About John Christ
July 27, 1990, Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA © 2024 Alison Braun
JOHN CHRIST
John Christ was born February 19, 1965 in Catonsville, Maryland to Jack and Kit Knoll, the youngest, and only boy of five children. Exposed to music at an early age (it didn’t hurt that his father was a big band trumpet player, and his mother, a pianist and alto soprano), John remembers being mesmerized by the musical antics of his sisters’ friends, who would perform at the Knoll’s home. Encouraged by his mother to take guitar lessons, John and his sister Lisa would share their sister Mary Cate’s guitar for early morning guitar lessons with the sisters at St. Agnes Catholic School. Eventually, John would borrow a guitar from Mary Cate’s friend Mike Gerlach, and lessons turned to his first gigs at Friday masses at St. Agnes Church. Witnessing their son’s enthusiasm and dedication to his craft, John’s parents set him up with private lessons at Knode’s Music Center in Catonsville—practice shifted from minutes to countless hours per day, interrupted only by chores, dinner, and a few hours of sleep—he was hooked—and there was no turning back. At just 15, John would join his sister’s boyfriend’s band Blind Ambition, taking every opportunity he could to rock out to classics by Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Boston, Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest, to name a few.
In 1985, John enrolled at Towson University, studying jazz composition under Hank Levy, the composer of “Whiplash,” the inspiration behind the 2014 film. Rock and roll fate would intervene just shy of the completion of his baccalaureate degree when John was approached by friend Tim Moore, sharing news of a band seeking a guitarist. Moore worked at a local architectural firm in Baltimore owned by the parents of drummer London May, a member of an established New York band which had a pending record deal with Rick Rubin’s Def Jam Recording. The band was Samhain—fronted by none other than the legendary Glenn Danzig of Misfits. Initially shrugging off the idea in hopes of finishing his degree, six months later, John would audition for Samhain. In what was the stuff of rock and roll legend, John made quite the impression—literally—when he tore the fingernail off of the index finger of his picking hand and began to bleed everywhere while frenetically shredding. Accidentally brushing up against Glenn, he left five bloody lines on his shoulder. Rubin thought this was awesome—Danzig did not agree—he thought Christ was on speed. Promised a second audition, it would take far longer than John expected, or was willing to wait. In that time, the infamous “answering machine” riffs were left on Danzig’s answering machine when he did not return John’s calls. The guitar riffs got progressively longer and longer until the tape ran out—apparently this left another impression as John was eventually called back a month later. The second audition came the night before the start of his spring semester at Towson—John got the gig and Samhain began recording their new album on the first of February, 1987. Needless to say, John would be taking a break from school, his return to academia wouldn’t happen for another three decades.
John performing a gig at a local Maryland pub, circa 1981
John performing with his band Critical Mass, summer of 1983
Moving to New York City, John contributed to the recording of the final Samhain record, Final Descent. The album, however, would not be released until late in 1990, long after the band had morphed through several incarnations. Under the guidance of Rubin, Samhain would give way to the short-lived Glenn Danzig and The Power and Fury Orchestra, which contributed the songs “Life Fades Away,” recorded by Roy Orbison, and “You & Me” to the 1987 film Less Than Zero, and finally, the eponymous Danzig and its classic lineup—Glenn Danzig, Eerie Von, Chuck Biscuits and John Christ.
During his tenure in Danzig from 1987 to 1995, John would contribute to four studio albums and one EP—Danzig (1988), Danzig II: Lucifuge (1990), Danzig III: How the Gods Kill (1992), Thrall-Demonsweatlive (1993), Danzig 4P (1994)—while also being featured on Live on the Black Hand Side (2001) and The Lost Tracks of Danzig (2007). The band earned gold records for Danzig andThrall-Demonsweatlive, and an International Billboard top 200 hit in 1993 for “Mother,” all while embarking on numerous US and international tours, sharing the stage with the likes of Metallica, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, Soundgarden, White Zombie, Type O Negative, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Corrosion of Conformity, to name a few. When John wasn’t tearing it up on tour, composing songs or laying down tracks the studio, he was a contributing writer to Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine.
Eerie Von, Chuck Biscuits and John‚ “the three cogs in the big Danzig machine” as Eerie describes it, at Sorcerer Sound, Mercer Street, NYC, tracking Danzig in 1987. © 2024 The photography of EERIE VON
John and Glenn Danzig working on arrangements for Danzig III: How The Gods Kill, at Record Plant Recording Studios in Hollywood, CA in 1991 © 2024 The photography of EERIE VON
Glenn, John, Eerie and Chuck at Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands, Scotland in 1992 © 2024 The photography of EERIE VON
In 2004, John was involved in life-changing event in Los Angeles—a near fatal vehicle wreck. While driving a large truck at high speed, the driver’s side wheel blew out, causing the truck to roll. John was ejected into oncoming traffic where he was struck by a car traveling at speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour. Air lifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Riverside, the crash left him with a major head injuries, a broken back, and his fretting hand crushed—his ring and pinky fingers hanging on by just bits of flesh. Told that he would never play guitar again, John endured a long a painful rehab involving multiple surgeries, speech therapy, physical and psychological testing. With the help of orthopedic hand specialists, physical and occupational therapy, and the unconditional love of family and friends, John was able to hold his guitar again in a little over a year—though it would be six more years before he could play well again. Despite the inability to feel texture like the differences between strings due to permanent nerve damage, John was determined to quietly—under the radar and off the grid—rebuild his guitar skills. The past two decades of studying, ear training and practice have him ready to conquer the guitar world yet again.
When John isn’t writing, shredding, performing, or planning world conquest, he teaches privately and within an academic setting, and holds seminars and workshops for those interested in learning guitar, bass, mandolin and banjo—focusing on blues, rock, performance training and improvisation, spreading the…well, the word of Christ.
…and “The BICH”
Ever since seeing Aerosmith’s Joe Perry rocking out on the April 1979 cover of Guitar For The Practicing Musician, John knew he needed to have that same guitar—a BC Rich Rich Bich. It didn’t hurt that ads for the Rich Bich featured strategically placed headstocks and BC Rich logos amongst their models’ ample legs and cleavage—it only made him want to practice harder and longer.
In 1983, after about a year of working as a master broiler chef at York Steak House in Catonsville, MD, “sweating blood” as John recounts, the guitar, a model 93, affectionately dubbed “the bich,” was finally his. A boatload of steak seasoning, grilling, searing, flipping and plating, earned John the cash needed to buy “the bich”—$1,247.57 to be exact, from Veneman Music in Rockville, MD—a purchase that was worth every last penny. It was the beginning of a beautiful collaborative relationship—though John argues that she’s way more famous than he is. Either way, there’s simply something magical about the energy “the bich” brings to each and every performance she is a part of.
In her years on the road, “the bich” would go through preamp removal, pickup enhancements, tremolo transplants, refretting and surgery for a broken neck. The lady is still quite the looker and talker more than four decades later—she turned 40 in 2023. It’s no big secret that she has always been John’s baby. And no, it’s not some urban legend, all his girlfriends really have been jealous of this guitar, they know they can’t compete. Long live “the bich!”
The guitar that's more famous than the man playing it, City Gardens, Trenton, NJ, April 9, 1988. Must admit, “the bich” still has some serious attitude…