''Careful With That Axe'' is the seventh solo album by John 5. It was released on August 12, 2014, and debuted at no. 50 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Heatseekers Chart The Heatseekers charts are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by ...

. The album's first and only single, "This is My Rifle", was released two months prior on June 17, 2014.

Background and recording

Work on the album took place in between his work as a touring guitarist for

Rob Zombie Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...

. Recording took place in "The Doghouse Studios" in Los Angeles. With it being his seventh instrumental studio album, John 5 desired to mix his process up from the past. Historically, he had recorded all guitar and bass guitar parts himself, and hired a studio drummer to "Keep the beat and stay out of isway". For ''Careful With That Axe'', he recruited a dedicated bassist, Matt Bissonette, to play all bass parts, and had a co-

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Rodger Carter play all drum tracks, with both players being more interactive in the process. Both were experienced studio musicians, with Bissonette having previously recorded with

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

, and Carter having previously recorded with Lita Ford and

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

Composition and themes

John 5 described the album as having "a real live band sound" that covers a broad spectrum of different

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

. The track "This Is My Rifle" is a tribute to

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ' ...

, while "El Cucuy" is a tribute to Spanish flamenco guitar music. "Jerry's Breakdown" and "Jiffy Jam" are both cover songs of Jerry Reed, a musician John 5 was familiar with due to his father listening to his albums as a child. The album's title pays homage to

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

's 1968 psychedelic track "

Careful with That Axe, Eugene "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" is an instrumental piece by the British rock band Pink Floyd. It was recorded in November 1968 and released as the B-side to the single " Point Me at the Sky", and featured on the 1971 compilation album ''Relics ...

", while also making a pun on the slang term "axe", meaning a guitar. Both the album's title and many of its individual song titles are references to axe murders. "This Is My Rifle" is a reference to

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

and ''

Full Metal Jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel ''The Short-Timers'' and stars Matthew M ...

'', "Flight of the Vulcan Valley" is a reference to '' Flight of the Bumble Bee''. "El Cucuy" is Spanish for the " bogeyman", while "Portrait of Sidney Sloan", "Villisca", and "The Dream Slayer" all refer to specific real-life murders.

Promotion and release

The album's first single, "This is My Rifle", was released on June 17, 2014, two months prior to the album's release. The album released on August 12, 2014 through record label 60 Cycle Hum. The album's cover art features photography from Ray Gutierrez of StrangeBeautifulArt, who previously done the image's for John 5's earlier album ''

The Art of Malice The Art of Malice is the fifth solo album by John 5. It was released on May 11, 2010. Album news * On March 2, 2010, the album's first track, entitled "The Nightmare Unravels," was made available for streaming on John 5's official website and ...

''. The album debuted at no. 50 on the ''

Track listing

Personnel

* John 5 –

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, production * Matt Bissonette –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Rodger Carter –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, production

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control John 5 (guitarist) albums 2014 albums Instrumental albums