A biography for John 5hasn’t been written yet.
“When I came to California, I came from such an upper scale neighborhood, I was so sheltered, but I always knew I wanted to live in California, and I wanted to play guitar.”
“I love talking to people, and I'll listen to what they have to say, and if they have ideas or something like that, I'll put you to work.”
“Sometimes if you're in the studio for a very long time, you want to get out and play live shows and vice versa.”
“I like records that are all over the place. That's why I think my favorite Beatles record was always 'The White Album.'”
“I can get inspired, like anyone, from movies or music or TV or a certain way people think.”
“I've been putting out records for so long, but I didn't want to tour because I didn't think anybody really cared.”
“I love meeting the fans, and I love shaking hands, and that's what it's all about. It really is.”
“Nothing's changed from when I'm seven years old to now. Nothing's changed at all. I like the same stuff that I did - Kiss, Van Halen, 'Happy Days,' 'Laverne & Shirley,' 'The Brady Bunch,' monsters and all that stuff.”
“I get starstruck... I don't know, because a lot of my heroes are my really good friends.”
“I'm a Telecaster connoisseur, and I love my Teles. I have one from almost every year since the very beginning, in 1950. I'm so obsessed with them.”
“You gotta go after your dreams and do it. Go and do it.”
“I always look for inspiration. If I find something that's inspiring, I'm so excited because it is very hard to find something inspiring.”
“I would hear Steely Dan on the radio all the time, and I listened to 'Aja' a lot. I mean, 'Black Cow' and 'Aja' and 'Deacon Blues' and 'Josie' and 'Peg'... all these songs are on one record. It's crazy!”
“Jimi Hendrix is one of the main influences on why I wanted to play guitar. He really shook me. I think it was his whole style - the look and what he did with the guitar.”
“I never wished to be a 'rock star.' I just wanted to be a working musician. My dreams didn't even go past a session player or a working musician. It was too far beyond my dreams.”
“I love to learn, and I started doing a lot of studying of Spanish-style music and really started getting into it and how it is just a completely different form of guitar playing. It is just like if you started speaking in a different language like Japanese or something. It is something that you have to study and work at a lot.”
“I just try to go outside the box. In fact, I go outside the box so much I go... 'What box!'”
“Whatever I say is so honest when I'm doing interviews.”
“I know it sounds corny, but I think the meaning of life is to do what you love and be happy.”
“I think I'm always writing, and I'm always working, and I'm always trying to be creative. It's just something that I do all the time. I watch TV, and I'll play guitar.”