Dead Daisies: John Corabi on singing BB King, band lineup changes, and those "billionaire's hobby" jibes

Dead Daisies outside Fame Studios — (Image credit: The Dead Daisies/Press)

John Corabi is perhaps best known for his short spell fronting Mötley Crüe in the 90s, but his career has seen plenty of twists and turns.

Currently, the affable Philadelphia rocker is with The Dead Daisies, having left in 2019 to rejoin in 2023. The band released their seventh album, Light ’Em Up, in 2024, and released a covers record, Lookin’ For Trouble, full of Daisy-fied takes on blues standards, in May. We caught up with Corabi.

You had a few years away. Is anything different with the Daisies of today?

Honestly, it’s like I never left. From joining the band [in 2015], it was tour, tour, tour, do a record, then back on tour. I felt like I needed to tap out for a second. But we were all still in contact – it wasn’t an argument or “Fuck you, guys, I’m out”. When Glenn Hughes decided to do Black Country Communion and his Deep Purple things, David Lowy [Daisies founder and rhythm guitarist] called and said: “Hey dude, do you wanna get back to work?”

The band have had so many line-up changes that there’s actually a separate Wikipedia page keeping track.

It’s a little misleading. I would say about ninety per cent of the names on there are friends of ours that have filled in for somebody because of scheduling or a health thing, but there’s always kind of been a core band.

Was it daunting stepping up to sing songs done by BB King and Robert Johnson?

Of course. I’ve had a few people tell me they like my approach on [The Thrill Is Gone]. We tried to make it a bit slower and more airy, but it’s one of those songs where you can’t really change the melody. It’s such a classic. I don’t sound anything like BB King so I did my own thing.

The Dead Daisies - The Thrill Is Gone (Visualizer) - YouTube

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You’re sixty-five now. How have you kept your voice in shape?

I do some dumb shit – I like having cocktails – but I never drink before a show. I try to make sure I get enough sleep, especially with travelling. But I think part of it is that I didn’t really abuse myself early on in my career. I’ve never been a drug guy; never did coke, never did meth. People will say to me: “Dude, cocaine in the eighties, right?!” And I’m like: “I wouldn’t have been able to tell you”.

David Lowy comes from a family of businesspeople worth billions. Does that ever come up in conversation?

With David, you’d never know it. We’ve become very good friends. He’s so humble, and I don’t know anybody who works as hard as he does. I’ve taken offence to comments like: “Oh, it’s just some fucking billionaire’s hobby”. Every record we’ve done, he’s been in the studio for every minute, pulling his hair out as much as everyone else. David’s blessed to have a creative brain and a business brain, and uses both really well.

You published an autobiography, Horseshoes And Hand Grenades, in 2022.

My buddy Paul [Miles, co-author] was saying that I do a bunch of press for a new record, then I disappear, and that there’s a lot of fans out there who would like to know what makes me tick. It was very therapeutic, reliving some things again from a more mature viewpoint. And one thing I figured out is that I don’t have any regrets. But there were a few times when I read things back and had a bit of a knot in my stomach, so I’d go pour myself a whisky or a cup of tea.

Lookin’ For Trouble is out now via The Dead Daisies Pty Ltd/SPV.

Copywriter, music journalist and drummer. Once fist bumped James Hetfield. Words for The Guardian, Gear4Music, Metro, Exposed Mag.

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