Band Photos Credit: Danny Jungslund
Live Photos By Larry Petro And Cynthia Fields-Jalil
Hey there KNAC.COM listeners and fans, I recently had an opportunity to chat it up with none other than the frontman and lead singer of THE DEAD DAISIES, John Corabi. While I had his full attention, I was able to pick his brain about his humble beginnings in the rock & roll industry, some of his most memorable tour adventures & discoveries, some of his likes & dislikes, what his thoughts are about today’s music industry, and how THE DEAD DAISIES worked together in the studio to create and record their newest release Burn It Down. Read on and enjoy!
KNAC.COM: Before we get started I would first like to extend to you and your family my deepest heartfelt condolences for the loss your dear brother Nicholas.
CORABI: That was a bit sudden, it took us all a little bit by surprise. And I’ve gotta be honest with you too, he would be completely blown away. It was weird, I went on the Monsters of Rock Cruise shortly after and I’d been out doing some gigs, and it's amazing to me how many people saw my brother Todd's post and commented and came up to me and they were like “Awww dude.” You know they’d never met my brother before, but Nicky was very active on online and they were like “Well, I never really met him, but what a great dude, we use to chat all the time via email.” And so he would literally have been blown away. Thousands and thousands of people wrote to me and sent their condolences and just said; “He seemed like just such a great dude.” You know what I mean or whatever, and so I think he’d be…if he can see, he’s smiling right now because he loved the music, and he was probably my biggest fan and the fact that all of my fans are recognizing him like that I think he’d be blown away by it. So, we’re all gonna miss him but I’m sure he’s very grateful for the response.
KNAC.COM: I’m sure and now you’ve got a Guardian Angel with you. I know the type of family that you all are and people really appreciate that, and they see that too, and that is one of the reasons why I just wanted to make sure that I let you know that.
CORABI: I appreciate it, thank you!
KNAC.COM: Also, I would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to you and your family on the birth of those beautiful twin granddaughters Mary Jane and Layla May Corabi! How are you enjoying grandfatherhood?
CORABI: Yeah, they’re definitely a hand full man! I’m just sitting here laughing at my son, “He’s like oh my God!” He’s actually doing so good with them. He enjoys getting up and helping with the feedings, and he’s changing their diapers, and I’m like “Well, this is the fun part wait until they start saying shit like bike, shoes, doll (laughing), and so, you’d better be prepared for that son!” I just went and saw them yesterday.
KNAC.COM: Yeah, I saw a picture of you with one of them online yesterday.
CORABI: Yeah, that was Layla May. She was in a little better of a mood than Mary Jane was yesterday but they’re absolutely gorgeous! And you can tell, they’re just like “Baabaabaa," yeah know, they just want to talk! So, once they start figuring out how to form words, and sentences, they’re going to be a handful, it's going to be fun!
KNAC.COM: (both laughing) You'll make an awesome grandpa. Wait until they figure out how cool you are!
CORABI: (laughing) Wait until they figure out how to manipulate me! (laughing)
KNAC.COM: So, before we get into THE DEAD DAISIES upcoming release Burn It Down, I thought it would be fun just to kinda step back in time to explore your musical roots and to find out how you first got started in the music industry, who laid musical foundation and who first inspired you.
