JOHN CORABI IS BACK WITH THE DEAD DAISIES!
The band will release a Best Of album on August 18, followed by a tour of the States and Canada. The band, made up Corabi on Vocals, Doug Aldrich and David Lowy on guitars, Brian Tichy on drums and Michael Devin on bass, is celebrating 10 years together, albeit with several different members, including Richard Fortus, Dizzy Reed and Glenn Hughes, to name a few.
John was kind enough to join me for his third chat with Let’s Rock, and talked about rejoining The Dead Daisies, old school singers, David Lowy, and much more.
Note: Let’s Rock is in bold text, John Corabi is plain text
Photo credits”
Pictures of John Corabi: Katarina Bendoza
Group Photo: David Pear
Hey, boss. How you doing?
I’m good. How are you?
Dude, I’m alright. Is that a Daisies background behind you?
Of course it is.
Wow. Look at you.
I love the Daisies. What can I say?
Awesome, brother. Thank you.
Actually, you know what? The last time I saw you was with a bunch of Hookers and Blow in Ottawa.
Yes. That was a very interesting tour. What i remember of it.
That was a great night. That was an awesome show.
Yeah, I love those guys. Dizzy (Reed, keyboards with GnR and Hookers & Blow), obviously, you know, he’s an extended family member with the Daisies. And I’ve actually done some shows with…Years ago, I played guitar and sang some stuff with an early incarnation of Hookers & Blow. So there was definitely some debauchery on that that run.
It was awesome. It was a really fun night. So, welcome back to Let’s Rock and congratulations. You’re a Daisy again.
Yes, sir.
How did that happen? What’s going on?
Honestly, I kind of saw that Glenn (Hughes) was doing his 50th anniversary of the (Deep Purple) Burn album and he had made some sort of post, probably six or seven months ago, that he might be doing some shows with BCC (Black Country Communion). And it was weird, you know, David Lowy just gave me a call and he said, ‘hey dude, I hope you enjoyed your three years off. Um, do you want to come back?’ And i was like, ‘yes’. We went out. We had dinner together and and we just kind of sat and bullshitted about a bunch of stuff and I was happy to come back, you know? I mean, i didn’t leave on bad terms with the band. It was just the schedules. Just crazy. Prior to me leaving, you know, we were doing acoustic sets and we were just booked like crazy. I just needed a little bit of a breather. And to be honest with you, again, my son was in my other ear yelling at me going, ‘Dad, when are we going to do some fucking shows together again.’ So I took off. I went out and I did some solo shows acoustically and I did some shows with my solo band overseas. And then covid hit. And then I sat for three years, like everybody else, just waiting to get the green light to go back to work. David called and he said, ‘hey, man, do you want to come back?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to.’ So we sat down, we worked it out and here I am.
There you go. It’s a really interesting concept for a band, isn’t it? I mean you guys have had almost as many member changes as Spinal Tap, but yours is on purpose.
Yeah. Look at the end of the day. David is a very smart, man. He’s obviously a genius when it comes to business and he’s always had a desire to play music as well. He kind of arrived a little late in the game, but he’s always played guitar. He’s always had that. It’s always been there. And he put together a bunch of guys that he can go out and he could have some fun with, but also knowing, too, that a lot of the guys that he was picking and he was working with also had busy schedules. So, they call it a collective. Obviously, when i joined the band, Dizzy and Richard (Fortus) were in the band, but they had had like two or three years off, four years off from Guns and Roses. And David knew that. He brought him in and the idea was: come on in. Let’s do something here. Let’s go have some fun. And you know what, if you have to go back to Guns and Roses, just let me know. Give me a heads up and we’ll figure it out.
So, It’s pretty open, you know what I mean? If something comes up… Well, i’ve got a few things in the work that i spoke to David about. I’m actually developing a TV show and some different things like that, and i just said, look man, hopefully you know this won’t interfere with this, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
So we’re just having fun. It was great. I rehearsed with the band a couple weeks ago. First time in three or four years. We’ve still got some rust to shake off, but it sounded awesome. It’s going to be a lot of fun, man. It’s going to be cool.
It’s like riding a bike.
Yeah. And I do want to say something though. Something irritates me about a lot of these people that have written about the Daisies, and, I’ve said this before. It irritates me that a lot of people look at this thing and their first assumption is that it’s just some billionaire that’s got some fucking mid-life crisis, and he’s just out trying to do his thing. And i’ve said this before, and i’m going to say it again, you know? Yes. David is who he is. And he could be a guy that says, ‘you know what, i’m going to pay all you guys, I want you guys to write all the music and then i’m just going to come on stage and just stand there like a rock star and enjoy the limelight.’ But he’s not. He is literally there every step of the way. And, he actually contributes to this thing. He’s in the studio with us working on the songs, he’s tearing songs apart. Prime example, is Long Way To Go. That intro guitar riff is David’s riff. He had the riff, he brought it to us. He’s like, ‘man, i think this is really cool.’ And then we all get into a room together and we bash that riff out for multiple hours and we develop it and make it a song and then we go in together and we record it and David plays in the studio and he plays live.
