John Corabi (rock god)

Episode 121- John Corabi!!! John should need no introduction as he is well respected and known among the rock community. His lone album with Motley Crue is heralded not only among fans and critics, but also members of the band itself. John has a new autobiography coming out soon as well as new music. He gives me some song titles as well as some stories that aren’t in the book like having a gun pulled in him. We also discuss his time in Ratt, playing covers with Jerry Cantrell, why Duff McKagan couldn’t produce his record with The Scream and oh so much more!

0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:35 - Welcome John Corabi! 
0:02:31 - Mom's Interest In Music 
0:03:35 - Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin 
0:06:15 - Winning a Talent Show 
0:08:10 - Experiences with Drugs 
0:12:10 - Offer to Auditions for Skid Row & Britny Fox 
0:15:30 - Duff McKagan & Guns 'N Roses 
0:19:20 - Getting the Call From Nikki Sixx & Tommy Lee 
0:21:30 - Auditioning & Co-Writing  with Motley Crue 
0:28:28 - Motley Crue Falling Off the Wagon
0:37:10 - Loveshine as a Single & Musical Emphasis
0:41:21 - 10,000 Miles & Quaternary 
0:44:40 - Vince Neil Bashing & Lead Singer Disease 
0:49: 05 - Two Years to Make Motley Crue Record 
0:52:02 - Two Unreleased Songs 
0:53:45 - Fighting Back & Making Fans Choose
0:57:22 - Ratt, Crue & Band Dysfunction 
1:01:42 - Jerry Cantrell from Alice In Chains 
1:03:15 - Starfuckers Jam Band 
1:06:07 - New Autobiography - "Horseshoes & Hand Grenades" 
1:08:25 - John's Father 
1:13:22 - John's Son Ian Corabi 
1:14:34 - New Solo Record & Song Titles 
1:20:05 - Taking Over for Steven Tyler Rumor 
1:21:25 - Gun Pulled on John 
1:26:55 - Music Released One Song At a Time
1:28:15 - Toys for Tots & Charity
1:33:40 - Outro

John Corabi Website:
https://johncorabi.com

Toys for Tots:
https://www.toysfortots.org

Chuck Shute Website:
http://chuckshute.com

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:12

Welcome to the show. And thank you for taking the time to check out this interview with the one and the only john karate. I have been trying to make this interview happen for almost two years, and it finally came to fruition. He actually called me on the phone yesterday and it kind of blew my mind was April Fool's Day. But I've been a big fan of john since he was the singer of Motley Crue. I love that album that he did with them. I probably listened to that thing 1000s of times. And if I could go back in time, and tell 16 year old me that I would be talking to him, I wouldn't have believed it. And, you know, they say don't meet your heroes. But john was super nice. He was down to earth. He was also extremely open with me. We talk about everything from the scream, Motley Crue rat, dead daisies, a cover band he was in with Jerry Cantrell from Allison chains, his family life, having a gun pull on him all sorts of crazy shit. He has a new book coming out about his life called horseshoes and hand grenades that everyone should buy. And some of the stories he tells me in this interview are not in the book. So make sure you listen to this interview in its entirety, even if it's on double speed. And also he has a new album coming out. And we get some of the new songs titles. So that's kind of exciting. So just enjoy. I'll shout it now. Welcome to my podcast. This is kind of surreal. You called me yesterday on the phone, which is very rare. I usually don't get the phone calls from the actual musicians. It's usually their managers or, or maybe they'll they'll message me on Facebook or Instagram, but you actually picked up the phone and call that's pretty amazing.

John Corabi: 1:50

You know, I'm just keeping it real. Yeah. Well,

Chuck Shute: 1:53

I get off the phone. I tell my girlfriend, she sees that I'm all excited. And she goes, Yeah, that's crazy. Like, you know, and you didn't mention that was April Fool's. And I was like, and then I started second guessing it. I was like, wait, was that an April Fool's Day joke.

John Corabi: 2:06

But I wish it was me. And then today, just having an old man. Getting the fact that I just called you yesterday. Whatever. It's all good.

Chuck Shute: 2:15

Yeah, no, it's all good. So yeah, man, I got I got your whole life story here. So we'll try to get wrap this up in an hour or so. But yeah, I learned so much by thought I knew so much about you already as a fan. But I learned so much listening to other interviews that you've done. I didn't know that your your mom was really into music. And that's kind of what started your interest in it. Right? She played music all the time around the house.

John Corabi: 2:37

Yeah, my mom, I think back then, you know, was my mom belong to? I think it was like Columbia house record. Club. And you would, you know, you could buy like 13 records for a penny. And then once a week or once a month, they would send a new album that you just kind of checked off the boxes of all the shit that you liked. And you would just get these records. And if you didn't like them, you send them back. And if you liked them, you kept them in, then they charged you whatever the going rate was for an album. So she had like this really eclectic, mass massive album collection of Frank Sinatra, but she, you know, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash Trini Lopez. You know, just I mean, it was unbelievable.

Chuck Shute: 3:35

Didn't you go to a concert with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and you said that, while you were impressed by the music and the arrangements that that was cool, but the thing that stood out was like the banter between the two of them.

John Corabi: 3:47

Yeah, my actually my mom, and one of my uncles. They were going through the show, and I think there was a third person was supposed to go with them. And they said, Hey, you know, you want to come and see some of our music. And I was like, Yeah, sure. So it was Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra. And it was more like a fucking comedy show. It was like, like, it was so crazy. So Dean Martin is doing his thing. He was like the opening act, and he came out and he's doing this trip, and he's singing some crazy ballad. I wasn't real familiar with a lot of his stuff. But he's doing his ballad. And literally in the middle of the song like this really quiet part. You hear all this clanking, and, like rattling and then all of a sudden Frank Sinatra comes off the side of the stage with one of those old school alcoholics carts. Wait in the middle of the song and the whole place went crazy, but he literally just wheeled this card out. Grab the drink. took two ice cubes, put it in there, poured some whiskey in there and did a little splash of soda water, put it in, and it into Dean Martin and it just kept walking off the stage. And it was fucking hilarious. When Sinatra, Ben Sinatra was playing, and he was doing same thing, he was doing a ballad. And he, he's so he's doing this ballot, I think it was sending the clowns, okay. And it's, you know, send in the clouds. And he's doing this really low part in a song. And all of a sudden, is all through the whole PA. You heard what sounded like someone pulling their zipper down, and then pissing in a toilet and the toilet flush. And then the zipper go back up. And Frank Sinatra just he was pissing himself laughing. It was Dean Martin in one of the bathrooms just fucking with a zipper down the toilet and flush the toilet on him. But with a microphone Ron

Chuck Shute: 6:07

purpose. Okay, well,

John Corabi: 6:09

yeah, totally, totally did it to fuck with him. And the whole night was just shit like that.

Chuck Shute: 6:14

That's crazy. So the first time that you kind of fell in love with being on stage was was it like an elementary school like a talent show or something? You guys won this tech, you did some cover songs. And you're like, Oh, I really liked this having the crowd here for me and kind of the adrenaline of that.

John Corabi: 6:30

The first I went to this Catholic school in Philadelphia called incarnation. And the first talent show I did there. I played with this girl guitar player, Laurie Miller. And we did just an acoustic instrumental of Scarborough, Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkel. And we didn't win. And then the following year, I joined back up for the talent show with a bunch of friends and we put a little band together. And we were rehearsing. And then at the last minute, the guy that was technically supposed to sing, got in trouble with his parents. He couldn't eat. There's parents, his parents parties, Tim by not allowing him to do talent show. And I was just like, Well, fuck it. I know the lyrics. I'll fuck it. I'll sing it. And, you know, we had a keyboard player, bass player, me playing guitar, and a drummer. And we did. I'm not your stepping stone by the monkeys. And we did House of the Rising Sun out to the rising sun by the animals. And we went up winning. And it was like such a last minute thing like me doing the thing, but it was great. We got all the supplies and and then we won. My dad took us out to pizza afterwards. And I was like, Oh, yeah, this is this is the shit, right? That's

Chuck Shute: 8:06

what you are. Yeah,

John Corabi: 8:07

I did this. So

Chuck Shute: 8:08

you eat as well. So you had some good times. But this is a crazy story. I heard I heard this today. In an interview talking about this. You were like 1011 years old. So you just started getting into guitar and there was some hippie guy that worked at the music store that you kind of looked up to. And he knew all the Beatles songs. And and one day you said that he you watched him shoot up heroin and drop dead in front of you. That's got to be a traumatic moment for a kid.

