John Corabi, best known as singer in The Dead Daisies, Mötley Crüe, The Scream and many others expands on his singing career and what the future holds with regard to new music and live gigs.
Who were your influences in the early days and have you always wanted to be a singer in a band?
I think anybody my age would probably say The Beatles. I remember seeing them at different stages of their career and on the Ed Sullivan show. I was only a kid and I didn’t fully understand what I was seeing, but I thought it was awesome. My parents bought me a guitar for Christmas even though I didn’t ask for it, so I initially started playing and wanted to be a guitar player, and just by a fluke I became a guitar player/singer. In third or fourth grade in elementary school I joined a talent show and our singer was a no-show. We were doing ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ by The Animals and ‘Steppin’ Stone’ by The Monkees, so I said “I’ll do it” and I stepped up and we actually won the talent show. Later in life I got into KISS, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, and even to this day I’m fascinated with Jimmy Page and Joe Perry.
Apart from those we know about, have you ever auditioned for the vocal spot in any other notable bands?
Prior to The Scream I auditioned for Quiet Riot about the time of ‘Quiet Riot III’. Frankie Banali reached out to me and asked me to audition and I was horrible! I was young and nervous and even though I knew the songs, it sounded like someone was skinning a cat!
Do you have a favourite song or album from your back catalogue?
That’s difficult but I go back and listen to my earlier stuff, even prior to The Scream, and listen to the lyrics and think, “Oh my god, what was I thinking?!” When you’re young you hear all these stories about groupies, parties and jets so I was writing songs about chasing girls and partying. The one song that stands out for me, and I still get quite a few emails about, is ‘Father, Mother, Son’ from the Scream album. This song resonates with a lot of people who may have lost someone, and when Dave Williams of The Drowning Pool passed away his parents asked if they could play it at his funeral.
Where does your inspiration come from when writing lyrics and songs?
Just life I guess. I have an odd way of writing. I always start out with a riff and I’ll listen to it sometimes for days, over and over again. I try to get a vibe from the music and then all of a sudden I’ll just start seeing things, almost like a trailer for a movie. Then I just start writing what I’m seeing and other times I say a line and don’t realise how good it is. I remember one time my wife and I were sitting in a bar having a bite to eat and this guy walked in with cool clothes on, completely covered in tattoos, with cowboy boots and hat. He was a good looking guy and I watched him walk by and I said to my wife, “This town isn’t country anymore” and she told me that was a great line and to write it down as it was a great title for a song.
I see you have plans to release a solo album. What style of music will that be?
I was going to do a record but Marti Frederiksen asked me why I was doing it. I thought that was what you did but he told me that it’s different now, people just release singles on streaming sites and when you have eight or ten songs then you should put a record out. So I have a bunch of stuff written and I released a first song called ‘Cosi Bella’. I did a video for it, hired a PR firm, and spent all this money promoting this single and got some great reviews. I’m still trying to work out how I let people know that I have a new song out!
I then did a second song called ‘Your Own Worst Enemy’ and then I thought I need to work out how all this social media, Youtube and streaming services work. Even after Mötley Crüe I was in a band called Union, I played with Ratt and I did a couple of solo records, and I’ve done four or five with The Daisies but I’ll meet people and they’ll say, “I love that Mötley record and The Scream. You’re my favourite singer. What have you been doing since Mötley?” So I tell them I’ve done about eight records! In America it’s all about the radio as MTV is gone, all the big magazines are gone that we grew up buying (apart from Fireworks of course!)
It would be remiss of me not to mention Mötley Crüe. What was your time like in the band? Was it as debauched as the press made out?
It was pretty intense. I gotta be honest with you as when they told me they were gonna bring Vince back…I was bummed out, but relieved. There was always some sort of catastrophe every day! Tommy getting into a fight because somebody said something about Pam, Tommy getting a divorce from Heather, Nikki getting a divorce from Brandi. One time Mick invited me to go shooting with him and he brought two girls with him and shot one of them! There was always this crazy shit going on and I felt a weight off my back when I was let go, but it was great at the same time. I was very proud of the music we made, and without sounding weird, it looks great on my resumé and to some degree it’s probably given me a bit more longevity.
Some vocalists are on strict dietary regimes or gargle with special liquids. How have you kept your voice in tip top shape all these years?
I never really overdid anything and reasonably took good care of myself. I try to get up in the morning and go to the gym and on the treadmill, do at least five or six miles a day. I never drink before a show, although I’ll have a drink after the show with the guys. I do vocal warm-ups before a show, sometimes in the shower, and then afterwards do some warm-downs. I try to not talk too much and figure out the art of pacing. I’ve never been an over indulgent person and never got into the drug thing in the 80s.
Do you still get the same buzz out of singing live as you did in the past?
Listen, this is all I can do. My wife doesn’t allow me to use power tools at the house but the one thing I’m really good at is calling someone who can do it! [Laughs] I’ve been blessed to be able to play the guitar and reasonably carry a tune vocally; I think everybody’s put on earth to do one thing really well and this is my thing.
Is there any unreleased material from the various bands you’ve been in that could be released?
There’s probably a few songs from every record I’ve done but I couldn’t tell you where they are as I’m not a person who saves anything!
Are there any musicians that you have not worked with, but would like to in the future?
There’s a ton of them. I would love to sit in a room with Steven Tyler, Jimmy Page, Paul McCartney, Brian May, and god rest his soul I would love to have written something with David Bowie.
What about a collaboration with your son who I believe is also a musician?
He’s actually out with us right now. It’s funny, he was playing drums with a band in America and they were doing okay. Our tour manager called and asked me if I knew any drum techs and he told me what they were paying. So I called my son and asked him what he was getting paid with the band he’s in. I told him what The Daisies were paying the drum tech and he said, “I’ll be there!” So he’s doing the UK and European tours and going back to play with a new band in the States before rejoining us in November.
Have you or would you consider producing other bands?
I would love to eventually but I need to be a little more well versed and tech-savvy. The first two songs I released I recorded them at my house myself but I had some help. I’ll record the tracks and give them to Marti Frederiksen and he makes them sound quite a bit better. I live in Nashville and as far as getting into a room and writing songs; it’s a great place to do that. They have a huge database of songs and I’d like to get into producing other bands at some point.
You’re now back in The Dead Daisies and having seen you perform with them a couple of times I feel you fit their sound the best. Is this the band you feel most at home with?
Yes, for multiple reasons. I love the band, I love the music that we do. Everybody in the band I’ve known for twenty-plus years so the coolest part is that I get to go to work with a bunch of dudes I like hanging out with. I’ve known Doug since he was 15 when we were growing up in Philadelphia and he used to come and see a band I was in. I’ve known Michael and Tommy since about 2000/01 whereas David Lowy I’ve only known for about ten years, but we’re great friends. So I get to hang out with friends and make great music together.
You’re touring the UK at the moment. What can the audience expect from the band?
Fun! We haven’t been over to the UK with me since 2018. So when David asked me to come back last year, he wanted to bring the fun back and me to be me. He wanted people to come to the show and have a good time and forget about all the bad things that are happening in life.
Do you have anything else in the pipeline at the moment that you can share?
Just the new album coming out and the UK tour which starts in Brighton.
Interview by Stuart Dryden
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