CORABI: Well honestly, hands down the first real inspiration that I had I would have to say would be THE BEATLES. I was just obsessed with them when I was younger, and I still am. So that was it. My parents got me an acoustic guitar, an old Sears Silvertone for probably $25 bucks back in the day, and I just started noodling around trying to figure out how to play THE BEATLES, and stuff that I grew up listening to; SIMON & GARFUNKEL, GLEN CAMPBELL, and just all of this stuff that my mom used to listen to. You know I did all, pretty much the same as anybody else I guess. But, I kinda started out as a guitar player and I did a school talent show and it was weird, like I was just playing guitar. The guy that was supposed to do the singing and stuff in the band actually got in trouble for something and he couldn’t do the talent show cause his parents grounded him or something or whatever. I wound up singing and we won and I think at that point, I was like “Oh, I think I can do this”, you know what I mean? We were doing stuff like “House of the Rising Sun” and THE MONKEES, STEPPING STONE and whatever. And that was basically my introduction into it and I’ve kinda had the bug ever since. My mom started getting me really cool records for Christmas and my birthday and I just became obsessed with bands like ZEPPELIN and DAVID BOWIE and old AEROSMITH and THREE DOG NIGHT, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, HENDRIX, and you know I just started becoming obsessed with it. I don't know why, but I always did well in school but I was just like “I don’t want to do this, I don't want to learn Algebra, I don’t want to learn how to dissect a frog, I just want to fucking learn how to dissect an A chord! (laughing) It was just an obsession since I was probably eleven, twelve, thirteen years old.
KNAC.COM: How did you get your first real professional start?
CORABI: I was actually in a band. My first wife Ian’s mother, I was in a band with her brother and honestly we called ourselves a band, but we never did anything other than play in his basement. And we were learning shit like ZEPPELIN, old ROD STEWART, we would do “Carry On Wayward Son", KANSAS, just what ever was on the radio at that point. And “Stone Cold Crazy” by QUEEN, and we’d just sit there. We would obviously go...there was a place in Philadelphia called Jeans On The Boulevard, The Penley Box and Heaven and all of these clubs, and we would go see bands. And a lot of times being the cocky little shits that we were, we would sit there and go “They are good, but we’re fucking better than them!” (laughing) So, then we went and we tried to get an agent, and we tried to book some shows. We eventually just started playing in the clubs just doing cover material. And basically I did that with my ex-wife’s brother for a little while, and then I graduated to a band that actually had guys in it. They were “The Big Cheeses” in that circuit! I graduated to the next band, then I graduated to the next band, and then I just kinda started going “Like well fuck, why am I...like as much as I love AEROSMITH and ZEPPELIN and QUEEN and all of this shit, why am I am I playing their stuff? I wanna write my own shit! And I sat down, and I made a very crude, rough attempt at writing a couple of songs and I eventually put a band together with two of the guys that were in a band called ANGORA with me and Johnny Dee who went on to be in BRITNY FOX and DORO, and all of that stuff. We put a band together and we started doing original material. At which point, I went “Philadelphia’s tapped out”. At the time there was really nowhere to play original material or not a lot of places. So, Johnny went out to California on a vacation, and he came back and he told me about this place where people have hair, like towering hair and the girls are walking around in scantily clad clothing and he said to me “There are all of these Sunset Strip clubs, and dude it's all original bands. Gazzarri’s, Troubadour, The Starwood, like all of these places!” He came back and he told me about RATT, POISON, and all of these bands, and I’m like “Okay, West it is!” We packed up and we just fucking moved West! I bought an old Philadelphia Fire Department ambulance, and I got a U-Haul trailer and me, my wife, my daughter, and our dog (laughing and singing) loaded up the car and moved to Beverly (laughing)! We were like the Beverly Hillbillies but from Philly! (both laughing)
KNAC.COM: What was the name of the first band that you finally put together there?
CORABI: It was all of the guys that I had in Philadelphia. Johnny Dee was going to come out with us, and then he wound up getting a different gig and decided at the eleventh hour to not go. So, I had a guy name Jimmy Marchiano. Jimmy came out with me, a guy name Frank Scimeca and then Johnny bailed and so we got a guy named Robert Iezzi and they all came from Philly. We came over the course of eight months or a year, everybody moved out. We went through a few different name changes. We couldn’t find anything that was substantial and so, we were called ANGORA for a little while. We actually did a KNAC...they did a record called Son of Pure Rock and we did that record and we were actually picking up quiet a bit of steam, and then we somehow managed to implode. It wasn’t just any one member, it was pretty much all of us. We were just partying and getting caught up in a bunch a stupid shit, and it just kinda imploded. We were getting like, just doing a little too much partying and not enough focus. So, we kinda imploded and then I left and with the help of a gentleman named John Greenberg, we wound-up putting THE SCREAM together and then just kinda went onward and upward!
