Former Motley Crue frontman John Corabi recently talked about if he is “surprised” by all the “public fighting” that has been going on between Motley Crue’s founding guitarist Mick Mars and his bandmates.
Last year in October 2022, John 5 departed Rob Zombie’s band to become a part of Motley Crue as he replaced Mick Mars as the guitarist struggled with health issues.
The split seemed amicable enough until last month when Mars sued the band for his share of the profits, accusing bassist Nikki Sixx of “gaslighting” him into thinking that his mental faculties were declining and that memory loss was preventing him from playing the songs properly. Mars also added that the hair metal legends extensively used backing tracks, claiming that Nikki didn’t play live at well, something that the guitarist was opposed to.
Crue also addressed the issue with a counterstatement reiterating that the guitarist was unfit to perform and stating that there were no backing tracks involved in their performances, which led to many fans and musicians becoming divided between both parties.
John Corabi opens up on
In a new interview with Sofa King Cool Magazine, Corabi who joined the band in 1992 as the replacement for original singer Vince Neil, responded:
“Nope. No. Not at all.” Referencing the fact that he said last fall that he didn’t “believe a word” of Motley Crue’s initial statement explaining Mars’s exit from the group, Corabi continued: “I caught a lot of flak of this. And to be honest, I don’t really wanna get into Mick’s business or Motley’s business; it’s not my place.
I don’t know why. I caught some flak for this when I was in Europe. I was over there in November and December doing some acoustic shows, and I did a book signing in London — it was like a Q&A book-singing thing — and a fan asked me about the press release that had just come out about Mick not touring with them on the rest of this tour.
And all I said was, ‘That’s a statement that’s been prepared by Motley and their management. I haven’t heard anything from Mick. And until Mick speaks, I have nothing to say about this. But I’m not necessarily agreeing with what I’m hearing.’”
John added: “So, to me, this was just something that was inevitable. It’s unfortunate, but it was inevitable. So… c’est la vie. [Laughs]”
Asked if he has seen any of the performances by Motley with the band’s new guitarist, former Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson axeman John 5, Corabi responded: “I’ve seen a few videos… Honestly, dude, and I don’t mean this as a slight or disrespect or anything to Motley, I don’t care. I really don’t. Right now, we had three years of Covid. I’m happy everybody’s back to work. I’m happy Motley’s back out on the road. I know their tour with Def Leppard here in the States was highly successful. I wish them nothing but the best. I wish Mick the best. But that’s between them, man.”