The singer says he walked after being told the band were taking a year off, then watched a The Dead Daisies record land a week after his own.
John Corabi has rejected the assumption that he left The Dead Daisies because Glenn Hughes came back.
The former Mötley Crüe singer, whose solo album New Day came out in April through Frontiers Music Srl, told Joseph Suto of “Rock Show Critique” that the reason was a business one, and that it had been building for months.
“Again, without going into details, a lot of people think that I left because [The Dead Daisies] were doing shows with [former The Dead Daisies vocalist] Glenn [Hughes again]. I could give a s**t less about that, could care less. This was about the fact that for some reason, whatever it was, they said, ‘We’re taking a year off.’ They decided to put that link out that they were gonna give to everybody for free. They decided to make vinyl out of it. And they decided to put the record out at the exact same time as mine. And my record came out April 24th, their record came out May 1st, and I just said, ‘You know what?’ Honestly, did I leave the band? I said, ‘Yes.’ … ‘Cause they kept moving the goalpost. So I wrote [The Dead Daisies founder/rhythm guitarist] David Lowy a letter and I said, ‘I don’t understand why you guys are doing this. You said this, you said this, this and this, and the complete opposite is happening, so I don’t do business this way. I’m out. Talk to you later. Bye.’ And that was it. Done. And whatever. They put out a press release that said that I was leaving. Whatever,” he explained.
Corabi‘s account starts with a conversation about the band standing down for a year.
“Honestly, I don’t wanna get into a bunch of mudslinging, but at the end of the day, I was told, and my bass player were told, ’cause Michael [Devin, now-former The Dead Daisies bassist and current member of Corabi‘s solo band] actually played with me in The Daisies as well, and we were told that we were taking a year off. We did record [a live album] last year, [at] the last show that we did, [which] was called Live At Stonedead. And in the same conversation, the manager said, ‘We’re taking a year off,’ and he said, ‘Hey, we recorded the last show. We’re gonna create a link. We’re gonna put it on Spotify for all of our fans who weren’t there or couldn’t be there,’ a kind of a free thing to the fans And I don’t know what changed. I couldn’t tell you what’s in his mind, the manager. But there were some issues that he did speak to my manager about. And then [my solo band and I] went over to Europe in February, and we got back from there. And it was weird — it was right around the time I put my record out for pre-sale. It was shortly after that I started noticing The Dead Daisies were asking me to collaborate on their presale. And I looked at Michael and I said, ‘Did you know about this record that they’re doing?’ And he goes, ‘What?’ He had no idea. I had no idea.”
He stopped short of saying more: “There’s so much more to this story, and I probably already said too much. My parents always said, ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say about somebody, say nothing at all.'”
The Dead Daisies have not responded to these specific claims. Their statement announcing his exit (provided to Blabbermouth), issued on July 14, read: “It has come to our attention that John Corabi has decided to leave The Dead Daisies. We’d like to sincerely thank John for his incredible contribution to the band over the years and wish him nothing but success with his solo career and all his future endeavors.”
The exit landed barely a week after Corabi aired his confusion publicly. Speaking with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of the “Rock Interview Series” he described being left in the dark by the band’s management.
“I’m not sure, dude, because, to be quite honest with you, I don’t know what is going on with that band right now. Michael [Devin] and I are just kind of sitting here scratching our heads, because… Last year when I told [The Dead Daisies management] I got this record deal, I told them, ‘Hey, I signed a deal with Frontiers. I’m gonna do a solo album.’ And they were, like, ‘Okay, cool.’ And then later, the manager was, like, ‘You know what? Actually, we’re gonna take a year off. David‘s [Lowy, The Dead Daisies founder and rhythm guitarist] gonna go hang with his dad. So knock yourself out. You got a whole year to finish your record and go promote it,’” he said at the time.
“And then we’re on tour, and then all of a sudden it’s like they’re doing a show with Glenn Hughes, who I adore, so don’t read anything into that. I love Glenn Hughes. But it’s, like, then they release a [live] record that it was from a show that we did on the last tour. They released the record, like, one week after mine, and I’m, like, ‘I don’t even know what’s going on right now.’”
Corabi was careful to stress there’s no friction between him and Hughes, keeping his frustration squarely on the mixed signals rather than the man who replaced him. Ultimately, he’s decided not to lose sleep over it.
“So Michael and I are, like, ‘Are we still employed by The Daisies or…?’ I don’t even know what’s going on. But I’m not worried about it. I’m just, like, ‘You know what? Whatever.’ I’m very happy doing what I’m doing, and I’m very proud of the record that I just delivered.”
The two records Corabi refers to were released a week apart. His own New Day arrived on April 24. Live At Stonedead, taken from the band’s closing set at the Stonedead festival on August 23, 2025, his final show with them, had already been released digitally in November, and came out as a physical record on May 1.
The Hughes theory has an obvious source. On May 30, 2026, Hughes reunited with Doug Aldrich, Tommy Clufetos and Lowy for a one-off at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, billed as The Purple Daisies. The sold-out set was split roughly evenly between The Dead Daisies songs and Deep Purple material. Corabi‘s departure was announced six weeks later.
A second Purple Daisies show had been booked for October 2 at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. That was called off after Hughes announced on August 4 that he was retiring from touring and live performances, having been advised he needs another open-heart surgery. He had already cancelled a spring United States tour in January over a health issue. His retirement came three weeks after Corabi‘s exit was made public.
Corabi first joined The Dead Daisies in early 2015 and stayed until January 2019, recording Revolución, Make Some Noise and Burn It Down. Hughes replaced him that summer and sang on Holy Ground in 2021 and Radiance in 2022 before leaving in May 2023, at which point Corabi returned for a second run of roughly three years.
The band’s most recent album of original songs is Light ‘Em Up, released in September 2024 through SPV in Germany and Ward Records in Japan, produced by Marti Frederiksen, whose credits include Aerosmith and Def Leppard. They followed it with Lookin’ For Trouble, a blues record cut live at FAME Studios and released through Fame and Malaco, which produced covers of John Lee Hooker‘s “Boom Boom” and Robert Johnson‘s “Crossroads“.
