By: Rick Landers
Corky Laing – Photo credit: RSR-Photography (c) 2018
The Long Island, New York, rock group Mountain will forever be defined by the explosive song “Mississippi Queen”, with the legendary drummer Corky Laing driving the crew with a hard punch of his then massive double bass drum kit and clanging cowbell.
To this day, Laing’s fiery drumming works to propel Mountain into a brazen powerhouse that still defines the group as one of the early pioneers of Heavy Metal.
Laurence “Corky” Laing (born: January 28, 1948) is a native of Montreal, Canada, and worked his way into the music business when he was pushing a broom at a local country club when he was 11 years old.
The story goes that an early well-known vocal group, The Ink Spots, were in town to play at the club due to a musicians’ union strike in Canada. The recruited the kid to play drums, teaching him some fundamentals, before they’d all hit the stage.
Over the course of many decades, Mountain would form, breakup and reform in various member formations. And, although Laing would never be too far from the fame of Mountain, he also moved forward not only as sought after drummer, but as an author co-authoring with West the book, Nantucket Sleighride and Other Mountain on-the-Road Stories (2003), a history of their time with Mountain and beyond.
Soon after an early breakup of Mountain, Laing joined forces with Leslie and Cream’s formidable bassist/vocalist, Jack Bruce, as West, Bruce and Laing.
The trio launched four albums, Why Dontcha (1972), Whatever Turns You On (1973), Live ‘n’ Kickin’ (1974) and Avalanche (1974). During 1975, Corky would find his way into the studio to play congas on the great Bo Diddley’s All-Star album, The 20th Anniversary of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
In ’85 Corky would join Leslie again as Mountain, and release Go For Your Life, and one that paid tribute to the late Felix Pappalardi.
Corky would also keep up the pace working with John Lennon, Ian Hunter, John Cale, Mick Ronson, as well as record as a duet (Cork) with Eric Schenkman (Spin Doctors), with support from bassist, Noel Redding (The Jimi Hendrix Experience). Cork music would find its way to the 2006 documentary, Liberty Village – Somewhere in Heaven.
In 2003, Laing and Leslie West authored Nantucket Sleighride and Other Mountain on-the-Road Stories, a chronicle of their time with Mountain in its heyday and their careers in the years following. And in 2007, he recorded Stick It!, an audio recording of his memoirs with Cory Bruyea in Oakville, Ontario.
He’s a 2014 recipient of the Bonzo Bash Award, a prized award that honors the best drummers in the world and is a tribute to the great John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). Corky would also receive the Long Island Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2004, although as Mr. Laing hails from Canada, his well-deserved award remains absent from the Hall’s roster of awardees.
The last time Guitar International magazine saw Laing perform, he was with Mountain at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia. Leslie belted out Mountain’s hits on a new Leslie West Dean Signature model and Rev Jones held his ground on bass.
We caught up with Corky while he was on his way back to New York and he was a cauldron of everything you’d want out of a legendary rock star, smart, funny, self-effacing and humble, and enough tongue in cheek spit and vinegar to make us smile. He was pumped about his new book, Letters to Sarah, that entails letters to his mom during the course of his early days with Mountain and beyond.
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Rick Landers: Your book, Letters to Sarah, chronicles your experiences for your mom, because it’s a compilation of letters you sent to her. When you read those letters today, how did you feel watching yourself growing up, through those letters, over that period of time?
Corky Laing: Yeah. I have to say it was very therapeutic. It’s a long time, and a lot to remember. Those were some very poignant moments in the book. I remember the big times, I remember the small times. But, for me it was a real exercise.
As you know, the memories, that’s what life is all about. I didn’t want to abuse it, and I didn’t want to go off on too much of a tangent, at all. I just wanted to be honest. Those letters are in real time.
Again, I didn’t know she saved them. When Tuija Takala, my co-writer, found the box stored away, she said, “Wait, we have a catalyst here. We have a timeline.”
We used that, more than anything else, I had to bash my brains around to make sure it was accurate. All the dates, etcetera. She insisted they were accurate. I don’t have billions of fans. The fans that I’ve managed to have, which is wonderful, would notice bad dates and mistakes. Some of these fans are 80 years old. They want the truth.
Rick: Yeah, exactly.
Corky Laing: Hopefully, that comes through. Again, it was therapeutic on a lot of levels, and it was fun on a lot of other levels. Some of the times you remember. It comes out. All of a sudden you’re seeing colors, and you’re seeing people and faces. That kind of vision, it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to see that. I’m happy, because I do have sort of a photographic memory.
Rick: Oh, do you?
Corky Laing: Yes, I do. I found that out. Tuija said, “What, you remember that?” I said, “Certain things come right back.” Again, I wouldn’t say most important, but what was potent times, you know?
