The Dead Daisies

The Dead Daisies - John Corabi

By: Lori Smerilson Carson

Bringing back to life the sounds of over fifty years ago, The Dead Daisies have just released their blues album on May 30th titled LOOKIN’ FOR TROUBLE. Since the release of their self-titled debut album in 2013, they have been wowing the music world with their unique and amazing rock style. Now, just off the heels of their latest original record Light ‘Em Up released last September, they have created an outstanding blues album displaying their extraordinary talents with a compilation of songs that we all know and love.

Catching up with Lead Vocalist John Corabi just prior to their European tour, he divulged some details about the new record that he and Guitarists Doug Aldrich and David Lowy, Bassist Michael Devin, Drummer (in the recording studio) Sarah Tomek, and on tour, Drummer Tommy Clufetos have put together, as well as some really interesting facts regarding the making of the album, and what fans can look forward to.

SFL Music Magazine: The new album LOOKIN’ FOR TROUBLE has blues songs like “Little Red Rooster” (Howlin’ Wolf), “Going Down” (Freddie King), “Black Betty” (Lead Belly), amongst others. What inspired you guys to make this record?

John Corabi: To be honest with you, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, but there was an awesome documentary on the Muscle Shoals, Alabama, like the sound, and there’s two legendary studios down there. Oddly enough, like real quick synopsis. So, this guy starts this studio publishing company and he had this house band, local guys that were awesome and they wound up being called the Swampers which Lynyrd Skynyrd made completely international fame to these guys on the last verse of “Sweet Home Alabama”, when he says, “Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers.” So anyway, long story even longer, a couple of the guys left there, they started another studio across town. Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, like all these legendary people recorded down in these two studios. Then a couple guys left and they went to Nashville and Marti (Frederiksen, Producer) actually owns the studio that they started in Nashville. So, we were all on a bucket list thing, including Marti, and it was like, oh man, it would be awesome if we could just go down like Muscle Shoals for a week or so and maybe do some writing, recording, which we did. Then while we were there, it's all been documented on video as well, but we were just walking around and looking at pictures of Aretha Franklin, just all these old blues and gospel people, The Allman Brothers. All these people that walked through the door of the first studio FAME and we were just like, fuck! So, around dinner time, the studio is a functioning studio but it’s also a museum, so they would do tours, bring people in. We would take a dinner break and then instead of going back and cracking out the lotion and tissues and watching The Golden Girls marathon, we said, you know what? Let's just go back to the studio. We would jam, and try and write, do some whatever. But a couple nights we went back and we started jamming classic blues songs that we heard a million times like “Crossroads” (Robert Johnson) and “Born Under A Bad Sign”(Albert King). Marti always had the sessions rolling on vocals and we listened back and we were like, this sounds pretty cool. We decided to do ten songs, record a blues record and then, in case you’re going to ask later (he laughed), the song choices came because none of us are blues aficionados, but what we did is we played songs that we became aware of through other artists, not the original artists. Like for example “Crossroads”, I became aware of through Cream and Lynyrd Skynyrd. David picked “Little Red Rooster” because I think he said he was like eight or ten years old or maybe even younger, he saw The Stones on a T.V. program do “Little Red Rooster” and he fell in love with the song not knowing it was a cover song. So, they were all songs that we heard, not from the original blues artist, but other artists. So, it’s just a tip of the hat to everybody involved.

SFL Music Magazine: The song “Boom Boom” (John Lee Hooker) is out now with the history of John Lee Hooker’s experience playing at the Apex bar in Detroit. What made you guys decide to record that one?

Corabi: I think it was Doug to be honest with you. Doug had some back history with that song. I don’t know whether it was via Whitesnake or Dio or earlier in his career. I think it was Doug or Michael, one of the two suggested that one. The twist on it, if you listen to the way we do it and the original, it’s kind of different, our version, but we took like a little bit of The Animals version of that song and we mixed it with a Creedence vibe because we all realized we had been listening to, when we went to Muscle Shoals, we were in my motor home and I was playing some Creedence and we kind of realized that John Fogerty makes a reference to “Boom Boom” in the song “Suzie Q”. So, we kind of went with that. I think it's got a very cool Creedence Clearwater Revival vibe to it.

SFL Music Magazine: Yeah, that bluesy, funky, rock. With “Crossroads”, I read it's doing very well in the U.K., Germany and Australia. The tempo is a little different with your great rock vocals and the guitar solos and stuff. How did that one come about?

