Rock of ages

Local musician and Sixties survivor
amazed to still be in the biz

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Laurence Gordon “Corky” Laing

Age: 60

Occupation: Musician

Bio: Born and raised on Marcil street in swingin’ NDG, this smooth-talking heartbreaker scored his first pro gig at age 12 filling in with the Ink Spots, who were in town for a show minus their regular stickman. By the mid-60s, Corky and his Beatles-inspired outfit Bartholomew Plus 3 were all the rage in these parts, regularly kicking ass supporting bands like the Who and Rolling Stones when they’d pass through town. But “the Corkster” didn’t really hit the big time until 1969, when Cream producer Felix Pappalardi spotted the gifted teenager banging his bongo at a gig in Nantucket, immediately offering him a job in the new band he was forming with ex-Vagrants guitarist Leslie West called Mountain. One year later, Mountain were enjoying the first of a series of hit albums, along with a Corky co-penned Top 20 hit called “Mississippi Queen,” a song which—for better or worse, depending on your musical tastes—has since become a staple of classic rock radio, still paying Corky’s rent all these years later, most recently courtesy of the computer games Rock Band and Guitar Hero. The author of two thoroughly entertaining books about his rock ’n’ roll experience, Nantucket Sleighride and Stick It, Corky continues to write, tour and record with both Mountain and his various solo projects.

A few people Corky’s rawked with over the years: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Joey Ramone, Marc Bolan, Todd Rundgren, Mick Ronson, Ian Hunter, John Cale, Sly Stone, Evan Dando, Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills, Rod Stewart, the Butthole Surfers, Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Levon Helm, Ozzy Osbourne, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne… and the list goes on.

Jimi who? “Hendrix. Right after Axis: Bold as Love came out, the Experience played Montreal. We’d been hanging earlier in the day looking for hotels—the Queen Elizabeth wouldn’t rent him a room because he was black, although that’s not what they told us. We had a jam space on Côte-des-Neiges back then where everybody would come hang out after their shows—the Troggs, the Who and yeah, Jimi Hendrix. I got to play with a lot of great musicians like that.”

Can one assume the volume of pussy he secured increased considerably once “Mississippi Queen” hit? “Definitely! Hey, that’s what success is all about. First thing is, you get someone else to carry all your equipment, second thing is, you get lots of beautiful women to jump into bed with, but the third thing is the very best: going to bed with beautiful women who also have a couple lines on them.”

Did he ever think, all those years ago, that he’d still be playing rock ’n’ roll professionally at age 60? “Abso-fuckin’-lutely not!”

What he’s up to now: “Well, Mountain still does over 100 dates a year, easily. I’ve got my syndicated radio show, Under the Rock, which is stories from my life on the road, and I’ve got my two-man band the Royal So & So’s, which is a wonderful experiment. It’s unconventional, totally unpredictable, and I think we’ve got a great feel that’s clever and transcends. I hear we’re playing Barfly on January 13.”

Last book read: The Early Years: The Lyrics of Tom Waits 1971–1983, by Tom Waits.

Musical preferences: Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Tom Jones.

Words of wisdom: “Allow for shrinkage.”

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