Rick: Yeah. I was talking to somebody a few weeks ago. I said, “You know, when you get older you don’t remember each day, but you do remember special moments.”
Corky Laing: Yes, that’s a good point. I happen to say, I think I’m lucky enough to remember certain dates. Not birthdays and stuff like that. I’m talking about days where we would remember all of it, whether it was Carnegie Hall or it was Bumfuck, Iowa, whatever it is, you remember all of it. I was very impressed. I was a groupie. You start off, you want to get next to everything, and everyone that you’re excited about.
Yeah, it has an effect. A lot of it was serendipitous, a lot of it was planned. I don’t know about the planned part. I take that back. I don’t think I planned anything. Fine. It worked out.
I’ll tell you one thing, I’ve always passed on, if anybody asks, is a four-letter word that you have to have in this business. It is luck. You have to have luck, and you got to be prepared. You have to be, but it’s really important to remember that. It’s going to either happen or not, but when it happens you better be ready.
There’s musicians out there that, I tell them, you know, “Well, how much money you making?” I have money, and they want to be a hit record. I said, “Forget about it.” The music business is not anywhere what it was, at least when I started. You’ve got to just love it. It’s got to come from the heart. If you’re in it for the music, I don’t know about these days. In the old days you wrote a song, you’re a publisher, you had a whole series of events that, you know, had financial pleasure. These days, all you’ve got is the fun, you know?
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing: Frankly, it’s always been that way. It’s just that everybody likes to make a few bucks.
Rick: I’ve heard people say, “It’s about the music.” When it gets down to it, if you start focusing on yourself only and you don’t focus on the music, you really get lost, I think.
Corky Laing: You do. That’s exactly what happens. That’s going to hold you down. The idea is, there’s a reverence to playing when you learn to play, and a reverence to performing. I think a well-rounded musician plays, writes, sings, performs. Performing, for me, is a very, very big part of it, because you’ve got to get out there. Not you, but everybody that plans on communicating with their music, you got to get out there. You got to get out there in the world.
You can’t sit on a computer and hope to communicate, or have any brilliant moments. Maybe you can. I’m not denying that. I don’t want to sound like an old fogey. That’s the only place these days you can get any kind of redemption. That’s getting out and playing. I’m thrilled that I can still do it.
I got to tell you. You got this magazine that keeps people alive, and keeps the hope alive. You can see it, you can feel it, and hopefully it inspires the kids to get out and just do it. The kids. There’s a lot of older people now that are taking up guitar and things.
This guy didn’t take his med. Hold on. Okay. There we go. Okay. He’s on his way. Go ahead.
Corky Laing – Photo credit: Rainer Kerber (c) 2017
Rick: Yeah, and I think there’s a lot of this. Like me, I stopped stopped playing, performing back in the ’70s and so I got a regular job and I finished that. Now, I’m back out performing, and it really does test your mettle to get out there again. It’s like jumping off of the high dive almost every time, until you get used to it.
Corky Laing: That’s great news. That’s very cool to hear, because that’s what it’s about. There’s no ending, there’s no beginning. It’s just doing it. You always figure, well, that’s it. No, it’s never it. Then, when you buy the farm, the only thing you got is your memories, but that’s not is. You can do it. You can always do it again, and again.
Rick: I know, I think that too.
Corky Laing: I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to about that. I’m just really glad that I never stopped, because I’m not sure I would’ve been able to get up and do it again. I certainly admire you for that, you know?
Rick: Thank you. I’m actually getting paid. I picked up five gigs after doing an open mic, all paid. It’s like, really? I had to laugh.
Corky Laing: Well, good for you. Yeah, that’s terrific. Let me ask you this. I’m going through the programs. This is for the guitar magazine?
Rick: Yeah, Guitar International. I just interviewed Carmine Appice.
Corky Laing: Carmine is a terrific drummer. If you don’t believe it, ask him. He’s actually, he makes me feel young. I remember seeing him, having a big influence on me when he played the Ed Sullivan Show.
Rick: Oh, yeah. I saw him at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit back in ’68 when he was with Vanilla Fudge.
Corky Laing: Yeah, that was the big touring stuff. Yeah, that was wonderful. That’s right. No, Carmine’s amazing. He is!
So, I got to tell you what happened with him. When I moved down to New York, and we crossed path a lot because Long Island and Queens. We hung out with him. We’re talking about all the Long Island drummers, Rick, you know?
