the keyboard and piano parts too, so every time she would ask me if I knew a song I\u2019d say \u201cyep, what part do you want me to play\u201d cause I knew them all. The next thing I knew I was playing at the Sydney Opera House.<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> You started playing guitar at a very early age…did you come from a musical family?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t but the guitar chose me rather than me choosing the guitar, I started playing when I was seven and I was so into it, I went in head first and never put it down, I played all the time, it was my whole life even back then!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Soundwave: <\/strong>By the time you hit your mid \u2013 late teens you already had a great load of playing experience behind you… did you always know you were destined to do great things in the industry or growing up were your goals different?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>I didn\u2019t even dream of becoming a rock star, all I wanted to be was a session player and that\u2019s why I learned so many different styles of music. I never dreamed of travelling the world or playing with all of these rock stars and getting number one albums or getting all these awards, all I wanted to do was be a session guy. I\u2019m so happy and have been so lucky!<\/p>\n

Soundwave: <\/strong>You\u2019ve certainly been very fortunate to work with many amazing and legendary rock and metal artists such as Rob Halford, David Lee Roth and Paul Stanley, having grown up a fan of bands that these guys fronted, what was it like to have the opportunity to work with them, did they live up to your expectations?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> Yes, I was like geez Louise here I am writing a song with Paul Stanley and here I am writing a song with Lynard Skynrd, here I am working with The Scorpions… If someone had told me that when I was a kid I never would have believed that. I talked to Peter Criss [Original Kiss drummer] on the phone the other day, I wouldn\u2019t have ever have believed that, it\u2019s so unbelievable; I don\u2019t take any of it for granted I\u2019m very lucky and thankful!<\/p>\n

Soundwave: <\/strong>John, who have you been surprised to learn is a fan of you work?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>What is strange is that a lot of people know my work, when I started doing instrumental records a lot of people knew about them like Joe satriani and Steve Vai. They really know about my stuff and have talked about certain tracks. It\u2019s funny to have people know your name too, I mean real legends and that\u2019s great, something I never would have expected!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> How about rumours… what\u2019s the craziest rumour you\u2019ve ever heard about yourself?<\/p>\n

John 5: <\/strong>Let\u2019s see, there are always strange rumours… There was someone posing as me for a while and was trying to get into concerts or do certain things, that was a weird one. There are always strange stories like that which go around!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> Having played with so many great artists, releasing five solo albums… what else would you like to achieve musically, can we see you jumping into other fields of music, playing in another genres?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> I always want to keep everyone on their toes and I love to keep people guessing. I\u2019d love to do an all-acoustic album or maybe do a record like Slash did with a bunch of different singers, who knows what\u2019s going to come next but you can guarantee that something\u2019s going to come!<\/p>\n

Soundwave:<\/strong> Just before we wrap it up, you\u2019re touring with Rob Zombie right now, you are doing a killer run of shows with Alice cooper, and you are hitting Australia in Feb what other immediate plans are in the works?<\/p>\n

John 5:<\/strong> I think we\u2019re going to go over to London, keep playing, keep promoting, do some more instrumental work and have a great time doing it!<\/p>\n

Soundwave: <\/strong>John thanks again for your time today, it\u2019s been a pleasure. Do you have any last words for our readers?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

John 5:<\/strong> If you see me on the streets walking around in Australia, please come up and say hello! I just love to meet everybody and say hello!<\/p>\n

Catch John 5 Live with Rob Zombie this coming February at Soundwave Festival.
\nSaturday 26 Feb: RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane
\nSunday 27 Feb: Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney
\nFriday 4 March: Showgrounds, Melbourne – SOLD OUT!
\nSaturday 5 March: Bonython Park, Adelaide
\nMonday 7 March: TBC, Perth
\n\u2018The Art of Malice\u2019 and \u2018Hellbilly Deluxe II Extended Edition\u2019 are out now via Riot! Entertainment and Roadrunner Records respectively
\nGrab your copies where all killer albums are sold!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2010 has been a busy year for this shredding extraordinaire who has spent most of his time on the road with Rob Zombie touring on the chart topping \u2018Hellbilly Deluxe II\u2019, a return to roots album for Zombie which featured the singles \u2018What\u2019, \u2018Sick Bubblegum\u2019 and \u2018Mars Needs Women\u2019. In between touring cycles John found the time to release his fifth solo album \u2018The Art of Malice\u2019 an album which showcases some of the finest finger work and blistering techniques ever recorded. After listening to John\u2019s latest offering it\u2019s easy to see why Lowery\u2019s classed as one of the worlds\u2019s leading and most sought after guitar players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[620,13,35],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","tag-interview","tag-john-5","tag-soundwave-festival-2011","tw-post-no-content"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1qFj4-3U","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":788,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2011\/05\/09\/voice-of-rock-interview-john-5-and-rob-zombie\/","url_meta":{"origin":242,"position":0},"title":"Voice of Rock interview 5 and Zombie [VID]","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"May 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier in the year, VoiceofRock interviewed John 5 and Rob Zombie while out in Australia at the Soundwave Festival.","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/voice-of-rock1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4099,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2014\/03\/02\/watch-john-5-and-rob-zombie-talk-to-soundwave-tv\/","url_meta":{"origin":242,"position":1},"title":"[WATCH] JOHN 5 AND ROB ZOMBIE TALK TO SOUNDWAVE TV","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"March 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Watch John 5 and Rob Zombie, sit down backstage in Sydney, to chat with Soundwave TV about their relationship.","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John 5 Rob Zombie Soundwave TV","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/j5-rz-soundwavetv.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/j5-rz-soundwavetv.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/j5-rz-soundwavetv.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4108,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2014\/03\/02\/watch-john-5-speaks-to-spotlight-report-at-soundwave-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":242,"position":2},"title":"[Watch] John 5 speaks to Spotlight Report at Soundwave 2014","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"March 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out this interview conducted at Soundwave 2014, where Spotlight Report sits down to chat with John about his work with Rob Zombie, working with Marilyn Manson, and explains what was one of the coolest shows he ever played out.","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John 5 Spotlight Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/j5-spotlight.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/j5-spotlight.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/j5-spotlight.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3867,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2013\/08\/23\/rob-zombie-to-appear-at-soundwave-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":242,"position":3},"title":"ROB ZOMBIE TO APPEAR AT SOUNDWAVE 2014","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"August 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Rob Zombie will be one of the artists heading over to Australia in February\/March for the annual Soundwave Festival 2014","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Soundwave 2014","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/soundwave-fest-2014.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/soundwave-fest-2014.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/soundwave-fest-2014.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4126,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2014\/03\/14\/john-5-speaks-to-metal-obsessions-were-treating-it-as-a-big-zombie-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":242,"position":4},"title":"John 5 speaks to Metal Obsession: “We\u2019re treating it … as a big Zombie party”","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"While out on tour with Rob Zombie in Australia for the Soundwave Festival, Metal Obsession grabbed a chat with John where they spoke about the new Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor album, the forthcoming Live DVD\/Blu-Ray and even a little about the next John 5 solo album.","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John 5 Metal Obsession","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/John-5-metal-obsession.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/John-5-metal-obsession.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/John-5-metal-obsession.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4113,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2014\/03\/02\/watch-john-5-chats-to-the-au-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":242,"position":5},"title":"[Watch] John 5 chats to the AU Review","author":"Dillon - 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