Legendary Drummer Corky Laing is Keeping Mountain's Music, Spirit Alive
One of the guys most responsible for giving the world the iconic "Mississippi Queen" is still out there paying tribute to his former bandmates.
Thanks for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. Today’s a special treat for those who loved the band Mountain or that early 1970s hard rock sound in general. I spoke with drummer Corky Laing about what he’s up to now, how he came up with the lyrics to “Mississippi Queen,” and many other topics.
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With that out of the way, let’s get to that discussion with Corky Laing:
At age 73, Corky Laing has more energy than most people a third of his age. To talk to the drummer of the legendary rock band Mountain is to stand in awe of his witty and rapid-fire way of speaking, particularly if he’s discussing a subject he’s passionate about, such as music.
Laing is still out on the road, going strong and keeping the music of Mountain alive, as well as other projects he did with former bandmates Leslie West (Mountain) and Jack Bruce (Cream) in West, Bruce and Laing. It was from a hotel room in northwest Ohio that Laing connected with me via a Zoom call this week — a fitting location, considering the recent re-release of his 2019 Toledo Sessions album (more on that below).
“We are doing a sort of a tribute tour to Leslie West, and Jack Bruce. I'm doing the songs that I recorded and I played with them on these shows,” Laing said. “So this is kind of a sentimental tour, because 50-odd years later, this audience loves the repertoire. I am not playing the last number one hit song right now. I'm playing a repertoire that has the substance to maintain, and I'm thrilled by it. Somehow it’s hanging in there. People really love it and I love it.”
A professional musician since the mid-1960s, Laing became a part of the “proper” Mountain formation in September of 1969 — a month after Woodstock. An early version of Mountain had gained some notoriety playing at Woodstock with a lineup of West (vocals/guitar), Felix Pappalardi (vocals/bass), Steve Knight (keyboards), and N.D. Smart (drums). At that time, Laing was playing with a band called Energy and he was asked by Pappalardi and Knight to join them, along with Knight. The classic Mountain lineup was born and the band would soon have its signature song.
Laing brought the lyrics and drum parts for “Mississippi Queen” to the band and it was a monster. The song is an iconic hard rock staple that still gets played often on classic rock radio today. The seeds for “Mississippi Queen” were unearthed during a gig at a beach club in Nantucket, Massachusetts, said Laing. The venue lost power and he just kept on playing.
“I remember the power blew out. The only thing is, the drums were fine because I wasn't electrified,” Laing recalled. “So I kept playing. And I started screaming this lyric, and I remembered it because they kept dancing. When you’re playing the cowbell, people love to dance to the cowbell. So I hit the cowbell.”
“Mississippi Queen” was born from Laing’s lyrics and drum parts but when West got hold of it, he made it iconic, says Laing.
“Leslie took it home. He sang that thing right away,” Laing said. “I saved the lyrics because you can dance to these lyrics. In a New York minute, Leslie’s (impersonates guitar sound) and he’s singing it. It was like it wrote itself. I give Leslie lots of credit for that. We brought it into the studio and I played the beat to “Cripple Creek.” That’s what I used, except louder.”
Laing said that he once told Levon Helm of The Band that his “Cripple Creek” beat was used in “Mississippi Queen,” but Helm dismissed any notion of being given a writing credit.
“Levon said, ‘Corky, music is a very special thing. You can do anything to music. Music don't care,’” Laing said with a laugh. “Anyways, he refused to take credit for it. He was a big influence on me. The Band were a heavy, heavy influence. Well, they influenced a lot of people.”
The most recent release in Laing’s catalog came out in 2019 but has recently been re-released and it’s a bit confusing. Toledo Sessions has come out with two different sleeves. One lists the artist as Corky Laing, while the other lists Corky Laing’s Mountain. Laing says it’s both, but it’s truly a Corky Laing’s Mountain release given the sound of the nine tracks on the album.
“I have to say it's one of my favorite records. A lot of that has to do with it’s the newest,” Laing said.