John Corabi: 8:34

He wasn't he was he didn't work in a music store. He was just like some hippie guy. In Philadelphia, where I live, there was this candy store and, and everybody used to hang out there, like, all the young kids would go in and play pinball. And then there was an older group of kids, I was probably, I don't know, maybe eight 910 something like that. And he, he, he was he was probably I don't know, in hindsight, I don't even know how old he was. But he was like, 17 1819 years old. have long hair. We're like, you know, I'm talking 6970 walked around in a sleeveless suede vast and hip huggers, no shoes. And he had this kind of like acoustic f hole acoustic guitar. And he would just sit on the corner step and play music. And he played like, The Beatles and Creedence and, you know, all these songs that were popular on the radio, and I just thought he was the coolest. So I would just sit there and watch him play. And, you know, one day I was in there playing pinball machine and he walked in, and I turned around to say something to him and I saw him like, he was tied off and he was putting a needle in his arm. And then he just fucking There was a thud. And he he just dropped in southern Oh,

Chuck Shute: 10:05

yeah. But that like, influenced you. So

John Corabi: 10:07

you get this story because I haven't told that. It's, I'm doing a book right now, right? I just got a, I just got a publishing offer for it. And I haven't told a lot of people that story. It's in the book, though.

Chuck Shute: 10:20

So you must have told it was some in some interview, I watched so many interviews with you. It was like fat like, yeah, each one had like a different little story. Like you had some really good zobo a i played on splay your book, cuz I know that's coming out too. But that was like, really, I heard that I was like, that's interesting, because that like, so then you never did the needle drugs and stuff. Because you saw that, like, it had such an effect.

John Corabi: 10:41

Pretty much, there was a few incidents, which I won't get into all of them now. Because, again, I don't want to, because I talk about all of this in the book. And I had several incidents when I was younger, with you know, heroin with that guy. You know, cocaine with another friend, who also dropped dead. And then and then even even in some of the cover bands that I was in some of the cuz I was like, I was always kind of like, this short, young kid that played with all these guys. And there was a few incidents in my life and people that were around me, and I was just like, No, I don't want to do I don't want to do that. Like, I remember being in a band with a guy in Philadelphia and and he was so hung up on math, that his teeth are rotting out and, and like he couldn't, he could not play a show unless he did a bump before it just to get him through the set.

Chuck Shute: 11:50

Right? Wasn't that the end of your foot? One of your first bands and Gaura is because it fell apart because of people doing drugs and stuff.

John Corabi: 11:56

No. Well, that was later Yeah, that was later happened as well. And I'm so I just had like this really? Sour viewpoint on on on drugs in general.

Chuck Shute: 12:05

Right. So yeah, like you said, you're in all these cover bands. Kind of that was the first thing he did. But tell me about this story. Cuz I just heard about this recently. You are you actually or you were you didn't audition for Skid Row. But you had an offer to audition. So what happened? Like your pipe burst or something? Or why didn't you make that audition?

John Corabi: 12:23

No, no, no.... and it's weird because I saw that interview with Rachel. Yeah, yeah. And that was never the case. I knew Dave Sabo when I lived in Philadelphia........ And I moved to California. And I was in. And I

Chuck Shute: 12:39

okay. want to say that I may have just got a record deal with The Scream. Okay, maybe because we signed a deal. And then they made us go into a rehearsal room and write for like a year. Just because when we got a record deal, we had like three songs. That was it. We never played a show. And at that time I think Dave was just putting Skid Row together. And he he sent me a copy like an eight track cassette of , "I'll Remember You" and "Youth Gone Wild" and all that shit. And I was like, Wow, this is great stuff. But I don't think I'm actually now that I think about it... I don't think I was in The Scream yet. I think I was still in Angora. When he sent me the tape, but I I just felt like, as much as I liked the songs. And then according to Dave, Bon Jovi was all into the band. Right? And he was going to he was doing a he did a production deal with him. So my thing was, I didn't want to.... I had convinced three other people and their wives and girlfriends and kids to come out to California. I didn't want to go, "Oh, hey, man, I got this other dig. So thanks for everything. I'm going back to Philadelphia." Okay,

John Corabi: 14:24

I just said, I just told Dave like, "I couldn't do it."

Chuck Shute: 14:29

Okay, so he offered an audition and you turned on the audition.

John Corabi: 14:33

I turned down the audition. I mean, I was never scheduled to audition for them. I said, No. Dave, I felt really bad. I said, Man, I came out here with like three other dudes and I made everybody move and, you know, and then if I turn around and I move, they're here, and we and I'm going right back to where we all started from. I just didn't feel good about it. Okay. Yeah, I felt like I was I I was responsible for three other people leaving their families and all this other shit and going out to California and I just didn't feel right about dumping that situation at that point. Okay,

Chuck Shute: 15:10

that makes sense.

John Corabi: 15:12

And it same thing with Brittany Fox and contacted me.

Chuck Shute: 15:17

Oh, I didn't hear about that one. Yeah, no

John Corabi: 15:19

they had contacted me when Dean left and it was the same thing I'm like now I can't I just in good conscience like couldn't couldn't do it.

Chuck Shute: 15:30

Okay, so then The Scream- so this happens I love I just listened re listen to this record again today. It's so good. I don't think there's a bad song on it even to this day. I feel like it holds up. It's so good. But I didn't know there was kind of a Guns and Roses connection without that. Duff McKagan was supposed to be a co producer on that record with Eddie Kramer. Yes. But then I guess he had shoulders surgery so then he couldn't do it.

John Corabi: 15:53

Yeah, Duff.... and I think that this is something Duff would even admit himself. He was he was in a weird state, weird frame of mind, health wise. I guess mentally and physically. He was drinking a lot he was doing a handfuls of, because he had I think a torn rotator cuff or separated his shoulder some something. And I just remember going over to Duff's house and talking to him and actually sitting down and jammin with him a little bit. And producing and he just he was kind of I mean, I hate talking about cuz I love Duff and he's totally got a shit together now, but he was kind of fucked up, man.

Chuck Shute: 16:47

No, I think even he would admit that. Yeah, I don't think...

John Corabi: 16:49

He was taking all these pills. Yeah. And we got together and we we hung out for maybe an hour, hour and a half. And then he's like, oh, man, I'm gonna lay down and and then he had this giant, like, I'm talking like a big Gold Cup. And he was like, yeah, I'm gonna lay down now. Yeah, I'm not feeling all that good. And, and he literally put all this ice in this big old cup, poured a shit ton of vodka in the cup. And then literally, like, cranberry juice, and just he sent this cup next to his bed. And so that when he got up after his nap, he didn't have to get up and go to the refrigerator and make a drink. It was already made. So he was kind of in this weird thing. And I I went back to the record label, and I go, Ah, it's not about talent. Duff is stupidly talented. And he's an incredibly smart human being. But I was just like, Fuck, man, I don't think this guy's gonna make it through the fucking recording.

Chuck Shute: 17:56

You know? I mean, like, What year was this? Like? 9089 89 Okay, so it was after cuz you were friends with them? Before they were famous. Or I used to hang out with them on barbecue Sundays at Johnny t gardens house or something? Yeah, that's got to be weird.

John Corabi: 18:14

I mean, they were. They came out, uh, you know, I'm sure they came out of fucking nowhere, though. I mean, they just kicked they were so different than everything else that was happening. Um, and I, you know, and I laugh about it. I mentioned this in my book, I submitted all the other bands that came up behind them. Everybody was torn, because the two the two fucking bands that were just killing it. That actually went on to become bigger bands was like poison, and Guns and Roses. So it was like, all these bands were like, this conflicted, like fuck do I put on lipstick and dye my hair blonde? Or do I fucking buy a pair of black leather gloves and put on a denim vest over my leather jacket and do the Guns and Roses thing. So everybody was just after Guns and Roses came? Everybody was trying to figure out what like what, okay, what do we do now? Like, do we follow that trend or this trend? You know what I mean? Right? Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 19:13

So so you're in the screen. You guys are I think you were doing shows with dangerous toys. And you know, the story goes in, it's in the dirt. You know, it's all written about how Nicki gave you a shout out and Spin Magazine. So you just tried to call the manager to say thank you. And then they called you back right away. I mean, I'm assuming it's kind of like when you called me yesterday, and you're like, Hey, this is John Corabi. I was like,

Unknown: 19:35

what's when he says, Hi,

Chuck Shute: 19:37

this is Nikki Sixx. Like, you're like, what's it like? It kind of shocks you? Right?

John Corabi: 19:41

Well, it was it was funny because, yes. I mean, it was literally like, not even five minutes later. And so I answered, you know, my wife answered the phone and she kind of went up. Oh, you hear you need to take down I got it. Because I was running late. Yeah show. And I just got on the phone with them and I just started bullshitting. You know, I'm like, I was Tommy and Nikki. Right. And I was, you know, chatting with him. I said, Thank you for the plug and all this shit. And we chit chatted for a minute or two, and then Nikki just stopped me dead in my tracks. And he goes, alright, dude, whatever. here's, here's why we're calling. And I got off that phone. And I was like, what, what? What just happened? Yeah, that's not what I called them for. Right. And

Chuck Shute: 20:36

it's like synchronicity, like this weird timing that you just happened to call. They were actually trying to get ahold of you. Right is a story. They're trying to figure out how to find you. And then you called them.

John Corabi: 20:45

Yeah, that's it was weird. Like, apparently, apparently, you know, legend has it that they were on the other line with their manager going, Hey, we really like this guy into scream. How do we get him to come down? And the managers like, I can't call the record label and and ask them if I can borrow their singer. You know, it's, it's illegal. I can't do it. And I just happened to call in on the other line while they were talking to him about that. So the secretary took my number and she ran in, she's like, That was him. He's on the other line. You know, blah, blah, blah.

