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Tell me a little about the new album The Art of Malice. What’s the significance of the title?
Well, The Art of Malice…I think that the title means kill them with kindness; it’s kind of that way, you know? Just to be super nice but to be conniving and the other way. I guess the best description is to kill them with kindness.

How do you think that translates into the music?
Well, it’s kind of how I’ve always been. It’s kind of like my whole life is this album. Like, in the beginning, what inspired me to play guitar was songs with style, but I’ve always been such a nice person and they’re like “Oh, he’s such a nice guy,” and things like that, but those are the ones you’ve got to watch out for. But, like “Fractured Mirror” (the Ace Frehley cover), that is one of the first songs I heard that really made me want to play guitar and I was really inspired by him, Ace, of course, but that song, ‘cause it’s just all guitar and I loved it, that’s why I put it on the record. And a lot of the song titles, like “J.W.” is my middle initials (John William) and my dad used to call me J.W. and “The S-lot” is a place in my high school where I used to sneak away and play guitar, and “Wayne County Killer,” that’s a serial killer that was around when I was a kid in Michigan and I remember we weren’t allowed to go outside and stuff like that. You know, there’s a lot of songs in there that have a lot to do with my upbringing and stuff, and “Ya Dig” sounds like Van Halen and Van Halen’s such a big inspiration, and I know David Lee Roth really well and when you talk to Dave, instead of when someone says “You know what I’m talking about? You know?” Dave says “Ya dig?” So if he’s like, “Hey, you wanna go grab a burger? They got really good burgers, they use a special kind of bun, ya dig?” You know? So he always says “Ya dig?” so that’s why I called it that.

Seeing as you play most of the instruments on a lot of your solo releases, what’s the writing process like for you? Do you kind of just go off of a riff? Or do you have an idea for a song in your head? Or…?
Sometimes I go off of a riff, if something sounds really good, and I’ll just slowly, slowly build it into a song, you know, try and piece everything together and make it sound as much as a song and not a bunch of crazy solos. I try to put good, hooky choruses that aren’t too crazy; nice melodic choruses and little riffs and hooky stuff like that…just try to build it into as much of a song as possible, which is hard to do with instrumental music.

Do you think there’s a style out there that you haven’t conquered yet that you’d like to try?
Yeah, there’s tons. I’m listening to a lot of Spanish guitar right now, a lot of Flamenco and Gypsy style, yeah.

Do you still feel challenged at all when picking up a new style?
Oh, absolutely. But I love to practice, so I don’t feel frustrated or anything. I just love to practice, so I’ll learn something and just keep on playing it and playing it and playing it…and just keep playing and playing. So, it’s fun for me, it’s not frustrating for me or anything like that.

How often do you practice, just out of curiosity?
About 4 or 5 hours a day, I guess.
Sweet. That’s for all the young rockers.
It’s broken up. Like, an hour here and an hour there type of thing.

You’ve collaborated with quite a lot of people in the past and on your releases, is there someone that you hope to collaborate with in the future?
I’d say Paul McCartney or Ringo, or Rod Stewart or Prince.

Are you planning to do any solo tour for this album at all?
Well, I’m not sure ‘cause we’re touring so much with [Rob] Zombie this year, so…but I will eventually, when we stop touring for a minute I’ll do that for sure.

What’s this I hear about you playing on the new Skynard album?
Yeah, I wrote six songs on that record and then also played a little guitar on it, too…which was one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. It was so much fun.

What’s it like working with those old school guys?
Oh, great. It’s an honor, an honor. Because, I mean, jeez, what they’ve done and what they’ve produced. I mean, I’m just glad to be a part of Skynard history.

Are you going to be touring at all with them?
No. No, no, no. I just wrote some songs and played a little guitar.

So what kind of music do you listen to on the road?
Well, right now I’ve got my iPod on shuffle and I’ve got Van Halen on and I just heard Rod Stewart on a minute ago, and Neil Young and Slipknot, so it’s a wide range of stuff, a very wide range of music. I love it. I’m just such a huge fan of music in general.

So you play on a veritable slew of guitars. What are a couple of your favorites?
Well, I have a main guitar that I’ve used forever; it’s my main John 5 Telecaster, and it’s the one I take pictures with all the time, but that one was starting to get beat up quite a bit, so I just got a new main guitar and it’s gold and it’s got gold hardware so you can see that online, pictures of it and stuff, that’s what I’ve been playing with lately. It’s awesome…it’s great. But I have tons and tons of Teles, which is my passion, just collecting and appreciating these fine, fine instruments.

What would you say would be your prize guitar in your collection?
A 1950 Broadcaster. It’s definitely the jewel of the bunch; I love it so much.