The songs will have a familiar flavor to old-school Mountain fans, from the beginning of album opener “Beautiful Flies.” Obviously the drums are linked to Mountain’s classic sound, but the guitars and vocals also transport the listener back to the early 1970s but without sounding dated. Multi-instrumentalists Mark Mikel and Chris Shutters joined Laing for the creation of Toledo Sessions. Shutters’ guitar work is outstanding and Mikel adds bass and production to the record. Shutters, Mikel, and Laing split the lead vocal duties.
Laing said he found Shutters through his friend Kofi Baker, the son of legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker. The younger Baker introduced Laing to Shutters at Les Paul’s Iridium club in New York City. In turn, Shutters suggested Mikel to Laing to complete the trio.
“I didn't want to play mountain songs unless they sounded like the record,” Laing said. “I drove with Chris, all the way to Toledo from New York, that week, and I run into Mark Mikel at his home studio. And immediately, somebody says Why don't you come down to this club for a jam?’ So, we go down there and Mark Mikel has already learned the bass parts and the vocals. We played, and it was like it was brand new and it was brand old. So, that's why I ended up in Toledo.”
Laing said one of the tracks he’s currently performing live from Toledo Sessions — “Knock Me Over” — is a response to his disdain for the phrase ‘been there, done that.’
“The song ‘Knock Me Over’ is about the antithesis of (‘been there, done that’), where you want something that's really gonna bowl you over,” He said. “You want to write something that means something more than anything you can anticipate.”
The veteran drummer admits to overplaying on “Knock Me Over.”
“When it came to (“Knock Me Over”), I was having such a good time. It was kind of like I played everything I knew over the last 50 years,” he said. “And, and I remember telling Mark, who was producing it, ‘Mark, you may want to pull out some of that drums, I'm really over the top.’ And Mark says ‘Wait, it's your record. You can do anything you want. People don’t mind that.’ I did overplay it. I played ahead of everything.”
I find the frenetic drumming over the slower pace of the song to be one of the stronger elements of “Knock Me Down.” Other highlights include “The Road Goes On,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” and “Hell Yeah.”
“Beautiful Flies” is also in the band’s current setlist and might be the best song on the album. It’s a success story with regard to Laing’s desire to use Mountain’s classic sound from the Climbing! album as a jumping off point.
“You have to have some sort of vision when you go into the studio,” he said. “You have to have some relative point to work from. And we did say, ‘Well if we’re doing it, let's go for some of the high-energy Mountain Climbing! songs. So, (Toledo Sessions) has the energy. Mark Mikel and Chris Shutters played beautifully. It was great to play with them.”
Toledo Sessions is available digitally, on CD, or on vinyl. Currently there’s a bundle for sale at Prudential Music Group which includes Toledo Sessions on limited edition orange vinyl, a CD version of Toledo Sessions, and a limited yellow vinyl LP of an album called The Secret Sessions that was released under the band name Pompeii. It’s a collection of songs that Laing recorded with several musicians, including the likes of Eric Clapton, Todd Rundgren, Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, Dickey Betts, John Sebastian, West, and Pappalardi. The set also comes with a letter that is hand-signed by Laing himself. The whole bundle is just $39.99.
The letter seems like such a Laing thing to include. After all, he’s written a book about his life that draws upon excerpts from hundreds of letters that he wrote to his mother from the road. His mother kept all of those letters and he found them after her passing and used them for the basis of telling the story of his life in rock and roll. Letters to Sarah is available online at Amazon. Laing said he likes to write letters as much as he enjoys writing new music.
“I don't consider these people that come to shows as fans, you know. I'm not like a celebrity,” Laing said when I asked him about including a letter to those who buy the album bundle. “They're friends. So, I write letters every now and then.”
Laing has shows lined up in the United States and UK through mid-November, with more being added. To find out more about his upcoming shows and his music, visit his official website.
For more of my interview with Corky, including his influences, the Cuban rhythms that led him into drumming, and how he got into rock music, you can see the whole conversation below. In what was a bit of coincidentally tragic timing, Laing found out about the death of another legendary drummer -- Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones -- from a phone call during our interview. He then broke that news to me as our conversation continued. It’s all captured here: