John Corabi: “I’m Old School, but I Record Songs on My Laptop Now”

You are currently pursuing a solo career and you released a single called "Cosi Bella." Are you planning a full album or will you just be releasing occasional singles with music videos? What will be your next steps?

I don't plan on just releasing singles occasionally, eventually I want to release a full length vinyl and CD. Right now, however, I'm just putting the record together. I want to make sure every song on the album is great and there's no filler. "Cosi Bella" was my first single and video, and we've already recorded a lot of stuff, but I also have some new ideas that are really big. So I'm trying to finish the new songs as well and get them ready to be done, say, next month. I'd like to release a new single with a video every two months, maybe four or five songs, and then release an album.

You recorded in your own home studio, is that right? 

Yes, but to be honest, I'm a complete beginner at it. It took me a long time to start doing simple things. I can't believe it though—I recorded all the guitars and piano you can hear in the song. I also recorded the drums and bass at home, but Marti [Frederiksen] re-recorded them in his studio. I was confused, I was like, "Wait, I'm old school, but now I'm sitting here recording a song on my laptop." I thought it was a little weird. 

So this was your first experience with home recording?

Yeah, it was. And when we're done with our interview, I'm going to go back to my room to finish the vocals for the next song I want to release next month. Like I said, it's weird that I do everything on my laptop. I think about all the money I've spent on studios in the past. Now I can do it all on the computer.

So now you record and release your own songs. Did you go full-on DIY? Do you think this is the future for musicians like you?

It's just my opinion, but I think it makes the most sense for me. Covid made me rethink a lot of things, look at what it was and what it is now. I have no idea what the situation is for me in Europe when it comes to radio. But here in America, there's zero interest in a guy like me. There's no help coming from radio, there's no MTV, most places like Tower Records or Virgin Records, all those chains where my records used to sell don't exist anymore. Marti was the one who came to me and asked me: "Why are you doing another album? Nobody buys records anymore." Only a small percentage of people really buy records. I paid for some lessons to learn how to work with Pro Tools and bought all the equipment I needed to record. Even the whole video for "Cosi Bella" was shot on just two iPhones, then we edited it. This is the way to go for me at the moment. In the world fifteen years ago I might have sold a few hundred thousand records, but today it's impossible. So now I'm figuring out and learning how to do everything myself. I'm learning how to keep my costs down, how to use the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, how to post my music, use streaming services and so on. 

The song "Cosi Bella" has quite a Beatles, maybe even Queen feel to it. Will there be other songs in a similar atmosphere?

Another advantage is that I'm not under any label that's looking over my shoulder and telling me that I have to do this or that. Now I'm on my own for the first time. In a band like Scream, Mötley Crüe, Union or Dead Daisies, you have to stick to certain perimeters that are appropriate for the band. I've had "Cosi Bella" written for a while, I love it. I know it doesn't sound like "Man In The Moon" or "Hooligan's Holiday," but I like the Beatles, I like Queen, so I thought fuck it, I'll just release it. The response has been great so far. There were a few people who said it wasn't quite what they expected. But that's the beauty of being a solo artist. I don't have any parameters, I don't have to look at the album as a whole thing. 

You like the Beatles a lot. You already had the song "Oh Darling" on the Union's debut album, you played "Helter Skelter" with the Dead Daisies, and you did the same with Mötley Crüe.

Yes. If you look at my older songs like "Misunderstood," you'll see that they have a Beatles undertone. If you know the Quaternary EP that I did with Crüe, my song ("Friends"), it's reminiscent of the Beatles. But some people come up to me and say, "Hmm, I really like your song 'Cosi Bella,' I wouldn't expect that from you." Really? I've mentioned in probably every interview that the Beatles are a big influence on me. If they look at the music I've made, even Union had a song called "Everything's Alright," the lyrics of which are based on Beatles song titles! I've always been fascinated by them. 

Who helped you with the recording of "Cosi Bella?" Did you use musicians from Nashville?

