Episode 6: Grateful Dead’s influence on Max Creek

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In episode 6 of Hooked on Creek, I discuss the Grateful Dead’s influence on Max Creek and play a selection of incredible Grateful Dead songs performed by Max Creek over the years.

Below are links to interviews featured in this episode:

Below are links to stream or download songs featured in this episode:

If you have feedback or suggestions for future episodes, send me a message.

Episode 6 transcription

You’re listening to Hooked on Creek, a podcast celebrating the music of Max Creek. I am your host, Korre Johnson, and you are listening to episode 6.

Hey everyone thanks so much for joining me on episode 6 of Hooked on Creek. This is a very special episode that was a lot of fun to put together. This episode features an exploration of the Grateful Dead’s influence on Max Creek, and includes some incredible Max Creek performances of Grateful Dead songs that I think really illustrate Max Creek’s appreciation for the Dead.

But before we get started, I want to take a moment to thank you, and everyone listening, for the generous feedback that I have received so far on this podcast. As you know, I created this podcast as way to help spread the word about this band that I love so much, and participate in the Max Creek community, to the extent I can, here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So, I really appreciate all the emails, Facebook messages, Instagram messages and Tweets that I have received so far that include feedback and suggestions for future episodes. If you enjoy listening to Hooked on Creek, help me reach more Max Creek fans by telling your friends about this podcast. You can also join discussions about the podcast and get a behind-the-scenes view of this podcast by following Hooked on Creek on Facebook, Twitter or instagram. Just search for Hooked on Creek to get connected.

And if you have feedback about this episode or ideas for future episodes, you can always go to hookedoncreek.com, click the contact link and let me know what you think. Alright, now let’s get started.

In the beginning, back in 1971 with Dave Reed playing guitar, John Rider playing bass and Bob Gosselin on the drums, the music Max Creek performed was by all accounts country rock. In their very earliest years, Max Creek was not following the Grateful Dead’s format of improvisational music, and certainly did not consider themselves a jam band, as if that label even existed at the time. But in a 2017 interview with WRTC in Hartford, Connecticut, John Rider reflected on those early years and his introduction to the Grateful Dead.

In that interview he said, “I wasn’t into the Grateful Dead at all in that first year. Mostly I was a Jefferson Airplane fan. Then somebody gave me a ticket in 1972 to go to Dillon Stadium to check this band out because they ‘play a lot of songs that you play.’ So I went to the show and said, “Ah. OK. This is what we are trying to do. So we started going to more shows of the Grateful Dead and in some ways emulated what they were doing, but still we had a bigger edge to the style that we developed, then the Dead. The Dead, I feel, were a little more laid back, then we had gone on to be.”

Well, I can tell you that I am very happy John decided to go to that Dead show in 1972. And shortly after, in 1973 with the solidification of Scott Murawski on guitar and Mark Mercier on keys, the band’s music began to evolve and reflect aspects of the Grateful Dead’s style of music.

So now, I am going to play the first of several Max Creek performances included in this episode that showcase their versatility playing Grateful Dead songs though out the years. Here is Max Creek performing Estimated Prophet, live at The Met in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, back on November 24, 2018.

A skeleton head surrounded by a ring of rubber ducks
Being known for their covers of Grateful Dead songs likely helped Max Creek gain an audience and fill the clubs they were playing in during their early years.

In a 2006 interview with Jammed Online, a website publication that from what I can tell, no longer exists, guitarist Scott Murawski reflected on his earliest memories of the Grateful Dead and how the Dead influenced him.

In that interview Scott said, “I learned so much from the Dead about music. Really, they were the vehicle for me to understand what jazz was. Before that, I was clueless. I have so much respect for them and what they did. They put it out there, straight from the heart, for all to see, seemingly without regard for success or popularity. It was honest music, brutally honest at times, expressive, sometimes dissonant, sometimes heavenly. They were truly opening doors, and opening their minds, and bringing everybody with them. They awoke something in me that would have remained dormant without them. I would say I miss them terribly, but truly I hold what they gave me in my heart forever.”

