JOHN 5 & BLASKO - A Pair Of Talking Zombies
by Martin Popoff

John 5, despite his boyish goth-punk looks, is one of those seasoned industry insider elite kind of guys. He's written and played with the likes of David Lee Roth (The DLR Band record), Marilyn Manson (a studio record and a live one) and Rob Halford (in Two) - even K.D. Lang and Avril Lavigne - and now he's Rob Zombie's right-hand man on both Rob's new album and knocking 'em dead tour. Hardradio caught up with John, as well as faithful Rob Zombie bassist Blasko, in Toronto, prior to them taking the stage with Rob to play a bunch of the songs they helped make loud and proud.

Charting his entry into the churning trash culture vortex that is the Rob Zombie show, John says, "It was weird, because we got off tour and Rob said, 'Oh, why don't you come into the studio and lay down a guitar track for this song called Let It All Bleed Out?' And I was like, 'Yeah, cool, man, I would love to.' Because this was when it we were getting off tour and I didn't know if I was going to work on the record at all. So I got over there and laid down the track, and it went great, and everyone was really happy. And I met Scott Humphrey, who does all of the Rob Zombie records, and he said, 'Do you have any ideas for riffs and stuff?' And me, Rob and Scott just hit it off so well with writing. We just knocked out a bunch of songs, and had a great time, and seriously, it was the best time I ever had making a record. It was fun, it was new, and it was just a breath of fresh air; it was incredible. We just had a great time and we made the record pretty quick. I think everybody was really excited that it was different and everybody had so many ideas and was very creative. The whole band was there and everybody was recording, and everybody was doing their thing. It was a blast - the best time I ever had making a record."

So have you found a home?

"You know, I really love being in Rob Zombie, and I really love the people, and I love this situation and I just really enjoy... because I've been in these situations a ton of times, but this is definitely different. It helps me being a fan of the music for so long, both of White Zombie and Rob Zombie. And I enjoy getting up on stage, and we always get off the stage and go, 'God, it went by so fast.' Because we really have a good time up there doing it."

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