KNAC.COM: Who is your favorite vocalists, guitarist or songwriter and why?
CORABI: I would have to say my favorite guitarist easily would be Jimmy Page. Love Jimmy and I love what he does in the studio. I know a lot of people knock him, whatever, but the guy is a fucking genius in the studio, like putting guitar parts to work with other guitar parts and different things like that. It's just, it's amazing! As far as vocalist and songwriter, I’m going to have to go with Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney to me is a genius songwriter, always has been. But the thing that kinda got me going very early on was there are two songs that Paul McCartney sang and actually later after he left THE BEATLES was easily “Oh Darling” off of the Abby Road record, and I just love how he does this thing with his voice, the tonality where he is singing the verses one way and then he does that thing in the bridge section where he kicks his voice into this weird gritty, raspy overdrive. I couldn’t put my finger on it as a kid, but I was like “I don’t know what I’m hearing right now, but I just love when this guy goes into that overdrive thing!” And then he did it again on a song called “Golden Slumbers”. He sang the verse, it was very pretty, and then when he got to the chorus he kicked it into that overdrive thing. And then he did it again on “Maybe I’m Amazed” where the verses are one way and then he just somehow finds this overdrive in his voice that’s just insane! So, I would have to say Paul McCartney is probably my favorite songwriter and singer.
KNAC.COM: So, let me ask you this: You’re talking about the vocal ranges and things like that. I know that there are a lot of artists that actually do some sort of vocal exercises. Do you do the same type of thing to maintain your vocals?
CORABI: Yeah, a little bit. The biggest thing with me is I just try to...like for me on the road the hardest thing is a) making sure I get enough sleep. So, I’ve kinda gotten myself to the point to when we’re touring there’s a lot of nights where we’ll get out of a club, and we’ll get back to the hotel at 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning and then we’ve gotta go and do a radio show in the morning at 7 or 8, and so I’m like “Uh, God!” And so, I’ll get up, I’ll knock it out, and then I’ll go back and I’ll sleep for a couple of hours again. Again, I just try to get as much sleep as I can. For me, if I’m tired the first thing to go is my voice. I start getting raspy, I can’t talk, my throat hurts, you know all of that shit! The second thing is, if I’m doing shows I don't drink anything alcoholic before. I’ll drink tea, lots of water, I just try to take care of myself that way. I recently quit smoking, and so I’m doing the vaping thing but I would try to not smoke too much because it effects your breathing. So, for me it's make sure you sleep, don't drink alcohol if I’m doing three, or four, or five nights in a row. I’ll make sure that even though a lot of times the guys will go to the bar at the
hotel, I know what my schedule is the next day so, I’ll go back to my room, I’ll just maybe put something on Netflix and just chill out and go to sleep. I just try to watch myself that way and then there are a little bit of vocal warmups that I’ll do before the show. Not too crazy, maybe for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, just do some vocal warmups to make sure all of the notes are there. And then when I get off, I don’t have the luxury of being able to do vocal warm downs because usually we do a Meet and Greet right afterwards. But, I’ll do the Meet and Greet and then go back and then just try and do a little bit of a warm down. But, the other big thing is to not talk a lot. Like these interviews that I’m doing, I’ve been on the phone since 10 in the morning and I’m going until 7 at night! And then I’ve got another full day tomorrow and a full day Sunday! So, come Monday, I’m not really singing right now, and so Monday I won’t do shit. I won’t do anything, like don’t talk to me, don’t even whatever! I’ll maybe go with my wife, and go get a massage or something like that, just chill out and relax, and then just stay at home and watch TV, no talking. You know there’s just a few little things that you pick up as you go, and let’s face it, I’m 86 going on 100 (laughing) and so I’ve kinda figured it out. If I haven’t figured it out by now, then I’m just a dumbass! (both laughing)
KNAC.COM: You were officially confirmed as a member of THE DEAD DAISIES in 2015 following that incredibly successful Cuban tour that you were a part of along with several other super talented musicians. It was during that visit to Cuba that the highly acclaimed documentary Revolucion was recorded. That was your first album and their second album and, I know I’m going a little bit backwards, but how did it feel knowing that you and THE DAISIES were one of the first American rock 'n roll bands to tour Cuba after former President Obama lifted the US Trade Restrictions?
