Earlier this year, guitarist John 5 replaced Mick Mars in legendary rockers Motley Crue. At the time, John 5 went on to explain that while Rob Zombie wasn’t thrilled with his exiting the band, he understood.
“The hard part was telling Rob, because we never had a negative word between us,” the guitarist told Eddie Trunk.
“And he’s my buddy and we made great music and great live shows together for 17 years, and we never really had a problem. But I was thinking to myself, I was, like, ‘Life is short.’ And I’m being completely honest with you — ‘Life is short. I wanna experience as much as I can in life.’ And I was thinking about myself. And I was, like, ‘I wanna do this for me, because I’m 51 years old’ at the time, and I was, like, ‘I wanna do this. I want to experience this.’ How many times do you get a new chapter in your life at this magnitude later in life?”
“And I talked to Rob, and he understood. Rob is a smart, rational person. I mean, he wasn’t psyched, but he understood. And I think that was amazing of him.”
Earlier this week, John 5 again caught up with Eddie Trunk on the weekly YouTube series “That Rocks!” The guitarist was asked if he had any dialogue with Zombie since he and Trunk last spoke some four months ago.
“I have not had dialogue with Rob,” he said. “And I wish I would. I miss talking to him. And (his) band sounds great and the show looks awesome and I really hope to talk to him soon… I miss talking to Rob. And I know he is doing great. But I hope we connect soon.”
“I told Rob before it got out in the press. But I agreed to Nikki. And I called Rob and I said, ‘This is what’s happening.’ And we did a show, Louder Than Life, together, and that was my last show (with Rob) in Kentucky. And then they got Riggs and were rehearsing with him and did the Aftershock show. And then it was announced — my time frame is not great, but then I believe it was announced a little bit after that. But it was no bad blood or anything; it wasn’t anything bad; it wasn’t dramatic or anything. And Rob was super cool. He was, like, ‘Hey, I get it.’ He was cool about it.”
John 5 continued: “I miss talking with him and texting with him. I’m more worried about him not texting me back or not replying. I think that would really break my heart. That’s the thing. I think I’d be really bummed out about that. But I haven’t. To answer your question, no, I haven’t.”