That's funny actually, normally my son plays drums for me, he's out with his band Rehab at the moment. Also, my two guitarists Jeremy and Phil are touring with Ace Frehley right now. It's quite hard to get everyone together. I try to do as much as possible on my own. I record what I can in my house, and at the point where I think it's okay, I send everything to Marty, who fixes what he thinks deserves fixing. For example, with "Cosi Bella," Marti re-recorded bass and his son re-recorded the drums.

You also released a live recording with your son Ian a few years ago, One Night In Nashville. 

It's really great to play in a band with your own son. When he came to Nashville, he told me he always wanted to be in a band with me. So I gave him the Mötley Crüe record and said, "If you can play all these parts Tommy recorded, then the job is yours." He sat down and really studied that Mötley record, played all those fills and did a great job. I'm really looking forward to getting back on the road. Hopefully by 2022 the whole covid thing will be gone, I'll be able to get the band back together and do a proper tour with new and old music playing everywhere.

How did your son get into drums anyway? Did you lead him to it?

You know what's funny about that? The first person who realized he could play was Tommy Lee. When Ian was a little boy, he used to play all these boxes that he built as drums, and it was Tommy who noticed that he had talent. "Dude, I think he's gonna be a drummer," he says. Tommy gave him his first drum kit. It was weird, I had to go on tour, and when I came back, my wife calls me on the phone and says, "You've got to come down here and see something." I got home and he could literally play "Spoonman" [Soundgarden] or Stone Temple Pilots songs. He was perfect. He figured out on his own how and where to use the big drum and stuff like that. He didn't take any lessons, he didn't have any training, he taught himself.

Speaking of learning. You yourself have a very specific, strong voice. How did you discover it? Did you sing like that from the beginning or did you have to develop your style?

I think that with time you always settle where you supposed to be. Today I don't sing as high as when I was young, but when I started singing I was twenty, now I'm sixty-two. My voice is a little raspier, I sing lower. It's just natural, I don't know if I'm doing it right or wrong, I can't tell. I just grab the microphone and try to sing as well as I can.

I know you must be getting tired of this next topic, but I have to ask—there was a rumor in the media recently about your return to Mötley Crüe, after Vince Neil's bad live performances at his solo concerts. But you denied the rumors. Were you surprised when you first heard about it?

Most fans knew right from the start that it was bullshit. I was sitting here in my backyard like I am now, having my morning coffee, dealing with emails, when suddenly at eight in the morning I started getting messages on my phone one after another. I looked up and all of a sudden everyone was sharing an article saying that John Corabi was secretly rehearsing with Mötley Crüe. Fans didn't believe it, but some of them still asked if there was any truth to the rumor. That's why I wrote what I wrote. The strangest thing to me was that this online magazine shared first an article over the course of ten days about Vince Neil singing badly and fans wanting Corabi back. Another article insisted that Nikki Sixx threatened Vince Neil that if he didn't lose twenty pounds and get singing lessons, he would call Corabi. Well, the last article was about me being in Los Angeles with Mötley Crüe secretly rehearsing. That was too much, so I wrote what you read. The funniest thing is that there was a fourth article that said that I was trying to keep everything secret, and they said I was really in L.A., as they wrote earlier. It fascinates me that these people will just write whatever they want just for clickbait.

When you joined Mötley Crüe in 1992, you had to leave your original band, The Scream. Didn't you regret that decision later?

No. You learn something from everything you do in life. A lot of people ask me why I've been in so many bands, but that's just how I'm dealt the cards. I loved The Scream. But who knew I'd get a phone call asking me to join one of the biggest bands in the world at the time? I didn't see that coming. Then, once I was in Mötley Crüe, I really didn't know they were going to call Vince back. Every time I got involved, I thought, this is the band I'm going to spend the rest of my life in. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. But I don't look back on the past, I don't regret anything. That's life. The universe has prepared some cards for me, and now I have to play them the best I can. 