CORABI: You know to be honest with you, I think that AUDIOSLAVE had gone over there before us.
KNAC.COM: And THE STONES, or did they go after?
CORABI: No, THE STONES came after because we took Bernard Fowler, the singer, and Darryl Jones the bass player came over with us. And a lot of the fans were like “Oh my God, there’s two guys from THE ROLLING STONES, will THE ROLLING STONES ever come over?” So, Darryl and Bernard were like “No, but there’s a possibility because we had a great time here! When we go back to America, we’re going to talk to Mick and Keith about it!” And so, apparently they went over a year later. I think our manager kinda helped with some of the introductions for THE STONES’ camp. You know, who you talk to and blah, blah, so I think he kinda set the whole thing up. We were trying to work it out where we could go over and play with them again, but the schedules didn’t work out and we just couldn’t get over there. But, you know honestly we didn’t really know what it was going to be like until we got there. We didn’t realize the magnitude of the whole thing and how much of a political thing that it was going to be! We were just like “Oh cool!” Like none of us had been to Cuba before or the whole new set of fans that we could go and play for. But it was crazy! People came from the whole entire fucking island, from the North, the South, the East, the West and they just blitz Havana! Like I said, we didn’t realize the magnitude until the very last night we played, and you know just from an historic point of view, we had Che Guevara’s (Leader of Cuban Guerrilla Troops for Fidel Castro and Military Advisor) sons come to the show and then Raul Castro’s (President of Cuba) sons also came to the show, and then I think it was like the Vice President or something of Cuba. He came, and he was like “You guys...thank you so much, hopefully this will increase better relations between our two countries.” And we’re all just like “Dude, what is happening right?” We just wanted to go play some rock n’roll! But, we had a great time! It was pretty awesome man just from a historical point of view. Like here’s this country that we have had no talk with or no association with since 1961, you know what I mean? So, it was pretty cool, and it's unfortunate now that they are reversing what Obama did. In some way without getting too political, I agree with what Obama said. Obama said there were all of these US Trade Restrictions and all of these things against Cuba, and he lifted those so that we could maybe come in from a different angle. Obviously, putting US Trade Restrictions on them for forty or fifty years, it's not working, it’s not happening. The relationship isn’t getting any better! So, let’s lift them and let's come to the table fresh and sit down and talk and see if there is some way that we can have a better relationship. You know in all honesty, a Communist country that is 90 miles from our shores, the last thing we want is whoever…Putin or whoever putting missiles back in Cuba! So, lets try and whatever. It is unfortunate now, I don't know if we’ll ever be able to go back again because, I guess those sanctions have been reinstated by the new White House so we’ll see. I would love to go back, those fans were starving for anything and everything rock 'n roll.
KNAC.COM: So, do you have a favorite Cuban dish now?
CORABI: You know honestly, I loved the food there! And it's weird, like right around the corner from my house, I live in Nashville, TN, and there’s this place that my wife and I go to all the time called Plaza Mariachi. And it's not just Cuban, it’s not Mexican, it's just everything latin. So there’s some Brazilian stuff in there, and there's some Cuban foods in there and it's the one restaurant where they mix all different latin vibes in with their meals and so you can order Carne Asada (Grilled Beef) which would be technically Mexican but then they serve it with Plantains which is more Caribbean and Cuban. And then they may do black beans and rice, but they have these potatoes that are made the way the Brazilians prepare potatoes, and they are very Brazilian. So, it's pretty cool, I love going to the place, and the food is amazing! When we were there (Cuba) we ate some insane food, it was awesome!
