| John Christ | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Birth Name: | John Wolfgang Knoll |
| Birth Date: | 19 February 1965 |
| Birth Place: | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Genre: | Hard rock, heavy metal, gothic rock, blues rock |
| Occupation: | Guitarist |
| Label: | Tang Records |
| Past Member Of: | Danzig Samhain |
John Christ (born John Wolfgang Knoll on February 19, 1965) is an American musician best known as the original guitarist for the metal band Danzig. He has been known for his bluesy hard rock sound and frequent use of the pinch harmonic. Christ was ranked 63rd in Guitar World's list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists'.[1]
Christ was born the youngest of five children, with four older sisters.[2] Christ first started playing acoustic guitar when he was in grade school and began playing electric guitar at age 13.[3] He had previously taken piano lessons.[4] His first electric guitar was a Univox Les Paul copy. Christ grew up in Catonsville, Maryland and attended Catonsville High School.[5] He later studied classical guitar at the Peabody Institute[6] and attended Towson University studying Jazz, theory and composition.[7]
In 1987, Christ dropped out of college and moved to New Jersey to join Glenn Danzig's band Samhain, which became the band Danzig later that same year. Upon his arrival in New Jersey, Christ would share an apartment with Samhain drummer London May, for whom Christ had performed his first band audition. Christ auditioned well, but it wasn't until leaving countless guitar solos on Glenn Danzig's answering machine that he was finally invited to join the band. When May left the band, Christ shared an apartment with new drummer Chuck Biscuits, where they came up with Christ's original stage name "John Von Christ", before it was shortened to avoid it clashing with bassist Eerie Von. Christ played guitar with Danzig from 1987 to July 1995, appearing on the albums Danzig, Lucifuge, How the Gods Kill and 4, and also the Thrall-Demonsweatlive EP. In 1990, Christ recorded guitar for the Samhain album Final Descent. Christ officially left Danzig on July 5, 1995, citing a breakdown in communication within the band as the reason behind his departure.[8] [9] During his time with Danzig, Christ's main guitar was a 1983 BC Rich Bich strung with custom D'Aquisto strings and fit with PRS pickups.[10] The guitar was customized with the Danzig skull symbol, and is currently on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando.[11]
In 1997, Christ was part of the short lived band Juice 13, which also included Randy Castillo, former drummer for Ozzy Osbourne.[12] Christ's guitar work has been used by TV stations ABC and Nine Network.[13] During his time with Nine Network, he provided backing guitar for performances by artists including Tom Jones and Lou Rawls. In 1999, Christ released his debut solo album Flesh Caffeine. In 2003, Christ was involved in a serious crash and suffered injuries to his fretting hand. As a result of his injuries, he underwent lengthy rehabilitation.[14] On November 27, 2009, Christ returned to the live stage for the first time in ten years with a solo performance in Essex, Maryland.[15]