JOHN CORABI Doesn't Know When MICK MARS's Long-Awaited Solo Album Will See The Light Of Day

In a new interview with Tulsa Music Stream, former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi was asked if he knows whether the songs he recorded with Mick Mars seven years ago will make it to the MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist's long-awaited solo LP. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, to be honest with you, I don't. And it's unfortunate. And I could be wrong on this, but I don't know — hopefully they can separate one thing from the other, but unfortunately, I believe the record deal… 'Cause I was actually talking to Paul Taylor [of WINGER] about this. I just did a tour with Tom Keifer and WINGER this summer prior to doing THE DEAD DAISIES thing. And I was asking Paul what the deal is with Mick's record, 'cause he actually helped Mick co-write some of the songs and I think he played on it as well, some guitar and keyboards. Unfortunately [laughs], the record deal that Mick signed was with Allen Kovac, MÖTLEY's manager. So, I'm just gonna… I could be wrong on this, but I'm thinking that because he's suing MÖTLEY now, that is going to be detrimental to the album coming out — or not. So I'm not sure when we're gonna hear that record of Mick's."

Corabi continued: "As far as the songs that I did with [Mars]. I don't know if I'm gonna be on it. I did two songs for Mick — God, I think it was the first year I was in THE DEAD DAISIES like maybe 2016. So we're talking six years ago, seven years ago. Whether or not they made the record, I couldn't tell you, but I know Paul Taylor played some guitar and keys on it, and I believe this awesome singer named Jacob Bunton, he did a lot of the writing with Mick and Paul, and sang on the record. But, unfortunately, I'm thinking — again, I could be wrong; I always preface everything I say with 'I could be wrong,' but I wasn't wrong about [Mick's] lawsuit. So I'm thinking that because he signed the deal with motley's manager, I'm thinking that that record is just going to get sat on for a while."

This past June, Mars told Rolling Stone that he was seeking out a record label to release his upcoming debut solo album, "Another Side Of Mars". Songtitles set to appear on the CD, which was described by Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene as "darker and more aggressive than anything in the CRÜE catalog," include "Broken On The Inside", "Alone", "Lonely In Your Grave", "Loyal To The Lie", "Decay", "Fear", "Memories" and "Erased".

Mars went on to say that he wouldn't hit the road in support of the upcoming LP. "I'm done touring," he said. "If somebody really, really wants a one-off, or a couple of nights, I would probably do it. But all that travel stuff and planes … I'm way over it."

Mick also revealed that he recently sold his share of the publishing rights to the CRÜE catalog. "The deal was just finalized," he told Rolling Stone. "Now I can relax and don't have to worry about anything, since, like I said, I'm probably just going to live another seven or eight years."

When asked how he knows he won't live longer than eight years, the now-72-year-old said: "I'm old enough, man. I'm not going to live to be 85 or 90, I just have a feeling. I don't want to, either. My brain doesn't want this ugly-ass body that's all fucked up to keep going. I wish I could just take the information out of my brain, put it on a chip and into somebody else, or a robot. There's still a lot of stuff going on up there."

In April 2022, Taylor, well known as an accomplished guitarist/keyboardist who has worked with countless artists as a composer and musician over the decades, most famously with WINGER, revealed during an appearance on the "Sonic Dorms" podcast that he spent "the last couple of years" collaborating with Mars on the CRÜE guitarist's long-awaited solo album.

"I wrote most of the record with Mick and [Alabama musician] Jacob Bunton, who sang with [former GUNS N' ROSES drummer] Steve Adler," Paul said. "Me and Jacob have written a lot of stuff for TV together. I'm really excited to have that come out."

Taylor went on to say that he was impressed with Mick's skills as a guitarist and a songwriter.

"Mick is so awesome, and just the endless cool things he comes up with and the palette of sounds," he said. "There's days I just go, 'Is that guitar? Is that you doing all that?' [It's been] really fun. I'm very excited about that."

