melodylane

MELODY LANE: JOHN... Let's start the interview talking about your latest single 'COSI BELLA' ... being Italian we can only be proud and even a little surprised by such a title...
JOHN CORABI: Thank you man…To be honest with you I wrote the lyrics, I sang the song, and then I looked at the lyrics and of course the chorus says 'SO BEAUTIFUL' ... And I was looking at the title and I don't know. .. 'SO BEAUTIFUL' is a bit average, boring, so ... I was wondering how to pronounce 'SO BEAUTIFUL' in Italian, you know… I have Italian origins....and so I have an app in my phone with a translator, I typed SO BEAUTIFUL … And the result was 'COSI' BELLA'… I was like, “That's cool! I love the sound "... you know ... it makes me sound worldly ... I like it (laughs)... 

MELODY LANE: I find the song really catchy, maybe a little different from the material you've written in the past, but it's  really a great track, I love the bass line ...
JOHN CORABI:  Thank you! You know…initially I played bass on it, but it was very simple. Then I sent the song to MARTI FREDERIKSEN, he listened to it and he felt a THE BEATLES vibe…and so he thought the song needed a THE BEATLES-style bass-line.So he rewrote and re-recorded the whole bass-line while his son EVAN recorded the drum parts ...

MELODY LANE: Reading your latest interviews, we have learned that you will adopt a different strategy to promote your new music ... for the new full album we will have to wait a little bit ... What can you tell us about it? In addition to digital, will you make your album also available in the classic physical formats?
JOHN CORABI: Oh yeah ... eventually I'll make physical copies of the album with vinyls and cds ... But you know ... here in America, the music industry is very different than it was 20 years ago, the percentage of people buying vinyls and cd is so small,  people have their phones and they have their computers and they just listen to little snippets of songs and then they decide whether to download or listen to them from their streaming playlist. MARTI FREDERICKSEN was the one who said “Why are you doing a record? Nobody is buying records ”... and then we reflected on the fact that in the last ten years, even with THE DEAD DAISIES, most of the records I have sold were on my website or on Amazon or at concerts, and you have to consider that, due to Covid, I haven't been playing live lately and my concerts are the place where I sell most of my records… so MARTI suggested “You know what? Don't rush to put the record together. Publish a song, make a video and put it out… After a couple of months make another single, do a video and put it out… ”. And that's what I'm going to do. I'll put out maybe three, four or five singles while I'm finishing the actual album and only later will I release the record and I'll put it on Amazon, I'll put it on my site and I'll sell it at my shows ... ... it's a very new world and a very new way of making music nowadays ... so I'm trying to figure it out as I go ...

MELODY LANE:  Was the new stuff all written together with MARTI FREDERIKSEN or did you collaborate with other songwriters as well? Will MARTI produce the album anyway?
JOHN CORABI:  Well yes...MARTI  is going to produce the album and there’s a bunch of stuff that I wrote with him. MARTI is very involved in this...you know...I'm still not very experienced in recording the material myself, so I often send things to MARTI and he fixes them up... I also have a couple of other new ideas and I would like MARTI to help me develop them and to improve the sound...But I got also some stuff that I co-wrote with RICHARD FORTUS from GUNS’N’ROSES, who used to be in THE DEAD DAISIES, and then I’ve written some stuff with D.A. KARKOS, a friend of mine here in Nashville who played also in the UNPLUGGED record with me, and then there is also stuff that I wrote by myself…

MELODY LANE:  Talking about your live band ... Who will be the members who will play in it? I read that guitarists PHILIP SHOUSE and JEREMY ASBROCK are currently touring with ACE FREHLEY right?
JOHN CORABI: JEREMY ASBROCK and PHILIP SHOUSE they were in my solo band, and then they got hired by GENE SIMMONS…and now they’ve been hired by ACE  FREHLEY… When I’ll start putting a band together and booking shows they’ll be the firts two guys  that I’ll ask to join me if they are not already booked doing something else; then the band will be my son IAN on drums, my friend TOPHER NOLEN on bass and vocals and then PHILIP and JEREMY…hopefully…

