John 5 has served as Rob Zombie’s guitarist since 2005, but he has stepped away to become the touring guitarist for Mötley Crüe. So, what has Zombie thought of all of this?
The guitarist touched on this in a new interview saying, “I talked to Rob, and he understood. Rob is a smart, rational person. He wasn’t psyched, but he understood.” 5 added, “I think that was amazing of him. He was just, like, ‘Go get ’em.’ He was fine about it.”
5 also shared that an overall feeling of YOLO helped him decide to take the Crüe gig. He said, ” … I was thinking to myself, I was, like, ‘Life is short.’ … I was, like, ‘I wanna do this for me.’ I was 51 years old at the time … How many times do you get a new chapter in your life at this magnitude later in life?”
RELATED: Nikki Sixx Appears to Be Razzing John 5…Or the Media (We Can’t Tell)
Additionally, he’s on good terms with Mick Mars, who is currently in a legal battle with Mötley Crüe. As previously reported, Mars filed a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe alleging his percentage of band profits was cut from 25 percent to 5 percent. This cut came following Mars’ retirement from touring with the band in October 2022.
5 said of his relationship with Mars, “Me and Mick, we talk all the time. We exchange Christmas gifts and things like that.” In fact, 5 says Mars was one of the first people to text him after news broke he would be the Crüe’s touring guitarist.
” … He said, ‘You’re going to kill it.’ It’s good. It’s not like it’s some stranger coming in. We have a great respect for each other,” said 5.