So this isn’t, ‘go do that, go write the song,’ you know what I mean? He’s absolutely there with us. He’s contributing. He’s a great dude and I wish people would just shut the fuck up and enjoy it for what it is: Four, five friends, getting together, writing the best music they can and just goin’ out and having a fucking grand old time.
Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Basically. Yeah.
Now, you have a new greatest hits album coming out, what is it? August 18th, i think, right?
Yeah, it comes out august 18th, but the pre-orders starts actually today (June 2).
Right? I saw that. I was just gonna mention that. Now, this is kind of an interesting thing to me. What is the thinking behind a greatest hits album this in this day and age?
You know, I don’t think I’d call it a greatest hits. You know, we’re not Aerosmith. We’re not The Rolling Stones or anything like that. Honestly, it’s celebrating this last 10 years. I mean it’s crazy. Now when I saw the press release and I was talking to the manager, I said, ‘holy shit man, i can’t believe the fucking Daisies been around now, 10 years’. A lot has happened in the 10 years. You know, i’m coming back. Hopefully, we’re going to get into the studio and work on a new record, hopefully next year. It’s just a, ‘hey man, we’re celebrating 10 years. Here’s what we’ve done. Here’s some of the stuff that we’ve done up to this point.’
It’s just a marker, it’s a 10-year marker. It is what it is. It’s a great album because it really just kind of encapsulates all the the different lineups and all this different stuff that’s happened over the last 10 years and it’s killer. I love the songs that are on it. I love John Stevens’ voice. I love Glenn Hughes’ voice. It’s just like, ‘hey, here’s what we’ve done so far… more to come.’
You just answered my next question. That means you are working on new music together. Good.
Yeah, I mean at some point. At this point, if I can be frank, I went up to New York with the guys and it was like a week of just fucking off and having some fun. Me and all the guys, at the end of the day, we’d go to this little restaurant next door to our hotel, and you know, there was a few nights that we closed the bar. And we just kind of hung out. We had some Guinness and we had some shots and just laughing and goofing off and telling stories about things that happened three or four or five years ago, you know. But in all honesty, right now our main focus is just blowing the dust and the rust off a lot of these old songs that even they hadn’t done in three or four years since i left, right? So there is music to come. I’ve got ideas. Doug said he’s got a bunch of ideas. We’ve all got home studios now. So my next step is, mine was kind of…I took it down, I was doing some remodelling in my house, you know, but I’m putting my studio back together. And I’ve got a ton of ideas that I’m going to send off to the guys, just to see what sticks, but I feel very confident in saying that there will be new music coming soon.
Good, you know, I’m glad you mentioned Glenn. I was reading your autobiography. And there was a quote in there that really made me think, and it was when Hughes came into the studio and just ripped through a song in no time at all. And your quote was, I’m going to read this so I don’t mess up. “That’s the difference between the old school guys and the guys now. He literally came in and just fucking nailed it.’ And it made me think, is there…I mean, you’re one of the old school guys, too. No offence. I mean, I hope that doesn’t…
No, no.
What’s the difference?
You know, here’s the thing, especially now. I kind of arrived late to the party. But in that three years, that we were all sitting at home playing with her balls, during covid. I thought I was very productive. I wrote the book. And thenI took some classes on how to use Pro Tools. Now I’m kicking myself in the ass. I wish I would have learned it 10 or 15 years ago because I’d be a fucking master at it right now. But, you know, the thing that irritates me is and I think you see it, it’s a little more prevalent… there’s a handful of artists that still approach things in an old school manner. But if you look at a lot of the stuff now, the technology is so much greater now than it was back in the 70s, late 60s, 70s, all the shit. And I think that what I meant by that comment is how many times have you gone and heard a record, and went ‘holy shit. This fucking band or this singer kicks ass.’? And then you go see them live, and you realize, ‘oh, okay. They used the shit out of things like auto-tune, time correcting the drums, pitch correcting all the notes on the guitar. And I just don’t believe in that. I just had a kid, a young kid and no, disrespect to him, but he was listening to one of my songs that i released while I was out of the band. I released a song called Your Own Worst Enemy and, he heard the song and he’s like, ‘wow man, this is great. So when you do your vocals, do you sing with auto-tune?’ And i’m like, ‘no.’ And he goes, ‘well, how do you do your vocals?’ And i go, ‘I just sing it until I get it fucking right.’ And he’s like, ‘oh, dude, you gotta just run it through auto-tune’, and i’m like, ‘No. I’m just going to do it my way. I’m gonna sing the motherfucker until i get it right.’ You know, the rhythm and the pitch and all that other kind of shit and that’s the thing. You sit down and you look at bands like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or Queen or Zeppelin…I mean Zeppelin did their first album in a day. 24 hours. So that tells you that they went in, they wrote those songs, they rehearsed them. And then they went into the studio and they fucking laid it down and Robert Plant stepped up to the microphone and he sang his dick off.
