Jeremy Asbrock Discusses The John Corabi Live ’94 Album and Playing With The Gene Simmons Band

Talk about delays!! This interview was conducted many months ago after the John Corabi Live ’94 album came out. Unfortunately due to some technical and personal issues, I was unable to get this interview up when I planned to. I want to thank my trusty old co-worker Erich who was able to recover the audio file of this interview for me. 

John Corabi (ex Motley Crue and current singer for The Dead Daisies) released his long awaited “John Corabi: ‘Live 94 – One Night In Nashville” album via Rat Pak Records, earlier this year. This album features the recording of Corabi and his band performing the classic self-titled 1994 Mötley Crüe album that he sang on after longtime Crüe vocalist Vince Neil left (or got fired – depending on who you ask) in 1992.  Recorded live on October 27, 2015 during his Motley 94 tour, Live 94 (One Night In Nashville) documents the album in it’s entirety along with the bonus track “10, 000 Miles” which was originally released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the Quaternary EP. The Live 94 (One Night In Nashville) band features John Corabi (guitar/vocals), Topher Nolen (bass guitar/vocals), Jeremy Asbrock (guitar/vocals), Phil Shouse (guitar/vocals), Tommy Daley (guitar) and Ian Corabi (drums/percussions). The album was recorded live from The Basement in Nashville and contains no overdubs or backing tracks. You can purchase it here.

I was able to talk with guitarist Jeremy Asbrock about this record and everything else he is up to. In addition to being a member of the John Corabi solo band, Jeremy also keeps busy with a couple other bands such as “Thee Rock n Roll Residency” and “The Big Rock Show”. He also plays guitar for one of his childhood hero’s.. Gene Simmons of KISS! Read on….
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Jeremy Asbrock: Hey Shawn!. What’s happening?

Legendary Rock Interviews: Not a whole lot, dude. About time. We’ve had delay after delay.

Jeremy: Oh, man. No kidding. I’m working on the Tuesday show that Phillip and I do

LRI: Awesome! The John Corabi ‘Live 94 – One Night In Nashville” record came out a couple months back. Congrats on that! It sounds great. So glad that came out after such a long delay.

Jeremy: Thanks! And I still don’t have one (Laughs)

LRI: No way. Have you not heard it, or you just got files on it?

Jeremy: Well, I heard it when it was done. But, shit, it’s been a minute now, so I haven’t heard it since then.

LRI: Ahh ok.  Well, it rocks man!  Ok. so going back to when you were rehearsing for that Live ’94 tour. Was it a decision right from the beginning that you were going to need 3 guitarists to get all those parts in for the live show?

Jeremy: Yeah, it was absolutely necessary. The way it all kind of happened was…We were on the way down to a Monsters of Rock cruise. Actually, the day we were driving was the day of the anniversary of the Motley Crue 94 album. So I guess that would have been 2014? I had mentioned it to him (John) but then Larry (Manager) planted the seed in his head… “You know, maybe you should do some shows”? So there was a weekend… It was the M3 Festival and I had already had a previous engagement with Big Rock Show so I had known Josh Dutoit, so I hooked them up with him to sub for me. So when the notion of doing the live Motley album came up, you know, keeping Josh seemed like the best idea. It freed John up to sing, so he wouldn’t have to play guitar on every song and then you know, on stuff like “Welcome to the Numb” and “Hammered” where we needed three guitars it was there.

LRI: That’s cool. Yeah, that record really, to me, is really is one of my favorite Motley records.

Jeremy: I love all their stuff, especially the early era’s of Motley Crue and I like the ratty thing they had going on but I had to dive into this record probably more than any record I’ve ever dove into and you know, it’s … there’s a lot of textures and a lot of layers. It’s definitely a lot deeper than anything the band has ever done.

LRI: Yeah! To me, I’ve always thought that the 94 record was just a continuation of where they left off with songs like “Primal Scream” and “Angela” and stuff like that. It was a little bit darker, a little bit heavier.

Jeremy: Yeah, you know they were leaving a lot of the glitzier stuff behind a little faster than all the dudes that came after them. I kind of remember that about them at the time, too. You know, it was a little darker.

LRI: How did those shows go when you guys did that tour?

Jeremy: Oh man, they were so awesome. The people that were at the shows had been waiting a long time to hear that music live and you could see it in their faces. And you know, we talked to most of the people after the show. You know, we’re not that removed from the audience. I’m extremely thankful and I’m very, very, very honored and happy to have been a big part of bringing that to those people.

