The Sit Down with Cory Marks
Canadian country rock singer Cory Marks concluded his Sorry For Nothing project at the start of October with the release of Sorry For Nothing Volume: 2 – the follow up to Volume: 1 which was released in December 2024. In the past 12 months, Cory has also made the trip over to Europe having played several dates around the C2C Festivals in March and is set to take his new music out on the road to finish the year as support for Sevendust. We caught up with Cory to find out more about completing the project and looking back at his European trip in March.
Hey Ian, how are you?
Hey Cory, I’m great, man. Dare I ask — did you stay up to the end of the baseball?
I did. Well, I think I passed out around the 17th inning and I kind of heard some cheering, so I opened my eyes and it looked like the Dodgers had won, so I just shut the TV off and rolled back over on the sofa as my dog took my spot in bed! I woke up at about six this morning and was really confused trying to find the score and realised it was only the 16th inning!
Plenty of time to still win it though, despite being 2–1 down.
That’s right — that’s why best of seven is good. Everyone’s all in, and hopefully the Blue Jays can bring it home.
Volume 2 has been out for nearly a month now. Is it good to have that out to complete the project?
I’ve waited a long time to have a lot of these songs out. Volumes 1 and 2 were separated because there were just so many songs — 24 or 25 — and I didn’t want to put them all on one album and have it get lost. So, we released Volume 1 last December, and now Volume 2 came out just a week before my birthday. All this music is finally out. I’m just hoping the world will grasp it, love it, and bring me back across the pond to play in the UK.
Are you glad you did it in two volumes to link them together, rather than doing a totally new album and project further apart?
Yeah, I like it better that way because it gives those first 12 songs time to breathe a little bit, and then we start coming out with new stuff four months after that album. I like separating the two to give the music some room to breathe and hopefully keep the fans and listeners wanting more.
We always talk about how you’re more on the rock end of country music, but then something like Whiskey River shows people your real country roots sound.
I feel like I’ve demonstrated who I am since the first record. If you really dig into the album and not just the singles, there are songs like My Whiskey, Your Wine, which is more on the radio-country side, and even songs like Drive or Good to Be Us. With songs like Outlaws and Outsiders, the verses lean more country, but then the chorus comes in and just punches you in the face a little bit! What I love doing is mixing those two genres that I love most — country and rock. On Sorry for Nothing: Volume 1, there’s Late Night Drinking Again, which channels my inner Merle and Travis Tritt — more old-school country. Then, of course, Whiskey River has that good-time, foot-stomping 90s feel — totally Travis Tritt vibes — an upbeat, fun, whiskey-drinking country song.
Hey Ian, how are you?
Hey Cory, I’m great, man. Dare I ask — did you stay up to the end of the baseball?
I did. Well, I think I passed out around the 17th inning and I kind of heard some cheering, so I opened my eyes and it looked like the Dodgers had won, so I just shut the TV off and rolled back over on the sofa as my dog took my spot in bed! I woke up at about six this morning and was really confused trying to find the score and realised it was only the 16th inning!
Plenty of time to still win it though, despite being 2–1 down.
That’s right — that’s why best of seven is good. Everyone’s all in, and hopefully the Blue Jays can bring it home.
Volume 2 has been out for nearly a month now. Is it good to have that out to complete the project?
I’ve waited a long time to have a lot of these songs out. Volumes 1 and 2 were separated because there were just so many songs — 24 or 25 — and I didn’t want to put them all on one album and have it get lost. So, we released Volume 1 last December, and now Volume 2 came out just a week before my birthday. All this music is finally out. I’m just hoping the world will grasp it, love it, and bring me back across the pond to play in the UK.
Are you glad you did it in two volumes to link them together, rather than doing a totally new album and project further apart?
Yeah, I like it better that way because it gives those first 12 songs time to breathe a little bit, and then we start coming out with new stuff four months after that album. I like separating the two to give the music some room to breathe and hopefully keep the fans and listeners wanting more.
We always talk about how you’re more on the rock end of country music, but then something like Whiskey River shows people your real country roots sound.
