Ciao Crab, that’s your second time in Italy, the first one with Motley Crue, now finally on stage with Union … welcome back, what do you remember about your first time in Italy?
Well, I remember first of all people were like amazing, everybody was very, very warm .. great! And then we did a listening party at a club .. I can’t remember the name of the club

Rock Planet, I think it’s a strip club right now…
When will we go!!! We came in, we sat down, we had a translator, people asked us question, watching the video, listening to the album. We stayed maybe about an hour, and when we got up to leave people went crazy, came on stage and pulled us anywhere... and I was like “No way! This is insane!” . Then we went to this place called Shocking club .. all models… the two promoters took very good care of us, we had booze, food, and lots of models! I had a very good time in Milan, trust me, I won’t ever forget that trip!

You should be proud of it, since you’ve got italian roots…
Oh yeah, I’ve never been over here but my dad was here, my grandmother is from Calabria, my grandfather is from Sicily… so I’m excited to come here.

Ok, let’s start from the very beginning: you played in band called Angora, we’ve heard the song “Shake Shake”, what happended next and how did “the Scream” start?
Angora was a bunch of my friends from Philadelphia, we all moved to California and we played maybe three years on the strip, and we had quite a big following. The song “shake Shake” is from this radio station, KNAC, they had an album to put out and they asked us to do a song for it. It was very cool but everybody started playing aroun a little too much with drugs and everybody was not focused on, doing their own things .. I thought I was babysitting, my guitar player sold his equipment, stealing from people .. .really crazy, so I just quitted. And I met this manager who had just talked to a couple of guys from Racer X, and asked him to put a band together, so we did it and .. that’s how the Scream started. Originally Scott Travis was part of the band, he played with us for three or four months, then he started playing with Judas Priest.

I remember when the album had been released, there were 2 videos, from “Man on the moon” and “I believe in me”...
Was actually three videos, there was also “Father, Mother & Son” .. I’m gonna try, I just got a new web site up www.john-corabi.net , and find them and put them on line, I might even do just a DVD with all the videos.

I know the Scream recorded a second album, never released and now available on the Racer X’s web site, do you know what happened?
Even if it was not me singing .. the did a record on Hollywood record, they shot a video, then the record label changed his mind …so, I don’t know, I thought it was a good record, it was different from the one that I did, but I thought it was cool. We’re all still friend and everything, John Alderete is actually playing in Mars Volta, Bruce is a producer, Walt is not playing anymore due to some physical problems.

Ok, let’s talk a bit about Motley now; when you joined the band, you succeed in changing their sound and attitude; how much part you had in this evolution and did the band react to your style?
Well, this is not like I said “this is how I want the band to sound”, we just went into a room, somebody would come up with an idea, whether it was me or Mick, Tommy or Nikki, and we would jam. The thing that it sounds heavier is because my voice is huskier, a little darker, and also having two guitars, you know, makes the sound a lot heavier as well. Lyrically, Nikki and I talked, and I told him I like songs like “Girls Girls Girls” and “Red Hot”, but would I sing that? No! It’s not my thing, so we sat down and tried to find lyrics that were relevant to what was happening in our lives, what’s happening in the world, personal stories instead of just party!

It was just my creative process with theirs... like in “Misunderstood”, when I joined the band hey had the beginning part, the acoustic one, and then I sang it and came up with the riff, when it gets heavy. I just opened things up a little bit more, and allowed them to experiment. They’re all great players, Tommy’s amazing, Mick is really a great, under appreciated guitar player, and Nikki, even though a lot of people make fun at Nikki’s bass, on that record he plays great, so I think everybody just came to the table at the same time.

(the tour manager now reaches us at the table... 10 minutes left, we have to hurry up!)

A lot of people thinks that the one with Corabi is so far the best Motley album, what do you think went wrong at that time with the audience?
In America the whole grunge thing was happening, at that time bands like Motley, Ratt, Poison, Cinderella, were kind of being pushed aside from MTV and radio stations to airplay new stuff like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains… I think a lot of people just assumed that the record was going to sound just like old Motley Crue and it’s not what people were into at that point in America. Those who did buy it said “hey, this doesn’t sound like Motley!”... it was weird, it still did ok, it still sold a couple of million records in America and did well over here in Europe, but it wasn’t the typical Motley record; the last one they did, "Dr Feelgood", sold like 10 millions copies in America!

So when my record came out everybody thought it was a failure, d’you know what I mean? The music industry in general was very disappointed with that record, some fans that bought it were disappointed because, as I said, it didn’t sound like Motley Crue, some others did not even gave it a chance… it’s funny like years later people buy the record and say “Fuck! This is heavy!” Even those who like Vince, now that Vince is back in the band go and buy the record and say this is cool.