KNAC.COM: There have been a few band members that have rotated in and out of the band. Is the current line up with you Doug (Aldrich), Marco (Mendoza), David (Lowy) and now Deen (Castronovo) a permanent one?
CORABI: You know, it's always...the thing of it is, I think in all honesty the lineup would have been exactly the same had Richard (Fortus) and Dizzy (Reed) not gotten the call to go back to GNR (GUNS N’ ROSES). We were very happy with that lineup! It's unfortunate though, like that’s part of it, you get the caliber of musicians that you have in this band and they’re always in demand! Brian (Tichy) for example is always in demand, people want him to come out and do a tour or they want him to come out and do a record or they want him to do this. You know, in all due respect, he deserves it, he earned it, and he’s an amazing player! So last year when we were...you know we’d have a few breaks here and there, Brian went out and he did a few shows with (Steven) Tyler’s solo band. Steven called him and said; “Hey can you do this?” He also got a call to go do some stuff with Don Felder from THE EAGLES. And you know Brian’s a bit of a fan too, and we were happy for him but he was kind of gloating and he goes kidding around “What guy in this band can actually say that he’s played with FOREIGNER, WHITESNAKE, Steven Tyler and Don Felder?” And we’re like "yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it, it's you!" And so, whatever (laughing)! But when we were getting ready to start the album he realized that he had so much shit on his plate. He wanted to do a solo record, he did a solo Christmas record, and then he had a bunch of stuff lined up you with Don Felder and I believe Mick Jones (FOREIGNER), I’m not sure. But he had some things lined up and it was going to conflict. So Brian just pulled himself out, and he said; “Hey thanks for everything, I had a great time, but at this point in my life I want to go in this direction.” And we were like “Okay dude, good luck with everything!” We’re still friends but then we all said, “All right, Brian’s got some seriously big shoes to fill.” And Doug and Marco went 'We know the guy, let’s give Deen a call!” And obviously in his own right, Deen is just as much of a monster on drums as Brian is and he sings his ass off as well! So, we haven’t missed a beat man, it's been awesome!
KNAC.COM: Let’s get into the new release Burn It Down. What was the creative process like for the new record?
CORABI: Same as the last two! We literally walk into a studio, management goes “We need a new record!” And we go, “Okay cool!” We get together in a writing room for about a week, ten days, and everybody just starts putting ideas on the table, and then whatever ones everybody gravitates to that’s the ones that we work with. And it's crazy, but we will literally write like 15 or 20...I call them loose maps. We literally write 15 or 20 loose maps, then we sit in with Marti (Martin Frederiksen, THE DEAD DAISIES' Producer) and we sift through and we kind of go “Okay, here’s the strongest twelve, let's work on these!” And then we just start tracking, and pretty much every record we've done we've written it, recorded it, mixed it, mastered it, did the artwork, and everything in five weeks!
KNAC.COM: Does every band member have a part in the actual songwriting process as well?
CORABI: We all chip in together! Like I don't play guitar in the band, I just do a little acoustic here and there, but when we’re sitting in the room we’re all holding guitars, and we’re mapping out the songs together. And then, when it comes time for me to start working on melodies or start working on lyrics everybody...like even if I’m in a pinch, and I’m like “Fuck, I’ve got nothing to talk about here”, somebody will come in and go “Well, how about this?” And I’ll be like “Okay bing!”...light bulbs goes off and then...Now on this last record, we actually worked it out where we tracked from like 11 or 12 o'clock till about 5, 6, or 7 o’clock, and then we would do lyric hour and even if it was just listening to the song, or somebody giving me a direction, everybody chipped in, everybody was throwing lines at me or a word or a title, and we just kinda did it all together, every part of it. Even Doug, like Doug will come in and he’ll do a guitar solo, and he'll go “Crab, let me talk to you for a minute.” And I’ll go in and go “What do you think of this?” It's pretty easy because he’ll be like “What do you think of this?” And I can go “Oh, it's fucking awesome or hey it's really awesome, but what if at the end you did this?” And he’s like “Okay, cool, awesome!” And so it's very communal, it's really fucking easy with these guys! I've never worked on records ever in my entire career the way I do with these guys!