I feel like I’ve demonstrated who I am since the first record. If you really dig into the album and not just the singles, there are songs like My Whiskey, Your Wine, which is more on the radio-country side, and even songs like Drive or Good to Be Us. With songs like Outlaws and Outsiders, the verses lean more country, but then the chorus comes in and just punches you in the face a little bit! What I love doing is mixing those two genres that I love most — country and rock. On Sorry for Nothing: Volume 1, there’s Late Night Drinking Again, which channels my inner Merle and Travis Tritt — more old-school country. Then, of course, Whiskey River has that good-time, foot-stomping 90s feel — totally Travis Tritt vibes — an upbeat, fun, whiskey-drinking country song.
Now, in March we saw you in Berlin and London, and we were talking about how the show is such an extreme difference with the acoustic set in Berlin and the full band in London. I see you went acoustic with the bonus track for Volume 2 too.
When I was on that tour — Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, France, and Scotland — obviously with the full band there’s a lot of energy and noise coming out of the amps. But you know what? I found it very one-on-one with the crowd, a way for me to thank them personally. That’s how it all started for me — just me, a guitar, and a bunch of songs in pubs and bars. We’d played Sorry for Nothing full band, and I would usually do the guitar solo, but one night there were shouts for an encore and my band said, “Just go and play Sorry for Nothing by yourself.” I thought, “Well, that’s the album title — let’s try it out!” We continued the whole European and UK tour ending the show with just me, the crowd, and the guitar. It was a good opportunity to be one-on-one with them, thank them, and sign off. I wanted to make sure that version was on the record as a sign-off for Volumes 1 and 2.
I do like the bonus track you sneak into most of your albums. Is that now your way to sign off a project?
I think so. I’ve always enjoyed adding just a little extra — more than what the fans or listeners are expecting! It’s always fun to add something special, a little extra spice.
From this record you’ve had quite a bit of radio support, but now you’re getting more support in the UK and even Australia. Is coming over this way in March really paying off for you with this support?
Oh, I’d like to think so. That’s why we went over there in the first place — in the hope of gathering fans who’d come back and bring friends and family next time. To have industry support over there is super important. The UK and Australia have been among my biggest supporters, as has Germany. I’m really hoping I can come back over, play my own shows, sell them out, and just have a big wild party with all my UK friends and fans. It was such a blast when we played C2C. We weren’t sure what to expect because it was one of the last shows of the run in London. We’d done 13 shows in 16 days — the final London show was number 12 at 11 in the morning. We were dragging a bit, thinking, “I’m not sure what kind of crowd we’re going to get.” When we arrived, there were already four or five hundred people. By the middle of song two, going into song three, it was pushing 1,500–2,000 and kept getting bigger. When we got offstage, one of the sound guys said he’d never seen that happen at C2C — it went from 400–500 to five times the size in 10–15 minutes! That was promising — hopefully everyone there thought, “This guy rocks; the band’s great; the songs are great; we need to see him again.” Let’s pray to the music gods we’ll make our way over much more now.
Now that you’ve got physical copies of the album, are you noticing people in Europe ordering it?
You know, I did notice that. I posted yesterday that I’ve got the physical copies now — they’re both here. I sign, pack, and ship them myself, so they come straight from my warehouse just outside North Bay, where I’m from. The majority of my orders have been from the UK so far! It’s barely been 24 hours since I posted, and of about 20 orders, a good dozen — maybe 15 — are from the UK. As a matter of fact, right before this interview I got another notification from the UK, so probably around 16 now. They just keep coming through every day!
Are you starting to make a bit of a bucket list of places you want to visit on your next European trip?
I have! I’d love to revisit all the places from earlier this year. It’d be fun to do four or five shows in England, four in Germany, and go back to Scotland for a couple of back-to-back nights. The promoter in Scotland messaged me after the show and asked what I thought about doing back-to-back nights — I said, “If I could do that, that’d be fantastic!” Things like that are exciting, and hopefully they come true. If I could tour half the time over there, I’d be fine with that.
Plus, it’s even better when you’ve got new music for everyone to listen to as well!
That’s true — two new albums with 24 new songs to jam out to.
When I was on that tour — Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, France, and Scotland — obviously with the full band there’s a lot of energy and noise coming out of the amps. But you know what? I found it very one-on-one with the crowd, a way for me to thank them personally. That’s how it all started for me — just me, a guitar, and a bunch of songs in pubs and bars. We’d played Sorry for Nothing full band, and I would usually do the guitar solo, but one night there were shouts for an encore and my band said, “Just go and play Sorry for Nothing by yourself.” I thought, “Well, that’s the album title — let’s try it out!” We continued the whole European and UK tour ending the show with just me, the crowd, and the guitar. It was a good opportunity to be one-on-one with them, thank them, and sign off. I wanted to make sure that version was on the record as a sign-off for Volumes 1 and 2.
I do like the bonus track you sneak into most of your albums. Is that now your way to sign off a project?
I think so. I’ve always enjoyed adding just a little extra — more than what the fans or listeners are expecting! It’s always fun to add something special, a little extra spice.
From this record you’ve had quite a bit of radio support, but now you’re getting more support in the UK and even Australia. Is coming over this way in March really paying off for you with this support?
Oh, I’d like to think so. That’s why we went over there in the first place — in the hope of gathering fans who’d come back and bring friends and family next time. To have industry support over there is super important. The UK and Australia have been among my biggest supporters, as has Germany. I’m really hoping I can come back over, play my own shows, sell them out, and just have a big wild party with all my UK friends and fans. It was such a blast when we played C2C. We weren’t sure what to expect because it was one of the last shows of the run in London. We’d done 13 shows in 16 days — the final London show was number 12 at 11 in the morning. We were dragging a bit, thinking, “I’m not sure what kind of crowd we’re going to get.” When we arrived, there were already four or five hundred people. By the middle of song two, going into song three, it was pushing 1,500–2,000 and kept getting bigger. When we got offstage, one of the sound guys said he’d never seen that happen at C2C — it went from 400–500 to five times the size in 10–15 minutes! That was promising — hopefully everyone there thought, “This guy rocks; the band’s great; the songs are great; we need to see him again.” Let’s pray to the music gods we’ll make our way over much more now.
Now that you’ve got physical copies of the album, are you noticing people in Europe ordering it?
You know, I did notice that. I posted yesterday that I’ve got the physical copies now — they’re both here. I sign, pack, and ship them myself, so they come straight from my warehouse just outside North Bay, where I’m from. The majority of my orders have been from the UK so far! It’s barely been 24 hours since I posted, and of about 20 orders, a good dozen — maybe 15 — are from the UK. As a matter of fact, right before this interview I got another notification from the UK, so probably around 16 now. They just keep coming through every day!
Are you starting to make a bit of a bucket list of places you want to visit on your next European trip?
I have! I’d love to revisit all the places from earlier this year. It’d be fun to do four or five shows in England, four in Germany, and go back to Scotland for a couple of back-to-back nights. The promoter in Scotland messaged me after the show and asked what I thought about doing back-to-back nights — I said, “If I could do that, that’d be fantastic!” Things like that are exciting, and hopefully they come true. If I could tour half the time over there, I’d be fine with that.
Plus, it’s even better when you’ve got new music for everyone to listen to as well!
That’s true — two new albums with 24 new songs to jam out to.
On top of those 24, you’ve still got tracks like Outlaws & Outsiders — that must feel like a little gift that keeps on giving. The numbers just keep going up!
Yeah, there are four songs that really stand out from the first album, Who I Am — of course Outlaws & Outsiders, Blame It on the Double, and Devil’s Grin. Those streams just keep climbing every day, which is great when you think it’s a five-year-old album already. From Volume 1, songs like Make My Country Rock, Guilty, Sorry for Nothing, and Whiskey for Sale have done really well. On this new one, Are You with Me, Hangman, and of course Whiskey River are going great. Someone I Hate, The Heart Breaks When It Wants To, and Wild Ride are also connecting with people.
Did some of these songs stand out to you before you put the albums out, or have you been surprised by which ones people picked up on?
I love them all. They’re songs I wrote that mean something to me. Hopefully that translates to whoever’s listening. They all have their own story and impact, but yes, some definitely stand out. With the right direction and promotion, there are some big hits in there.
You’ve sat on some of these songs for several years. Does it make it tougher waiting to finally get them out?
It definitely feels like a sense of relief because when you send them in, you know you have something special. I’m just really grateful to finally have these two albums out. Some of these songs — like Whiskey River — I wrote back in 2019 with Craig Brooks. Empty Bottles was written during COVID in 2020 with Craig Brooks and Jade Eagleson. The Heart Breaks When It Wants To was recorded at Mount Charleston in February 2021 — so to have it come out at the end of 2025 is a long wait! I remember Ivan Moody — when I was on tour with Five Finger Death Punch and Brantley Gilbert across the US — after about 25 shows, I played Empty Bottles acoustically during sound check. From the corner of my eye, I saw someone running up — it was Ivan. He said, “Yo, what song is that?” I told him I’d written it a couple of years ago and hoped to record it soon. He said, “Dude, what the hell is the label doing? That song’s gonna make you a million dollars!” This is coming from one of the biggest rock frontmen in the world. His manager even said, “I’ve never seen Ivan do that before.” To top it off, Ivan asked, “Do you mind playing it again? Can I sing it with you?” There are some really cool videos of us doing that. It was a special moment — a nod that it’s a special song.
That’s a good endorsement right there!
I think so
Yeah, there are four songs that really stand out from the first album, Who I Am — of course Outlaws & Outsiders, Blame It on the Double, and Devil’s Grin. Those streams just keep climbing every day, which is great when you think it’s a five-year-old album already. From Volume 1, songs like Make My Country Rock, Guilty, Sorry for Nothing, and Whiskey for Sale have done really well. On this new one, Are You with Me, Hangman, and of course Whiskey River are going great. Someone I Hate, The Heart Breaks When It Wants To, and Wild Ride are also connecting with people.
Did some of these songs stand out to you before you put the albums out, or have you been surprised by which ones people picked up on?
I love them all. They’re songs I wrote that mean something to me. Hopefully that translates to whoever’s listening. They all have their own story and impact, but yes, some definitely stand out. With the right direction and promotion, there are some big hits in there.
You’ve sat on some of these songs for several years. Does it make it tougher waiting to finally get them out?
It definitely feels like a sense of relief because when you send them in, you know you have something special. I’m just really grateful to finally have these two albums out. Some of these songs — like Whiskey River — I wrote back in 2019 with Craig Brooks. Empty Bottles was written during COVID in 2020 with Craig Brooks and Jade Eagleson. The Heart Breaks When It Wants To was recorded at Mount Charleston in February 2021 — so to have it come out at the end of 2025 is a long wait! I remember Ivan Moody — when I was on tour with Five Finger Death Punch and Brantley Gilbert across the US — after about 25 shows, I played Empty Bottles acoustically during sound check. From the corner of my eye, I saw someone running up — it was Ivan. He said, “Yo, what song is that?” I told him I’d written it a couple of years ago and hoped to record it soon. He said, “Dude, what the hell is the label doing? That song’s gonna make you a million dollars!” This is coming from one of the biggest rock frontmen in the world. His manager even said, “I’ve never seen Ivan do that before.” To top it off, Ivan asked, “Do you mind playing it again? Can I sing it with you?” There are some really cool videos of us doing that. It was a special moment — a nod that it’s a special song.
That’s a good endorsement right there!
I think so
You stuck with the same production team for both albums — was that important to help link them together?
The work I’ve done with Kevin Churko over the years is, in my opinion, second to none. He’s my Mutt Lange to Bryan Adams and Shania! He’s just so great at what he does, and I hope to make another record with him. I’ve also worked with Andrew Baylis and Kile Odell — both great guitarists, songwriters, and producers. You can write a song, have a solid demo by the afternoon, and then they polish it into a record within days. Kevin’s the same — we’d write a song one afternoon, he’d have something built by the next morning, and by the end of the day, most of the record was done. I’m very fortunate to be working with guys like Andrew, Kile, and the great Kevin Churko.
You’re heading out on tour again in about two or three weeks’ time with Sevendust to end your touring year.