Corabi: I used to play “Crossroads” not really knowing. I thought Lynyrd Skynyrd was doing a cover of a Cream song when I heard it on the huge live record that Skynyrd did. I used to play it in a cover band a hundred years ago. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized it was a Robert Johnson song. Again, that’s why we chose the songs we chose. Now we’re aware of where the songs came from, and why they were written and how they were written and when they were written, but a lot of these tunes are songs that we heard through other artists. Again, “Walking the Dog”, Aerosmith. Part of the story, if you really think about it, the blues is truly an American art form that was like under appreciated because white America wasn’t ready for that black devil music back in the thirties, forties. I mean, even Elvis (Presley) documentaries, he’s sneaking out of his house and he’s crossing the other side of the tracks, you know what I mean? But the funny thing is, it somehow managed to make it’s way over to the U.K., and all these amazing artists Ike The Beatles and Stones and (Led) Zeppelin, Foghat. The list goes on and on, Humble Pie, Free. Those guys got a hold of it and really embraced it. They chewed it up, spit it out their own way and sent it back to us in the sixties and seventies, and we were like, “what is this?” It was right here the whole time. Historically, the Daisies have done a tribute song or two on each record that we did. This was our way of doing a whole record and it's a tribute to the artists that influenced the artists that we grew up with.

SFL Music Magazine: The song choices are awesome and the way you all put your rockin’ bluesy sound on the album is amazing!

Corabi: I’m sure somebody’s going to go “oh God, great. What the world needs is another version of “Crossroads”. I get it, but we were like, let's just do the songs for whatever reason. Like I said earlier, we’re not blues aficionados. That’s never going to come out of my mouth. It was just, here’s the songs that we heard in the sixties and seventies from The Animals and from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Just all these different bands that influenced us and we were just too young and dumb to realize that they were all covers.

SFL Music Magazine: You were just talking about recording in FAME studios. Would you say the reason you recorded there was because of previous artists who recorded at that studio like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, and Wilson Pickett?

Corabi: No, we didn’t go down with that intention. It was just hey, lets go do some writing and some recording down in Muscle Shoals. We were kind of double dipping. We were working on a new original record which came out late last year called Light ‘Em Up. We were doing that record, and then at night we were doing the blues record. So, we actually did, I don’t know how we managed to do it, but we did two records. Wrote for one. Arranged and recorded both of them, mixed them and everything in like I don’t know, twenty-nine, thirty days, something like that. It was just the building, like you’re in this old building. At one point, it was funny. Micheal Devin our bass player, he was walking around the room, we were just blown away by the building and the history and the photos that they have, and Michael at one point goes, “man, I bet you five bucks there’s a ten percent chance that I’m standing in one of the spots that Duane Allman stood in. Because apparently, which a lot of people don’t realize, the Allman Brothers used to rehearse at FAME studios before they would go on tour. So, they were really raw connected with these guys, and it goes back even farther. They were doing some sessions one day and all the guys from that house band The Swampers, they come in and there is some hippie dude sleeping in your parking lot and he’s in a tent. So they were like, “hey dude. What the fuck are you doing?” He was like, “man, I just came down here, I want to jam with the Swampers.”  So, they brought him in and plugged him in. The guy had a guitar with him. It wound up being Duane Allman. He was discovered there. So, Michael sits there and goes,”there’s probably about a ten percent chance that I’m standing in the same place that Duane Allman maybe played guitar.” And the guy from the studio goes, “yeah. Well, I’m going to go one further. There’s probably a hundred percent chance that you’re standing where he slept because he used to sleep there.”

SFL Music Magazine: Wow! Was he freaked out?

Corabi: Yeah, it was funny. It’s just that history of the building. Just the whole vibe. Again, we’re musicians. Whatever you want to call us. Musicians, rock stars, idiots, but we’re fans and we were just like, ahh! The whole trip. We were only there like eight or nine days in Muscle Shoals, but we did the whole blues record while we were there.

SFL Music Magazine: I saw the video for “Boom Boom” where you’re walking along a river?

Corabi: It was on the last tour and I had a day off. I drew the short straw and I had to spend my day off walking up and down this kind of promenade, sidewalk thing next to a river in Lyon, France.

SFL Music Magazine: I wondered if it was in Europe. I love how the guitarist plays his solo coming out of the water, and the band shows up on the trees as you are walking.

Corabi: Well, if you look you though, you can tell there’s a lot of disgruntled and confused French people in the background wondering who the fuck this guy is moving his mouth and nothing's coming out. Yeah, they’re like “who the fuck is this guy that’s just his mouthing something?”

SFL Music Magazine: How did you decide about “Black Betty”? I like the rock, bluesy sound on that one as well.

Corabi: It was weird. Obviously we all remember the Ram Jam version, but it was funny because we would go ok, we heard that version, let’s go back and see what else there is? We checked out Lead Belly’s version, and we’re sitting there listening to it and it’s literally Lead Belly just singing. There’s no guitar, there’s no music, and then even further back from him, I can’t remember the guys full name, but he had a nickname Ironhead and they recorded him in a prison somewhere in Texas, I think, working the fields or working the rock pile, and he was singing it. So, the other versions had no music at all. I mean, there’s nothing to go off of other than the Ram Jam version. I don’t know how he figured it out, but Marti came to the studio one day and he goes, “hey dude. I want you to do me a favor. Take the lyrics to “Black Betty” and just see if you can sing it over the musical section of, this is going to sound weird like guitar solo over keyboard solo section of “Trampled Under Foot” by Zeppelin.” I was like ok, and I went outside and I did “Trampled Under Foot” on my phone. The music started and I just started singing it, and I’m like, holy shit, that’s going to work! Then Marti was like, “does it work”? I’m like yeah, it works dude. Like absolutely! So, we just sat down and wrote music for it, but keeping that kind of bomp bomp bomp, that stomp kind of thing going.

SFL Music Magazine: You all are touring in Europe. Will there be any U.S. dates?

Corabi: Well, I hope so. We obviously do much better business in Europe and Japan and pretty much everywhere but America. We do really well in America, but it’s not to the extent of Europe, England and the rest of the world. There’s been talk, but we’ll see what the deal is.

SFL Music Magazine: The Dead Daisies have been together over ten years. What would you say attributes to the longevity and success that you all have had?

Corabi: When I first joined the band I did not know David Lowy, but I’ve been with the band for ten years now, and the thing that I love about the Daisies is the fact that everybody writes, but the best part of it is that we’re all friends aside from the band. I’ve known Doug since he was fifteen, sixteen years old before he even moved to California. I’ve known Michael Devin for twenty-five years now. I’ve known Tommy Clufetos almost as long. So, even when we’re not touring, we’re all sending each other jokes and just goofy shit. We’ll call each other, how you doing bud? Doug just called me yesterday like “hey bro. How ya doing man? How is the family? Can’t wait to see you.” You know what I mean? So, we like each other.

SFL Music Magazine: What prompted you to become a musician, to sing?

Corabi: Well, my wife still won’t let me use power tools around the house, so my fucking options were a little null. It was pizza delivery, power tools or music. I’m not a really bright individual, I’m just saying (he laughed).

SFL Music Magazine: What would you recommend to a new band?

Corabi: You know what? I could not tell you.It’s so different now from when I came into the, like my first record was in 1990.  I’m working on a solo record right now which will be my twentieth record, and I’m just sitting there like, I don’t know how for the life of me, because there is no radio, there’s no MTV. The days of going to a newsstand and buying Hit Parader or Creem or Metal Edge, and hanging pictures on your wall. Those days are gone. So, I’m just sitting there like, I don’t know how these new bands, and I’m sorry. I told you I’m not real good with tools, so don’t even talk to me about algorithms and analytics because I don’t fucking get it. So, for the life of me, I’m just sitting there and these young kids come up to me and they’re like, “hey man. Huge fan dude. You got any advice?” I’m like honestly bro, just keep doing what you’re doing, believe in yourself and don’t take no for an answer. Other than that, I got nothing. I really don’t because I don’t understand how the industry works now.

SFL Music Magazine: That’s good advice.I read where you had a charity event in Germany. Is there anything fans should know about come up?

Corabi: I’ve done some stuff here. I live in Nashville, so my wife and I used to do a Toys for Tots thing every year. Yeah, it's cool to give back a little bit. I just love doing what I’m doing. The fact that I’m sixty-six years old and people still want to talk to me or hear the music that I’m writing or recording, whatever, it’s a good thing. I’m blessed.

SFL Music Magazine: Was there anything else you want to add?

Corabi: If anyone wants any information on the band, they can go to thedeaddaisies.com. There’s everything there, merch, tickets, schedules, videos, pretty much everything. Just go there for info.