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing: Bobby Rondinelli, Danny Carmassi… You got Carmine Appice, and Bobby Rondinelli. You have all these Italians. I said, “Carmine, I’d really like to get into that drummer loop.” He said, “No, that’s an Italian thing. You’d have to change your name to Corky Linguini.” Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll do it. I don’t mind. Yeah, we crossed paths. It’s a guitar magazine. I’m curious, if you’re interviewing drummers for a guitar magazine. Which, by the way, is very cool. The people that know guitars are the drummers. They know the guitar players.
Rick : Oh, the drummers go get the beer for us.
Corky Laing: Yeah. I tell you what. I’ve been very fortunate myself, because I’ve played with some great guitar players, and players. I get it. It’s funny, but it is cool, because I can give you an insight into how drummers look at guitar players.
Rick: I’m not sure I want to know. (Both Laugh) We actually talked about Leslie (West) a bit, because Leslie was in a band back then. I can’t remember what the name of the band was,
Corky Laing: Yeah, they were called The Vagrants.
Rick: Hey, let’s get back to the Letters to Sarah. Since those were to your mom, what was she like?
Corky Laing: Oh, she was a wonderful, outgoing woman. She’s, I consider, a miracle worker because she brought up my triplet brothers, myself, my sister who was older than my brothers. My grandmother was there, my uncle, and of course, my dad.
These days I remember, I had a kid and I couldn’t believe I could handle one kid. I consider it a miracle. She was terrific. She was great with me, but I really sucked up to her. I hate to use that word, because I wanted to get attention from her. You do your newspaper route and you make yourself two dollars?
Rick: Yup.
Corky Laing: I’d always buy her a present at the hardware.
Rick: That’s sweet. That’s sweet.
Corky Laing: Those porcelain things?
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing: Little Kitscho’s, I call them. And my brothers’ saying, “What are you doing, buying mom that?” I said, “I don’t know, I think it’s cute.” Anyway, I realized that I played up to her for years. I really was trying to get in the loop. I wanted her to acknowledge me. I was the baby in the family. What can I say? What do you say about your ma, you know?
When you see these sports, you see the Superbowl and they score a touchdown. The halfback comes down and looks in the camera, and he puts up his finger, number one, “Mom. Number one.”
Rick: That’s true.
Corky Laing: They never say, “Dad, we’re number one!” It’s number one is always the mom. The moms take a special place in most people’s lives.
Rick: Right. I understand, yeah.
Corky Laing: Whatever it is…the encouragement. The maternal encouragement to encourage the musician, the artist, and different children. I don’t know how it works, but there’s a sensitivity, comes down and is very… It’s pretty sensitive. What can I say?
Rick: Yeah, yeah.
Corky Laing: You can pick up on that. My dad wanted to be a cartoonist.
When my triplet brothers were born, that was it. You can’t raise a family at that point, and my sister; four kids. Cartoonists weren’t getting big bucks, and he loved art. When he found out he couldn’t be a cartoonist, he locked up all his drawings. He had about 50 drawings, in a drawer. He locked the drawer. In other words, he locked that out of his life.
My mother didn’t force him, but he knew what he had to do. He had to go out there and sell textiles, and make some money. As a result of that, I think my mother felt a bit guilty. When I told my mom, of course I said, “Mom, I want to grow up, and I want to be a drummer.” She said to me, “Son, you’re going to have to pick one, or the other.”
Hey, Rick, seriously speaking, she encouraged me because she knew my father had to compromise his life, just because of the family. She said, “Look at me. You can do anything you want, and again, keep it straight up,” etcetera. All the advice that the parents would give you. I just did the best I could to impress her, you know?
I’m glad I was able to, in many cases. Of course, in the book you realize there were a few places where it fell short, you know?
Rick: Don’t we all?
Corky Laing: It’s all right, we all do.
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing: Exactly. Everybody has a book, right, Rick? It’s a question whether they write them.
Rick: Yeah. That’s true. Yeah.
Rick: Yeah. You start with your heartbeat. Then, you go to what? The paradiddle, and then you move up, right?
Corky Laing: I never got into the paradiddle.
Rick: Didn’t you?
Corky Laing: No, just kidding. No. That’s technique. Now, we’re talking technique. You want to go there, good luck because I know nothing about technique. I love Joe Morello, and I love all those technicians and the jazz guys, but I got to sort of keep it real for myself. That’s a lot of ambidextrous work, and there’s a lot of head space and all that. I see you can really lean on just the gut. The problem with me is I don’t remember a lot of things that I do until I try to remember it. You know, as a player, either it comes back to you or it doesn’t.
You can’t think too hard. At least I can’t. I can’t think too hard. Otherwise, what I think I can do goes away.
Rick: You don’t want to overthink, because you lose that instinct that you probably have.
