Earlier this month, concertgoers at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, California were surprised during the Rob Zombie set that not only was original guitarist Mike Riggs back in the fold, but John 5 was nowhere to be seen.
At the time, people were left to speculate what this meant for Zombie and John 5, who’d been playing together since 2006. With Riggs back on stage after a 20-year hiatus, did that mean John 5 was leaving the band? Questions swirled with zero official response from either camp, but one prevailing rumor that began circulating was that John 5 left to play guitar for Mötley Crüe.
That specific rumor had been reported at various metal news sites, but there was no concrete evidence to suggest that would be the case. At least nothing out in the open.
The reason for this speculation was two fold: Mick Mars, who John 5 would end up replacing, is in his 70s and suffers chronic health conditions. Not only that, but it’s been heavily documented that John 5 is a huge Mötley Crüe fan.
However, after recently posting an old image of himself with Mars backstage, one fan asked John 5 directly if he was joining the iconic California band, he simply responded: “No, just a rumor.”
So there ya have it. Just a rumor so far, though I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s still within the realm of possibility.