Now that John 5 is officially in Motley Crue, the next question is what will it sound like? Luckily, you don’t have venture too far to get an idea as John 5 has already rocked out some Motley Crue material in the past.
Yes, John 5 is stepping into significant shoes, with Mick Mars revealing his retirement from touring, but he’s often shown his penchant for playing Crue covers within his own shows.
Back in 2018, John 5 headed up a special show at the Whisky-a-go-go in Los Angeles where he was joined by Motley’s own Nikki Sixx along with the husband-and-wife rockers Scott Ian of Anthrax and Pearl Aday. The show opened with John 5 and his guests performing a revved up version of Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil.”
While the show was primarily a showcase for John 5’s own band The Creatures, he showed his versatility throughout the evening, also rocking out covers of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and two KISS covers (“Parasite” and “Shock Me”) with special guest Ace Frehley.
John 5 Performs Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil” With Nikki Sixx, Scott Ian and Pearl Aday
There were also a couple more recent instances of John 5 dipping into the Motley Crue catalog as well. In May of this year, the guitarist took the stage rocking out Motley’s “Home Sweet Home” for fans catching his show at the Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, N.H. Then, in late August of this year at Seattle’s El Corazon, John 5 showed his guitar skills on a cover of the Motley Crue classic, “Kickstart My Heart.”
John 5 Covers Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home”
John 5 Covers Motley Crue’s “Kickstart My Heart”
So there you have a bit of an idea of how things will translate. John 5 has kept up a close friendship with Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx over the years. going so far as to call him his “best friend” in a 2019 interview with Outburn. He’s also guested on a segment Nikki’s “My Favorite Riff” feature and played alongside Sixx and Rob Zombie in the supergroup L.A. Rats when they released a cover of “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Plus, John 5 earned credits with Motley Crue writing for The Dirt EP.
Fans will get a closer look at John 5 in action with the Crue early next year when the “Stadium Tour” hits Mexico, South America, Europe and the U.K. Dates for the run and ticketing info can be found here.