Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
World-renowned guitarist JOHN 5 recently announced the release of his upcoming eighth full-length solo album, entitled Season Of The Witch. The fully-instrumental album, which features his band The Creatures (bassist Ian Ross and drummer Rodger Carter), is set to hit stores on March 3, 2017. The album features experimentation with various genres – including western swing, Spanish flamenco, heavy metal and more – thoroughly showcasing JOHN 5‘s diverse virtuosic abilities. Pre-orders will become available via iTunes in early February.
JOHN 5 took a different approach with the release of Season Of The Witch, choosing to share his new music with fans throughout 2016 by releasing several tracks individually in the form of various music videos. Tracks/videos released include the fast-paced “Black Grass Plague”, downtempo, introspective “Behind The Nut Love”, hard rocking “Now Fear This”, jazz fusion marathon “Here’s To The Crazy Ones” (featuring a bit of “monkeying around”), heavy metal Claymation shredfest “Making Monsters”, and last but not least, the whiskey-soaked “Hell Haw”. The videos have garnered nearly a million views, collectively.
“Since music is so visual nowadays, I thought these videos would be the best way to get my music out there, and it seems to have worked – now everybody knows the songs on the record,” states JOHN 5. “I put so much work into this record with the videos, the artwork, the songwriting and the playing – out of my catalog, this is by far my favorite solo record.”
Season Of The Witch track listing:
1) Book of Spells
2) Black Grass Plague
3) Guitars, Tits and Monsters
4) Now Fear This
5) Behind the Nut Love
6) Making Monsters
7) Dr. Evil’s Spook Show
8) Here’s To The Crazy Ones
9) The Macabre
10) Triple D
11) Hell Haw
12) Ode to Jasper
13) Season Of The Witch
A recently released Season Of The Witch album teaser trailer, directed by Josh Hasty:
Kicking off the same day as the album release, JOHN 5 and The Creatures will embark on an 18-date US tour, beginning in Fife, WA. See below for all currently confirmed tour dates.
JOHN 5 has worked with a varied range of artists, performing as guitarist for some of the biggest headlining rock bands in the world such as Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, as well as playing session with Paul Stanley, Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more. Slash has called JOHN 5, “one of the most mind-blowing guitarists around” and Rob Zombie has dubbed him “a fucking shredder”. JOHN 5 has released seven solo albums to date, as well as a remix album, and has written music for the likes of Avril Lavigne, Garbage, Ricky Martin and others. His upcoming release, Season Of The Witch, follows his previous solo work, Careful With That Axe, which debuted on the Billboard Heatseekers chart upon release in 2014.
