Legendary Mountain Drummer Corky Laing Chats About Latest Release 'Finnish Sessions'

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I’m your host Ray Shasho.

Corky Laing is best known as the drummer of the legendary bands Mountain and West, Bruce & Laing and over the years, he has played, recorded and written with the who’s-who of rock. Apart from a six-year period in the 90s, when he worked as VP of A&R at Polygram Canada, he has been performing and making music constantly since 1965. He has received multiple gold records, several Juno Awards and was given the Bonzo Bash Legend Award in 2014.

Corky's album, the Toledo Session was released on CD in late 2019 and re-released on vinyl in 2020. The album contains nine new original tracks and the excitement brought on by the new repertoire is reminiscent of the classic Mountain albums, Climbing! and Nantucket Sleighride.

Since 2015 Corky has been touring the world celebrating the musical legacy of Mountain.

Corky’s latest release is entitled FINNISH SESSIONS recorded at E-studio in Finland in April. The album features Michael Monroe (harmonica) and Ian Hunter (keyboards) as special guests.

Tuija Takala, PhD is a widely published academic author with over 70 international articles, and 16 books and edited collections to her name published by, among others, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Springer and Routledge. Since 2012, Tuija has been working closely with Corky as his manager and partner.

Please welcome Corky Laing legendary drummer known as a longtime member of pioneering American Hard Rock Band Mountain and West, Bruce & Laing and Author/Manager Tuija Takala PhD to Interviewing the Legends …

PURCHASE

 THE LATEST RELEASE

BY CORKY LAING

‘FINNISH SESSIONS’

With special guests

Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople)

Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks)

At amazon.com

ALSO

PURCHASE

TOLEDO SESSIONS

BY CORKY LAING

Amazon.com

AND

CORKY LAING’S

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

‘LETTERS TO SARAH’

At amazon.com

Letters to Sarah is a rock autobiography with a difference. In addition to the exceptionally honest and endearing voice of Corky chronicling the ups and downs of his life, there are excerpts from dozens of letters (out of the c. 200) that Corky wrote to his mother, Sarah, between the years 1963 and 1997. She had saved them all. The letters were a way for Corky, away on the road for years on end, to keep in touch with his roots and also, to make sense of his life. This continues in Letters to Sarah, as Corky relives the first 50 years of his life, up until his mother’s passing in 1998.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

ABOUT

CORKY LAING

VISIT

www.corkylaingworks.com

Official website

www.facebook.com/corkylaing

Facebook

www.instagram.com/corkylaing

Instagram

https://playinggodrocks.tumblr.com/tuija_bio

Tuija Takala

2023 TOUR DATES

Corky Laing & the Bobos (Conny Bloom, Maria Hänninen, John Vihervä & Harri Väyrynen)

5/16/2023 Odal Rock Club, Austvatn, Norway

5/17/2023 Melodybox, Stockholm, Sweden

5/18/2023 Backstage Rock Bar, Trollhättan, Sweden

5/19/2023 Bomber Bar, Motala, Sweden

5/20/2023 Rockland, Sala, Sweden

Corky Laing's Mountain

8/31-9/3/2023 Nene Valley Rock Festival, Peterborough, UK

Discography

With Mountain

Studio albums

Climbing! (1970)

Nantucket Sleighride (1971)

Flowers of Evil (1971; partially live)

Avalanche (1974)

Go for Your Life (1985)

Man's World (1996)

Mystic Fire (2002)

Masters of War (2007)

Live albums

Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)

Eruption (2004)

Compilation albums

The Best of Mountain (1973)

Over the Top (2001)

West, Bruce and Laing

1972 – Why Dontcha

1973 – Whatever Turns You On

1974 – Live 'n' Kickin'

With Leslie West

1975 – The Great Fatsby

1976 – The Leslie West Band

2005 – Guitarded

With Bartholomew plus III

1965 – "She's Mine" / "You're Not There"

1967 – "When I Fall in Love"

With Cork

1999 – Speed of THought

2003 – Out There

As Corky Laing

1977 – Making It On The Streets

2019 – Toledo Sessions

Finnish Sessions (2022)

With Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson and Felix Pappalardi

1999 – The Secret Sessions[

With The Mix

1980 – American Glue

With The Perfect Child

2013 – Playing God

As Corky Laing's Mountain

2017 – Live in Melle

2019 - Live At Howard's Club H

Guest appearances

1969 – David Rea – Maverick Child,

 drums

1971 – David Rea – By the Grace of God, drums

1972 – Bobby Keys – Bobby Keys, drums

1976 – Bo Diddley – The 20th Anniversary of Rock N' Roll, congas

1987 – Charlie Karp & the Name Droppers – Charlie Karp & the Name Droppers, percussion

1991 – Men Without Hats – Sideways, on "I Am the Walrus", drums

Other

2004: Jason Hartless Jr. – First Division

2012: Corky Laing and The Memory Thieves – House of Thieves

2018: Pompeii – The Secret Sessions

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