The John Corabi Band performing “Til Death Do Us Part” in the Detroit area

LRI: Yeah, I was at your Detroit show. That was such a blast to hear all those songs live again after 20+ years.

Jeremy: I remember that one. I remember that one being a particularly good show.

LRI: So you guys recorded it, and it was also filmed for a DVD. Did you see any of it or was it just not usable?

Jeremy: Man, I didn’t see any of it. John said that he didn’t really feel like it was good enough to put out. You know, the people… maybe they would try to do something with it later and some sort of post production or something but the vibe that I got was that it just didn’t look as good as the music sounded.

LRI: Okay. Yeah, I was kind of bummed about that … I was really looking forward to that.

Jeremy: Shit, me too.

LRI: Yeah, and you mentioned before how a lot of people were waiting a long time to hear that stuff live again or for some people, for the first time… I have friends overseas and I am always hearing from them and reading others online say how they are bummed they didn’t get a chance to see this Live ’94 tour you guys did.

Jeremy: That had a lot to do with him wanting to release this because touring the band is very complicated overseas and it’s just a matter of getting enough money to make it worth everybody’s while. You know, him in particular.

LRI: Yeah. So, in addition to playing with John, you got The Big Rock Show and Thee Rock N Roll Residency…and you’re a part of Gene Simmons’ band!

Jeremy: Pretty crazy man.

LRI: You’ve gotta be pinching yourself?

Jeremy: I am. You know, it’s still kind of like a dream. It’s weird to think about how far it’s come because we did our first show within exactly a year ago and how nervous I was going into it compared to how comfortable I am around Gene now.

LRI: I can’t even imagine that. That’s crazy ’cause I know I was probably like you, playing those same songs off of ALIVE 1 when I was a teen and to be able to play them right next to him has gotta be pretty surreal.

Jeremy: Yeah and you know, I’ve run into a lot of friends from my hometown who remember me from … I mean even before Kindergarten, daycare, I used to take my KISS records to daycare. So all of these people who’ve known me since I was like four or five years old have known me as nothing but what I am now to this day.

LRI: That’s cool. For some people that may not know.. How did this whole gig with Gene come about?

Jeremy: So, Ryan played in a band called Hair of the Dog in the late 90s early 2000s and you know, they toured around and he’s just kind of crossed paths with the KISS camp for a long time, so they knew of him. Then ‘The Big Rock Show’ did the first KISS Kruise and then we wound up doing all of them except for KISS Cruise 6. So all of them except for one so you know, they had heard us a lot. I guess we were just sort of on Gene’s radar and he had a few shows that were tying in with some Comic Cons that he was doing last year and he asked Ryan to put together a band and you know, I was kind of a shoo-in for that one and Philip and I have a KISS tribute band that we do a show with every Christmas.

LRI: That is so awesome.

Jeremy: So, you know, we’re all best friends. I mean, you know, we hang out and play together and we’re all friends actually because of KISS. … So originally, Gene was just going to sing and we were gonna pass around a bass and then you know, good sense prevailed and he played bass and we’re like “Well, we can’t really kick anyone out so let’s just have three guitar players.” And in a way it worked out because you know there’s songs like “Christine Sixteen” for example that have a harmony guitar on the studio version and you know we can do all those kinds of things, you know instead of just the typical KISS versions that everybody knows.

LRI: Right. That works. Another band with a 3 guitar attack!

Jeremy: You know, man, I read a lot of the fan chatter and there’s a lot of people like “Why three guitar players?” It’s too much. But you know, it gives an extra singer, it allows us to play harmony solos and not lose the rhythm guitar and you know, we’re having a fucking blast and we’re best buds so, you know, it’s not costing the public any extra to have that other guy up there.

LRI: Dude it sounds great. You know, I saw the show over in Windsor on Gene’s birthday last year and that was such a great time. it was probably one of my favorite shows of the whole year.

Jeremy: Yeah man and that’s been one of the best ones so far. That was a stand out show for everybody.

LRI: That was my first time going to Canada in quite a few years, so I find that venue, get in and had a look around. I was like “Wow this is cool!”. I was expecting a smaller place. I wasn’t sure how big that thing was. It was a pretty good size venue.

Jeremy: Yeah no kidding. It was a little intimidating.

LRI: I’ve been hoping for a Detroit gig.

Jeremy: Oh me too. I’m hoping for as many gigs as possible.

LRI: Ok. So in addition to playing with Gene Simmons.. You got to jam with Ace Frehley a while back in Minnesota..and now you guys are going to be his backing band in Australia later this year. What was it like jamming with him?