According to Taylor, he worked with Mars and Bunton on Mick's solo album "for a good year and a half. And Mick doesn't really want me to say too much about it," he explained. "But he said it's okay just to say it's a heavy record — it's definitely heavy — and it very versatile. I feel really lucky that I got to sit and work with him and turn these things into songs. I think it's gonna blow some people away. It's really cool."

Mars has been working on his solo disc — on and off — for at least the past seven years. Some of the early sessions for the LP were helmed by recently retired producer Michael Wagener (OZZY OSBOURNE, ACCEPT, WARRANT, SKID ROW) at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, where Mars has lived for about a decade.

Three years ago, Bunton revealed that he was the lead singer on Mars's solo album. Speaking to AL.com, Bunton, who has previously also played with LYNAM, said about his collaboration with Mars: "I can tell you that I'm involved and the past several months we wrote and recorded a record and Michael Wagener produced it. The great Michael Wagener from [mixing 1986 METALLICA album] 'Master Of Puppets' and all that kind of stuff. He worked with MÖTLEY CRÜE on their very first record 'Too Fast For Love', when they did it themselves they recorded the record and then Michael Wagener mixed, and then when they got the record deal with Elektra, [QUEEN producer] Roy Thomas Baker ended up going back and remixing it. But on all of their self-released copies, it's Michael. But to make a long story short, Michael's producing the record because that was the first producer Mick worked with in MÖTLEY CRÜE, so he wanted to do his solo album, so it's been really cool. We've been recording it in Nashville and we're almost done."

Regarding what fans can expect from Mars's solo CD, Bunton said: "The songs are really cool, the record is really cool. He's such an inventive player and his riffs are insane and it's definitely going to be what people are expecting. When they hear it … It's really cool."

In September 2019, Mick told Billboard about the musical direction of his solo material: "[It's] not like today's music, which to me is pretty much pop metal and more growly guys. It's all cool and it's all good, and I'm just searching for something that's just a little different than that. I [also] don't want to be living in '85. It's hard to reinvent yourself, but that's what I'm doing now. I'm trying to reinvent the way that I approach music writing. I've got a lot of crap, and I've got a lot of good stuff too."

At the time of the Billboard interview, Mars said that he had been working with a vocalist named Jacob, leading some fans to speculate that he was referring to Bunton. "[He] can be a lot of different voices, and it's pretty amazing," Mick said. "I go, 'I want this kind of voice here,' and he'll pull it straight off."

In a separate interview with "Talking Metal", Mars said that his debut solo record will not sound like anybody else. "Well, I guess it's my own style," he said. "It isn't really blues. My playing has a blues element to it, of course, but it isn't what you would call a blues record. It's more of a heavier rock thing, but I don't wanna even try to 'outheavy' the heavies, you know what I mean? It's just something hopefully just a little different than what's going on now. You're not gonna hear a MÖTLEY-flavored song, except for the guitar, [because] that's me. They're gonna be a bit harder than that, but not as hard as the heavies, like MINISTRY and some of those guys."

Back in 2016, Mars released snippets of two solo songs, apparently called "Gimme Blood" and "Shake The Cage". The tracks, which were recorded at the aforementioned Blackbird Studio, featured Corabi, who appeared on CRÜE's 1994 self-titled album. Corabi later said that he didn't contribute to the writing process for the two songs, but that he was open to collaborating with Mars on some brand new material.

In August 2021, KORN drummer Ray Luzier confirmed that he is a featured guest on Mars's solo album. Earlier this month, former ACCEPT bassist Peter Baltes also said he is featured on the LP.

When Mars announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE last October, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road. However, this past April the musician filed a lawsuit against CRÜE in Los Angeles County's Superior Court claiming that, after his announcement, the rest of CRÜE tried to remove him as a significant stakeholder in the group's corporation and business holdings via a shareholders' meeting.