Corky Laing: That’s exactly right. Again, during the era I played, I played with Leslie, who I don’t think he ever remembered anything. The both of us were in good shape. We all didn’t remember the same thing, and it was a whole different way, of course. This is before jam bands. I mean, Mountain was a real… You know, we got out there on the songs, because Felix loved to do that.
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing: Of course, he came from the side of production. Guys like Jack (Bruce), and Eric (Clapton) who just went for it. They had enough knowledge of the parameters of what the technique is, and musically, and what the tones could be, the tonal aspect. You have to get to a certain stage where you know what you’re doing. At the same time, you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s a wonderful place to be, you know?
See if that makes any sense, Rick. I’m hoping you come back, “I don’t know, Cork.” Yeah.
Rick: I’ll have to work through that a bit.
Corky Laing: Yeah, write that down, we’ll come back to it.
Rick: How did Letters to Sarah come about? Tell us a bit about your collaborator. I think she also collaborated with you on Playing God: The Rock Opera, and she’s also your manager, right?
Corky Laing: Yeah, she plays a great part in my life over the years. She started out as a friend. She loved music, she helped me do some lectures. The way you pronounce, Tuija Takala became a formidable place in my career. At the same time, we’re in love, I love her. She’s a doll. She likes me so far, so that’s good. It’s the kind of thing where we both have a tremendous amount of faith. In business, there is not faith. You know what I mean?
Rick: Oh. Yeah.
Corky Laing: It’s a very strange business to be in.
Rick: It is.
Corky Laing: She wrote this rock opera. She asked me to do the music for it, and we did that together. This was a really challenging situation. That’s what relationships are, when you do things. You challenge each other to get better, and better. I’ve never done anything like Playing God, but it was probably great time in my life. It wasn’t probably, it was. It was wonderful, because I’d never done music for… It’s a commission to an extent.
Playing God, I don’t know if you go online, you could find it. It is coming out in a DVD. We did a performance that was video taped in Helsinki. Coming out in 2020. Yeah, and I’ll keep you posted on that… online.
Rick: Good, good. All right.
Corky Laing: Yeah, so as a result of Playing God, that’s the time we were rehearsing in my studio in Long Island, and she found this box of letters, Rick.
Rick: Ah.
Corky Laing: That I didn’t know anything about.
Pulled them down, she said, “What are these?” I’m like, “A couple hundred letters that were written to Sarah over thirty-odd years.”
Rick: Wow, that’s amazing.
Corky Laing: It is. It was amazing, and I loved it, “What are we going to do with this?” She said, “Wait a second, these are all dated.” Each one of them is like a flashback to what I was doing in Saint Laurent, or Quebec, or somewhere in Toronto. I was writing her, letting her know what was going on, and they’re all dated. I sit there and see, it turns out to be like a time clock over the years.
I did my best to embellish, and so did Tuija. She helped write around the letters, which was quite a job. I think she did an amazing job, and she kept it, hopefully, credible. Instead of, like I say, if I wanted to do a decadent book about snorting ants off a table with Ozzy Osborne, I could do that. There are plenty of books out there that have all that Motley Crue kind of thing. I’m sorry to say that I did go through a lot of that, but I wouldn’t advertise that at this point, you know?
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing – Photo courtesy: Jeff Albright PR
Corky Laing: Given that, we put the book together over years. On the road, we were traveling. It just came together, Rick. I must say, I’m really proud of what I’m getting now, what I’m feeling right now, and the feedback.
The feedback we’re getting, Rick, is wonderful because I was afraid a lot of people say, “Well, why didn’t you write the story about shooting up in the bathroom…”, that kind of shit. I said, “Well, no. I didn’t do that.”, but a lot of folks have written it. A lot of that stuff is in there. I don’t find that terribly attractive anymore, but there are people out there that want to hear that.
Rick: Yeah, that’s true. That’s true.
Corky Laing: Tuija insisted that we do something that’s a bit classier than that. I’ll tell you, Rick, it’s my life and I do exactly what Tuija says! [Laughs]
Rick: That’s funny.
Corky Laing: I think that answers the question.
Rick: It does.
Corky Laing: I don’t know how much more I can say about Tuija, because she’s driving the car as we’re moving.
Rick: Oh, you better be nice.
Corky Laing: Better be nice. We’re going off the Manhattan Bridge.
Rick : My experiences taught me that it’s fun to start projects. They’re really exciting, like writing a book. Finishing the book is tough. The last five percent is probably the toughest, so I’ve got to hand it to both of you that you were able to actually finish the project. It’s hard to finish.
Corky Laing: Thank you very much for that, because that did take the most time. We went back and forth on how are we going to end this, you know?