You were mentioned in the biopic The Dirt, although your character didn't say a word. The Dirt was a hit and certainly increased public interest in Mötley Crüe. Did you feel it yourself?

No, I didn't. Honestly, I'd rather they took me out of the film altogether, I look like an idiot there anyway. I don't say anything and just smile stupidly. Fuck, just keep me out of the movie altogether. I only appear in the film for two minutes, nothing would have happened if I wasn't there at all. 

Aren't you sorry that no songs from your time with the band were played on the soundtrack (or in the film itself)? In my opinion, it's one of the band's greatest albums, not only because of your vocals, but also your characteristic way of writing. It's also very strong sonically.

I think maybe in the end of the day, someone just decided, "Wait, John Corabi could make some money from a movie? Hmm, we better not put any songs in there." It's a known fact (and every Mötley Crüe fan knows this) that they're trying to hide that record and the album they did with Randy Castillo somewhere under the rug. It is what it is, and I can't change it.

After leaving Crüe, you formed a band with Bruce Kulick called Union, with whom you made two albums. Who came up with the idea to get together?

Me and Bruce knew each other through Nikki. We met a couple of times and had dinner together. We were both going through similar situations. I just lost the Mötley gig, Bruce left Kiss. I think it was Nikki who told Bruce that we would be good together because we both like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and bands like that. I went over to his house and we talked and then jammed. The first song we wrote was "Around Again," so we thought we'd get a band together and give it a go. I think the Union records are great. We had a lot of fun. And we never really officially broke up. It's just that sales weren't that great and it just kind of fizzled out. Bruce joined Grand Funk Railroad, I joined Ratt.

And then you guys met in the ESP project.

That's right. Eric Singer was one of the first people I met when I moved to L.A. He was trying to help me before I got together with The Scream. He got me an audition with Quiet Riot, who were looking for a singer. It didn't work out, but that's cool. As we know, everything happens for a reason. 

Later on you were reunited with Nikki Sixx in the Brides Of Destruction project, but it didn´t last long.

I don't want to criticize the record, but it just seemed strange and something just didn't make sense to me. On the album there are songs like "Shut The Fuck Up," which is kind of punk metal, then you have "Two Times Dead," which again sounds like it could easily be on the Mötley record that Nikki and I did. There was also a typical '80s ballad "Only Get So Far." And "Life," which I think is probably the best song on the record. It had the right attitude. It's funny that it was originally sung by London [LeGrande], the lead singer of Brides Of Destruction, but it didn't sound right to us. So Scot Coogan, the drummer, tried it and suddenly it was a great song. It's the only song I thought had a chance of being played on the radio. And it's not even sung by a singer, it's sung by a drummer. I didn't know what we were doing and I backed out of the whole project.  

I hear you're currently writing your autobiography.

The book is actually finished, the publisher is supposed to start pre-sales later this year and then it will be released on April 12, 2022. It will be called Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. I've also finished the audiobook and now we're putting all the photos together. All my time in Mötley Crüe has already been documented, but in the book I wanted to explain how I felt going through all that. It's not just about Mötley, but about my whole life. I'm excited about the book and everyone who has had a chance to read it so far has said it's great. We'll see how it turns out, fingers crossed.

You're another musician who lives in Nashville. When I talked to Chuck Garrick, he called it the best city in the United States, and not just for music. Do you feel that way too? Is that why you decided to live in Nashville years ago?

I moved to Nashville a little bit before Chuck, I've been here since 2006. What I like about Nashville is that there's a great music scene and the cost of living isn't as high as it is in Los Angeles, where I lived for twenty-one years. Yes, it's one of the best cities in the States, but unfortunately now a lot of people are moving here and the population is growing rapidly. That's not so great anymore. I don't like traffic jams and things like that. So I'm slowly starting to wonder if I should move somewhere else. By the way, in Prague I was talking with my friends about prices, about how much a farm costs in the Czech Republic. I love Europe, I love going there, so maybe one day I'll buy a farm in the Czech Republic, settle down and spend my retirement there. You never know.