John Corabi Speaks To Financial Hardships After Leaving Mötley Crüe + Taking On A Job As A Truck Driver

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John Corabi: Ja Fryta, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons / Vince Neil: Motley Crue Facebook
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During a recent interview with Logical Logistics, ex-Mötley Crüe frontman John Corabi spoke to the financial hardships he struggled with after leaving the band, as well as a day job he had as a truck driver. John Corabi was in the band from 1992 to 1997 acting as lead singer, as well as playing everything from rhythm guitar, bass, keyboards, piano, to synthesizer.

During this conversation, Corabi spoke to how rough things got for him after he left Mötley Crüe; he speaks to how, even though he was getting bonuses, publishing, and advances, he got hit hard with some major finances. Regarding these financial struggles, Corabi shares the following:

“That’s one of the things that everybody assumes, because I did the Mötley thing – that I was a multi-millionaire. And it was funny. I made money when I first joined Mötley; I got bonuses and publishing and all these advances and stuff. But at the same time, I joined Mötley in 1992 and I left the band in ’97, and in that five years my son was diagnosed with diabetes, my mom had been diagnosed with cancer. So fortunately/unfortunately, I wound up taking care of them financially. And then there’s the normal shit — you’ve gotta pay your taxes. I remember, fuck, there was two tax checks that I wrote. My first one was like $139,000 and then the following year I had to spend like $219,000 in taxes. Like, wow, okay. So by the time the five years had passed, I lived off that money and beyond, but it was starting to get dangerously low. The music industry was changing; a lot of the ’80s bands weren’t selling any records. So it was a weird time.”

After leaving Mötley Crüe, Corabi ended up joining the band Ratt. However, he found himself needing some extra cash – so he ended up getting another job. Below is what Corabi had to say about working as a truck driver:

“The whole reason why I did it – I mean, I wasn’t in dire straits financially. Ratt was taking a year off. At that point, I think I was paying child support and alimony — I was paying like $2,500 a month — but I was going through a second divorce, and it was this push-and-pull thing where the girl would come back, and she would disappear, then she would come back. And I’m, like, oh my God. I just needed and wanted a little bit of a change. So I was, like, ‘All right. I can get a trucking license in three weeks. And I’m gonna learn how to do this.’

“[…] I spent most of my life traveling in a tour bus, but you’re usually traveling at night, and you see shit in a tour bus. And I could not believe some of the places that I saw driving that truck and just moving goods around the United States. I’m, like, wow. There’s parts of the United States – I’ve been literally touring my whole life and there were things that I’d never seen before until I started driving a truck. And I had a fucking blast. I did it for almost a year.

“And then Ratt called and said, ‘Hey, we’re getting ready to go back out on tour again.’ And I called my boss at Warner and I just said, ‘Hey, man. I’m going back to touring.’ And it was funny. ‘Cause a lot of people didn’t know who I was, or they didn’t know anything about my history. When I told my boss, I said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go back to touring again,’ he was, like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m actually a musician.’ And I told him who I was and all that stuff. And I just handed him the keys back and I said, ‘I thank you. I had a great time. It’s been awesome. I’m going back on tour again.’ So I did it for almost a year. It was cool. Mentally, it cleared my head, ’cause I was just driving and thinking and mapping things out in my head. And then I made a really decent living, and I had health insurance for me and my son. It was cool, man. I had a great time. It was awesome.”

We are glad to hear that John found truck driving to be a rewarding experience. Do you know other famous rockers who have had interesting day jobs outside of music? You can check out the full video interview featuring John Corabi below.

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