We didn’t want to end it on a sad note, because Sarah passed away. Everybody at some point is going to buy the farm, but you’re right. The last chapter. How many times did we do that, Tuija? Like, four or…
Tuija Takala: Fifteen.
Corky Laing: Fifteen, you’re right. The hardest part, but it’s got to be done right, or as right as possible. Without it sounding fake, without it sounding soppy. My life is not over. I’m having a great time right now.
Rick: Good.
Corky Laing: We have to keep that open, you know? I’m talking to you, Rick, which is wonderful, right?
Rick: Yeah. I’m having fun, so same with me. Same here.
Corky Laing: Okay. This is, hopefully, what it’s all about. Passing it on to other people. I hope whoever gets the book and reads it enjoys it for what it is. I consider it a family book, because with a big family, everything can run amuck.
Rick: Oh, that’s true. Yeah.
Corky Laing: My brothers all graduated. My sister graduated. I almost graduated. The point is that, for a family with little means, it went a long way. It went a long way, and I’m thrilled about that. I was able to put that in there too, because most blues players, ah, my life with this, and my daddy never came home, and momma left me on the doorstep. You know? No. I had a wonderful family, and it’s nice to get that out there.
I don’t even know if my triplet brothers agree, because they were always called The Triplets. They weren’t called Leslie, Jeff and Steve. I remember, my brother, Jeff says, “You know? I don’t remember anything before I was eighteen, and I moved out of the house.” Then, he had a name, he wasn’t a triplet. I can see that. You could feel that. Hey, I was lucky enough to be at the tail end. Listen, I had the drums. They couldn’t ignore those. You know that, right?
Rick: Oh, yeah. I’ve got a kid down the street playing on these big plastic paint containers, and he’s loud, but I went up to his dad, I said, “You know, you got to keep letting him do that. It doesn’t bother me. In fact, I kind of enjoy it.”
Corky Laing: That’s great. No, that is great. It’s like, Blue Man Group comes to your neighborhood, banging the cans. I actually went to see that show.
It was brilliant. It was brilliant. I saw it in New York. I walked out with a heavy migraine, but still, it was a brilliant show. Yeah, you can’t stop these kids. I’d rather have them have a couple of sticks in their hand banging on the drums, then a gun, you know?
Rick: Yeah, yeah.
Corky Laing: I think that’s ultimately, hopefully, what’ll happen. They’ll replace all the guns with guitars, and drums. Hey, you’re writing for a magazine. I’m sure you guys do ads for different things. It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful that you’re able to enhance. Hopefully, it picks up for a lot of kids; girls and boys. Like you said, even some of the more on in life people who say, “Let me go try that again,” you know? Try it again. Just do it again, and again. Very cool.
Rick: You’ve been working with Leslie West since the ’60s. How do you guys, and there’s a lot of fun I’m sure, but there have got to be times when you have to de-conflict differences of opinion. How do you negotiate through that? I assume your friends and you say somebody’s got to take the lead on something. When you have disagreements, how do you de-conflict, how do you mediate or negotiate through those? W
Corky Laing: It’s really simple, Rick.
Rick: Yeah?
Corky Laing: You disagree with them. You’ve got to pick your battles. Yeah, Les and I have been years, and years of divorces, suits, and weddings, and bar mitzvahs. You name it, we’ve been through all of it. Four or five wives. Leslie’s a tough nut, and he’s got a way with him. I don’t agree with a lot of what he does, and the whole thing because he was brought up in a family that wasn’t like mine, you know?
Rick: Yeah, yeah.
Corky Laing: It wasn’t kind, and gentle. He had a tough run. He had a tough life without getting… Matter of fact, I’m wondering why he’s not writing a book. I can only think he’s not writing a book because it’s work. It’s work. He doesn’t want to work. I wrote a book called Stick It, way back 20 years ago. It’s the funny, behind-the-scenes book with no redeeming features. It was just stupid stories. [Both Laugh]
Rick: Funny.
Corky Laing: Company in England said, “Well, this is great!” They took it, but they wanted Leslie to write in the stories too, so it’d be both of us. Anyways, Leslie came in with maybe four or five stories, and some photos. The English company called it Rock and Roll Stories. Oh, so Nantucket Sleighride and the Other Rock and Roll Stories, which I thought was cool because I was copyrighting Rock and Roll Stories. I was in touch with Gregg Allman, and a few people. I thought we’d do a book of stories from all different bands. That never happened, because management came in and, “No, we want this, you get paid that,” so forgetting that.
The point is that Leslie put in a couple of stories. That book sold out. I don’t think we ever got paid for that. Point is that, when we did this book, Tuija and I did this book, we’re going to say, “Listen. I want to be proud of this book,” and she wants to be proud, because she is a professor. There are going to be people that read the book going, “What are you doing with this rock and roll drummer?” She has to answer that. That’s her problem.