Chuck Shute: 21:24

It's crazy.

John Corabi: 21:26

I mean, Nikki got off the phone with him and called me right back. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 21:29

So then you audition with them. And I thought this was weird that you, you guys had actually like basically written two songs. But you are not in the band yet. Is that common to like? Is that part of the audition process, typically to write songs with the band before? Because like, they could have still said no, at that point, after you'd written, misunderstood and hammered.

John Corabi: 21:48

Well, we didn't totally write them. Okay. I mean, we actually, let me rephrase that. We actually started jamming. On hammered. Now you got to remember initially, my thing was just call them and say thank you. Yeah, I knew at this point, at some point we the screen was going to have to do another record. motley crew was one of the biggest bands on Earth at the time. And I guess maybe if you're thinking like little sneak my way in the door, I was thinking, well, maybe I can just write a song with Tommy, Nicky MC, whatever, or Nicky one of them. And, you know, put it on the next screen record or I can have a co write on their next record or whatever. That'd be pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. And that was my whole thing. Call him. And then so we we did the whole thing. I ran through their material. And then Mick was a he had a Les Paul, like this black Les Paul. And I said, it was in a, like a guitar stand. And I said, Oh, hey, can I check out your guitar? He goes, Yeah, sure. No worries. And he unplugged his guitar, put plugged it into the one that I was holding. And I just started playing some shit like some leads and and then everybody was like, Oh, fuck you play. And I go, yeah, I started out as a guitar player. Yeah. So they set up an amp. And then we then it was just like a fucking jam session. I mean, we were doing like, Honky Tonk woman. We were doing Beatles tunes. We were doing. We did,

Chuck Shute: 23:37

Helter Skelter Jailhouse Rock,

Unknown: 23:39

right? Yeah, we

John Corabi: 23:40

did all that shit earlier, but we were doing a I started that riff bombed out on

Chuck Shute: 23:46

our own. No, no, no, no doubt. Oh, a blues

John Corabi: 23:51

tune that Aerosmith had recovered called reefer headed woman.

Chuck Shute: 23:57

And when they knew that, what are you just jammed on it?

John Corabi: 24:00

We were just jamming on it. And I was singing in scatting. And then Mick and I were going back and forth with solos. So we did that. And somehow I had this riff that I had tried in angora. I had tried in the scream and nothing really ever came of it. And I played it for Tommy and Nicky and Mick and I started playing the riff. And Tommy just started playing along do it. And then I saw I showed it to Nicki and MC. And it was the opening riff to hammer,

Chuck Shute: 24:41

right.

John Corabi: 24:42

And we just kind of worked it out and just kind of had a loose little thing for it, man. I was just, I didn't have any lyrics or anything. So I was like, Ah, man, you know, okay, and so we kind of had a rough man Have the song. And then we kind of hit a wall. And then Nikki goes, Oh, hey, MC show. Crap. We're john at the time. Show him that acoustic riff. So Mick had this acoustic guitar on the stand and he started playing just that beginning part, misunderstood. misunderstood. Yeah. And Nikki had scribbled down some lyrics for, you know, little man contemplates suicide, you know, blah, blah, blah.

Chuck Shute: 25:34

Was that all fiction? Or was that based on something like

John Corabi: 25:37

movies? It was based, it's just basically based on people when they're older stages of life that are kind of real, capping what they've done with their life and Okay, did they amount to anything? Did life passed me by kind of a, whatever, beautiful song, I

Chuck Shute: 25:57

love it on my finger. And

John Corabi: 25:59

so they didn't really have like a melody for it. So I just started, I was like listening to it. And I was looking at the lyrics that Nicki had written. And then I just started singing Lin Oh, cards and play. You know, and it worked.

Chuck Shute: 26:21

Yeah, I would say so. This is

John Corabi: 26:24

killer, Tommy, especially killer. So we're dicking around for a little bit. And that's it. We just kind of fucked around with it a little bit. They recorded everything. Oh, and and then it was funny. Nikki's like, okay, so he took his base off, and he sat it down on the chair. And he must have signaled Tommy because then Tommy A minute later, put a sticks down, he got up and he left the room. And then Mick put his guitar down. And then he left the room and I'm just kind of sit sitting in there with the, with the wires,

Chuck Shute: 26:59

right? Oh, no, it was wives were

John Corabi: 27:02

gone. Otherwise, I was just sitting there with some of the crew guys. And, like, 10 minutes later, they came back into the room. And the way they had the room set up, it was like, giant rectangular massive room. And Tommy's drums were here and I was sitting on this couch. And Nicky, so Tommy sat down on the drum riser. Nikki sat on one side of the MC sat on the other. And the way they started talking to me was like, Well, okay, john. Yeah, we, you know, we went out to the bathroom and, you know, doesn't take doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out, you know, welcome to the crew.

Chuck Shute: 27:53

But they could have tricked you a little.

John Corabi: 27:55

Yeah. And I was like, sitting on the couch, and I'm smoking a cigarette, and I'm, I'm looking at him. I go, Wait, what? You're like, welcome to the crew. Dude. You're the new singer. And I was like, What? And it just the whole thing was, like, so fucking surreal. You know, the result is, you know, politics and all this bullshit. They're like, you can't say anything? Sure. Yeah. I'm like, awesome. Can I tell my wife?

Chuck Shute: 28:22

Right? Yeah. So yes. Yeah, it was just weird. The whole thing was weird. It's crazy. But there's a couple instances in the dirt where they talk about how they kind of during the recording of that album, they fell off the wagon. You know, the babies like the first day they just Nicky and Tommy go crazy. They call their old coke dealer and get coke out. And then there's another story about like, you hanging out with snake from Skid Row and Nicky and Tommy and getting hammered. And I mean, how many times that they fall off the wagon, because I always thought they were kind of sober at that point. But

John Corabi: 28:55

they, you know, and again, I don't like talking about anybody else's sobriety issues or whatever. But, um, well, two of those. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 29:05

like I said, around the book, so I mean, they, I mean,

John Corabi: 29:07

they were trying, yeah, but it was, you know, Listen, man, when you do the shit that those guys did their whole fucking lives. You know, I mean, they were drinking and partying since they were 17 1819 years old. You know, you know, at that point, we were 40 year old men. And you know, they were when I the first day I walked in, they had a refrigerator in the room with them. And it was just loaded with Diet Coke seven up and oh, duels non alcoholic beer. And, and it just, it just kind of graduated. You know, it was like one of those things where you go and I've done it. I've been I've done it with cigarettes, where I'm like, Oh, it's okay. I've I haven't had a cigarette. Three years, I'm just going to have one, and I'll be fine. And then, you know, three days later, you're blowing a farm animal for a fucking cigarette.

Chuck Shute: 30:12

So,

John Corabi: 30:14

you know, it is what it is. But there there was, there was quite a few. There was quite a few setbacks when we were doing the album,

Chuck Shute: 30:26

really,

John Corabi: 30:27

in, in Vancouver, and in LA. Ah, huh.

Chuck Shute: 30:32

So this was like, once a month, something like this would happen or like,

John Corabi: 30:35

just you know, whenever like, and again, it's that false security. It's like, okay, I haven't been drinking for, you know, three months. I'm not really gonna drink whiskey anymore. I'm just gonna have wine. Okay, know what we're, what I'm just gonna have a glass of wine with dinner. And it's just like, you know, if you're an alcoholic, you're an alcoholic. That's it, you know? And it's like, you know,

Chuck Shute: 31:02

so what was your was? Did you have different rules than them? Because you were not had gone through any sort of sobriety thing at that stage?

John Corabi: 31:11

I did. I did. Start. Um, it was it was weird, because I used to sit there. Like, even when we were writing the writing process, like I'd go to Tommy's house. And Tommy. It was weird. Like, we were all working out. And then I go to Tommy's house at like, one o'clock in the afternoon. 12 o'clock some shit and I show up in Tommy and go a crab when a cocktail. And I Yeah, sure. Okay. And he would make vodka cranberry juice for himself. And I would have a jack and coke or Diet Coke, whatever. And, but I would laugh like, it was unfathomable to me. Like how much all like not just motley like even even Duff. Like, you know, there was I remember one rehearsal, Duff came to our rehearsal. And he literally showed up, he had a brown bag, and a cup, like the one you're drinking out of right now. Huge cup. And he sat at our rehearsal. And he was literally, and I'm not talking to fifth I'm talking to handle of vodka. So half gallon, is that damn, you know, so he, he'd be sitting there watching us play, and he pour vodka into this thing, and then reach into the bag and pull out a little cranberry juice and give it a little splash. And then you sit there and he drink it. And I mean, he was with us for a couple of hours and in in like, no time. He had almost killed off that whole bottle of vodka.

Chuck Shute: 33:00

Like the Joe's jugs with a hand the handle?

