Why don’t I go to the Cathouse more often for gigs? It’s a cracking venue with awesome staff and above-decent sound. Tonight it was playing host to country rocker Cory Marks, with local-ish supplied by Edinburgh’s Big Iron.
A show of hands partway through their set showed that around 5 people had heard of them before, but the applause they got by the set’s end should hopefully mean they shift more than five copies of their EP which recently finished Kickstarter funding. Given how enjoyable their set was, they deserve to sell at least… I dunno… 20? Maybe even more?
Do excuse me for not knowing track names, I wasn’t one of the five who raised their hands, but Big Iron’s opener was a little off-kilter. Musically it was OK, but it seemed rather odd vocally, more a rant than a song. This was in part due to their charismatic frontman who was definitely making the most of the space on stage, but this turns into less of a “complaint” as the set progressed. As the band themselves hinted at a few times, they probably weren’t best placed to be opening for what was arguably a country headliner. Did that mean they’d tone down their rock/metal sound? Pfft, no.
By the time they got to the song “River Runs Dry” I was really into them. This track’s bass and drum rhythm was ridiculously powerful and talking to Angela afterwards, we had both heard undertones of Alter Bridge through a few of the tracks.
I think this was Big Iron’s first Glasgow show (correct me if I’m wrong, guys!). Hopefully it won’t be their last!
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As with so many gigs this year, this was another one where the live show was to be a near from-zero introduction to the artist for me. I’d briefly listened to a few songs the previous week after Angela said she wanted to do photos of the show and I decided, after 10 minutes on Spotify, that OK… I’ll review! Cory Marks and his band entered stage right around 9pm, kicking off their set with “A Lot Like Me”, one of the many songs I hadn’t heard before. Not that it mattered. The crowd were right into it and it was typically toe-tapping good music.
I was thoroughly enjoying myself by the time we got to “Make My Country Rock”, the first song I actually recognised, and a great signature tune for someone who has made these two musical genres collide so successfully. “Devil’s Grin” was followed by Marks taking time out to do a little guitar solo and then thump the tubs for a bit. He’s quite a bit bigger than his drummer and seemed like a man mountain behind the kit, but showed that he can hit as well as he can strum and sing. He also comes across very well in of stage presence and humility, genuinely thankful for the record sales / streams that have let him get over here for the first time.
It was interesting to note that we had heard Alter Bridge leanings in the band when Marks covered Creed’s “My Sacrifice”, the first of two covers to make it into the set. The second was by one of the greatest Canadian musician ever… and I was disappointed that it wasn’t a Bill Shatner song. I was happy to settle for Bryan Adams’ “Somebody”, though, and that reminds me – he’s hitting the UK again later this year.
“Blame it on the Double” wrapped up the main set, and Marks was subjected to his first rendition of Glasgow’s “Here we…” chant as they audience awaited the encore. “Tough to be Strong”, “Outlaws & Outsiders” and an acoustic “Sorry For Nothing” rounded the evening off with style to much hootin’ and hollerin’ from the Glasgow faithful.
Country is basically emo with an accent, songs about misery and breakups and getting drunk and so on. Actually, they both owe a lot to blues if we’re going to go down that track. Regardless, the songs on show tonight were every bit as relatable as anything else you might hear at a lot of the gigs I go to now. Marks and his band were on top form, and I’m glad I took the chance to try out something new. While definitely more rock than country, the cross-genre mix works very well indeed. The Cathouse was comfortably full this time. Here’s hoping he’s rams it out, or shifts to a bigger venue, next time.
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Photos by Skull Lens Photography