So after hearing that, there is not a lot room to misinterpret Scott’s feeling about the Grateful Dead. Simply put, they were a huge influence on him.

Up next, we are going to hear Max Creek perform He’s Gone, live on WWUH at the University of Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut, back on February 19, 1978, and that will be followed by Bird Song, performed live at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, back on November 20, 2002.

Bob Gossling, who played drums in the band from it’s formation in 1971 up until 1985, said in a 2017 interview with WRTC in Hartford, Connecticut, that, “We started dabbling with Dead songs because they are fun. They are fun songs to play. They leave so much room to be creative.” But then he goes on to say about those early years, “It was easy for agents and clubs to advertise us as a tribute band. That never sat right with us.”

Personally, as a fan of music, and especially live music, I fully appreciate that people want to hear songs that they are familiar with and can sing along to. So presumably, playing Grateful Dead songs served that role during those early Max Creek years. But Max Creek was never a Grateful Dead cover band. They always played their own original songs as well.

In a 1996 interview with the Hartford Courant, keyboardist Mark Mercier reflected on their legacy of being so closely associated with the Grateful Dead. In that interview, Mark said, “A lot of people are still under the misconception that we’re a Grateful Dead cover band. It’s something that’s been dogging us for too many years.”

Now perhaps this is something the band could have prevented, but at the same time, being known for their covers of Grateful Dead songs likely helped them gain an audience and fill the clubs they were playing in during those early years.

In the 2006 Jammed Online interview with Scott that I mentioned earlier, Scott also said, “When we stumbled upon the Dead, we realized that we were doing a lot of the same covers, for example, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad, Not Fade Away, Me and My Uncle, etc. We heard their versions, and were blown away by all the improvisation that was going on. We started incorporating more Dead tunes into the repertoire, but we did them our own way, and we were writing like crazy at the same time.”

So clearly, Max Creek was not settling on Grateful Dead covers to fulfill their musical ambitions.

Up next, we are going to hear Max Creek perform Mexicali Blues, live at the West Hartford Ballroom in West Hartford, Connecticut, back on May 21, 1987 and that will be followed by Scarlet Begonias, performed live at Woody’s Roadhouse in Washington, Massachusetts, back on January 22, 1994.

Greg DeGuglielmo, who played drums for Max Creek from 1985 to 1991, also talked with WRTC in Hartford, Connecticut, back in 2017 about his time with the band and comparisons to the Grateful Dead. In that interview, Greg said, “Max Creek is a band that really has its own sound. They play in the spirit of the Dead. The moniker changed right around ’85, ’86 — they started using that in the actual marketing of the band, as far as the promotion, because it wasn’t a Dead tribute. It’s not a Dead band. It’s in the spirit of the Dead, and there is a big difference between that and copying the Dead — in terms of playing the song and the collective improvisation.”

And I think Greg is right. Max Creek plays in the spirit of the Grateful Dead, and honestly, that’s just one dimension of their music. Certainly it’s a quality of their music that resonates with me, and a lot of other Max Creek fans, and is potentially an entry point for those curious or interested in learning about the band.

Alright, now let’s play some more music. Up next, we are going to hear Max Creek perform Franklin’s Tower, live at The Living Room in Providence, Rhode Island, back on May 17, 2008, and that will be followed by Max Creek performing Sugar Magnolia, live at Kayo’s Pub in Portland, Maine, back on March 12, 1983.

That concludes episode 6 of Hooked on Creek. Links to stream or download all the songs featured in this episode are included in the show notes or online over at hookedoncreek.com. You will also find links to the interviews referenced in this episode. And as always, if you have feedback about this episode or suggestions for future episodes, please visit hookedoncreek.com, click the contact link and let me know what you think. Thanks for tuning in!