John Corabi: 33:03

Yes. And he's he was sitting there like, Holy fuck, like, how can he do that? But then I joined motley. And I realized I realized that motley was also very capable of doing the exact same thing. Now when I say that, I'm just like, I had no point like when I when Duff was done, he had a conversation with us. It was like, I'm talking to you right now. It was like, it didn't even it wasn't even. It was nothing like that. All that vodka he drank. It didn't do anything to him. His motor skills were the same. His talking was the same. And then he got into his bed, and he started his car, and he drove straight as an arrow. And he went back to his house. And I was like, holy shit tolerance. Yeah, so I used to sit there and watch, like, Tommy. And on occasion, Nicky, and the amount of alcohol they would drink was just like, holy shit, or David Lee Roth. You know, I'd be like, Fuck, how can they do this? But it's funny. So, when I when we were writing the record, um, I would have a couple drinks with Tommy and, you know, three or four cups. I'd be like, Oh, you know. But by the time we did the writing process, and then we did the actual album, which was another year on top of that, two years, and then two and a half years in, we went on tour. By the time we did that, I was probably drinking as much as Tommy was, like, Tommy and I traveled together on the same bus and Our writer every day, it was ridiculous. It was like his massive amounts of vodka and jackboot jack daniels. And he got a carton of cigarettes and I got a carton of cigarettes. We had all the fixings. And it was weird. Like, by the end of the tour, I was literally going through a handle of jack daniels, like, like every day and a half day day and a half. And I was, you know, and then I had, I had a little episode once they, once they let me go, I just had this I had a stomach issue. And I was just like, what, like, what is wrong and, and then it was one of those things not to be gross, but it was like, Fuck, I didn't know if I had to throw up or go to the bathroom. I literally sat down and I just started puking in my tub while I was going to the bathroom. And blood was coming out of both ends of me. So I just I went to a doctor and he goes, you need to chill out on the booze. So at that point, I didn't. I didn't fucking I didn't touch a drop of alcohol. Like I just went okay. I don't want to go out again. So I just kind of I just kind of became Earl Grey teetotaller for like the next seven or eight years. And then I started lightening up a little bit. I'd have an occasional Guinness. Guinness in a shot and then but that was it. I'm like, I'm not. I don't want to get into that.

Chuck Shute: 36:36

Is that where you are? Right now? You just have the occasional drink and stuff.

John Corabi: 36:39

Yeah, I just, you know, you know, Listen, my wife and I will go out on a Sunday and watch a football game. And, you know, we'll have to take an Uber home. So there's, I have a moment where I get a hair up my ass and I'll just have way too much to drink. Well, we'll take an Uber home and then I'll sleep and then go get my card and next day, whatever. But for the most part, I'm just not into it. Like you know, right?

Chuck Shute: 37:07

Whoa, okay, so anyway, wow, that's that's really fascinating stuff. But back to that that motley record. Got some of these questions. I feel like I've been waiting since 1984 to ask you, but like the song Love shine. I love that song when I was a kid. And I always wondered like, Did you guys ever try to market that is like a pop single or like Adult Contemporary. Because I know a lot of the

John Corabi: 37:29

now wasn't even that wasn't even contention for single.

Chuck Shute: 37:32

I love that song. I thought that would have been because I listen to songs on the radio. And I was like, I could hear this. I could see this being popular on like Adult Contemporary or something maybe not on Headbangers ball, but

John Corabi: 37:43

it was weird. It was the same tuning that Mick used for misunderstood. Yeah, sounds so he had it. And he just started playing around with those notes in the beginning of the song. Okay. And then I was like, Oh, that's really cool. And I literally just walked up to the microphone and started on again, no lyrics, but like, me

Chuck Shute: 38:09

that did that.

John Corabi: 38:13

And it was like, it was kind of it's a very cool tuning it's thing I've opened D are Dad Dad tuning. Okay. And, and it was like, kind of,

Unknown: 38:25

you know,

John Corabi: 38:27

us trying to show not, it wasn't even a, it wasn't even a planned effort. It was just really something that happened. But we were sitting there. I remember after we started jamming it, we were sitting there going, Oh man, this is cool. This is kind of a little reminiscent of something Zeppelin would do.

Chuck Shute: 38:46

Right? Wasn't that the theory with the whole album that was going to be eclectic, like a Physical Graffiti.

John Corabi: 38:51

We wanted to just not I can't say we, because I was never part of the band prior to that. But the thing that they were so excited about was that we were going to try and really be like, way more musical. And show people even when we went out and toured. Like there wasn't a lot of emphasis on Pyro and different shit like that. Like there wasn't a lot of emphasis on what we were going to were on stage. They just wanted to if and if you look at the back at the back of the record, the actual album and even the CD, the word listen is on the back of the record. So it was like you know what? We we've always been a band that was a byproduct of our lives like you know, the crazy over the top girls the drugs that this that We started jamming shit and putting shit together and we were like, wow, this music is really different. It's really kind of grown up. It's really eclectic. So, those guys more than I, more than me, they were just like, we just want you to listen to what we're doing musically. And we want you to see that we can be more than our, our, our, what's the, what's the word? I'm

Chuck Shute: 40:35

looking image history, reputation,

John Corabi: 40:38

reputation and history. Okay. Yeah, yeah. And we can be more than that. So then what was it? Sorry, David stoked about it. That's why Yeah, Nikki, Nikki insisted. He's like, I want the word. Listen. On the on this record somewhere. Just put it on the back. Okay. Don't look at any. That's why the album cover is really kind of simple. Not it's, it's simple. That's why we didn't dress up. It was like, that's why Tommy didn't do any kind of crazy. Circular roller coaster. Like it's just like, no, watch me play. So then,

Chuck Shute: 41:17

so with the song. Yeah, with the song 10,000 miles, everyone. I remember when I was a kid reading about that. And I didn't get to hear it until like 15 years later, but everyone said that it would, it would be such a big hit. And then then you guys took it off the record. And so I always just, I was always curious about that, like, what was the decision without taking 10,000 miles off the record? I never understood cuz I thought, Oh, if that's gonna be such a big hit, why did they it's like they didn't want to be mainstream at the time or something. Oh,

John Corabi: 41:46

the band never said this is going to be a big hit.

Chuck Shute: 41:48

No, the other people did. Right. And they said, We don't want that that

John Corabi: 41:52

man's like, the fans are the ones that you know, they they right? And to go, why didn't you guys do 10,000 miles or, you know, or even now, like when I was doing those live 94 shows? Right? The fans are like, God, I hope you do. You know, 10,000 miles. But what we did do, we sat down with Bob and we just kind of listened to everything in context. And that song, regardless of whether it's good, bad, indifferent, it was just different than everything else that we had done on the record, it was just kind of a simple ballad. It had a little bit of a blues twinge to it. But it was, it was it was kind of more in the lines of like, without you or whatever, it was just kind of like this cold, bluesy, typical ballot. So we kind of sat down with everybody, Bob rock included, and said, you know, let's hold this one. Hmm. And then we had, we had come up with a concept of putting a bounceback card in the album, so that people could order quarternary Yeah, I love that. Um, so we said, you know, like, we're, it's not like, it's going to go to waste. Let's just hold it off the record. And now mind you, we did the same thing with baby kills. And so we took those songs, and we just put them on the coronary record. Well, fans still got the option to hear

Chuck Shute: 43:23

Yeah, but I don't think 10,000 miles was on the coordinating record, it was just baby kills from what I remember. It's,

John Corabi: 43:27

it's, well, there's two versions. Oh, there's

Chuck Shute: 43:30

two versions of the quarter versions

John Corabi: 43:32

and quarter net quarternary. I never knew that. There's one with my solo song. Tommy solo song, Nikki solo song mix solo song and baby kills. Yeah, that's all I had. Then there was another version that came out it was only available in and it was the Japanese of the European record label. They didn't. And they have all five of those songs. Then they have another song called 10,000 miles. Um, there was a demo of a song that we did called hypnotized.

Chuck Shute: 44:06

Yeah, there's that song.

John Corabi: 44:07

Then there was a remix of hooligans holiday. And another song called living in the note. Okay, so the nine songs on that version of quarternary Yeah, I

Chuck Shute: 44:18

didn't hear 10,000 miles to like, I think it was the one of the box that you guys did or something. I think it came out on that one or something? I don't know.

John Corabi: 44:26

Well, when you say they I had nothing to do.

Chuck Shute: 44:29

Okay. Yeah, totally.

John Corabi: 44:30

But so when I left when I left anything and everything that says Motley Crue is controlled by Motley Crue.

