John William Lowery was born July 31, 1971 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He h… Read Full Bio ↴John William Lowery was born July 31, 1971 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He has played with Marilyn Manson, Loser, Two, many more bands, and is currently playing with Rob Zombie and Meat Loaf. The name John 5 was given to him as he was the fifth replacement member to join Marilyn Manson, and also refers to a passage in the bible.

Lowery started his career as a session guitarist having moved to Los Angeles from Michigan at age 17. His first band in L.A. was Alligator Soup, which led to an important meeting with Rudy Sarzo from Whitesnake who recruited Lowery for his band Sun King giving him his first real bit of exposure. This also saw him meeting producer Bob Marlette, who has worked with, among others, Tracy Chapman, Alice Cooper, Rob Halford and Black Sabbath.

Lowery began working on numerous projects with Marlette including television show soundtracks, movie soundtracks including Speed 2: Cruise Control, and commercials and infomercials. This in turn saw Lowery being picked to play with Lita Ford, opening up for Kiss. He started another long time friendship with the various Kiss members, including a close friendship with Paul Stanley which resulted in his guesting on Stanley's Live to Win album.

Lowery's next role saw him working with Randy Castillo, in the short-lived projects Bone Angels and Red Square Black, who issued the Square EP via Zoo/BMG. The band disbanded when Lowery was picked to play with k.d. lang on tour.

In 1996, Lowery teamed up with then-former Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, along with Sid Riggs (drums) James Wooley (keyboards), and Ray Riendeau (bass) to work on an industrial metal-inspired album, under the band name of 2wo (Two). The subsequent album (Voyeurs) was remixed by Trent Reznor.

Arguably, John 5's first truly "big break" came when he was selected by former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth to play lead guitar on the critically well-received 1998 release DLR Band.

He was Marilyn Manson's guitarist from July 1998 to March 30th, 2004. He replaced Zim Zum, while he has yet to be replaced. Was he kicked out? According the John 5's offical website: "No, he wasn’t. John and Manson split amicable after five years of working together. Both came to a point in their career’s where they wanted to try new directions. John was working on his first solo album after being prompted by Les Paul himself. Manson was looking into new directions, including his paintings and filmmaking. So after the Grotesk Burlesk tour they came to an amicable agreement and went their own ways. The two still have contact and still hold a great deal of admiration for one another. And John is still as big a fan of the band and their music as he was before he joined."

John 5 has recorded three solo albums. His solo material is a mixture of hard rock, progressive bluegrass, and country music, a mixture he calls "Blackgrass". His second solo album, Songs For Sanity, features guest appearances by Albert Lee and the award winning Steve Vai. John 5 is also close friends with Steve Vai who has been quoted as saying "John 5 is an underrated guitar giant. It's rare to hear a musician fuse various styles and create a unique blend and brand all of his own. It takes balls, but that's what's needed to be truly original." John 5 has also done a short movie called God Is Closed Vol. 1. Originally available on his official website, the film can now be purchased on the Japanese version of "Vertigo", available from the official site store. John 5 has also recorded music for some TV commercials and video games. On April 4th 2007 John 5 released his follow up to 'Songs Of Sanity' entitled, 'The Devil Knows My Name'. On this particular album he teamed up with Slipknot guitarist Jim Root , Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson to create an instrumental album based on true storys about serial killers and criminals. For example the song '27 Needles' refers to 'Albert Fish' who when x-rayed by the police found 27 needles which he had put up himself for pleasure.

John reportedly loves junk food. k.d. Lang says she never saw him eat a healthy meal when he toured with them. For his place on the k. d. Lang 1996 world tour, John is said to have been chosen from out of 200 guitarists. Some places say he was chosen out of 2000. Whatever the true number, he was the best choice.

He wanted to audition for MM in mid-1996 when Daisy left but missed the deadline and Mike Linton (who became Zim Zum) got the job instead. It wasn't until July 1998, when Zim left, that he was invited to join the band. Pogo, apparently, wouldn't speak to him at first, finally saying 'Why should I say hi to you? You're only gonna be in the band for six months.'
John proved his worth from the word go, however, (he stayed for 5 years) and Pogo now talks to him.

In 2005, Lowery formed the band Loser. Recruiting vocalist Joe Grah, Charles Lee on bass, and Glendon Crain on drums, they began working on their debut album Just Like You. The band was also partly co-founded by friend and producer Bob Marlette.

In 2005 John 5 played guitar for Rob Zombie during Ozzfest 2005 and also recorded eight out of ten tracks on the "Educated Horses" album which was released on Geffen Records in 2006. Due to conflicting commitments between John's band "Loser" and "Rob Zombie", John moved over to playing for Zombie full time in early 2006. Although John 5 had hoped that Loser would be able to find a temporary guitarist during conflicting tour dates, record company Island Records, decided to drop Loser altogether from their record label. "Being the founding member of Loser, my decision to leave was not an easy one," states John 5. "I've been juggling two careers both with Loser and Rob Zombie for over a year now. I found it impossible to be in two places at once."