Yeah, there’ll be 22 shows across the US. That’ll be my third time crossing the States in the last year — last November I was out with Theory of a Deadman for 20 shows, then after the UK and European tour I did 15 shows with Dorothy, then came home for Quebec and Ontario dates before festival season started. So far, about 65 shows this year, and we’ll add 22 more with Sevendust. Then, like they say, I’ll be home for Christmas!
Do you look ahead to next year, or are you hoping for a bit of time off?
I want to keep going — I think it should be 100 shows a year. We’ll be around 80–85 this year, which is fine, but I’d like to hit 100. I want to tour more across Europe and the UK and hop on some major tours in North America too. I’m pushing this album hard — no foot off the gas. It’s full throttle from here.
Have you made it over to Australia yet to add another continent to the list?
Man, I’ve done so many interviews with them, and I feel horrible because I was supposed to go over for some major festivals and an Australian tour, but then COVID hit. It’s really expensive to go there, and things are changing with iHeartRadio taking over some of the major stations that used to support me. But hopefully I’ll make it down under sooner rather than later.
It does seem to be more Canadian artists going that way.
They do say they’re like Canadians with funnier accents! We both love beer, nightlife, music — and they love hockey. It’s kind of just like a hotter Canada!
Hopefully you can get a flight booked back over here very soon.
It’s really growing over there, and it was such a thrill to be part of C2C London — and of course Rotterdam and Berlin. The support from the UK has been incredible. My brother played hockey there and told me a lot about the fans and their love of hockey — that’s all me right there!
Let’s make it happen.
I’ve always dreamt of going, but getting to do it through my music has been something pretty cool and exciting. I really appreciate it.
Find CORY MARKS online at:
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE
The work I’ve done with Kevin Churko over the years is, in my opinion, second to none. He’s my Mutt Lange to Bryan Adams and Shania! He’s just so great at what he does, and I hope to make another record with him. I’ve also worked with Andrew Baylis and Kile Odell — both great guitarists, songwriters, and producers. You can write a song, have a solid demo by the afternoon, and then they polish it into a record within days. Kevin’s the same — we’d write a song one afternoon, he’d have something built by the next morning, and by the end of the day, most of the record was done. I’m very fortunate to be working with guys like Andrew, Kile, and the great Kevin Churko.
You’re heading out on tour again in about two or three weeks’ time with Sevendust to end your touring year.
Yeah, there’ll be 22 shows across the US. That’ll be my third time crossing the States in the last year — last November I was out with Theory of a Deadman for 20 shows, then after the UK and European tour I did 15 shows with Dorothy, then came home for Quebec and Ontario dates before festival season started. So far, about 65 shows this year, and we’ll add 22 more with Sevendust. Then, like they say, I’ll be home for Christmas!
Do you look ahead to next year, or are you hoping for a bit of time off?
I want to keep going — I think it should be 100 shows a year. We’ll be around 80–85 this year, which is fine, but I’d like to hit 100. I want to tour more across Europe and the UK and hop on some major tours in North America too. I’m pushing this album hard — no foot off the gas. It’s full throttle from here.
Have you made it over to Australia yet to add another continent to the list?
Man, I’ve done so many interviews with them, and I feel horrible because I was supposed to go over for some major festivals and an Australian tour, but then COVID hit. It’s really expensive to go there, and things are changing with iHeartRadio taking over some of the major stations that used to support me. But hopefully I’ll make it down under sooner rather than later.
It does seem to be more Canadian artists going that way.
They do say they’re like Canadians with funnier accents! We both love beer, nightlife, music — and they love hockey. It’s kind of just like a hotter Canada!
Hopefully you can get a flight booked back over here very soon.
It’s really growing over there, and it was such a thrill to be part of C2C London — and of course Rotterdam and Berlin. The support from the UK has been incredible. My brother played hockey there and told me a lot about the fans and their love of hockey — that’s all me right there!
Let’s make it happen.
I’ve always dreamt of going, but getting to do it through my music has been something pretty cool and exciting. I really appreciate it.
Find CORY MARKS online at:
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE
