Welcome to
John Lowery aka John 5
Does The Devil Really
Know His Name?
Interview By Kelly Roadway
Hajduk
I dialed the phone and heard a polite “Hello?”
I asked, “Is this John?”
“Yes it is,” Was his
reply.
I
then introduced myself, and told him I was very excited and honored to speak
with him. He was humbled. I began to conduct the interview and told him I would
make it as painless as possible.
I asked
if he could tell me a little bit about himself and he responded with this:
JOHN: “Gee, I don’t know where to start, I’ve been playing professionally
since the age of eighteen, I’ve played with tons of different artist, David Lee
Roth, Rob Halford, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and just wrote with Lynyrd
Skynyrd, The Scorpions, Paul Stanley, and Meat Loaf. I’ve worked with quite a
lot of people. Right now I’m doing instrumental work while Rob Zombie is
working on the Halloween movie he is doing. “The Devil Knows My Name” is my
third instrumental CD I’ve done, so I keep working, keep working.”
Kelly: “Your musical
interests range all over the place then, not just metal like some of the artist
you’ve just named, right?”
John:” I think most people relate me to the work I’ve done with Marilyn
Manson and Rob Zombie. I’ve even played with KD Lang and lots of different
artists.”
Kelly: “When did you first get interested in playing guitar?”
John:” I started taking lessons when I was seven. I’m a big Jimi Hendrix
fan, and a big Kiss fan. I really wanted to play guitar, luckily my parents were kind enough to get
me enrolled in guitar lessons. I was so interested in it. My teacher was so
smart - he wouldn’t give me traditional songs to play that I didn’t want to
play anyway. He gave me Hendrix riffs and Kiss riffs which kept my interest.”
Kelly: “What made you lean towards the style of music you are
playing right now?”
John: “This record ‘The Devil Knows My Name,’ is really intense. I really
love shred guitar and I love country guitar too, I’m pretty much putting
everything in there including the kitchen sink with this record and it’s a lot
of fun and people really enjoy it so, I’m going to keep making these records.”
Kelly: “I have to say number one - you do shred, and number two -
this demo has not left my CD player.”
John: “Thank you”
Kelly: “Your very welcome and I have found everything you
mentioned, Thrash, Country, and Bluegrass it’s just amazing.”
John: “Well, it just keeps it more interesting and fresh, you know so you
don’t get tired of hearing the same thing over and over. Just keeping it
fresh.”
Kelly: “How did you get the name, John 5?”
John: “I got that name when I joined Marilyn Manson.
Actually before I even played him a note, he gave me that name, which is a
biblical meaning. When I released my records, I kept the name John 5 - it just
stuck. Nobody knows me by John Lowery.”
Kelly: “What’s the reasoning behind wearing the makeup?”
John: “I think it’s like a yin and yang thing, like a
persona, when I’m on stage, I’m that person. I’ve always really enjoyed Kiss
and all that stuff I think it gives the people a little bit more, especially
now a days, when you see bands up on stage, and especially if you don’t know
the bands, they really look pretty much like the roadies or something so it’s
just a way of giving a little more and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
Kelly: “So it’s safe to say John 5 is neither satanic nor
worships the Devil correct?”
John: “Right!”
Kelly: “What other music do you like beside rock?”
John: “I’m a huge Country fan and I even do a Chet Atkins song called
‘Young Thing’ on this record. I love Country, I love Bluegrass, I love the
Blues, I love everything like that. I play all different styles. I really enjoy
doing that. It keeps it fresh and exciting. You know it’s like food, you don’t
want to eat the same food over and over again, you want a little variety. I
listen to everything from Slipknot, to Brother for Where Art Thou. I like a
mixture and I think a lot of people have that same kind of taste, they want
variety.”
Kelly: "Do you prefer your solo projects verses working
with the band (Rob Zombie)?”
John: “No, no, no, I just do my instrumental thing
because I love it and I do it just for the music and to inspire guitar players.
It’s like two different animals. My instrumental thing is for me and again to
inspire young players and old players. It’s just something I do for myself. I’m
not trying to become a millionaire off of it. I love playing with Rob Zombie
and I wouldn’t give that up for the world!”
Kelly: “I did a photo shoot in Mansfield, MA when Zombie was
there and was fascinated by you. You exhibited great showmanship. The way you
play, you were all over the place, you really blew me away.”
John: “Well, you know people pay a lot of money for
those tickets. I just really want to give them a great show and I think it’s
really, really important to do that. I want to inspire people to say that’s
what I want to do with my life or I want to be that guy up there. That’s what I
did when I saw Van Halen and others. They weren’t just crouched down or
standing there, they were moving all over the place. Also when I go to shows, I
want to see a great show, I want to be entertained, that’s what I want for the fans.”