Chuck Shute: 44:37

Sure, sure. But so when you were still in the band in that interview on MTV, that was that was like a famous interview. I remember watching that was a kid when I was a kid, my jaw dropped, but like it's weird because they're talking all the shit about Vince in the interview and of course they talk shit about him in the book too, like in the chapters next to each other. And and that's when they're back together. It was there a lot of Vince shit talk When you were in the band, because I would think that would be kind of awkward as someone like, it's almost like you break up with a, you get a new girlfriend, and she's talking about her ex boyfriend because like he they just broke up it was like, or was that something that was just it was occasional jokes here and there. I mean, Wasn't there something about, like, Tommy put Vince's picture on the toilet so you could pee on it and stuff? I mean, that must have been really weird. I don't know

John Corabi: 45:21

about that. Okay, honestly, but there was a lot of, there was quite a bit of Vince bashing at rehearsals. And and, you know, they, they. And when I say Vince bashing, it was just, you know, like, one of the reasons why we took a year to record the album, or to write the album. They just wanted to take time to make sure that a call LSD lead singer disease that I wasn't going to turn into an asshole. So we would do shit, but we would do shit together. Like, I remember one time, right after the guys bought me a Harley. Race to take it to this place that service. It was in like 1000 oaks and we would take it to this little motorcycle shop that Nicky and Tommy turned me on to and a lot of Hells Angels guys and stuff would go to this guy and we went up doing this charity run up to you cemani National Forest was literally like five or six hours up. We hung out for the weekend, five or six hours back. And we would do shit like that. And they just wanted to see how I interacted with people. How I treated people. You know, and they're, you know, they used to just tell me these horror stories about Vince's behavior. Now as a side note, as an as an asterick. I've met Vince

Chuck Shute: 47:14

Yeah, you guys same together.

John Corabi: 47:15

Yeah, he's been nothing but cool to me. Yeah. He's never been an asshole to me ever. So I really have nothing to base this on. This was just what they were telling me. Right? Um, you know, so I just, um, you know, it was just them telling me like these horror stories. Tommy go. Yeah, dude, it was crazy. Man. You know, back when we were touring, you know, we were taking buses, like, Vince would pull chicks out of the audience. And then he'd go into the back lounge, you need to lock the door. So nobody could use the lounge, but him. And he would just be back there fucking chicks. And we all had chicks that we wanted to fuck. And like, you know, we couldn't, you know, and there was no, like, banned consideration there. He didn't care and but that's what they told me.

Chuck Shute: 48:10

Sounds like a good problem to have is not enough too many checks to fuck and not enough space to fuck man.

John Corabi: 48:15

And it's like, okay, you know, and whatever. So we suggest I would, you know, again, I never met the guy up to that point. So, I, it's like, I can't really, I don't have a bad story to say about the guy. I would just literally sit there and they would just tell me these stories. And I'd be like, holy shit, seriously. Oh, fuck, he said that. Or he did that. Or he punched somebody or under like, good dude, you know, whatever. So I was like, Okay, great, awesome. Like, fuck, whatever. So they took a year to make sure that I wouldn't turn into you know, in their words. Another problem or another? another, another ass. So do you think

Chuck Shute: 49:05

you guys took too long? to come out with a record? You said? I mean, I think it took 14 months to make it in $2 million. And I mean, do you ever wonder what I mean? Because the record is a masterpiece. Don't get me wrong. But do you ever wonder with if maybe you would finish it sooner, maybe not produce it as heavily? Or, you know, do you think I would have made a difference? Because it seemed like time was a factor at that point. Because you know, it's like bands from the 80s were struggling as we got deeper and deeper into the 90s. Like, if that record came out in 92 or 93. Would that have even made a difference?

John Corabi: 49:35

Well, I mean, listen, for me, you got to understand I was living in a one bedroom apartment. I had recorded an album with the scream at that point. I had done some recording with angora. You know, but I get there. I get there thinking like they wanted to take their time writing the album. I get that but they You know, at the same time, I was kind of sitting there like fuck like, I mean, we did the scream album. But we did the same thing. Like at that point we were unsigned. So we had our whole lives to get up to that moment of a record deal. But we did the scream album in four and a half weeks. Five weeks. Yeah. And that was that was even working with Eddie schedule and getting, you know, whatever. So we did the record in four weeks. Then we do this motley record, and we write for a year, then we've recorded for a year. So it was two years. And then we held the record, like even though the single came out, like, you know, months later, the first single, we didn't, I think the single came out in March of 94. And then we didn't go on tour until June or July. June, I think, Okay. Um, you know, but it like, I was sitting there, like, like, I was ready to go. Yeah. And to be honest with you, the Motley record is the longest record I've ever made in my life. The screen was four and a half weeks. The Union record was literally, you know, both union records, we did it in like a month.

Chuck Shute: 51:24

That's more common, like about a month or two or three is usually more common for and

Unknown: 51:29

I mean, all the

John Corabi: 51:32

I can't think of any like my my dezeen record. My unplugged record, I wrote the songs kind of, you know, whatever. But then we literally, I recorded that unplugged record at my house in 10 days. Hmm. whole record. Yeah. And I did the live 94 was obviously one show, right? All the dead daisies records were never longer than a month. So that was the that was the odd odd man out.

Chuck Shute: 52:00

Yeah. So then what about the second record with Crue that I know you had a part in? But there was I heard this two songs are written with Bob Rock. One called "The Year I Lived in a Day" and "La Dolce Vita". Did those transfer into something else? No,

John Corabi: 52:15

Bob never. Now he may have been involved after I left but all the songs were written by me Tommy, Nicky and Mick

Chuck Shute: 52:23

are those two songs and I totally have that wrong. And if you heard those titles, the song

John Corabi: 52:27

There is a song called "The Year I Lived a Day." Yeah. And then "La Dolce Vita" was just means the sweet life and we wrote that one that was just jamming. And again, it was just like the Dolce Vita was it was it was an odd tune it was. It was if this even remotely makes any sense to anybody. It was No Quarter by Led Zeppelin meets something from Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd meets Motley Crue, if that came in. It was just like this, literally seven minutes song. And all these volumes changes, it was really mellow and it would get really heavy, and then it would ome back down again. And then t would go to the left and it wo ld you know, guitar riffing, nd then come back down again, an a backup and it was like this really long, epic.

Chuck Shute: 53:34

So what happened to those songs?

John Corabi: 53:38

When I left, I turned in all my tapes and everything to the band, and I and that was that.

Chuck Shute: 53:42

Okay, so then. Yeah, so then obviously, they get back, they get Vince back and then you leave. So I thought this was interesting. You said two things that you learned a valuable lesson about your time with the crew. One was that as tight as you thought you were with the Motley guys it is a business. So learn to appreciate and appreciate friends and family. But this is also something that I read last night in the book that you said, Your biggest regret was that you wish you had fought back and stood up for yourself. That's really interesting to me.

John Corabi: 54:11

I Well, you know, it, like a lot of things that we did. I would just sit there and go, you know, why? Why are we doing this? This doesn't, you know, but that's just makes no sense to me. Or, Hey, I got this idea. Um, what about this? And, and I would, you know, whatever, shut down or just, you know,

Unknown: 54:41

and

John Corabi: 54:43

so I would say what I had to say, but I wouldn't really push it because if they push back on whatever I said, I would just automatically go well, okay. I mean, they've sold a gazillion records at this point. Yeah, they know I at that point I'd never, you know, I mean, what I did two fucking records. You know the first motley record and the The Scream album. So what did I know? So, there was things were and I think I said it in the dirt. Like, when we were doing that interview for example with MTV, you know that just the down talking of events. I didn't agree with it because I kind of felt like it you're drawing a line in the sand and you're making the fans choose. You're either on our side or his side. And I didn't agree with it, but I was just like, you know, obviously these guys have been so fucking over the top. It's really nothing for them to throw motley or throw MTV out of the fucking rehearsal room. We obviously know what they Yeah, they've been doing this for at that point, it was you know, 15 years right decade a decade ends it was like I think it was a four or five year lapse between decade a decade ends and the first record I did well,

Chuck Shute: 56:16

yeah, no, that's funny. You mentioned that having to choose because I was a fan of both. I love Motley Crue. But then when Vince Neil came out, I was like, Oh, cool. I get a Vince Neil solo record and I get the Motley Crue I liked it. Whoa, I don't know, maybe I was the odd one.

John Corabi: 56:29

Anybody was weird, because I remember seeing shit, even. Even with Van Halen, you know, there was some things on MTV of, you know, like, you know, like, Eddie, God rest his soul. You know, him and Mike Anthony in a bathroom next to a urinal. And one of them flushed. They flushed a urinal. And they said, hey, what does this sound remind you of in a flush through urinal? And one of them said, Oh, it's David Lee Roth singing. So they were, you know, and I just, I just, I'm kind of an old school, like, if you've gotten nothing good to say, just don't say anything. Just keep your mouth shut.

Chuck Shute: 57:19

It just it sounds like that stuff is really common. Like, you also experienced that when you were in rat. And like, that's kind of cool that you took that job. And you're like, I just want like to be like, you don't want to be in charge of the record sales and have to worry about all that stuff. And you just got to play guitar. But you you had to deal with it. You had to kind of witness a lot of the bickering and stuff in that band where you would you said something like, where are you? You just would go and get a sandwich and then they'd you'd come back and they'd still be bickering?