The point is, we have a symbiotic relationship. It’s really important when you’re creating. That’s what we did with the book, and I’m very proud of her. It’s nice she has that, because again, she was fifty percent, if not more of the energy in this book. When you see an I that’s dotted and you see a T that’s crossed, and then you see a wonderful sentence, that’s her.
Rick: You’re pretty literate too. You had a book. What was it called? I’ve got it written down here. Oh, it’s an album, Makin’ It On The Street. You wrote most of that.
Corky Laing: Makin’ It On The Street was a solo album I did back in ’76. It’s funny you mention that, because the cool writer on that album was a guy named Frank Conroy, who was a proper novelist. He’s a teacher in Iowa.
He was a real writer, and his thing was, because he wrote novels, he’s also a bebop musician. He thought he would challenge himself with writing stories in a song. Which is Makin’ It On The Street. It’s about this big couple at a farm, and there’s a story to everything he writes, all the time.
I got into that. I remember saying, “Anything I’m going to write, it’s got to have a story. It’s got to have something more. There’s got to be some story to it, some redeeming feature.” Hopefully, people walk away from Letters to Sarah going, “Wow, maybe I should call my mom.”
Little as that, “Maybe I should call my mom.” I’m thinking that, to me, is terrific. Just a little movement after reading it. Hopefully, having a little input into a good thing.
Mountain – Photo credit: Gail Collins-Pappalardi
Rick: I think that your Makin It On The Street and Playing with Sarah, you’re also looking to be a catalyst of sort, or maybe that’s just a byproduct of what you did.
Corky Laing: I think everything in music, it does become a byproduct. If there’s a product, there’s a byproduct. Sometimes, the byproduct becomes the product. We start out with influences, and ideas. I found myself and a lot of writers, so sure, a lot of folk writers, they write about their real life without trying to be too indulgent.
Tuija was a catalyst insofar as she took the box of letters, in this case, and she says, “I think I’ve got something here.” I had no idea what she had in mind until she explained it. Then, she explained it again. Then, she explained it again. Finally, I got it. She says, “The letters will be flashbacks.” That way, people can see; give, take, old, new. Hopefully, there’s a flow, and there’s an art to it, which I think happened.
Again, I’m laughing about finishing off the book because I just remember looking at each other, “Well, how we going to finish this thing?”
I’ll say it again. Tuija and I, the symbiotic relationship’s very important. She can read my mind more than I want her to, you know?
I try to read her mind, there’s no way. She’s Finnish. What are you going to do, you know?
You barely say anything. I do adore her, and she’s very, very smart. It really, really intimidates me sometimes that she’s so smart. I’m just like, “God, I got to get out here.” The point is that we have a good time.
Rick: That’s good. That’s what life’s about. I read part of your book. I got 56 pages from Jeff Albright, if you know Jeff. I read some of it. It was like, “This is really well-written.” I think I read on your website that you’re coming out with an audio book. Are you narrating the book?
Corky Laing: Yes.That was therapy, Rick.
Rick: Oh, I bet. Yeah.
Corky Laing: I was reading my words, so I couldn’t really mess with it. Then, immediately, I tried to put a judgmental thing, “Do I want to say that?” You got to say it. I remember saying to Tuija, “Can we just take this part out, because I’m not confident?” She went, “No, it’s in the book.”
Rick: Yeah, it’s already written down. There’s a difference. When I do interviews, sometimes I’ll find that people are saying things that won’t look quite right in print. I have a fellow, I won’t tell you who he was, years ago, who started talking about how he liked serial killers. At that point, Dimebag Darrell had just been killed. I said, “Maybe you don’t want to say that.” He said, “Yeah, Rick. That’s a good idea. Let’s not say that.” Because of crazy people out there.
Corky Laing: Yes, yes. Yeah. I shouldn’t have even gone to that particular show. The point is that there are writers that just give up at the end, and just knock it off whenever they can, because they want to put a nail in a coffin. Put it to bed, you know?
We didn’t want to do that at all. Matter of fact, it must’ve taken months, over and over again, to go back to correct it, and get this. To this day I’m trying to figure, how did we end it?
Rick: It takes some discipline.
Corky Laing: It’s funny. She just said, “I’m not happy with it.” Well, you’re never really happy. When you have to think about it that much, there’s always that tentativeness about it, you know?
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing: About what you want to do next. There’ll be more creative process going on, so it’s going. Carry on, next question.