Kelly: “What advice would you give to someone trying to get in
the music industry?”
John: “You know when people ask me that, I give them
the God honest truth, they sometimes don’t want to hear it but you know, I tell
them the REAL truth. You have to move out of your comfort zone, unless
you already live in LA or NY. That’s where the record companies are and that’s
where the reality is. These record companies don’t want to travel more than
five miles from their homes in Beverly Hills. They have to go see bands at
night, in the clubs, sign new talent - that’s their job. Nine out of ten times
they don’t want to travel far. So, if you live in Boston or some place else,
your just going to have to move if you really want to get recognized. That’s
what I had to do. I lived in Gross Point, Michigan and I had everything I
wanted, I didn’t need anything but I really wanted to make it, so that’s what I
had to do.”
Kelly: “So, to be seen and heard by the right person, location
is the key?”
John: “Yeah, right! Because it doesn’t matter how
great you are. When you’re playing in a small town, that’s pretty much the only
people that are going to hear you. Now with the Internet, it’s a whole new
story. People can now be looked at from the computer, which is amazing for up
and coming new bands. Times are changing, that’s for sure. Record companies are
freaking out about it too, because now a lot of bands are now doing it all
themselves. Record companies are merging and they are panicking, the Internet
is taking over. No ones going to music stores much anymore to buy CD’s, people
can just downloading them their selves.”
Kelly: “I guess it’s a good thing. It’s nice to see the music
industry getting some competition.”
John:” I think competition is a great thing. You
have to be competitive in life. Where would The Stones be without the Beatles?
Where would Kiss be without Alice Cooper? Competition, it’s good for you!”
Kelly: “Would say you
have seen a big change in the music industry since you started?”
John: “Absolutely! Of course.”
Kelly: “Okay, getting back to your CD ‘The Devil Knows My Name,’
why did you choose that for the title?”
John: “That’s a good question. I’ve had so much
success in the music business, playing with artists, writing music for artists,
and touring. Everything has gone so well and I’m so happy but, on my personal
level I’ve had a lot of loss in my life and incredible bad luck. Again in my
personal life, you know a lot of death and things like that so I kind of feel
like in a sense, you kindda made a deal with the devil, which of course I
didn’t but that’s what it feels like. You have so much amazing things happening
for you but then you have so many terrible, terrible, terrible things happen to
you. It’s like you want to listen to music for the rest of your life and the
devil says,” here you go but you don’t have any speakers. That’s how I feel
sometimes, I’ve just had so many bad things happen in my personal life but my
business, it’s been amazing.”
Kelly: “What made you collaborate with Joe Satriani, Eric
Johnson, and Jim Root?”
John: “I have really looked up to Joe ever since he
came out with his first record, I’ve always been a fan, the reason why I do
this is I just wanted him on one of my records because I have listened to him
for so long. Same thing with Eric Johnson, he’s amazing. With Jim Root, I’ve
toured with Slipknot for so long I thought he’d be perfect on this record.
Everyone said yes, I feel really lucky.”
Kelly: “Do you plan on doing a solo tour?”
John: “Playing with Zombie really takes up a lot of
my time, when I’m done touring with Zombie then I’ll go out and do a big
instrumental solo tour and it will be amazing! I mean REALLY, REALLY
intense!”
Kelly: “I hope you’ll make it to the North East?”
John: “I promise that I definitely, definitely will
be there.”
Kelly: “We do love you here so don’t forget about us. I know
bands from the West Coast don’t like the cold New England weather.”
John: “Oh, no, don’t worry, remember, I’m from Michigan.
It will be my pleasure.”
Kelly: “I know you spoke of your bad luck so I figure songs like
First “Victim” and “27 Needles” pertains to that. One of the songs that really
touched me was ‘Bella Kiss.’ What was the inspiration for that song?”
John: “I just wanted to do something a little
different. It’s a totally different style of guitar playing. It’s all done in
tapping and I just want to put something beautiful in this whole crazy, crazy
record. Just another different flavor in there. It really came out nice and it
needed to be in there. I’m really happy with it.”
Kelly: “In closing, is there anything you’d like to say to your
fans?”
John: “If you really want to play guitar or play
music, knowledge is power. Learn as much as you can and study as much as you
can. Don’t just go out and get drunk or get high. Try to learn something new
everyday. Work on your crafts and your skills.”
While
conducting this interview I found John to be humble, down to earth, and very
easy to talk to. There was no impression of being rushed like many artists. So
- does the devil really know John 5’s name? Absolutely not, he’s a real angel
in disguise!
© DJx2 2007