KNAC.COM: It definitely translates to the stage too! The onstage chemistry that you have together is obvious.
CORABI: Yes! We’re just...we know that we’re not coming up with a cure for Global Warming, or cancer or World Peace or whatever. All we’re there to do is rock out, have some fun and put a smile on everybody’s face for an hour or two. And at the end of the show, we sit at a table and we used to sign for everybody in the club, but it started getting out of hand and the clubs were like “Fuck, it's 5 o’clock in the morning guys we wanna fucking go home!” And so now we’ve had to limit it to the first 50 or 75 or 100 people in the door. But, we’ll do a quick thing and we go “Hey man thanks for coming, thanks for your support, hope you had a good time, 'Thank you!”
KNAC.COM: What is the overall message or theme of Burn It Down?
CORABI: Well, it's basically “Burn It Down” is one of the tracks on the record, and the theme of the track. It's basically, and I think we’re all guilty of this at one point or another in lives, but the theme is about somebody that just sits and whines and bitches and complains about something, but really never does anything about it. You know what I mean?
KNAC.COM: Yeah, for sure!
CORABI: Listen, I’ve done it, we’ve all done it as well. Whether it's “This fucking relationship just isn’t working!” And you whine and you bitch and complain, but you just don't have the balls to go “You know what sweetie this relationship just isn’t working. I love you, but it's just not working.” And so, we’re all guilty of it at some point. And “Burn It Down” is just sitting there going “You’re whining, you’re complaining, but you’re not doing anything about it, and nothing is going to happen until you strike a match burn this shit to the ground and start over!”
KNAC.COM: Is that your favorite song?
CORABI: You know it's hard to say. I know its cliché, but that’s like picking which one of my fingers do I like better. Personally, I do like my “fuck you finger", but whatever! (laughing) But it's just...like overall I don’t look at one song and go “That’s my favorite!” and play it over and over, I just look at the record as a whole, and I think it's like that with every record that I've done with THE DEAD DAISIES. I’m very proud of the records that we’ve done cause overall, I think that they’ve been an overall body of great work, and it's been great. It's the same with this one, it's a little bit of a departure from anything that we’ve done in the past. I think this record is a little more aggressive at times, a little heavier, but I think overall it’s not so heavy where we sacrificed melody. I think there’s melody on it, it's heavy, it's ballsy, it's aggressive, but I think that it's a good mix of a lot of different things. There’s a ballad on it, there are some low moments, some high moments, but still overall it's aggressive, and I think lyrically it's pretty fucking awesome.
KNAC.COM: Are there currently any plans to release a music video for any of the songs?
CORABI: I don’t know, I haven’t quite heard anything? I’m surprised to be honest with you. We finished this record right before Christmas, and the fact that they were releasing a teaser song at the end of January and we’re releasing this record in April it's pretty quick to me. But, ummm you know we’ll see, I don’t know. Management, they’re usually pretty good about doing videos and about different things like that. I’ll find out what their plan is when we get to New York.
KNAC.COM: By the way, I love all of the live videos, the videos from everywhere you go, and especially the travel videos. I don’t know who the videographer is, but he or she does an amazing job of capturing what you do!
