JOHN CORABI To Release Live Album, DVD Of His Performance Of MÖTLEY CRÜE's Entire 1994 Album

Former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi is planning to release a live album and DVD of his performance of the band's entire 1994 self-titled album, recorded earlier this year in Nashville, Tennessee.

Corabi originally joined CRÜE in 1992 as the replacement for the group's original singer, Vince Neil, who was fired due to personal differences. With Corabi on vocals, MÖTLEY CRÜE released one critically acclaimed full-length CD, which ended up being a commercial failure in the wake of grunge despite a Top-Ten placing on the album chart. When Neil returned to the fold in 1997, Corabi was left on his own and formed the band UNION with ex-KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick.

Speaking to Austria's Mulatschag about how the idea for the new live album and DVD came about, Corabi said (see video below): "I actually have a solo band [in addition to my current stint with THE DEAD DAISIES], in America. My son is my drummer. And we go out and we do shows [where we play songs from MÖTLEY CRÜE's 1994 album]… We started doing it because it was the 20th anniversary of that album, and I went out and I did a few shows. And then it was weird. I started to realize. Like, these people were coming to me and they were saying things like, 'Dude, I've waited twenty years for this.' So I started thinking… I'm, like, 'Wait a minute. You know what? I forgot…' The band only really toured for, like, three months in America [in support of that CD]. There was a ton of places in America we never even played. We never played Canada, South America. We never came to Europe. We never did anything. So I sat there and I went, 'You know what? There's probably a lot of people that wanna see this.' So I did a bunch of shows, and then right before we left to come here, I did a show in Nashville, and just for… When we were in Australia as well, a lot of promoters came to me and asked me if I would bring that to Australia. The problem with it is it's a money thing. It's hard for me to get five guys, five rooms, five airline tickets, five… whatever. So I just said, 'You know what I'm gonna do?' I went to Nashville and I recorded the whole thing for a live album and I recorded the whole thing for a DVD. So I'm gonna pack the two together. And for anybody that wants to see it and can't, it'll be coming out soon."

Corabi also denied that there is any bad blood between him and Vince Neil. He said: "It's funny… When I was leaving the band, they were bringing Vince back. I was actually helping them finish the 'Generation Swine' record. So there was many occasions that Vince and I sat and talked to each other. And the thing that a lot of fans don't understand is that Vince holds no ill will towards me personally at all. He knows… I was offered a gig and I took it. I have nothing against Vince Neil at all. If he walked in here right now, we would sit down, hug each other and probably go get a drink, chill out."

Corabi does admit that there is one thing that "irritates" him about the way MÖTLEY CRÜE fans look back on his time with the band. He said: "I've never said that I'm a better singer than Vince. Vince has never said he's a better singer than me. It's got nothing to do with us. It's these fans that get in there and they start stirring the shit up. Some fans will go, 'Corabi's a better singer.' [Others will say], 'Fuck you! Vince is a better singer.' And they just go back and forth."

He continued: "I just got into it about a month ago. Some guy wrote to me personally, and he just went on this diatribe about how I was a loser. And I sat and I read the whole letter. And I just wrote back, and I just said one thing to the guy. I go, 'Look, I was given an opportunity to join the band. Vince had already [been] fired or left, and I was some kid that they called — they called me — and asked me to come down.' I said, 'At the time, they were the biggest… one of the biggest bands in the world. And I said, 'Yes.'' And I said, 'I dare any fan that is giving me shit for it, I dare any fan to swap roles with me and do something different than I did.' You know what I mean? And I just went and I did the best that I could do."

In a 2012 interview, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars stated about the band's 1994 self-titled album: "I thought that was probably… To me, and I can only speak for me, I think that was probably the best album we've done. Musical-wise, the songs, I felt, were strong. And just musically, to me, it was, I guess, my BEATLES 'White Album'; that's kind of how I feel about that one. I'm not saying that any of my other albums are crummy or anything like that — I love every album that we did — but that one just has a special thing for me."

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee echoed Mick's sentiments, telling Australia's Beat about the CD: "It's huge. Honestly, dude, it's one of my favorite CRÜE records. Sonically, the songs and the playing on that record is gnarly. We worked our asses off on that record. We had so much to prove: Vince was gone, we had a new singer who also plays guitar and writes and he brought a whole new element to this. But once fans are used to a certain thing, they just didn't want to know about any other version of MÖTLEY CRÜE. That's understandable, but when you break it down, that record still sounds rad today."