John Corabi: 57:45

Yeah, that was, you know, it's funny, like, I understand. I understand the battles within a band. Yeah. And it happens, it, listen, you know, we're married. And when you're in any relationship, you're gonna say, left, and sometimes your partner, whether it's in a band, or marriage or business, whatever, they're gonna go, No, we need to go right. And then you got to sort it out in that gray area. And I truly believe in that in just in life, you know what I mean? And it was just weird. I just, I just felt like I should have, I should have been a little more assertive and said, Guys, seriously, stop with the bullshit with Vince. You know, and a whatever it you know, what, that's water under the bridge, can't really do it. But the things with it was funny to me like motley, even when they got back together are still kind of dysfunctional, when you look at all the shit that's happened between Tommy and Vince, since they all got back together, and then Tommy left, and you know, whatever. So there's a, there's an element of dysfunction that I don't understand. If it's working, and the fans are enjoying it, then fucking make it work. You know what I mean? Whatever. And that was the thing. Like, I, I can truly sit here and say, as quirky as all the guys in rat are. They've all got a little nuance to them that I just used to sit there and sort out, you know, and it's like, okay, when I'm talking to Bobby, I got to talk to Bobby this way. And when I talked to Warren, I got to talk to Warren this way. And then when I talked to Stephen, I got to talk to Stephen this way, and you sorted out and I'm still able to get my point across but you know, Like it was so the element of dysfunction with those three guys when I was in the band, Robbie crane and I would just sit there and just go kidding me. And they would just sit there and bicker amongst the three about, you know, and it's just this it's a silly thing, but, you know, in their own way, I feel like all three of those guys are just walking around with their discount gone. Mine's bigger. I mean, the reason why everybody comes to see this band, and it's like, dude, they're coming to see the band. Not Stephen. Not Warren, not Bobby. It's all of you guys together. It's rat. It's not. You know what I mean? Right? Yeah, and that was the thing I just I just was like, fuck it oddly enough when they got offered the record deal with Roadrunner that last record they do yeah, you know, I was in the band we got the record deal the night I you know,

Chuck Shute: 1:01:07

is that when you quit you said fuck this I'm

John Corabi: 1:01:09

not gonna go on out. I'll talk to you later. You and it's funny. It's not truth it's common knowledge. I set it right to them I go You guys can't get the real fucking rehearsal without battling I'm not going to I forget where they did it North Carolina, South Carolina whatever. Fucking no way I'm gonna go live in a house with you guys and write and record a record not going to do it. So I lap Yeah, I didn't want any part in the drama man. I'm like, see you guys. It's been real.

Chuck Shute: 1:01:38

Thank you. That's crazy. So what was it like? You were instances cover but I didn't know this. And this. I learned this yesterday. You were on some cover band with Jerry Cantrell. And also Billy Duffy from the cult. So two questions was Jerry a fan of the Motley 94 record? And then whether Did you guys ever get to do any originals? Did you ever get to write with Jerry Cantrell? Because I I assume playing with him was amazing. But writing with him would be amazing to

John Corabi: 1:02:04

now we never really got that far. It was literally like, what sec kings of chaos. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 1:02:09

yeah. Okay.

John Corabi: 1:02:10

Whenever all those bands and they just wanted to do something. Jerry had a little hiatus. Billy was had a hiatus. And I ran into Billy and he talked to me about it. And I'm like, Oh, hey, dude, you know, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, sure. I'll come down. And I think I went in and I sang the, you know, they picked to cover songs for me to sing it was back in black and draw the line. Hmm. So I went in, I sang the two songs. Jerry goes, yep, that Oh, we're never hi and met Jerry. Not that he would remember. We met once at a&m. But this is when Jerry was partying a little bit and we were partying and, and he listened to the new shit that we were doing. And he's like, Oh, fuck, man, this is killer. You know, whatever. And then he left and then I hadn't seen him until that day, you know, whatever. But we just kind of got together and we threw we threw some Allison chains together. We did some cult. I think we did a song or two of my motley record, and then we just did one song.

Chuck Shute: 1:03:17

That's really yeah, once you another cover band called Star fuckers.

John Corabi: 1:03:21

Um, that's still kind of an ongoing every now and then kind of thing. Yeah. Okay.

Chuck Shute: 1:03:26

Yeah, you got to play Eddie Van Halen, backyard and jam with him. That sounds pretty cool.

John Corabi: 1:03:32

Yeah. And it's funny because my, you know, I still talk to Eric Dover quite a bit. And there was like, that was like this little rotating cast of whoever was in town on Thursday nights. We would just meet up at the cat club. And, I mean, the band never even rehearsed. I mean, it was like, hey, do you guys know? can't always get what you want? By the stones? Yeah, fuck, you know what? We'd be drinking and smoking cigarettes and fucking just jam in and, and we did two sets and we did everything from zeplin to Queen to the sweet. Whatever, whatever. Somebody new and fun. But it was weird. Like these random people would show up and jam with us. Brian May came down one time and Saturday. We did a couple Queen tunes. We did. Slash came in we did some Guns and Roses. Eric singer would come in. Brian tissue would play. We had Billy Idol there one night. skunk Baxter Lemmy

Chuck Shute: 1:04:45

amazing. So

John Corabi: 1:04:46

it was just like this rotating cast of fucking goofballs.

Chuck Shute: 1:04:52

It sounds fun. It

John Corabi: 1:04:52

was just, you know. I think we it's it was funny Slim Jim Phantom from the stray cats. He owned the bar.

Chuck Shute: 1:05:01

Oh,

John Corabi: 1:05:02

Joe, and it was a little place and he go, man, I can't afford to pay you guys that much, you know? So we all said, you know, fuck Jim, just give us 100 bucks and an open bar tat. And I think we we probably drank 1000 $1,000 worth of shit every Thursday night. It was, it was like a party. That's fine. It will end up being this really cool thing where? I mean, you couldn't get into that place on Thursday nights. There was literally three 400 people in that

Chuck Shute: 1:05:31

club. Oh, my dad. Yeah.

John Corabi: 1:05:34

packed in and, you know, just fucking off and doing Beatles tunes or whatever. Crazy. It was fun, man. It's great.

Chuck Shute: 1:05:42

So tell me about it.

John Corabi: 1:05:44

Sorry, what was still on occasion? like Stephen or Eric Dover or Troy Patrick. Somebody will call and go. Hey, man, I got I got a game for the star fuckers if you guys want to do it. Oh, cool. I know. Just call around and we'll go play casino or something like that? In a while, but that's awesome. Not on a regular basis. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 1:06:06

So tell me about your new biography. Is it called horseshoes and hand grenades? Yes, sir. Okay, and it says you said the books gonna piss off a few of your ex wives.

John Corabi: 1:06:14

Which obviously, is, whatever. I'm just being truthful. I'm sure I'm going to step on a few toes. I don't that's not my goal or intention. But I'm just being honest. I'm just telling stories. And you know, I get along with all of my exes. Except for one. I haven't seen her since we split up. I don't want to see her don't want to talk with her. She's not a very... she wasn't...maybe she is now she's not a very good human being. But I am just telling the truth. So my goal isn't to piss off anybody. It's really just about a lot of people ask me all the time, like, why have you been in so many bands? or Why did you do this? or Why did you do that? or Why? You know, and it's like, you know, it's just the deck of cards that I was handed. Like, we were saying earlier, when I was in The Scream, who fucking knew that I was going to get that phone call? From my weak, right? Yeah, in a million years, you that you don't see that coming? And obviously, you know, the way they talked about Vince, when I was in the band. in a million years, I never thought I'd be out of the band. And you just kind of you just kind of keep trudging forward, you keep moving, and doing the best that you can do. And so I think mainly the story that if anybody gets anything out of my book, any kind of life lesson, it's more about, you know, you'll have setbacks. But you just move forward, man, you just, you just have perseverance. You just keep plugging away in and and at some point, you know, shits gonna happen for you?

Chuck Shute: 1:08:22

Well, yeah. And I thought this was really cool that I don't know if this is in the book or not. But I heard you talking about with your dad, that growing up your dad was not really he didn't buy into the whole music thing. But that this sounded like something out of a movie. But then when he passed away, they found a collection of like, every article that and every magazine that you'd ever been in, like, he kept us in a locker. Like, why didn't he Why did he hide that pride? Or did he did he tell you at some

John Corabi: 1:08:46

point in the end, in the end, he he, he had expressed verbally? Different things to me. You know, so I just didn't realize the extent of how proud he was okay. I mean,

Chuck Shute: 1:09:05

yeah, cuz, yeah. He said something like, he pointed out that you had taken care of two kids, your ex wives, your mom when she had cancer, and you kept doing the music. And then he said something like, you're a better man than I've ever been or something. That's crazy.

John Corabi: 1:09:19

Yeah, that was, that was a moment where I had to get off the phone with him because I again, I didn't expect that. That conversation, and it was just, you know, one of those things were I think everybody goes through it. I don't know how old you are. But I'm, I'm gonna be 62 this year. Yeah. And, you know, it was one of those moments where I think I was like, 4849 50 years old. And you start taking stock of your life and I was looking at the wrong things. I was like, I don't own anything. Like what have I done? I haven't amassed this huge And, you know, and my dad being a dad, he's like, wait a minute, you've got two beautiful kids, beautiful girlfriend, you've got a great house, like, slow down to like, and and then he had this long talk with me that everybody will read about in the book. But it was just it was one of those moments where I kind of went, you know what, I'm looking at life the wrong way. And it kind of made it. It clarified some things for me.

