JOHN CORABI Talks MÖTLEY CRÜE – “I Wish They Left Me Out Of The Dirt Movie”

September 24, 2021, 2 years ago

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JOHN CORABI Talks MÖTLEY CRÜE – “I Wish They Left Me Out Of The Dirt Movie”

80’s Glam Metalcast caught with former Mötley Crüe vocalist John Corabi to discuss his new single “Cosi Bella”, his relationship with his ex-bandmates, his new book, and more.

On his new song “Cosi Bella – So Beautiful” and more new music that’s on the way:

“It’s a little out of my wheelhouse. Some fans said it wasn’t what they were expecting from me. It’s a song I was working on with Marti Frederickson for the ‘Burn It Down’ sessions for the Dead Daisies. I offered it to them, and they passed on it. In their defense, it was a pretty much only a rough demo recorded on my phone at that point. I love the song and I thought it would a good first track to release. Now I have no parameters. I used to have to think, is this a song that would work for The Scream, for Motley, for Union or The Dead Daises. Now I’m pretty much wide open and I can do what I want. There’s more music that I have already recorded, and I have some brand-new ideas for some more. There’s plenty of stuff coming.”

On his new book -and what the guys in Mötley Crüe will think of it:

“The book is coming out early next year. I worked with Crue Author Paul Miles. Paul is amazing. The Motley stuff is like 30 years ago. I’d say that certain things happened on certain dates, and he would say “I don’t think that’s right”! He researched everything...dates, times, all that shit. I don’t really think I’m telling people anything they don’t already know. The book goes through me joining the band, being in the band, and leaving the band. It goes through my mental state and the state of my ulcers as certain things were happening. I explain how I fit with the band, but then I never really did fit with them. 

“I don’t think it says anything that will surprise anybody. I don’t mean this to sound weird, but I don’t really care what those guys think. When they brought Vince back, I accepted everything. It’s not me that’s the one that keeps bringing it up. I’m past it, I’m over it. I didn’t really want to do a book. Paul kinda talked me into it. Paul said, “Aside from a few chapters in The Dirt, you’re largely a mystery and there’s not a lot of stuff that people know about you”. He thought my story was fascinating, so I was like ok.... we’ll do it. It’s called “Horseshoes and Hand Grenades” and it’s about perseverance and about someone who’s been close a lot. At all the right places at all the wrong times!”

His only beef with Mötley Crüe:

“It may not seem it, but I don’t have any issues with the guys in Motley at all. I love those guys. I don’t know why Nikki’s had a hair up his ass about me in recent years. I couldn’t tell you…don’t know, don’t care. My only beef with those guys, is I wish they left me out of The Dirt movie. I don’t know if it was intentional or unintentional…but my portrayal in the movie made me look like a funking babbling moron. They also made it look like we were playing high school gymnasiums for five people. It wasn’t great, but the attendance wasn’t that bad. I wish they would have left me out of the movie all together. It is what it is though.”

“Cosi Bella’ came about from a writing session I did with Marti for The Dead Daisies Burn It Down record,” states Corabi. “I had the initial verse idea, and a chorus that didn’t quite work for the tune. I played it for Marti, and he liked the idea but gave me a better idea for the chorus. We recorded the rough idea on my phone, with both of us just scatting the melody. The Daisies heard the idea but felt it didn’t quite fit their format, so I put it to bed for a bit. After leaving the band in 2019, I started to revisit old ideas I had and sat down and recorded the track. Being new to ProTools, I took the song as far as I could and sent it to Marti to produce. I explained the song was musically inspired to a degree by ‘Penny Lane’ by The Beatles and ‘Killer Queen’ by Queen, so Marti and his son Evan recut the drums and bass, and added some horns, and sprinkled their magical fairy dust on the track to give it that shiny polished sound! I wrote the lyrics, and after singing the song, I felt ‘So Beautiful’ was kind of an average title, so I looked those words up in a translation app and found it in Italian (Cosi Bella) and felt it had a nice ring to it! It’s not what some people truly expect from me, but I LOVE the way the song turned out, and it’s just a happy little upbeat love song with a twist! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.”

John Corabi is a true Journeyman in the hard rock world, including stints as lead vocalist for The Scream, Mötley Crüe, The Eric Singer Project (ESP), Union, The Dead Daisies, and as guitarist for Ratt.  



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