Rob Zombie was recently joined by guitarist Mike Riggs for the band’s concert on Thursday, October 6 at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California. It marked Zombie’s first live gig since the September 24 performance at Louder Than Life festival, which featured longtime member John 5 on guitar. Rob Zombie frontman and namesake didn’t address John 5’s status with the group while introducing Riggs from the stage at Aftershock. The fans were informed that Mike had returned “after a 20-year absence” to play the gig.
John 5 might perform with Motley Crue
Now, rumors are floating around that John 5 may now be involved in the upcoming Motley Crue tours going forward. John 5 assisted in songwriting on The Dirt soundtrack and stated in an interview that Nikki Sixx is one of his best friends. Adding to the equation that Mick Mars is nearly 72 years old with some health conditions and this rumor seems to be a rumor that may turn out to be true. Mick has been the only Motley Crue guitarist, but Father Time takes over everyone at some point.
According to Rock Feed, John 5 and Rob Zombie “no longer follow each other on social media,” lending credence to the theory that John 5 is no longer a member of Rob’s band.
John 5 has played with Rob Zombie since 2006 when he was invited to join the band for a short Ozzfest tour. Despite being told “not to get too comfortable”, the pairing brought a resurgence in Zombie, who at the point was turning his hand to directing movies and taking a break from music, they began work on 2006’s “Educated Horses”. As a consequence, John 5 had to make the decision to leave his fledgling band Loser.
John 5 had worked with Zombie for the last 16 years, co-writing on all studio albums since “Educated Horses”, and composing the score for Zombie’s 2013 movie “The Lords Of Salem”.