Chuck Shute: 1:10:35

Yeah, for sure. That's crazy. So your dad was an artist? Do you have any of his art? Or are you going to show some of that in

John Corabi: 1:10:42

the book? Um, I think my sister's do okay. And he wasn't like, it was. It was the weirdest thing. Like he didn't paint like landscapes or different things like that. But he just he was awesome. I mean, he did do a lot. Let me rephrase that. He did do some landscapes. But his favorite artist was Walt Disney. Hmm. Like the, you know, like that art. I think he had every Disney movie ever. And so he would do these lawn ornaments. And he would make them himself like, so he would draw like, he had a little pond in his yard that he had made himself he did this pond, and he put you know, it's like, whatever. It's the Nick karate version of koi fish he had goldfish on. And but he he literally, he made these things. They were like four or five feet high. And he would paint them on wood. And he would do like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. And he would put them around the pond. And he had Bambi. Any, any literally, he painted them. And then he cut the figurines out with the jigsaw. And then he imagined he attached them to a steak and he put them in the ground. And I pulled up one day, like, I mean, again, I was like 5055 years old, and he was 7075, whatever. And I'm looking at this shit. I go, Oh, those are cool words. You got him? He goes, I made them. And I was like, What do you mean, you made him? Yeah, I painted them. And I made it myself. And I just sat there and I went, holy shit. Like, I had no fucking idea that you could even draw. He had painted them, and then kind of outlined them with one of those old school woodburning kits. Okay, so the black lines was actually burned. You know, he burned the wood. And then he and then he cut them out. And he attach them to a steak and put them in the ground. And I'm like, Fuck, these are brilliant. Yeah. So you know, and this is weird. Like, you don't know your dad that like, you know, I mean, who knew? Like, yeah, my dad was just some guy that wore suit and tie, and went to work and did accounting for all these businesses. And he was bit of a, you know, nuts and bolts Roman Catholic, you know, work hard, save your money, you know, kind of a deal. And yeah, I found out he had this whole other side to him. Well, no. And I think later in life,

Chuck Shute: 1:13:22

yeah. And that's cool that with your son. I didn't know this either. I know you play in a band with him. But I didn't know the story of like how that came to be like, he kind of came to you because he was having some issues with drugs. And then you guys had this heart to heart. And then it was his idea. He said, Dad, I want to play in a band with you. Like that's pretty cool.

John Corabi: 1:13:42

Yeah, and we did it for a bit and forge unfortunately, fortunately, I got the dead daisies gig. Yeah. And it kind of put everything that we were doing a little bit to a halt. So he's been out doing his own thing he played with. He was out with a band tantric for a while. Now he's playing with a band called rehab out of Atlanta. And he's just, you know, he's, he likes playing my stuff, but it's not really he's more into like stuff. Like, I think one of his favorite bands is seven dust. Okay, so he's more of a, like Morgan roses God to him. So, he wants to do something more on the lines of like that. Okay,

Chuck Shute: 1:14:31

does he is he gonna play on your solo record? Or who's who's on plays on your solo record? That's coming up, right.

John Corabi: 1:14:38

Right now, I don't know if you can see this or not, but I've got like this whole little studio thing.

Chuck Shute: 1:14:43

Yeah. Yeah.

John Corabi: 1:14:45

So the way I've been doing it now, because of the COVID shit, I've been literally recording everything here at my house, and I'll do like, MIDI drums on this keyboard. Um, and then I've been Sending stuff to Marty. After I get it finished, I sent it to Marty

Chuck Shute: 1:15:04

Marty Fredrickson? Yeah,

John Corabi: 1:15:06

Yeah, he's been tweaking everything. And if he thinks the drums are good, he'll leave them. And if he thinks that they could be better, or maybe a little looser, or a different, maybe a altogether different beat than he's been having his son is also a drummer. His son is played on a couple of tracks of mine, but I've got a new track that I'm working on right now. And I just called in and I sent him the track to like, kind of get a vibe for and then I want to go into my buddy da karkos, who played on my acoustic record. He's got a home studio with a real drum set in it. So I want to have my bass player toepfer and Ian come in and lay down real drums and better bass than what I did.

Chuck Shute: 1:15:59

Okay, do you have any song timer when I was in metal edge reading Motley Crue 94 song titles and being like, Oh, that sounds so cool. Is there any song titles for the solo record?

John Corabi: 1:16:09

Yeah, I have a song called "Casa Bella", which is Italian for so beautiful. I have a song called "Love That'll Never Be". There's one called Laurel. There's another one called "Your Own Worst Enemy." So I've got I've got a bunch of ideas. I've got another one called "Moonshine Symphony." I like that. Yeah, it's, it's so

Chuck Shute: 1:16:42

you know, 70s right. 70s. Like, kind of like your theory was, will fuck it. If, you know, if people aren't going to buy records, I can make whatever I want.

John Corabi: 1:16:52

Pretty much. I listen, I've got a studio here.

Chuck Shute: 1:16:57

Yeah, I wish

John Corabi: 1:16:59

I could play this stuff. It's it's not going to translate over the microphone. But yeah. It's, it's crazy. Because I think honestly, it's some of the best music that I've ever written, and the best lyrics I've ever written. And I'm kind of just doing it at my own pace. So I'm, I'm setting myself up now. A website. Um, I'm getting digital distribution. And I'm basically going to, I mean, I'm going to eventually have CDs and a vinyl to sell, okay. But what I want to do is I want to put out a song with a video, and then let it sit for a little bit. People can download it, if they choose, watch the video on YouTube, and then put out another song with a video and then put out another

Chuck Shute: 1:17:58

song and a video. That seems to be the way everyone's doing it. Now, that's all about the singles. And

John Corabi: 1:18:02

then I'll just do at the end when I get, you know, 910 songs. I'll do a CD and, and vinyl, I'll put it on Amazon, or on my website. And I'll sell them at my shows. And maybe I'll put a bonus track on the CD in the vinyl that nobody's ever heard before, whatever. But, you know, it's just nobody's selling any records anymore. Everything is downloads and streaming. And so fuck it. Like why bother? Yeah. I'm not ever a guy like me. Short of me writing. You know, I think at this point, if I had an album full of bohemian Rhapsody's, and hey, Jude's, I still it's going to be very, my chances of getting on mainstream radio are slim to none.

Chuck Shute: 1:18:58

But that doesn't really mean anything anymore. I feel like it's all about digital. And then if you can get on these playlists, that's the new thing is getting on Spotify playlists, if you're on you know, john, Bob, the whatever the popular playlist is, if you get on that playlist, then you get a bunch of downloads and then and that's all that matters. So yeah, the radio doesn't even mean anything anymore. I don't think

John Corabi: 1:19:16

it really doesn't. And, and then obviously there's, you know, MTV dropped the M like, three years now. So it's like YouTube now. So if I can go out and I actually just have a buddy of mine. He's done a couple of documentaries in and I asked him, I said, what program do you use to do like a video if I wanted to do like a three, four or five minute video? What would I use? So he's, he's going to help me with my first couple of videos, this guy named Ron Coons here in Nashville, okay, and he's going to help you my first couple videos and show me how to do this. And then at that point, I just want to do my own videos as well, you know, whatever. So Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 1:20:00

I was gonna ask you about this too. I didn't know this and I started out, you gotta clear this up. So there was a rumor that your name was kicked around to take over for Steven Tyler and Aerosmith or they were gonna change the name or something or what was the story? Like,

John Corabi: 1:20:14

I don't know, a buddy of mine was working with the camp at the time. And I had that was a lightbulb moment I had. And he basically called me He goes, Oh, hey, by the way, just giving you a heads up. You know, you may get a call from this management company, blah, blah, blah. And I go, okay. He goes, yes, Stevens out doing American Idol. And the rest of the band is kind of pissed about it. So they're, they're talking about getting a new singer. And I know your name is on the list. And I was, I was like, No, you need to take my name off the fucking list. Like they can't. And I was like, dude, they can't be Aerosmith without Steven Tyler like,

Chuck Shute: 1:21:06

No, no, yeah. And then now you're like, this is how modeling

John Corabi: 1:21:10

fans. Oh, that's how all the Motley fans felt interviewing. So it was it was

Chuck Shute: 1:21:15

kind of funny. That's crazy. Do you put those stories about your near death experiences in your book?

John Corabi: 1:21:25

Explain near death

Chuck Shute: 1:21:26

so there was like some some guy tried to rob you like right after you join Motley and he put a gun and a put a gun up to your face. And you and you put your mouth on the gun and you said shoot me or something? Dude, you're freaking me out. Like I told somebody that story in like Iowa in 1964.. and you found it? I don't know.

John Corabi: 1:21:49

Now, you know that, that I don't even think that stories in the book. But I was at a place called the FM station.

Chuck Shute: 1:21:57

Yeah.