So, as great as all of the advancements are in recording, I think that people, a lot of people now tend to use it as a crutch. Then you as the buyer, you go buy a record and you’re like, ‘oh my god, this is fucking brilliant.’ And then you go see the band and you’re like, ‘hey fuck. Okay, that singer was horrible or that singer wasn’t that great.’
And now now we’ve got that, what do you call it, the AI shit? Was it Drake or something, just released…it’s like a Drake track. And he didn’t even sing it. It’s like a robot fucking synthetically recreated his voice. And they put it on a track and it’s like the number one fucking single or some shit. It’s crazy. It’s selling gazillions of records. And i’m like, ‘this is just….’
So I like the old school guys like Glenn when he came in. He listened to the song two or three times. He made some notes, he stepped up to the microphone and he fucking sang it once through. (Producer) Bob (Rock) asked him to do it one more time just for good keeping. He did it and he left and he gave everybody a hug and he walked out and it was fucking brilliant. Brilliant. So i kind of look to those guys, the old school guys.
And nowadays, the technology is so good, you seriously cannot tell if it’s been fiddled with or not.
Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know what the hell was going on. I just saw a news report. One of the news stations ran this thing about AI redoing this Drake track. And then there was a list of like five or ten songs that artists had done that they didn’t actually sing. They basically load all their music in, the AI sits and listens to the voice, figures out the tones, the tenor, the phrasing, all that shit, and then just goes in and recreates a vocal track and I go, ‘what the fuck?’ It’s crazy.
Think of all the time you can save.
True. I could literally do a record while I’m on tour and never be in the studio. Awesome.
You could do a record today.
Yeah, but you know what? I love the technology but again, it’s not really fair. I’m sorry, it’s not really fair to the record buyer. You’re buying something that i had nothing to do with.
And that’s what i loved about seeing the Daisies last time. When i saw you guys in Ottawa, it sounded identical to the record. The guitar sound was the same. The voice was the same. It was the way rock and roll should be. You weren’t hiding anything.
Well, and trust me, there was glitches, you know. I don’t want perfect. I want personality. And it’s funny. I posted something…It’s on my Instagram page. I have to figure it out, but it said something like, music fans don’t want perfection. They want to feel something when they go to a show, And that that’s what we kind of prided ourselves on.
It was like when we got together, and I’m only speaking for my tenure with the band, but when we got together, we made it feel like, or tried to make it feel like a fucking party. It was a party. I want you to help me sing. I want Doug to help me. I want everybody to be involved in this thing, and that’s what we went for. I think we achieved it. And I’m looking forward to going back out and doing the same thing all over again. Let’s just make it a fucking party where everybody comes and has fun. Because Lord knows, after three years of covid and having to get up every day, nine to five and work your job, you want to come and you want to have some fucking fun.
Absolutely absolutely. But before that, real quick because I know you’ve got other stuff to do. What is it? Two weeks and you’re out on the road with Tom Keifer and Winger.
Yes. You know what though? I’m so embracing it after, like I said, three years of covid. I literally start August 15th. I go… or not August 15th.
June 15th
June 15, thank you. I go to July 15th in Chicago. the 16th, I fly to New York, rehearse again with the Daisies for another week, fly home, get back in my vehicle, go to Dallas and finish up the tour.
We do Texas, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois. Indiana. Back to Nashville, finish up at the Ryman Theater, the legendary Ryman Theater. And then, come home that night after the show, unpack, repack, and fly right out for the Daisies. We start the tour like three or four days later.
And Canada late August… mid to late August in Canada.
Um, yes, I think we have a couple shows in America and then we head up to Canada. And I’m actually looking forward to it because, there’s parts of Canada that…. oddly enough, I did the Motley (Crue) record in Vancouver, right? Never played there. I’ve never done one show in Vancouver with any of the bands I’ve ever been in. So I’m looking forward to it.
Playing there this time though. Nice. Awesome. John. Thanks for this, man. This is amazing and I’m looking forward to seeing you guys on August 30th in Ottawa. Good luck with the tour with Tom Keifer and Winger. And good luck with the release of the greatest hits.
Awesome, buddy. Thank you.
Thank you.
Members
John Corabi – Vocals
Doug Aldrich – Guitar
David Lowy – Guitar
Brian Tichy – Drums
Michael Devin – Bass
Albums
Revolución (2015)
Make Some Noise (2016)
Burn It Down (2018)
Holy Ground (2021)
Radiance (2022)
Let's Rock 