CORABI: And that’s what the management kind of figured out in the very, very beginning. They basically were like “There is no MTV, really no radio, the days of KNAC and KLOS don’t exist anymore for bands like us. So, they kinda figured out in the beginning when they were sitting around at restaurants and they see entire families walk in, and they were all on Facebook or Instagram, or Twitter so they were like “Okay that's the avenue we need to go in.” YouTube is the new (Music) MTV, and Facebook, and Instagram, all that stuff! And so, they just said; “This is going to be a family, we’re going to use these social media sites to make our fans a part of the journey” and it's working. We have a great relationship with our fans. Our fans now have even branched off to doing their own personal pages for us. There’s THE DAISY CHAIN GANG, THE DEAD DAISIES CHILE, and BRAZIL, it's just so fucking awesome! It's this whole new avenue of promoting yourself that I'm still not totally good at, but they’ve got it figured out.
KNAC.COM: With that said, what is your all-time favorite DEAD DAISIES song to perform and why?
CORABI: I would have to say just for the message, and just because of some recent things that have been happening, I’d have to say “With You and I”. It's originally on the Revolucion record, but we did record it on the live album (Live & Louder), and I just think the message is again, without getting political or taking a piss out of anybody’s politics because you know whether your conservative or liberal, personally I just don't like the namecalling, I don't like the divisiveness that’s in our country right now. I hate to see racism, I hate to see anybody judge anybody over their religions. Basically what I'm saying in that song is we need to keep changing as people, not just in The United States, but all over the world. We’re the people that put all our leaders in office, and we need to stand united and we need to be able to talk to one another in an adult sense, and we need to hold them accountable for things that they do. And that’s what I say in the song, “It's time for us to change. Can we change the way we’re going? It's time for us to change, and it starts With You and I.”
KNAC.COM: Outside of THE DEAD DAISIES, you also have your solo project. Are there any new band updates, or any planned releases, or a tour coming up with your band?
CORABI: Right now I’ve been doing acoustic shows and I’ve just released that MOTLEY Live ’94 thing (John Corabi One Night In Nashville Live ’94). To be honest with you, all of the guys in my band did a great job figuring out all of the parts! I mean at times, they had to tell me what I played! But they did a great job, and I'm especially proud of my son Ian. I think he nailed the Tommy Lee parts, he did an awesome job! That's out now and it's going really well. Apparently they just sent me a thing and it's actually charting on Billboard and so I couldn’t be happier about that! Right now it's just word-of-mouth, I haven’t even really done any press for it except for a few of these interviews with THE DAISIES when somebody’s asked me about it but it's killer man I’ve got a great year coming up. That record came out in January. It's called One Night in Nashville Live ’94, and Burn It Down is coming April 6th and then I just had a record label contact me about a month ago called Rock Candy out of London and they are re-releasing THE SCREAM album! John Corabi is going to have a very busy year!
KNAC.COM: What is the best social media platform to reach out to you and can the fans expect to hear directly from you, or some of the band members?
CORABI: Yeah, for THE DAISIES we’re on Instagram, we’re on Facebook, there’s www.THEDEADDAISES.COM that's got all of the tour stuff, merch, like everything and anything DAISIES is on there, and it's updated daily. We’re always doing videos for Facebook and Instagram and different things like that, and little articles. But, yes! We're very active on it, we’re constantly doing things! And then as far as I’m concerned, I’m on Facebook and Instagram for my solo stuff. And when I have something to say, I'm not one of these guys that takes a picture of my breakfast and goes “Hey look what…”. You know, I’m not that guy. But if I have something that's irritating me, or bugging me, or I want to say something that’s political, or I want to say something about how awesome my family is, or my band or whatever, I’ll say it and then I go away. But yeah, I have my John Corabi personal page, and I have The John Corabi Music Page, it's all out there!
KNAC.COM: THE DAISIES have performed on three of the KISS Kruises. Do you plan on making your way back on board for another one?