Rick: Bassist, Rev Jones. I just interviewed him. In fact, it’s on the website right now, if you had a chance to look at it. He apparently, when I saw him perform he had this long dread knock, and he was swinging it around. That was at Wolf Trap, and you were there, and I met Leslie there. I was with Joey Molland (Badfinger, just hanging out. Then, he shaved his head, and I was wondering, did that affect his playing?
Corky Laing: He’s really a very talented guy.
Corky Laing Live! – Photo credit: Kristina Freed
Rick: You’ve hung out with some of the most, I’ll call them strident rockers, like Keith Moon. It’s almost like you’ve been grounded by some others like maybe Levon Helm. Who’s influenced you during your high and lows? Who among your friends has always been there for you?
Corky Laing: I’m happy to say, and I’m not doing this lightly, a big spiritual friend of mine is Levon Helm, okay?
Rick: Yeah.
Corky Laing: I’ve gone in and out, because he lived in Woodstock and I would go see Leslie in Woodstock. Then, I would go back to Nantucket. Then, I lived in Toronto, so when I went to New York I’d drive through Woodstock. I’ve kept close in touch with Levon.
He was really, not just A friend because everybody’s a friend. If Levon likes you, he’s a friend. He’s there. It’s not a personal thing. He’s an amazing human being, but he’s been through everything. Of course, toward the end he had the cancer, but he’s a brave soul. He’s a man’s man, and he’s also a music man’s man, you know?
He doesn’t compromise anything. Any time I found myself desperate, which was a few times, I would think of Levon, because he didn’t buy any of that shit. He said, “Get through it.” I think, I’m not sure if I told you, but we would talk a lot about drums, and programming. I’m not sure if I told you this.
He would look at me and say, “What do you think, with all the programmed drums, computers?” He’d say, “Corky, music is a very special thing. You can do anything to music. Music don’t care.” I thought, “Wow, talk about profound. It’s true.”
Rick: Yeah, yeah.
Corky Laing: Over the years, think of what music has gone through, and how it’s gone through. Just a statement like that, it wasn’t like, he’s not giving up. He’s coming to the realization that you can go anywhere with a few notes, you know?
I’m sure a lot of great musicians, like even Ray Charles, it’s all the sad songs have been played, have been written. Just a matter of how they’re written. We talked about writing. Whether it’s a book, or it’s a song, you have that freedom. There’s no excuse. There’s no whining about. If you know what you’re doing, you do it. If you don’t, it’s going to be obvious.
Rick: Yeah, and be true to yourself.
Corky Laing: Exactly. If your vessel is filled with music, then you be true to the music. I would say, if not one of the biggest influence in terms of life, was Levon Helm. I’m sure there’s a couple I’m not thinking of right now. Of course, there’s my mother.
The family, that’s a different thing, but in the music world there are some great, great people. I don’t know if I can remember them, but that’s a good one. I think any musician that sees that, they’re going to say right. They know about Levon Helm, which is exactly right. I mean, they named a bridge after him in Woodstock, which is something.
Rick: Yeah, that’s pretty cool.
Corky Laing: Yeah, that would be one of my favorite, my fast friends, you know?
Rick: That’s good. That’s good. Thank you. What would you like people to know about Jack Bruce that they might now know, because you played with him a bit as well, right?
Corky Laing: Right. You’re asking me if there’s something that I might know that nobody else knows about him?
Rick: Yeah, kind of, but was he a good friend? He was there when you needed him, or…
Corky Laing: No, actually I think Jack… I may be wrong about this. Jack was not the kind of guy who really cared about friends.
Rick: Ah, okay.
Corky Laing: The same with Felix, by the way. I was into the music. The only friends I had played music, but they weren’t friends, they were associates, you know?
I remember that, because I wanted to be friends with them. He would say, “That’s cool, but I don’t have friends. I just have musicians. Musicians I play with.”
Rick: Yeah, but you’re the baby boy of the family. You’re sensitive, right? I’m the baby boy in my family. I want to be friends.
Corky Laing: You nailed that, by the way. You should write that. The point is, Jack, he was very, very, he’s a genius, very wired. I’m tell you, he doesn’t have any blood in him. It’s all wiring. Brilliant, though. A brilliant, brilliant man, and somebody you would want to be friends with, and get close to, but he would not let you.
The only reason he’d talk to you is if he respected you musically. He used to call me, because we were in the band; Leslie, myself and Jack, and I was the baby in the band. Because I came in with some real innocence, he would come up to me. I’d show him, how about this? You all right? He says, “It’s too fucking simple.” If it was too simple, then he didn’t know about it, but in any case I said, “Should I take that as an insult, Jack?” He goes, “Maybe that’s what the song, or the record needs, a little simplicity here to give it a dynamic.” He went for it.
