Ali Cooper | Metal Hammer
John 5 has worked with everyone from Marilyn Manson to Rob Zombie. We got him to show off his favourite and most unique guitars.
John 5 moved to LA at the tender age of 17, after a meeting with Whitesnake‘s Rudy Sarzo, the young virtuoso wound up playing with Lita Ford and opening for one of his biggest inspirations: Kiss (who wound up being some of his closest pals).
From there the colourful shredder’s career would only get brighter – he worked with Rob Halford and Trent Reznor and later, David Lee Roth. Then, after Zim Zum left Marilyn Manson, John 5 took his place.
Now, the guitar maestro plays for non other than horror rocker Rob Zombie, while simultaneously working on his own solo project (where he often collaborates with other incredible shredders, such as Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Jim Root).
In his spare time (and there must not be much of it!) the guitarist is an avid Kiss collector (all showcased on his instagram) and of course, boasts a pretty incredible hoard of guitars. We caught up with him to find out all about his collection and discover his favourite and most unique guitars…
When did your obsession with guitars start?
“I got my first guitar for Christmas in 1977 and I started taking lessons right away because that was part of the deal with my family. I had a really good teacher and he taught me some of my favourite songs at the time. It was the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, that’s what made me never want to put it down.
“I got into Kiss at the same time, when Love Gun came out, and I have a Kiss collection as well as my guitars – my collection is the rarest of the rare, I probably have a lot of stuff Gene Simmons doesn’t have!”
So how many guitars do you currently have?
Matt Porter
Joe