MELODY LANE:  Have you already started thinking about and planning your next tour? After your solo acoustic shows we hope to finally see you with the full band also here in Europe ... What can we expect from the electric setlists?
JOHN CORABI:  Like I said…my idea is to do like 3,4 or 5 new songs…release them, do the videos, put them out there and then get out and start touring with the full band everywhere. I want to come to Europe, I want to go to South America, anywhere that I can go. At this point I now have a dozen records out, I’m  gonna play a little bit from each one. With the band we’ll play songs from each of these albums. I’d like to do some THE SCREAM, I’d like to do some MOTLEY, I’d love to do some UNION and even some THE DEAD DAISIES…When I’ll put my band together, I ‘d like to find a guitar player who plays keyboards as well…So I can do songs like SLEEP from THE DEAD DAISIES or I could play FRIENDS from MOTLEY CRUE’s QUATERNARY or  COSI’ BELLA…you know what I mean? And whenever  the guitar player switches from guitar to keyboards then I can play guitar. I just wanna do something different, musical and have some fun. I’ve never played any solo electric show in Europe or England. Hopefully we can do it in 2022, God willing and if the COVID goes away…

MELODY LANE:  This is great news for your fans worldwide... So you will tour around the world ... Although I imagine it is very demanding, after two years of forced-hiatus…I think the desire to return to play live is very strong...
JOHN CORABI:  You know what?…  When I come to Europe, I’ll tell my agent that I’m 63 years old, I wanna  have fun, I wanna enjoy myself, I wanna put on a good show for the audiences but the difference is that this time I wanna do it on my terms. All  we’re gonna do is two shows or three shows and then a day-off… It’s my schedule, it’s where I can say: “Hey my throat sores!” you know what I mean?... So three shows max and then a day-off… It’s a way for me just to continue to work very hard, I can still be very busy, but I’m in charge now so I know when I need a vocal break... Being in the THE DEAD DAISIES or in MOTLEY CRUE or in UNION… I didn’t have that luxury, because obviously you are always working with other people’s schedule, I was kind of dealing with someone else’s schedule and the way they'd set it up…

MELODY LANE:  After so many years and after so many tours ... which are the songs that your audience adores the most and that will always be present in your setlist even in the electric tour with the full band?
JOHN CORABI:  Oh that’s a tough one...Well I think I'll always have to play MAN IN THE MOON,  FATHER MOTHER& SON,  HOOLIGAN'S HOLIDAY... and I think if I ever had to do an electric show and chose not to play LOVE (I DON'T NEED IT ANYMORE) well... the audience would hang me for my balls...

MELODY LANE:  For a new project like yours, which is meant to promote a new album and try to expand its fan base, maybe the best thing would be to open or play in support of big bands that can attract big crowds ... what do you think?... Or would you rather go on tour with some 'friends' band?
JOHN CORABI: It doesn’t matter.  Ultimately if I'd want more people to see what I’m doing, the smart thing would be maybe to go out and to do some shows with bands like RIVAL SONS or BLACKBERRY SMOKE…bands that have a following. But I’ll do whatever I need to do  to get out and front as many people as possible and grow…What I wanna do is grow. I’m being  very realistic, I have a good group of fans, a bubble of fans… the idea at this point of my career is to grow this bubble and make it bigger. And if it means opening for ALICE COOPER or RIVAL SONS or whatever…I’ll do it, I’m fine with that. At this point I'm focused on whatever I need to do to make the bubble bigger. 

MELODY LANE:  Getting back to talking about your new material, can you give us some more details about the new songs? Will there be more "COSI’ BELLA"  style songs, or musically will there be material closer to the bands you've been a part of in the past?
JOHN CORABI:  You know…now being  a solo artist, I don’t have to worry about if a song is fitting or not in the perimeter of the band’s boundaries…I can do anything. Some of the new stuff that I have is quite varied. There’s stuff like COSI' BELLA, there ‘s stuff that kind of reminiscens things I have done in the past… maybe with some LED ZEPPELIN's overtones; I have some acoustic things…I would even say a little folky ... but ... however… I'm not thinking too much about it.  I'm writing, I'm developing ideas all the time and I want to publish theme one at a time. In this way I will be able to see the reaction of my fans on each song and to put them together accordingly. Eventually the idea is to choose from all the new songs the best ones and release a record that includes 10 great tracks ... because what I want is for people to walk away with the record in their hands and say: " Every song on this record is a killer one! "...

