JOHN CORABI: 'Whether I Like It Or Not, I'm The Other Singer For MÖTLEY CRÜE'

Prior to his acoustic performance in Teaneck, New Jersey on March 17, former MÖTLEY CRÜE and current THE DEAD DAISIES frontman John Corabi spoke with Rock Scene magazine. The full conversation can be seen below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On joining the CRÜE:

John: “A fan gave me this magazine called Spin, and Nikki Sixx [bass] was on the cover. He was doing this interview, and at the very end, the guy — whoever he did the interview with — said, ‘So, what do you listen to when you’re not… whatever.’ He went on this long tangent about how much he loved THE SCREAM, and it was so weird. I called their management company just to thank Nikki for the plug, and as rumor has it — this is what they told me — the day that I was calling in to thank them for the plug, Nikki and Tommy [Lee, drums] were on the other line talking to Doug Thaler, the manager, saying, ‘I really wish we could get a hold of the guy from THE SCREAM.’ They were trying to track me down when I called in. [Someone] ran into the office — she’s like, ‘I’ve got his phone number! He just called!’ She gave them my number, and when I hung the phone up, I was getting ready to go leave and do a gig and the phone rang. They literally called me back in, like, three minutes. That was a Friday in 1992 — February 12th — and they called me immediately, we chit-chatted for a minute and then they said, ‘Listen, dude. We don’t want to beat around the bush. Vince [Neil] is out’ — they didn’t tell me why — ‘[and] we’d love for you to come down on Monday and jam with us.’ I went down on Monday, walked into this room and I sang ‘Shout At The Devil’, ‘Live Wire’, ‘Dr. Feelgood’ and then the three covers — ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘Smoking In The Boys Room’ and ‘Helter Skelter’. Then they asked me to come back the next day, and I went in the next day and we did the same thing. There was a bunch of lawyers and managers and all this other stuff there, and Heather Locklear [Tommy Lee‘s then-wife] and Brandi Brandt [Nikki Sixx‘s then-wife] were there. They all left, [and] then we started jamming. We actually wrote almost all of ‘Hammered’ and part of the acoustic part of ‘Misunderstood’, and that’s when they said, ‘Dude, you’re in. You’re the guy.'”

On parting ways with the band after Neil rejoined:

John: “The one thing I can say [is] I’m not usually a bitter person, so I always try to look at things… I know it’s stupid — some people look at the glass half empty, some look at it half full. Looking at it half-full, there was only two singers in MÖTLEY, me and Vince, and I’m still here, 25 years later. And whether I like it or not, I’m the other singer for MÖTLEY CRÜE, and not to sound weird, but I’ve gotten a lot of extra mileage, I think, out of my career because of it, so I have nothing but positive things to say. I had a great time with the guys. I mean, the break-up was a little weird — and when I say ‘break-up,’ it wasn’t even a break-up. They were bringing Vince back; I get it. The only thing that bothered me in the whole situation was [that] I kind of felt like I lost a few friends because of it. When you’re in the circle, you are in the circle, and when you’re out of the circle, you are out of the circle. That’s the only thing I miss in that whole thing — being able to hang out and just go to a club with my buddies, or hang out, go have a beer or whatever. That was, like, the biggest thing, but I had a great time. I’m very proud of the music that we wrote together, and like I said, I think in some ways it’s actually… I don’t want to say enhanced, [but] elongated my career, [and] gave me some longevity.”

On having no regrets:

John: “I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. One door shuts and another one opens, and you just kind of follow that path. My path has been a little curvy, but it is what it is. It’s all good.”

Corabi joined MÖTLEY CRÜE in 1992 and fronted the band until they reunited with Vince Neil in 1997. From there, he joined forces with former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick and drummer Brent Fitz (SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS) in UNION. He then briefly re-teamed with Sixx in BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION before spending several years performing with RATT. In 2015, he joined THE DEAD DAISIES, a group with which he has released three albums, most recently 2018’s “Burn It Down”.