Corky Laing: Then, of course, the second thing he did was he put 600 voices in the background. The fact is, I don’t know if I’m right or wrong, but my sense is, there’s certain musicians that want to be known by their music. They don’t want to make friends with people, they want to make music.
It’s all about notes, and writing songs, and licks and stuff. It’s all right. I started seeing myself, I realized that you won’t have a lot of friends. Anybody, whether you’re a doctor or whatever, you’re lucky if you can count on your hands friends you can talk to, who have stuck with you, you know?
Rick: Right. That’s true.
Corky Laing: People will tell you that. In terms of musicians, that’s what I love about drums. To me, drums are the communication. If you go back to the caveman days, that’s the way they communicated, on the drums.
I know one thing. I know when I sit down on a chair, I’m home. I sit down on the drum throne, and I feel like the king of the world. I don’t care where the throne is. I don’t care if I’m in the swamp somewhere. If there’s a drum set that could be set up, I’m home. I feel tight. I feel I’ve landed. I’m sorry it sounds selfish, but that’s why they call it a drum throne. Anybody that sits on a drum set should feel like the king, because they’re guiding the band.
Rick: Yeah, that’s true.
Corky Laing: They are leading the country. It sounds corny as hell, but you know what? It works.
You know yourself, there is never a great rock and roll band without a great rock and roll drummer. Whoever it is, you know?
Rick: Oh, yeah. You think of Bonham, and you, and you think Carmine, and you think of Keith Moon, who was masterful.
Corky Laing: Yes. That’s it. They’re out there. They’re still with us musically. The point is, it is a physical job that requires a lot from the brain, to the heart, to the soul, to the pocketbook. It’s already a challenge that you got to keep it tight. The trouble with drumming sometimes is you fumble. You go off to the left and right. Most days you can get back. It’s all right.
Corky Laing: Did you know that Jim Webb owned that Clockwork Orange car? He owned one, and I owned the other one. I don’t know if you remember Clockwork Orange. The Adams Probe 16. It was 16 inches off the ground. It was the lowest car. Adams Brothers worked for Lotus, when Lotus was making all those low cars. There’s no doors. You get in the top, in the roof.
I remember, there were two made. It is Jimmy Webb you’re talking about…
Rick: Yeah, Jimmy Webb, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”. Yeah.
Corky Laing: He got one of them. Jack Bruce got the other one, and Jack Bruce gave me his.
Rick: Really?
Corky Laing: Yeah, and it’s kind of funny you mentioned Jimmy Webb. I haven’t heard his name in a long time.
Rick: Yeah, he’s a nice guy.
Corky Laing: He’s a great writer.
Rick: He also had a Shelby Cobra that Shelby made himself. He said he sold it for 15-grand, and then years later it sold for five million.
Corky Laing: Yeah, isn’t that something? It’s true, yeah.
I get that. I was thinking about the same thing with the Adams Probe, because at the time I was in Canada, and it didn’t meet all the restrictions of driving and stuff. Plus, the winter, but this car was six inches off the ground. It was really low, so I had no use for it in Montreal. Then, I moved to Nantucket. Of course, with the cobblestones, and the salt water it wasn’t a place, so I sold the car to an engineer. I believe the car that I sold is at a lot of car shows around the world.
It was the first of the Adams Probes… the Adams Brothers, they were called. There were two of them, and they made two cars.
Rick : Oh, okay. They had the Europa too, right?
Corky Laing: Yeah.
Rick: Yeah, the little one.
Corky Laing: Yeah, and then they left Lotus. I think it was Lotus, and they started up this company. I don’t know what happened. In fact, the car itself only had, I think a lawnmower engine in it. It just looked great. If you look up the Adams Probe, it’s online.
It’s really a funny-looking. It looks beautiful. It looks like it came out of space.
Rick: Do you have any other projects going on besides your book, or you just want to push your book in this?
Corky Laing: The book is the most important thing.
Rick: The last question that I had here was, who was the most fun to hang out with in the world of rock, and who was the best listener?
Corky Laing: Oh, boy. The best listener would be Tuija Takala, because she had to listen to me even though she didn’t want to. No, she’s a wonderful listener. The most fun, I would say Leslie West was probably the most fun to hang out with. He really was. I say was because I haven’t seen him for a while. Yeah, we had some great times. One of the funniest guys I’ve ever met, and yeah, just terrific.
There’s also a friend of mine, John Shea, who is an actor friend of mine, who I’ve known since ’65. He became a big actor. You would know him if you saw him, but he’s a wonderful spirit. That sort of wraps up, I guess you’d call it my inner loop, if I have one. Right now, Rick, you’re in my inner loop.
Rick: Yeah, that’s cool. It’s been fun.