MELODY LANE:  Looking back, I think one of your songs that definitely deserved to have a video is the ballad CRASH. Personally I love that song and I always thought it had all the credentials to be a great single...
JOHN CORABI: And you never know… Initially when I wrote that song, I always heard it as having like a ROLLING STONES / THE BLACK CROWES kind of a vibe to the electric… but I coud never get it right. When I did the acoustic record I loved that song, but actually to be honest with you, I was thinking about re-doing it again electrically with drums and the whole band,  and again doing a video and put it out there. I don't know, we will see, what I know is that I love that song…I have another old song from UNION called ROBIN’S SONG… CRASH and ROBIN’S SONG were both about a separation with a girl…I feel like they are very honest, because they are what I was feeling at the time, I think everybody through life has had their heart broken once or twice or whatever and  you know…I think people can relate to the honesty in those songs…

MELODY LANE:  Will you have any special guests who have played or will play on the new songs? In case ... can you tell us some names?
JOHN CORABI:  I would love to… I reached out to a few people and we’ll see, you know…I have a blues song, and a few time ago I just ran into BILLY GIBBONS at a place here in Nashville called THE GUITAR CENTER, and I asked him what it would cost to have somebody like him playing on this blues song for me, and he said: “ C’mon, give me the song and we’ll see…”. I have another song that I would love MICK MARS to play on, it’s an heavy song but not heavy like MOTLEY, it’s more like “ZEPPELIN heavy”…I’d love to have MICK playing on it and see what he comes up with…So I definitely sent a few  emails out to some friends… like I even  asked to RICHARD FORTUS to play on a couple of tracks, I asked to DOUG ALDRICH to play on a track or two…I asked BRUCE KULICK…so at the moment they all said yes…but we will see… everybody ‘s so busy, everybody is trying to put their lives in order with Covid so…

MELODY LANE:  Now let's talk about your book, your autobiography ... Is there an official date for publication and what can you tell us about this particular title: "Horseshoes and hand grenades"?
JOHN CORABI:  I think it’s April 12th, let’s say early April... but I think we’ll do pre-orders in November or December of this year... It’s not just music, it’s just my life from the first breath to about a year ago... everything... The reason my book’s name is "Horseshoes and hand grenades"... well that’s an American phrase my father told me years ago. We were talking about my career and through my entire career, if you think about it, I’ve always been in the right place but always at the wrong time... THE SCREAM came out the same year as Nirvana’s Nevermind, and then MOTLEY CRUE came out when bands like SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM or ALICE IN CHAINS were around ...and the same with UNION so... Not on the money, but only close... but close only counts in hand grenades or playing horseshoes ... I think it’s a great saying that fits my story pretty well.

MELODY LANE:  John, the last band you were in was THE DEAD DAISIES, band you released awesome albums with and toured the world with ... The decision to leave the band took everyone by surprise ... no one could ever have expected it seeing how things were going, you were on the crest of the wave ... Can you tell us what happened?
JOHN CORABI:  Well…you need to know that back in 2014, THE DEAD DAISIES had done a tour with KISS and DEF LEPPARD here in America and, in all honesty, when they first asked me to join them I wasn’t really sure I wanted to do it…I was already working on my solo record with my son IAN and the guys and we were actually really busy. Initially I was supposed to join them for a period of about six months, more or less, and then I would return to my solo band.  But once I did that first record with them “REVOLUCION”, we immediately went on tour with KISS, and then it all started to grow so much that everything, I mean my son IAN, my band and even my marriage... in short really everything was taking a back seat to THE DEAD DAISIES. So, you know ... Everything's okay but I just needed to take a break and to spend time with my family and my band. These friends of mine have been sitting here since 2015 waiting for me ... so after four years what I told was: "Hey, I had a lot of fun with you guys, but this is what I was originally doing, this is what I'd like to go back to do again ... and wake up in my bed and see my wife ... ". I had a great time, I’m still friend with all the guys, even when I released COSI’ BELLA everyone of the guys in the band, including GLENN ,  contacted me and texted me things like “Congratulations!”…”What a great song!”…”Good luck!”… So everything is ok…It’s all fine.

MELODY LANE:  Now I'd like to ask you something about other bands you have been a part of ... Let's start with UNION, is it confirmed that both albums will finally be reissued?
JOHN CORABI: Yes, I don’t know when but they are definitely coming. Both records they’re gonna be remastered and released on vinyl. There’s a record label that’s doing it for us. 