What do you think about their reunion?
Well, to be honest, I haven’t seen them, I’ve heard mixed opinions, some said it was fucking awesome, and some other said no… I say opinions are just like assholes: everybody’s got one! I wish them all the luck in the world, for the touring, to make a new lots of money and everything… me, I’ve been through a lot of shit, with the divorce and everything, I have had it, that’s all good.

Are you still the touch with the band?
Yes, totally! We did the Brides of Destruction thing with Nikki for a little bit, Tommy’still close… I haven’t really talked to Mick that much, obviously because he was sick and then he went on tour, but when I did see him he was fine and said “hey Crab, what you’re doing?”. It was funny because not this summer, the last one, we did some shows in America, maybe a dozen, and we did some shows with Vince Neil, and as soon as Vince saw me came to be and hug me and he’s been really fine… it’s funny because we were sitting backstage next to each other, having a beer, talking, and there were all these people staring at us just like if something was going to happen… we’ve always talked!
You know what? Shit happens…. That’s all I can say … shit happens: you meet a girl, she’s split up with her husband, you bang her a little bit, you fall in love… there’s a possibility where she might go back, so… shit happens.

Who would you choose to act the Corabi’s part in the movie of “The Dirt”?
Well, it depends on who’s playing my ex wife! If it’s someone like Penelope Cruz, or Salma Hayek, the I wanna play…that’s it! But, other than that, I don’t really care, as long as they don’t make me look like a dope.

We mentioned the Brides of Destruction, why did you leave em so early?
I didn’t like the record, I didn’t care for it… to me, I like some of the songs, but it was kinda like one song was going over this way, one song was going over this way, one song was going over this way, and the one song that I thought was the best song on the record, called Life, that Nikki wrote with an outside writer, is the one that the drummer sang, and it didn’t make sense to me. You’ve got London, who is a good singer, he looks good, you’re trying the make this guy like a huge rockstar, and the only song that’s got a chance to get on the radio, is the song your drummer sings! No sense…
And I think they kinda rushed through it, the whole album is just like the demo tapes I played on, they never really went in to re-record it, partly because Nikki wanted that record out before Velvet Revolver. I didn’t feel it in my heart…

It’s weird that both you and Ginger from the WiLDHEARTS gave up this project …
There’s a common thread in there somewhere, in the whole scenario… you figure it out.

You played in a lot of bands, from Rock City Outlaws, ESP; Cardboard Vampires, Ratt, 24/7… have you ever felt the need to have a solo career or do you consider Union as your band?
Bruce and I started the band Union, but for now, I’m not saying it’s over but it’s pretty much run his course, and I wanna try and start something new, I’ve a guitar player I’ve been jamming with, Fred (Coury) is gonna help me out on some drums, and it’s gonna be something new, fresh, young... it’s gonna be cool! It’s not too heavy though, not as heavy as some Motley stuff, more like the Scream, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles… let’s throw them all together and see what happens…

I think that Let it Scream was a beautiful record…
Songs like “I don’t care”, “Man on the moon”, stuff like that with a Led Zeppelin tone?
Hopefully this summer I’ve got a new agent, new managers, and there we go!

How old is your son now and what kind of music doees he listen to?
My son is now 18, he’s an amazing drummer, he’s got a really really heavy band called “Fetal Embrace”… god they’re so heavy, it’s like frightening! They’ve got 2 singers, one is the Mira’s, from Orgy, son... they’re dark and heavy heavy heavy, I went to see them and after the show he came and asked me what I think about the song… ehm... kid, they’re great! They’re playing in Hollywood now, at the Whiskey and on the strip; that’s what he wants to do, that’s his passion, at least let them try.
I gave him some money to go and record, and the demos are ok but I’d wanna get somebody else the remix them, they had some friends with a Pro Tools or stuff like that, but it’s cool, they’re doing pretty well and I’m proud of him.

Last week you’ve played a show called “Union for children”, tell us something about this initiative…
We were supposed to go to this hospital to meet some of the kids and have dinner with them, but something happened with the weather and we couldn’t do that so we basically had a bunch of posters signed to be sold at the show and raise funds for the hospital. It was for kids with cancer, it’s a good cause, everybody seemed happy, it wasn’t completely sold oud but I think it’s also because of the weather, it’s been snowing all day and a lot of people could not come.

Have you ever heard about any italian rock band?
Yes, Lacuna Coil, I met with some guys from their record label, Century Media, 7 or 8 months ago, about doing a record, but I said I wanna wait…

At this point the tour manager unfortunately arrives to take Crab away .. it’s a pity, we had still some questions that will remain unanswered … but here it is, let’s enjoy the show.