Before his illustrious solo career and position with Rob Zombie's band, John 5 was playing guitar for Marilyn Manson. During a show at the Rock Am Ring festival in 2003, John 5 threw down his guitar and pretty much just beat the absolute hell out of Manson. Unfortunately there's a very sad story behind the fight.
According to John 5 in an interview with Eddie Trunk, he was still reeling from the very recent death of his sister and doesn't even remember flipping a shit on Manson. John 5 said he learned of his sister's death on that very same tour and hadn't been sleeping basically at all.
"I was in Europe and I was coming down the stairs, off a stage after a concert, and they told me my sister died. And I was in a state of shock; you just go into a state of shock. And here's the strange thing that happened to me: I didn't sleep for days and days and days. It was the strangest thing. I just wasn't tired. And I remember going to the band members' rooms, going, 'I can't sleep. I just can't sleep. I haven't slept in now two days' or blah blah blah.
"So anyways, fast forward to the show. Now, what Manson did, that happened all the time. He didn't do anything wrong. I just snapped. It was weird. I went nuts. I didn't even remember. I just snapped. And I feel terrible watching it now because it really was my fault. You can't really hear what he's saying, obviously, but he's saying, 'Pick up your guitar.' 'Cause it looks like he's going, 'Come on. Come on.' But he's saying, 'Pick up your guitar. Pick up your guitar,' because he knew what was going on. And I feel horrible about it. But it was just a bad situation at that time… It was terrible because he was so nice during that time and all that stuff. I was in such a weird place, and it was just a bad time. I don't even remember it happening. It was just terrible."
John 5 played with Marilyn Manson between 1998 and 2004.
Catch John 5 at one of the dates below on his upcoming solo tour.
w/ The Haxans
4/21 Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
4/22 Garden Grove, CA – Garden Grove Amphitheater
4/23 Las Vegas, NV – Count's Vamp'd Rock Bar & Grill
4/24 San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick
4/26 Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
4/28 Austin, TX – Come And Take It Live (no The Haxans)
w/ FozzyAdvertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
4/29 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
4/30 San Antonio, TX – The Rock Box
w/ The Haxans
5/4 Belvidere, IL – The Apollo Theater
5/5 Joliet, IL – The Forge
5/6 Flint, MI – Machine Shop
5/7 Pittsburgh, PA – Jergel's Rhythm Grille
5/8 Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater
5/11 Poughkeepsie, NY – The Chance
5/12 New Bedford, MA – The Vault Music Hall
5/13 Derry, NH – Tupelo Music Hall
5/14 Hartford, CT – Webster Underground
5/15 Annapolis, MD – Ram's Head
John 5 onlyAdvertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
5/18 Winston-Salem, NC – The Ram Kat
5/20 Atlanta, GA – Vinyl
5/21 Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome To Rockville
7/6 Montreal, QC – Foufounes Electriques
7/7 Ottawa, ON – Brass Monkey
7/8 Toronto, ON – Lee's Palace
7/9 New York, NY – Iridium
7/10 New York, NY – Iridium
7/11 New York, NY – Iridium
