Guitarist John 5 (ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON, DAVID LEE ROTH) recently spoke with Sticks For Stones. The full conversation can be streamed below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On the upcoming Australian tour by his solo band, JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES: John 5: "We are going to record the shows, because I'm working on a live record called 'Live Invasion'. We're going to do all the songs from 'Invasion' and record them, but you're not going to hear just the songs from the latest album — you'll hear a bunch of stuff. We do this really cool, long medley of, like, 60 riffs. It's going to be a very special show, and people are going to be super-excited and really happy with how it turns out. We're going to work really hard on it. On mixing shred with bluegrass: John 5: "I'm just such a fan of music in general. I love music. It doesn't have to be metal or rock or country or anything — if something's done really well, I am really into it. That's what I do, and I just love learning, so I try to learn as much as I can — all different styles of music. It just keeps me very, very in tune with music and trying to push myself as much as possible." On playing with Ozzy Osbourne: John 5: "It wasn't really an audition. When I was with Randy Castillo, I just helped them. I don't know where Zakk [Wylde] was or what was going on. I just played a little guitar. I've known Ozzy for a long time... I just would go in there and play a little bit and stuff, but it wasn't really an audition. Zakk was always the guitar player." On Marilyn Manson: John 5: "I think he's really doing great. We tour together all the time with Zombie/Manson, but he's really singing well, and his songs are great. He's, I think, singing better than he ever has when I was back in the band with him — he's singing just as well today as back then." On abstaining from drugs and alcohol: John 5: "I saw a lot of people doing it and just thought, 'Eh, [it's] not really for me.' I want to be able to play music and play it well and not be intoxicated, so I always thought to myself, 'I'm going to go the other way and just not do it,' because it so addicting and I had so many friends and family members that did do it, I just thought, 'I'm just going to choose not to do it,' and that's how I've always been my whole life... It doesn't bother me at all because I never drank before. I never partied before, so it never bothered me. It's just like if there's a certain kind of food that I don't like but everybody [else] likes it, it doesn't bother me. I can find something to eat. I never really had a problem with it at all whatsoever. I just didn't find any upward advantage to it — you spend the money, you don't feel well, you kind of regret the things you did the night before. I don't really see an upside to it whatsoever." On Rob Zombie's forthcoming album: John 5: "We have a new record finished, and we're going to do a bunch of touring and all that stuff — everything the same, same, same. We're just going to keep playing and touring and writing and having a great time... It's super-heavy. It's super-hooky and it's got really rad riffs on it, cool everything, great vocals, great melodies. I'm a Rob Zombie fan before I got in the band and a WHITE ZOMBIE band, and if it came out [then], I'd be super, super psyched. I'm really excited for people to hear it." JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES — comprised of John 5, bassist Ian Ross and drummer Logan Miles Nix — released "Invasion" in July. Just like "Season Of The Witch", the album — produced and mixed by Barry Pointer — was released via a series of music videos.
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