Divergent presents John 5

John 5 plus guests, Newcastle University Students' Union, Saturday 9 May 2026.

As well as a guitarist for hire, John 5 has shared the stage as axeman for Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Rob Halford. He has also worked with an array of names from across music, including k.d. lang, Rod Stewart, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, Tina Guo and Steven Adler.

John 5 was born John William Lowery on July 31, 1970, in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. His love of guitar began at age seven, when he watched the Hee Haw series with his father. "I watched the guitar playing and knew that was what I wanted to do. My friends wanted to be astronauts and such but all I wanted to do was play and play and play." Other notable influences included Kiss and Jimi Hendrix.

John 5 has released nine studio albums, a live album and a remix album. He has worked with several guests on those albums, including Albert Lee, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jim Root and Eric Johnson. As well as his solo albums, John 5 teamed up with vocalist Joe Grah (formerly of Texas band Jibe) to form the radio rock project Loser. Their first single, 'Disposable Sunshine', featured on the Fantastic Four soundtrack.

In 2006, John 5 joined Rob Zombie for a short Ozzfest tour. They began work on 2006's 'Educated Horses'. As a consequence, John 5 left his band Loser.

In 2015, following a series of web shows to celebrate the release of his solo album 'Careful With That Axe', John 5 decided to take his solo set on tour and formed the Creatures to support his live shows. Initially joined by long-term friend Rodger Carter on drums, the band continues touring and now works as a unit on John 5's solo albums, including 'Season of the Witch', the live album 'It's Alive' and 2019's 'Invasion'. The current line-up includes John 5, Ian Ross on bass and drummer Logan Miles Nix.

Although John 5 does less hired-gun work, he has worked with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Meat Loaf, Ricky Martin, Rod Stewart and Mötley Crüe.