{"id":3108,"date":"2014-03-21T14:05:54","date_gmt":"2014-03-21T21:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/?p=3108"},"modified":"2014-03-22T17:26:31","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T00:26:31","slug":"john-corabi-plays-acoustic-show-at-the-whisky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/2014\/03\/21\/john-corabi-plays-acoustic-show-at-the-whisky\/","title":{"rendered":"John Corabi Plays Acoustic Show At The Whisky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review & photos by Joe Dolan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

March 19th<\/sup>, 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA:<\/strong> John Corabi made his trek westward in 1983 from Philadelphia with the single notion of getting his music heard. As a songwriter, a front man, a guitar player and a hard rock soul \u2013 is there any other course of action? From the theoretical small town USA<\/em> to becoming the face of one of hard rock\u2019s most legendary bands, Motley Crue \u2013 John Corabi has conquered feats nearly every rock artist on the planet aspires to challenge; launching his latest tour at the Whisky on this Wednesday night, Corabi showed patrons that the proof of what a musical artist\u2019s worth is comes from the songs themselves. Appearing almost on the same night that he last appeared at the Whisky 20 years earlier for the release of \u00a0Motley Crue’s Self Titled CD listening party, John gave his all with an acoustic guitar to grand fanfare.<\/p>\n

He stated on stage that his first west coast effort, (titled Angora), never recorded. Since online music trading became the popular norm, fans found out that the band did in fact record, and those Angora demos circulated fast throughout the collector world. The song \u201cShake Shake,\u201d is all over YouTube featuring band members Jimmy Marchiano (Heaven\u2019s Edge) and Frank Scimeca and Robert Lezzi from Graveyard Train. Those early demos showed the burgeoning 80\u2019s hard rock industry that Corabi was bringing a top-level skill set to the scene and with shows booked across the landscape at So-Cal hotspots like The Troubadour, The Whisky<\/em> and the Chuck Landis Country Club<\/em> \u2013 John Corabi was fast becoming a well respected household name.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By 1991, Corabi made his landmark effort with the album Let it Scream<\/em> by his original band The Scream.<\/em> Formed with Racer X<\/em> stars Bruce Bouillet, John Alderete and Scott Travis (though Travis was replaced by Shark Island<\/em> founding drummer Walt Woodward \u2013 RIP) \u2013 the album featured backing vocals with former Racer X member Jeff Martin and Badlands front man Ray Gillen.\u00a0 Though the album was considered a stellar recording for the standards of music circa 1991 \u2013 the inevitable change of genres in the grunge explosion pushed the potential of The Scream to the back burner for new MTV generation.<\/p>\n

Due to his prolific skills in songwriting and his obvious ability to lead a rock and metal band \u2013 Corabi was hand selected by Nikki Sixx and the members of Motley Crue to replace floundering lead vocalist Vince Neil. This led to the release of Motley Crue\u2019s Self-Titled 1994 CD; an album that did not fare as well to the previous model of the band, but held up in sales volumes that are higher than any album the band has released since without Corabi. Again, the shift in popular music trends weighed heavily against the potential of even a band with Motley Crue\u2019s history, to make the charts. With an EP release that followed, Corabi moved on to other projects within just a short few years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>1998 saw Corabi surface in dual roles, both with the Eric Singer Project<\/em> and the band Union<\/em>. Adding to his repertoire of releases, Corabi, by the time the new millennium rolled around, had released and been featured on as many albums as any of the bands or band members he\u2019d played alongside during the past 20 years. Still, getting a solo deal and the finances he deserved to produce his next big effort was not in the cards. The industry held more promise for the legends of hard rock music than the potential of \u201cnew acts\u201d \u2013 and regardless of Corabi\u2019s history, getting on tour with what was considered \u2018the majors\u2019 would not happen; where bands like Poison and Cinderella were considered 80\u2019s Retro Rockstars \u2013 Union was thought of as a \u201cnew band\u201d and was consistently overlooked for tour support. With that, Corabi would spend more than half a decade performing and touring with RATT<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now, this is where the truth in songwriting has its shining moment in the spotlight. John Corabi took 2012 to re-introduce himself to fans as a songwriter. Without the aid of mega-talents to blast away alongside him on stage, featuring the songs fans know and love \u2013 sans the electric solos, and in more personal and intimate settings \u2013 which means smaller venues and direct contact with fans, Corabi released Unplugged<\/em>, an acoustic review of songs made famous during his previous band experiences, as well as 5 new songs; all recorded with just the meat and bones that song structure is made from.<\/p>\n

On tour now, with this first show launching from the Whisky, Corabi performed stripped down and honest \u2013 just a man with his guitar, and it was phenomenal! The night began like this:<\/p>\n

An electric and an acoustic opener performed when John arrived upstairs. He was early and made time to talk to friends and fans, some he\u2019s known for well over a decade, and some who came for the change to see him perform, and got more than they\u2019d hoped for.<\/p>\n

Taking a stool to the middle of the stage and sitting in front of a microphone, John opened with the song \u201cLove (I don\u2019t need It),\u201d followed by \u201cIf I never get to say goodbye.\u201d \u00a0His voice was as powerful and stellar as if he was in front of an all-electric band, with an added bit of soul that came through over the solo acoustic ring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Outside, before the show, I found four Australian fans that had come to the states to celebrate a birthday; each was wearing a shirt that read \u201cAussies on a Hooligan\u2019s Holiday\u201d \u2013 which means this show was pre-meditated. I brought them over to meet John and he couldn\u2019t have been happier. As you\u2019ll see in the third song of the video provided, when he plays Hooligan\u2019s Holiday, he invites the four on stage to be part of the show; a treat they couldn\u2019t have expected, but that they will take home with pride.<\/p>\n

During the 40 minutes of performing that he did on stage, the set list included two original Scream songs \u2013 \u201cMan in the Moon\u201d and \u201cMother, Father Son.\u201d It didn\u2019t seem planned, more off the cuff and play as you go, but it was a well rehearsed and displayed as any show Corabi has performed in his career. Just his songs, for his fans on stage with just his acoustic guitar. Still, there is just one more piece of news that ices this cake. He\u2019s already working on the next electric and full band album!<\/p>\n

Now on tour with singer\/songwriter and legendary rock and roll front man Mike Tramp, the duo will appear on stage, performing acoustic shows through May, 2014 \u2013 including a string of performances on the Monster\u2019s of Rock Cruise.<\/p>\n

View more photos from the show below (view them here<\/a> if you’re on a non-Flash device):<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Visit John Corabi on the web:<\/strong>
\nJohnCorabiMusic.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nfacebook.com\/JohnCorabiMusic<\/a><\/strong>
\ntwitter.com\/CrabLegs59\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Visit the Whisky-A-Go-Go on the web:<\/strong>
\nWhiskyAGoGo.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nfacebook.com\/theWhiskyAGoGo<\/a><\/strong>
\ntwitter.com\/theWhiskyAGoGo<\/a><\/strong>
\ninstagram.com\/theWhiskyAGoGo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review & photos by Joe Dolan March 19th, 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA: John Corabi made his trek westward in 1983 from Philadelphia with the single notion of getting his music heard. As a songwriter, a front man, a guitar player and a hard rock soul \u2013 is there any other course of action? … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “John Corabi Plays Acoustic Show At The Whisky”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3114,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions\/3114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}