John Corabi: 1:21:58

And it's not in existence anymore. And a friend of mine. It was actually the drummer in Angora, his girlfriend at the time. We were all out at this bar, like just watching. We weren't even playing. We were watching somebody else. And she had to leave and go home. And she realized she locked her keys in the car. And I walked out to the car, I tried, I borrowed a hanger from the coat, check girl and undid the hanger. And I put a little loop on it. And so I'm sitting there and I'm doing this thing. And this guy comes up to me. And he goes, stop. Like, he basically was telling me like, I'm like, I'm just breaking into the car for a friend. And he was kind of getting a little aggressive with me. And my wife at the time was on the other side of the car. I was trying to get into the driver's door. And he goes, stop breaking into the car. And you know that. So I said to my wife, I said, I said Val, go in and get Gina and tell her to come out and explain to this guy. What I'm doing. He basically made me think that he was parking lot security guy. So as my wife started walking away, he said, Oh, and I had to show him my ID and everything right in my wallet back in. And so as my wife is walking away, he goes, Hey, bitch, I didn't tell you to fucking move. And then I got pissed. I'm like, okay, that's my wife. Nobody calls my wife bitch, but me. Do you know what I mean? Like, you need to show I turn that and I said, Where's your fucking ID? I want to see your fucking ID that says, whatever, gives you the right to talk to my wife that way. And he pulled a gun out and he stuck it in my face. And I literally.... everything went in this like, total slow motion. And I went, Okay. At that point, I've got a gun, like literally in my face. So I went, alright, I didn't I had no idea and I don't even know why I did it. But I literally just went You know what, I, I grabbed the barrel. And I I literally put the barrel in my mouth and I go pull the fucking trigger. I don't care and I put the fucking thing and the guy just sat there with that look on my face right now. And and he just, he walked away. It worked. But the problem is I went back into the club and I said You need to tell your fucking security guard to chill out. And to go, we don't have a security guy. Some random dude. I was like, holy shit. Then I got fucking pissed. And I got in my car and I started looking for him. I swear to God, I was gonna run him over. Oh my god. So whatever. But, I have no idea hy I do half the shit I do. Li e, I think I said something smart ass to him. Like, I litera ly put the gun in my mouth. A d I should see that that w man you call bitch. That's my ife. And I said something like, you'd be doing me a favor. Go o shoot, and I put the gun in m mouth. That's claiming he jus sat there like, okay, dude you're out of your fucking mi d. And he put the gun away and h left. And then I went back t jack in the car. You called his bluff. Basically, what you call this bluff? It sounds like he wasn't really gonna shoot you. I have no fucking idea. Like, everything just went into slow motion. And I was like, I just have to let this I don't even know. It was like a. I was trusting me. I was shitting myself. But I'm like, I have to let this motherfucker know that. I don't give a fuck.

Chuck Shute: 1:26:21

That's awesome.

John Corabi: 1:26:22

So I did that. And he walked away. And I'm like, you'd be doing me a favor.

Chuck Shute: 1:26:28

So then that's great. I can't wait to read the book then. Because if that didn't make the cut, I can't wait to see what's in the book.

John Corabi: 1:26:36

Well, to be honest with you, it probably would have been in the book. But I don't even remember it until you just said

Chuck Shute: 1:26:44

I should have helped you with this thing then.

John Corabi: 1:26:46

Yeah, it's like, whatever.

Chuck Shute: 1:26:48

Yeah. All right, cool. Well, God, this you've given me so much time, I don't want to take any more of your time. But I do like to end with a charity. I know you worked with like Toys for Tots. And I used to, or used to Okay, or do you want to give a shout out to something else? I don't care, whatever.

John Corabi: 1:27:02

No, it's just, you know, honestly, just check out john karate calm. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, a john karate official. As soon as I get, like, I I'm hoping to release my firt one of my first songs, I have them. And the way that I'm going to do it is the way I'm going to do it. So I'm going to do one song at a time, focus on that, promote that, then move on to the second song, promote that. Keep working on everything. And then once, once everything set and ready to go, I just want to release one song at a time. And, you know, that way the fans? You know, like, if you buy a record, and you're like, Why don't like these three songs? No sweat, you know? Yeah. Okay, by the ones you like, right? I mean, totally. So, and it's direct From me to you, and I'm going that route. So. But at the end, I'll do a record and I'll do some vinyl, and I'll sell it on my website, maybe Amazon, whatever. And call it today or whatever. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 1:28:05

I'll put I'll put your website in the notes. But is there is there a charity that you work with? Or like, I mean, I,

John Corabi: 1:28:11

I was working with Toys for Tots, but it just became like the last couple years. Like, we had a lot of people that were some of my artists, friends that musical friends that were playing, you know, and then it just got to the point where we were asking people to come in and play. If there was any, like cost or whatever, for gas, I would give the money anyway. But then it started to be like, Oh, yeah, please your charity. Give me two grand. And I'm like, well, dude, it's not a fucking, it's not a, it's a charity, like, and it's so we started pulling our hair out with a lot of the bands. And then the last couple of times, like, it used to be like, we would do these things. And I mean, my wife and I probably raised we did it like 10 years, and we probably raise in this day and age. It's not a lot of money, but we probably raised about in cash, probably 250 $300,000 and then toys, you know, whatever. That's a lot. Oh, um, you know, but the Marines my buddy Matt would call the Marines and they would come and pick the stuff up. And the last two times, I was unfortunately on tour. So I would help set it up with my wife, but then she was stuck with the brunt of the the work. And the last two years she was calling the Marines and like, Hey, can you guys send a truck again and pick the toys up? And they're like, no. So she had to rent a truck, huh? And then so then it was another us renting a truck. Okay. And then she was sitting there by herself because we did it at a like night. Think it was New Year's Eve. We did it every year right around Christmas, okay. Yeah, it was crap before Christmas, but we would do it it'd be December cold. So she's out in the cold like literally pulling all these toys in loading a truck, you know, and then she's walking around with the satchel is full of cash. And I'm like, No, you know, let's fucking stop this is it's becoming like, not safe. And you know I can't be here to help out so we just kind of knocked it on the head. We might do it again in the future but right now we're

Chuck Shute: 1:30:38

as another charity that you support like I know the Nashville has the musicians association or is there anything point

John Corabi: 1:30:46

any anything? Any like tight? We're going we're all going through a lot of shit. COVID we're going through. You know Nashville has been through tornadoes, riots. You know, the COVID thing musicians out of work. We had the Christmas Day bombing. We just had flooding like right now. I've got my motorhome in my driveway plugged in. And I'm letting one of my neighbors live in my motorhome. Because his house literally last Saturday was under five feet of water. We had flooding.

Chuck Shute: 1:31:22

I think I saw that picture on your Instagram. Yeah,

John Corabi: 1:31:25

yeah, right across the street from my house. That's when they were cleaning up. Yeah. And it was happening. There was literally five, I mean, literally cars floating down the street. five feet of water crazy. So he lost everything. So I'm letting my neighbor sleep in. So if it's something charitable, legit, chatter charitable. I'll fucking help out. I don't like I don't like doing things like with a lot of these charities. you donate money to them. And then there's administration fees. So yeah, you can get 100%. But literally, like 89% is going to administrative fees. And then the other 11% is going to the actual charity. So I don't like doing shit like that. I like doing shit. Like our Toys for Tots things. We raise cash, we raise toys, we gave it to the Marines. They went around and they bought if they bought even more toys, and then they literally go around and they give them to the list of people that need them. So that's like, again, it's like, from me to you. Okay, so I'll do anything that's charitable. If I have extra money. You know, this last year has been hard on all musicians, sir. So it's a little difficult for me like, you know, any other time if my neighbor right now I I'd write them a check for 1000 or a couple$1,000 and go home, go get go get a hotel room. But I can't this year, so I'm letting him stay in my coach instead. And he's like, dude, you're saving me so much money. It's awesome. Great, whatever. And it's not out of pocket for me. My coach should be right here at my house anyway. So I just I just put it in my driveway instead of my backyard, to my driveway. it's plugged in. And then he gets up in the morning. He makes a cup of coffee. And he just walks across the street and he's working on his house. So great. It's all good,

Chuck Shute: 1:33:27

cool, man. All right, well, I will put everything in the notes and, and people can go to your website and check everything out. And I appreciate you taking the time to do this is a lot of fun. Awesome, buddy. Thank you. Alright, john, love it. So much great information. Such a fascinating human being so talented in such an interesting life that he's led thus far. I will definitely be buying his autobiography, horseshoes, and hand grenades whenever it comes out. And also, I look forward to new music from john. Make sure to follow him on social media so that you can keep up with everything he's doing. And while you're on there, give me a follow as well. If you'd like to keep up with the podcast. You can also support the podcast by liking, sharing, commenting, or subscribing to the show. Or if you want to take the time to write a nice iTunes review. All those things help with the algorithms so that more people can find the podcast, be able to listen and help the show grow, which in turn helps me get great guests like john karate. So thanks again to john for coming on the show. Thank you all for listening. I hope you have a great day. And remember to shoot for the moon.