Cory Marks Ready to Support a Major Tour, After 3-Year Pandemic Delay

After years of trying to sell his hard-charging sound to Canadian country radio, Cory Marks had finally found his hit song and opening tour slot to propel his career forward in 2020. The year prior he released his first bankable hit, “Outlaws and Outsiders” — an anthemic track produced by his new label boss and  collaborator Ivan Moody from Five Finger Death Punch with features from country legend Travis Tritt and rock icon Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe.

The song hit No. 1 on Billboard’s rock chart and helped earn him an opening slot for Canadian country legend Gord Bamford’s 2020 tour. 

Then the pandemic hit, and the breakout career of the former Royal Military College hockey player was temporarily put on ice. But after a three-year wait, Marks is returning to the road, opening for a joint headlining tour with 5FDP and country singer Brantley Gilbert. 

“I am ready to get out there,” Marks tells Billboard from his home in North Bay, Ontario. “We came out of the COVID-19 lockdown much later than everyone else and now I’m ready to get back out there and perform some of the new music I’ve been working on.”

In August 2020, Marks released his debut album Who I Am, a mix of hard rock and metal with a countrified guitar-style and lyric-play on songs like “Blame it on the Double,” “My Whiskey Your Wine” and “Another Night in Jail.” Marks recorded the album with award-winning producer Kevin Churko in Churko’s Las Vegas studio and the pair will soon be dropping an EP with more rock-oriented tracks, including new single “Burn It Up” on Moody’s label Better Noise Music as a track for BPM’s 2021 film The Retaliators.

Staying busy, Marks said, helped his mental health and kept him balanced – he also got his pilot license during the pandemic and recorded a video at an airbase belonging to the Royal Canadian Air Force for his new song “Flying,” which will be his hardest rock oriented track yet. 

“I almost got into some Lamb of God vocals with that track” Marks jokes. “It’s inspired by fighter pilots, which has always been my dream, and the intensity of that type of flying as well as the time spend waiting on the tarmac, sometimes for hours.” 

Marks is managed by Jim Cressman. His tour with Five Finger Death Punch and Gilbert opens Nov. 9 at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI. Learn more at CoryMarks.com.