Jeremy: That’s a pinch myself moment. I mean, even when we started playing with Gene I didn’t quite imagine that would happen. You know, we were supposed to play Riverside California and that show was canceled and … that was, no not Riverside it was … I don’t know wherever the Harris is, it’s outside of San Diego so … about 45 minutes from Ace’s house and we’re all excited thinking man Ace is gonna come and then that got canceled and burst our bubble and then a couple weeks later that thing was in place. It’s still shocking to me.

Jeremy: I mean, Ace Frehley is my guy. I play guitar because of Ace fucking Frehley.

LRI: Yes!  Me too, bro!

Jeremy: I got to play on stage with half of KISS.

LRI: That is so surreal dude. I watched that on youtube.

Jeremy: And you know, Gene and Ace were my favorite guys, you know, when I was four and five years old. That was just an amazing day all the way around.

LRI: I remember thinking “If I only had this many days off it wouldn’t take much for me to drive around for that one”. That would have been a such a great gig to see.

Jeremy: Cheap Trick too, you know …

LRI: Oh that’s right. Cheap Trick opened up.

Jeremy: Yeah. That was a big day

LRI: So, other than all that going on..”Thee Rock N’ Roll Residency” has quite a big buzz going on like every Tuesday in Nashville. You said you were talking about getting your set list ready for that?

Jeremy: Yeah and honestly I’m doing it early. Normally man we’re getting it together on Monday, sometimes Tuesday morning.

LRI: I love seeing some of the guests you guys got there. What are some of your favorite guests so far? I know you’re friends with half of them.

Jeremy: Gene was a fantastic one, I mean that was awesome to have Gene at our show and have him standing at the side watching. You know, Deep Purple. Robin Zander coming out twice. It was February of 2016. It was like Robin came out and then the next two weeks we had the Deep Purple guys and then Robin came out that next week again so that was a pretty good one.  Alice Cooper came out one time but we didn’t play with him. Him and his band did. They just did this set in between our set.

LRI: That sounds really familiar, I remember somebody saying that they saw him there.

Jeremy: That was a long time ago. That was like our first year and you know, Chuck was our first bass player so … he left to go on Tour with Motley and Alice like a month after that and we knew they were gonna have a night off when they came to Nashville so he had already kind of lined up doing something that night and we did our show and they played in between.

LRI: Dude I need to get down there and see that sometime.

Jeremy: It’s just crazy man like everybody I grew up with like moved to town. I didn’t even have to move so … you know, on a weekly basis there’s just somebody there that’s fucking cool or …

LRI: I remember something last summer or fall about somebody bitching about the noise ordinance down there … is that still happening?

Jeremy: Yes and that’s why we had to switch venues.

LRI: Oh that’s right. I remember reading about that.

Jeremy: There was a local article about it. I was even interviewed for the article. I smelled a scam and I thought it was developers and some political red tape trying to squeeze the bars out so developers could buy the land and build condos ’cause that’s what’s going on there right now and there was some proof of some politician’s wife organizing that stuff. I can’t remember exactly who, it’s been a while now but, you know …there was some bullshit involved.

LRI: That is so crazy.

Jeremy: I didn’t think that people were really calling and complaining about the noise. It just didn’t make any sense.

LRI: There’s a venue here in the Detroit area. It’s a smaller amphitheater. It holds about 7000 people and it gets quite a few big shows and even more so now the last four years since they reopened. They’ve were closed for like 10 years but there’s people around there that have been complaining about that and as you know … so yeah, they put a curfew on it of 11pm.

Jeremy: We have an amphitheater, a 6000 capacity amphitheater downtown. They did the same thing to them. The decibel level has to be at a certain place and it has to end at a certain time. But I didn’t think that about these places, man, these condos are by … it’s in music row, it’s by a strip of bars, I mean …

LRI: And it’s friggin Nashville.

Jeremy: It didn’t add up and it turns out I was right.

LRI: Ok bud. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today. Hopefully I’ll see you again soon with Gene or with John.

Jeremy: You are welcome! See ya.
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Please visit the following links:
www.johncorabimusic.com
www.genesimmons.com
www.vintageguitars.com

Follow Jeremy on the net:
Twitter- https://twitter.com/JeremyAsbrock
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.asbrock
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/theejeremyasbrock

Tags: full-image, gene simmons, Jeremy Asbrock, john corabi, KISS, Live 94, motley crue, the big rock show, thee rock n roll residency

Category: Interviews