Why John 5 Found Recording New Music With Motley Crue Incredible

Motley Crue have a couple of completely new songs recorded with guitarist John 5, who’s taken Mick Mars‘ place since he announced his retirement last year. John 5 has described the recording process as an especially “incredible” experience, and he’s really enthusiastic about the batch of new tracks.

Nikki Sixx first revealed that Crue were working on new music in mid-April when he shared a couple of photos from inside the studio with John 5 and Tommy Lee. At that point, it became clear that they were planning to record new music with John 5 instead of Mars, who’d filed a lawsuit against the band earlier in the month.

“We are writing. The creative process of songwriting has always been the heartbeat of our band,” Sixx wrote in one of the posts. “We’re gonna go in the big studio next week and record a few off the floor and see where it goes. We don’t have a definitive plan at this point. Just letting the songs guide us.”

A few days later, Crue confirmed that they were officially recording in the studio with renowned producer Bob Rock. It’s John 5’s first time working with the producer, though it’s not his first time working with Crue, as he co-wrote some of the songs they released in 2019 as part of The Dirt soundtrack. Regardless, he’s really excited about the new material, and explained why the recording process has been so incredible in a conversation with Detroit’s WRIF.

“Well, we have songs recorded. I don’t know when it’s gonna come out, but everything is a plan. Everything is mapped out and structured… So the songs are recorded, mixed, mastered. And they’re so good, I can’t wait for them to come out. They’re so good. I’m really excited about ’em,” the guitarist said.

The band only has a few songs under their belt, and John 5 isn’t sure whether they’re going to do a whole album or just release the few.

“We all sat in the room and did it together,” he continued. “It was like total old school, man. You get in the live room, and there’s my amp, and there’s Nikki’s amp, there’s Tommy’s drums, there’s a mic… And that’s how we recorded. It was incredible. I’ve never recorded that way. And it was maybe one of the best experiences I had recording. It was so fun. It was a blast.”

READ MORE: Nikki Sixx Recalls ‘Seamless’ Transition to John 5 in His First Motley Crue Rehearsal

Check out the rest of the interview below.

Motley Crue’s North American tour wrapped up in mid-August, but they have a few shows in Japan and Australia throughout the first half of November. See all of the dates on their website.

Why John 5 Found Recording New Music With Motley Crue So ‘Incredible’