CORABI: Well, we can’t just show up. Paul and Gene have to pick the phone up and invite us or Doc (McGhee, KISS’ Manager). But we had a blast doing them. The KISS fans have been...I mean obviously I have a really long history with them, between UNION, THE ERIC SINGER PROJECT (ESP) that I did, and now THE DAISIES. I’ve got a very long relationship with those guys so I’m all for doing those kruises, and it's nothing but a good time when we’re there. It’s a lot of fun!
KNAC.COM: Have they reached out to you about the KISS Kruise VIII yet?
CORABI: Not that I know of. But like I said earlier, we haven’t even started rolling and so I'm sure once we get going and we get into rehearsals, our management will usually give us some sort of a rough layout of what we’re going to do for the whole year. So, we’ll probably find out in April, or May if we’re doing it or not.
KNAC.COM: When do you plan on touring here in the states?
CORABI: Sometime this summer, I think? I can’t be sure, but I know our management has already talked with us about looking for an opening act for America, and they said they were trying to put together like a five or six week run which would be awesome! I would love to go out and do some shows here in America. This is where we’re from, you know what I mean? I love the fact that we’ve definitely got a stronghold on Europe, Japan, and South America, but “there’s no place like home”. I would love to be as successful here as we are everywhere else. It’s growing but we’ll see.
KNAC.COM: So, why is it that you think so many bands that are from here have to go overseas to get noticed, and to build their fan base? What’s changed here?
CORABI: To be honest with you, there is no MTV anymore, and there is no radio. I think the big thing...and I’m just as guilty of it as the next person, but a lot of times my wife will go “Hey do you wanna go see this band at the blah, blah, blah in like three weeks?” And I’m like “Yeah, sure!” Then she gets home from work, I get home from doing whatever I’m doing, we sit down on the couch, we’ll have a little dinner, turn the TV on and then you fall into this “Ugh, do I really want to get off of the couch?” I mean honey we’ve got like 1300 channels to choose from and then you’ve got On Demand with every movie on earth. So, I think there is just a little bit more stimulation here in America. You know to get somebody to put a remote down and go pay for gas, tickets, t-shirts, drinks like all of that stuff, it's a little difficult. Obviously America’s coming along nicely, it's maybe a little later to the party then the rest of the world, but it's coming, and so we’ll see. I think this year's going to be a big year for the band and we’ll see what happens.
KNAC.COM: So then you don't think that rock 'n roll is dead here at all yet, right?
CORABI: No, no, and I do know that Gene Simmons said that a few years ago and it rubbed people the wrong way, but I think what Gene meant when he said that is “Rock n’roll is dead” is the days of bands getting $200,000, $300,000. $400,000 and million dollar deals are gone, they’re gone! And I think the days of bands doing a record and then doing a video, and getting it on MTV and contacting a radio department, and getting a hundred radio stations or two hundred radio stations to play a song, that’s gone! And I think what’s happened is KISS is still touring, KISS is still bringing in huge audiences at the end of the day, though I think what's changed is the method of letting people know you've got a record out. People have had to readjust the way they think. So, when I think Gene said it's dead, I don’t think he meant music because the fans are showing up, I think it's the methods that are dead. The methods are different, and the bands that don’t learn to adapt and learn to move forward in a different direction, it's the “Kiss of Death” for them, you know what I mean? And so, that’s all.
KNAC.COM: Is there a special message that you would like to extend to your DEAD DAISIES and solo band fans?
CORABI: Honestly as far as THE DEAD DAISIES fans go, I can’t thank the fans enough for supporting the band the way they have, and then even for my fans that have been with me since the days of THE SCREAM. We’re all very blessed, even THE DAISIES guy! We’ve been doing this for 20, 25, 30 years, and the fact that we’re still here and fans are still coming, and there is still...you know, they still give a shit about what we’re all doing 30 years into our career. We are all very blessed and we thank everybody for that!
Social Media
The Dead Daisies Official Website: http://thedeaddaisies.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheDeadDaisies
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDeadDaisies
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John Corabi Official Website: https://www.johncorabimusic.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnCorabiMusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Crablegs59