MELODY LANE:  I think UNION remains one of HARD ROCK's best hidden secrets ...In my opinion that band deserved a lot more... What went wrong?
JOHN CORABI: We're talking about 21 years ago ... We released two records and we were doing well at shows,  but we weren’t selling any records which was the way to make money at the time. At the end of the day we never really split up, it's not like we were arguing or fighting with each other but we simply took different paths...BRUCE went to play with THE GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, I joined RATT, JAMIE and BRENT went to play with VINCE NEIL so...There is been some interest and curiosity around the band recently... maybe more than there was in the past. We've been offered to do some reunion shows and occasionally we talked about that, but it's really hard to put everyone's schedule together....JAMIE's been playing with ROGER DALTREY, BRUCE plays with THE GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, BRENT is in SLASH's band, I got my album and my band so...we'll see... Everyone's schedule is just crazy.

MELODY LANE:  I have a question about the first UNION album, a curiosity ... All the songs were composed by you, BRUCE KULICK and CURT CUOMO, except one: EMPTY SOUL that you wrote together with BUCK JOHNSON  known today mainly for being the keyboardist and backing vocalist for AEROSMITH and HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES ... How was that collaboration born?
JOHN CORABI: Actually it was a song BUCK JOHNSON was working on. I heard the song and I thought it was really great. We sat down  and we recorded it and we just made some changes here and there, nothing major, but actually the song was written by BUCK…He was in the studio working with CURT CUOMO and they played us the song and I loved the vibe of  it and I told them that I would have liked to record it on our first record and they agreed…BUCK is a great singer, a great song-writer, great player, he is really good…

MELODY LANE: Are you still part of the LOST ANGELS project? I knew the band had plans to release an EP with original songs ...
JOHN CORABI: I do not know. I think they did some things with RYAN ROXIE and ERIC DOVER. I think they wrote some songs and worked on an EP but I wasn't involved. I play with them once in a while. I don't always play with them; it's kind of a band like THE DEAD DAISIES, different people coming and going. I played with them when RYAN wasn't available ... 

MELODY LANE: Another band that you were part of for a short time, and on which there were high expectations, was BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION, with NIKKI SIXX and TRACII GUNS ... what can you tell us about that experience?
JOHN CORABI: Oh well… I don’t really focus on that record too much, not a lot of people know that  I was in that band. I played guitar on that album and I wrote a couple of songs with the guys and then I left…The record was really ‘their record’. TRACII was the one that told NIKKI SIXX that we should work together again, so NIKKI called me, we talked  and we did THE BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION. At the end of the day I was a little bit confused about the direction musically of the band. I can’t even say if the record was finished, technically what we did were demos; BOB ROCK wasn’t interested in working with us, and yes…they got a record deal, but I was concerned about the fact that the songs on the record they were so different from one another… I can’t explain it, I just kinda said “I’m gonna leave the band”… and they accepted my choice without too much trouble. And for some reason everything was fine when we were working together but then later TRACII didn’t say very nice things about me. And then obviously, everybody’s aware, couple years ago NIKKI didn’t say very nice things about me… But, you know, it’s ok, no problem…I just don’t even worry about it anymore. It's like you go to YouTube and read the comments of the videos from the time I was in MOTLEY CRUE: some people write “Oh CORABI what a talented guy!”…other people write “Oh CORABI he sucks!”…I can’t change how people talked about me and the past is gone so…There's nothing I can do about that; so it’s ok, I’m fine with it...no problem. 

MELODY LANE: Do you have a 'big regret' about your career? Maybe something that in hindsight you wish you had done differently? Something that maybe could have changed things about your bands or your career ...?
JOHN CORABI: Honestly my friend, I think even in bad situation, I think the universe or whatever you believe in…God, Allah, trees…whatever…I think the universe gives you things good and bad for you to learn from. So I don’t really have any regret, other than maybe my second ex wife… but other than that (laughs) …When you play Poker, you get dealt a hand…and you play your hand the best you can: sometime you win, sometime you lose, but you move on. There is something that maybe I didn’t do right when I was younger but now I have learnt and I don’t wanna do that again…It’s a lesson…”Life is as it should be”… I didn’t plan on having so many bands, in a perfect world I would be talking to you right now about THE SCREAM’s 10th record…but that’s not the cards that I was dealt. I play my hand, I learn from it…and now I’ve just released COSI’ BELLA and soon I'll release my book so…it’s all good. Life’s good.

MELODY LANE: Thanks John for your time and availability, we hope to see you on tour soon!
JOHN CORABI: Thanks buddy! Stay safe and see you soon on tour!!!

 

 

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ARTICLE BY: MIKE MATTY