InkSpired Magazine Issue No. 36 | Page 66

Jim Louvau: So, would you say that when you’re not on tour or practicing guitar that most of your time is spent writing, whether it’s for yourself or other people? John 5: I’m always writing everyday and it occupies my brain. I really wouldn’t know what to do if I wasn’t writing or creating. It’s weird, whenever I see myself not playing or writing, I find myself cleaning like a mad person. Jim Louvau: Tell me about your fascination with tattoos at an early age. John 5: I loved Sunset Strip Tattoo, that was my place and I’d hang out there and it was like Cheers or something. This was back in the day when Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee would come in and Axl and Slash and everyone would hang out there. The tattoo shop would have these parties and rent a boat and I remember sitting there with Axl just talking about tattoos. Robert Benedetti who owned the shop would tattoo me all the time and educate me on tattoos. That was my home and I remember when a tattoo artist would leave to go work in another shop and I was kind of devastated. It was like a band member leaving a band. 64 InkSpiredMagazine.com