Lowery worked on Rob Zombie's 2006 album Educated Horses, co-writing eight out of eleven tracks with Zombie. When he left Loser, Lowery took up the role of Rob Zombie guitarist as a permanent gig.

The same year John also worked with KISS frontman Paul Stanley on Stanley's second solo album, which was released in 2006. John has also worked with Meatloaf and Nikki Sixx on Meatloaf's new album and artist FeFe Dobson.

Teaming up with an impressive array of people and bands over the years, John never limits himself to any one style. He recognizes that different forms of music all have something to offer. Country music and Bluegrass seem to be particular favourites, something that the members of Manson have teased him about.

In May 2021, it was announced that John 5 along with Rob Zombie, Nikki Six , and Tommy Clufetos formed a supergroup called L.A. Rats.

John has a Fender guitar named after him: The John 5 signature Telecaster. There are three models, including a triple humbucker model and he determined the specifications for all.

Hour 1
John 5 Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

So here we are
It's hour one
And it's a nightmare
There's nothing left
And yet it's good to be alive
There's no use crying
Cause the universe is not fair
The wicked and the innocent

Are fighting to survive

[Chorus]
Child stay down, stay down
You better run for cover underground
Child stay down, stay down
You better shut your mouth
Don't make a sound

Human nature is the reason
For our downfall
And we deserve it playing God
With our machines
Our religions are a prison
That's our fatal flaw
Bombs are flying
While we're sleeping with the enemy

[Chorus]

Look at me, right at me
When I'm telling you to stay down
Come to me, run to me
I am begging you to stay down
Cling to me desperately
All you gotta do is stay down
Pay attention my child down

Look at me, right at me
When I'm telling you to stay down
Come to me, run to me
I am begging you to stay down
Cling to me desperately
All you gotta do is stay down
Pay attention my child

[Chorus]

Child, stay down, stay down
You better run for cover underground

Child stay down, stay down
Stay down

Overall Meaning

The song "Hour 1" by John 5 is a reflection of the current state of the world, which is filled with chaos, destruction, and conflict. The first lines of the song indicate that it's the beginning of a new phase, which is terrifying and nightmarish. Despite this, there's still a sense of gratitude for being alive, even though everything that has happened is unfair.

The chorus speaks to the conflict and danger present by urging a child to take cover underground and stay quiet. The reason for all of this suffering is said to be human nature, which has led to our downfall. We've taken on the role of playing God with machines, and our religions, which were supposed to be a source of hope, have imprisoned us. The song ends with a plea to pay attention and stay down, suggesting that the only way to survive is to remain hidden, cling to one another and take heed of the danger.

Line by Line Meaning

So here we are
We find ourselves in this place, at this time

It's hour one
We're at the beginning of something new

And it's a nightmare
The situation is unpleasant and difficult

There's nothing left
All hope seems to be lost

And yet it's good to be alive
Despite everything, there's still value in living

There's no use crying
Complaining won't change anything

Cause the universe is not fair
Things don't always work out the way they should

The wicked and the innocent
Both good and bad people are affected by the situation

Are fighting to survive
Everyone is struggling to make it through

[Chorus]
Refrain to emphasize the need to take action to survive

Human nature is the reason
Our own behavior is to blame for our predicament

For our downfall
Our actions are what's causing our problems

And we deserve it playing God
We brought this upon ourselves by trying to be like gods

With our machines
The technology we've created is causing harm

Our religions are a prison
The belief systems we've created are limiting us

That's our fatal flaw
This is what's causing our downfall

Bombs are flying
There's violence and destruction all around

While we're sleeping with the enemy
We're working with people who are opposed to us

[Chorus]
Refrain to emphasize the need to take action to survive

Look at me, right at me
Pay attention to what I'm saying

When I'm telling you to stay down
It's important to keep a low profile

Come to me, run to me
Get to safety as quickly as possible

I am begging you to stay down
I'm urging you to be careful

Cling to me desperately
Hold on tight and don't let go

All you gotta do is stay down
Just stay quiet and stay hidden

Pay attention my child down
Listen carefully to what I'm saying

[Chorus]
Refrain to emphasize the need to take action to survive

Child, stay down, stay down
Remain hidden and don't attract attention

You better run for cover underground
It's safer to hide underground

Child stay down, stay down
Remain hidden and don't attract attention

Stay down
Don't move or make a sound

Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DESMOND CHILD, JAMES MICHAEL, JOHN LOWERY, RUDOLF SCHENKER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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