Zoinks! Some of you get the reference. Remember John 5 has a thing for monsters. It's a Scooby Doo reference. It's also another instrumental, but a new discovery for me. The first five instrumental albums were solo. So solo he put down the drum and bass tracks. Those drum tracks were super simple and tapped out on a keyboard into a daw.
This new discovery is John 5 and the Creatures. My favorite discovery of this project. Somewhere around 16-17 John decided to make a trio. It was a good decision. Prior to that he'd started borrowing Tommy Clufetos (late Ozzie, late Sabbath drummer) and Matte Bissonette (Elton John bass) for some of his solo work. But they were busy musicians, so he ran an ad at the Performing Arts Institute in LA for a bass player. Nearly 100 applied but 20 auditions in he found his guy, Ian Ross. Just another LA wannabe with some serious chops. John snatched drummer Logan Miles Nix from his studio contacts and this is the trio I will see in October. Having read john 5 Youtube comments for many years, it was kind of odd to read them now and see the bass player and drummer getting props. In the 00s those comments always elevated John to God status. All three of them just bring it song after song.
Zoinks! is a compilation John put together mostly from watching unknown guitar players on TikTok and Youtube doing experimental things. He'd see something he thought was fresh and cool and work on it. He riffs, he shreds, he slides, he bends, he arpeggios, he taps, he finger picks and it all comes together with some funk. He humbly calls it slapping, tapping and picking. It's off 2019's Invasion LP. I knew he was bass slapper from the DLR album where he plays all the bass, but it sounds really cool on his tele. Again it's the most talked about song on the album. And again...
I have to recommend the video. It's a 3 minute Scooby Doo episode before the song so it goes 8 minutes. He rescues his wife Rita from the evil Nikki Sixx with his super weapon, his guitar. And does this in time for the show.
ZOINKS! John 5 and The Creatures
if you're not into Scooby Doo below is a play through he did for Guitar World prior to a photo shoot with Dave Mustaine. Watching them do it is better than just listening.
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