Canadian country rocker Cory Marks has never played a show in Pittsburgh, but he’s looking forward to a return visit to the area later this month for sentimental reasons.
“Pittsburgh’s got a piece of my heart, for sure,” Marks said in a recent phone call.
That’s because Marks got engaged last March at the Bryan Adams concert at PPG Paints Arena.
Marks’ now-fiancée got the concert tickets for him as a Christmas present, so the couple made the eight-hour drive for the show, and he knew he wanted to do something memorable. While out on the road with Five Finger Death Punch and Brantley Gilbert in 2022, the pair bonded over Adams’ “Back to You,” especially its lyric of “like a star guides a ship across the ocean, that’s how your love, can take me home back to you.”
“So the day we were leaving, I told her I was going to the gym and I went to the jeweler and picked out a ring and bought it right there and put it in my pocket. We got to Pittsburgh, and she had no clue,” Marks said. “I even said, ‘You think they’re gonna play “Back to You”?’ She’s like, ‘Oh, for sure, of course he’s gonna play it.’ I was kind of worried because there’s so many other great songs I could pick, but as soon as the song kicked in, I was like, oh (expletive), here we go.
“So I picked it at this really cool part of the song and got down on one knee and popped the question and it was really cool. Just as I picked her up and we’re hugging, that line, he started singing “like a star guides a ship across the ocean, that’s how your love, can take me home back to you.” It was a really cool moment.”
Blending country, rock and metal, Marks and his band will be back in the area on April 21 in support of Dorothy’s Redemption tour at Preserving Underground in New Kensington.
“They can expect a little bit of country, but a lot of rock, too,” Marks said. “I’m known for — especially if my shows are short like these ones are, I think they’re 40 minutes — just be giving everything that I got, and it’ll be big, loud and a lot of fun.”
Five years ago, Marks broke through with his track “Outlaws & Outsiders,” which featured Travis Tritt, Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe and Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch. His latest album, “Sorry For Nothing,” dropped in December and features another rocker, “Make My Country Rock,” featuring Mars, Tritt and Godsmack’s Sully Erna.
In a call from his home in Ontario, Marks discussed
Was it important to you to start off the album with a heavier song like “Make My Country Rock”?
I really think that this album really shapes who I am and what I do as a whole. It’s country, it’s rock and a little metal, too. And obviously having had another big top 20 hit like “Make My Country Rock” with the great features and friends, I thought it was appropriate to set that tone right off the top with a song that’s a little country and it’s a little rock, too.
That song features Mick Mars, Travis Tritt and Sully Erna, so how did all those collaborations come together?
Well, I’ve been friends with Travis and Mick for over five years now since “Outlaws & Outsiders.” I wanted to get everybody back together because when the song was scheduled to come out — it’s crazy to think of how time flies — but it would have been a kind of a five-year anniversary of “Outlaws & Outsiders,” and I thought this could be one of those songs again. So I got everybody on board except Ivan (Moody) was on tour with Five Finger Death Punch and they were out with Metallica. So that’s pretty sweet, but they were over in Europe.
So unfortunately he couldn’t get to a studio to be on it. He loved the song, but we just couldn’t make it happen. So some other names came up, but when Sully Erna’s name came up, I thought, man, growing up listening to Godsmack, getting ready for hockey and getting the boys ready in the dressing room and stuff and listening to Godsmack and then knowing that he’s a big Rush fan, just like me, and also does drum solos in his live shows, as a frontman gets behind the kit and does a drum solo, I thought this is the perfect fit. About a week later, I got a text from ‘Maybe Sully Erna’ that showed up on my phone and it was him thanking me for having him on the track. He ended it with ‘I think I might even love this song more than you do. It’s gonna be a big hit for you.’ So that was pretty cool.
There’s also a recent acoustic version of the title track “Sorry For Nothing” out, so what stands out about that song to you?
It really showcases a bit of a different side to Cory Marks. A lot of people know me, obviously, for songs like “Outlaws & Outsiders,” “Blame it On The Double,” of course, “Make My Country Rock,” which is the heavier side, but I think it brings a listener back to the singer-songwriter phase. I’ve always been a big fan of taking these songs that could be made with such great production, but just stripping them down to bare bones and getting a different feel for this song. I’ve been doing it lately live, just acoustic, and the crowd seems to be loving it. It’s a real special song, and that’s a real special version of it.
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With that song, do you look back and think about events in the past that you’re sorry for? Or is that sort of what shaped you into who you are today?
Well, the song title says it all. I’m sorry for nothing. That song is really kind of a throwback for me, but also a step forward. It’s what I’ve been through, where I’ve been, and where I’m going. It really paints the picture of where I come from and a little bit of what I’ve been through and where I am today and where I plan on going. But I always say that it kind of embodies the entire album. For some people that might think, well, he should pick a lane. Is he rock? Is he country? And really, I’m all of it. So I always just say, if you can’t accept it or if you’re not a fan of the record, well, I’m sorry for nothing.
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Do you feel like the barriers between hard rock music and country have pretty much come down now?
I think we kind of tore them down in 2019 with “Outlaws & Outsiders.” There’s a lot of other artists, especially in the country world, that are trying to and have had success at rock radio now. So it’s pretty cool to have done that five years ago now. But seeing other artists from Nashville and then in the country world trying to break down those walls too, and some have had some success, but I think the door is open for pretty much anything at this point in any genre. I think, most importantly for me, whether it’s country rock or hard rock, whatever, I just try to write and release the best music I can and relate with the listeners and just do my thing and I hope the world loves it.
What have you taken from your influences? I know they range from Merle Haggard to Bryan Adams to Pantera, and what have you applied to your own music from them?
On the country side of things, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley and Waylon Jennings, it’s great songwriting. Country music’s always been about the stories. So I’ll try to incorporate that. And then someone like Bryan Adams, he does anything and everything. I always like to say he can make you want to party, he can make you want to dance, make you want to cry, make you fall in love, or make you want to make love. So his ability to do that, I think, is great and very inspirational for me. And then, of course, you have growing up on Rush and Pantera on the hard rock and metal side of things. It’s all music that I love, so I really just try to blend all that together the best I could, anywhere from Merle Haggard to Eric Church into Bryan Adams that goes into Ozzy Osbourne and just mix it all up.