Now officially a member of Mötley Crüe, guitarist John 5 shared some details about the band’s upcoming new material. In his recent interview with the 101 WIRF radio, John revealed that the band’s first new music without original guitarist Mick Mars is slowly shaping up and that they already have some stuff lined up. Asked about the matter, John 5 offered (transcript via Blabbermouth):
“I don’t know when it’s gonna come out, but everything is a plan. Everything is mapped out and structured, and everything is, ‘We’re gonna do it here and there,’ and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the songs are recorded, mixed, mastered.”
What’s known so far is that the band worked with producer Bob Rock and it’s been revealed that there’s a new song titled “Dogs of War.” The band performed a small club show under this name and a press release (via Ultimate Classic Rock) also revealed this to be the title of a new song.
But what John can reveal at this point is that new songs are — in his opinion — really good. He continued:
“And they’re *so* good. I can’t wait for them to come out. They’re *so* good. I’m really excited about ’em.”
However, he’s not yet sure how they’re going to present this new material, whether it will be a full album or just individual singles. As he explained:
“Who knows what’s going to happen? I don’t know if we’ll just release singles or an album. It’s up to those guys, so I don’t know. We just record and see what happens.”
“But these songs that we recorded are *so* good; they’re heavy and the melodies and everybody’s just killing it on these songs.”
Obviously, at this point, everyone is wondering what his creative contributions are. After all, parting ways with a guitar player and a writer like Mick Mars is a big thing and John 5 is filling in this slot the best way he can.
Asked about whether he had any input in the writing process, John said that he not only actively participated in the process but that he’s also been writing stuff with the band’s bassist and founding member Nikki Sixx for years now. As he explained:
“We all sat in a room and did it together. ‘Cause me and Nikki have written for years and years and years together. So it was nothing new. And me and Tommy [Lee, drummer] worked in the studio together many times as well. So it was nothing new being in the studio, but it was new with Bob Rock.”
As he also further explains, the recording process was very “old school” — they just went in and played:
“What was so wild was we got in a room… It was like total old school, man. You get in the live room and there’s my amp and there’s Nikki’s amp and there’s Tommy’s drums, there’s a mic… ‘Cause I’m so used to just playing in the control room. And it’s, like, ‘Oh no, no, no. We’re all gonna get in this room and we’re gonna play.'”
“And that’s how we recorded. It was incredible. I’ve never recorded that way. And it was maybe one of the best experiences I had recording. It was so fun. It was a blast. I had to, like, make notes and all this stuff, and we just played through it. It was incredible.”
Mick Mars initially left the band’s live lineup in 2022. After some speculation, it was revealed that John 5, previously known for working with Rob Zombie and Marylin Manson, would replace him. However, things took a different turn when it was revealed that Mars and the three other members of the band had gone into a full legal battle. At this point, the band recognizes John 5 as a full-time legitimate member and not just a touring and session musician.
Nonetheless, despite being in a seemingly awkward position, John 5 shows respect towards both sides. Mick Mars was very positive about how John played his guitar parts live and John even revealed that Mars was very supportive of him joining the lineup.
In another recent interview, John 5 explained how he’s very adamant about performing Mars’ guitar parts as close to the original as possible. He offered:
“Well, I think doing them, I want to do them justice. I want to play them how they’re written, and I want to give the fans because — me being a fan as well — I love those solos. I grew up with those solos.”
“So all of them, I want to play to perfection because that’s how we’ve heard it our whole life, that’s how Mick has played them, and that’s how they are on the record.”
As he added, he’s very fond of all the songs in their live setlist but he’s super hyped about one:
“I mean, all of those songs in the set are a blast, but when we start ‘Wildside’ — because that’s the first song — it gives me this jolt of like, ‘Here we go.'”
“And, of course, there’s so many! Like ‘Live Wire’ and ‘Dr. Feelgood’ — it’s like all of a sudden, you’re in a movie, you’re a part of this movie you’ve watched your whole life. So it really gives me so much excitement, and I think that’s so important.”
Photos: Tyrel Snowden (John 5), pitpony.photography (Sixx A M Rock Im Park 2016 (14 von 15))
