Episode 22 of Hooked on Creek features my interview with Bob Gosselin. Bob played drums in Max Creek from 1971 to 1985 and is one of the founding members of the band.
In this interview, Bob talks about the formation of Max Creek, his background as a classically trained concert snare drummer and his memories playing, recording and touring with the band. Bob also talks about a profound experience the band had together while seeing the Grateful Dead and how that helped shaped the direction of the band’s music.
This episode also features the songs Going Down the Road Feeling Bad and The Field > Rainbow performed live by Max Creek. It was an honor getting the opportunity to talk with Bob and I really hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.
Episode 22 transcription
You’re listening to Hooked on Creek, a podcast celebrating the music, history and fans of the legendary jam band Max Creek. I am your host, Korre Johnson, and you are listening to episode 22.
Thank you for joining me on episode 22 of Hooked on Creek. This is a very special episode because it features my interview with Bob Gosselin. Bob played drums in Max Creek from 1971 to 1985 and is one of the founding members of the band. In this episode you will hear Bob talk about the formation of Max Creek, his background as a classically trained concert snare drummer and his memories playing, touring and recording with the band. Bob also talks about a profound experience the band had together while seeing the Grateful Dead and how that helped shape the direction of the band’s music. All that, and a lot of great music, is packed into this episode of Hooked on Creek.
In the show notes, you can find direct links to stream or download the music featured in this episode, or simply head over to hookedoncreek.com. And while you are there, click the contact link and let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you! I am always looking for recommendations on topics to cover, people to interview or Max Creek shows to feature in 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. Alright, now let’s get started.
Korre: Bob Gosselin, thank you so much for joining me on Hooked on Creek.
Bob: Oh, thanks, Korre. Good to be here,
Korre: Bob, you played drums in Max Creek from 1971 to 1985 and you’re one of the founding members of the band, along with John Rider and Dave Reed. But before the formation of Max Creek, I’m curious to know what led you to start playing drums in the first place?
Bob: I started playing drums when I was 8 years old in elementary school. They started everybody out with those little flute things and I didn’t like that at all. So I said, “Well, let’s try the drum thing.” So, I started playing drums. I started taking private lessons and went from there.
Korre: So what kind of music were you listening to when you were getting into high school and maybe having influences on your musical tastes?
Bob: Actually, the Beatles. The Beatles turned my life around. I was in junior high school at the time the Beatles broke. It came out and I was just wowed. I was in junior high school in Springfield, Mass., and we actually formed a three-piece Beatle band at the time with my cousin on guitar and another fella’ playing guitar, but he played the baselines on guitar and I played drums. And we played the junior high school talent show. I was in eighth grade at the time and all the ninth-grade girls thought that was pretty cool, so the ninth-grade boys beat me up.
Korre: When you were becoming a teenager, what role did you think music would have in your life at that point in time? Was it just something you did on the side as a hobby or were you really trying to pursue it?
Bob: Well, basically I was trained as a classical snare drummer and that’s what I did all through school. I played in three different all district bands. I played the Young People’s Orchestra, Young People’s Symphony in Springfield. I was really good at sight reading. I set records back then for sight reading. And that’s what I did. I was a snare drummer. I really didn’t put a whole lot of time into the drum set, that wasn’t really my interest. After school let out, I kind of started hanging around with Dave Reed.
We were good friends. We were both in the high school band. We did a thing back in high school where we played in a pit orchestra for Stage West. We did that for a month and that gave me enough money to buy a car. So that was pretty cool. But Dave and I became really good friends. That continued on after high school. Dave and I would do pick-up gigs. He’d play guitar and I’d play drums and we had a friend that played a cordovox. And we would do pick-up gigs at the time. No big deal. It’s just what we did for fun, basically.
Korre: The cordovox — is that the electric accordion. Is that what it is?
Bob: Exactly. And that was a big thing around in western Massachusetts at the time. They used to have the accordion mart and they had accordion bands. It was really a big deal at the time. So it wasn’t really a joke.
Korre: So what influence did folk music and country music have on you and Dave Reed at that time?
Bob: Well, you got to understand back then, Dave and John — guitar and bass were not their main instruments. They were both trumpet majors at University of Hartford. Dave fooled around with the guitar and John fooled around with the bass and here again that wasn’t their main instruments. And like I told you before, I was a concert snare drummer, so playing the kit really wasn’t my big thing. So we just fooling around. When we first started playing together, pretty much we had to use very easy songs. Nothing too complicated. We did a lot of Creedence and a lot of traditional songs, Crawdad Hole, Sunshine, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad — very traditional stuff. Nothing too complicated because we really weren’t that good. Dave and John were both excellent trumpet players. That was their main instrument. So this was like taking a break. Some people go golfing, we did this for fun on the weekends.
Korre: There’s a story that I’ve heard about Max Creek about you guys playing at a nightclub or a strip club. Can you tell me that story?
Bob: It was called Shaker Park in Enfield, Connecticut. And this guy, he had a vision of making like a Vegas-type show in Enfield, Connecticut. And it was terrible. He had C-rated comedians and C-rated strippers and a C-rated band — that was us — and he served C-rated meals. And it was just an awful situation. Originally, Dave and I were doing this gig with our friend, Kenny Goodwin, who played the cordovox, and it was really a shappy situation. Dave had started fooling around with John Rider in Hartford. They were playing together, just practicing together. So he brought John to this Shaker Park one night and that was basically the beginning of Max Creek.
Korre: Wow. At what point in time did you guys decide this is actually a band and we’re called Max Creek? Did that take time or was it just a sort of a quick decision you guys made?
Bob: No. We didn’t consider ourselves a band at all. It wasn’t until that thing was over. The spring of ’71 went into the summer of ’71 and then we started playing Sunday afternoons at what was then called the Mapleview Ballroom in Washington, Mass. It was called Woody’s Place later. It was just a lot of fun. It was a shabby rundown place. The guy served spaghetti dinners on Sunday afternoon. I think we made 15 bucks a piece for that gig and probably bought 16 bucks worth of beer. it was Sunday afternoon. It was the middle of nowhere over in Washington, Mass., and all of our friends would come up from the Springfield area and from the Hartford area and they would just — I mean, we’re talking about maybe 20 people — party on a Sunday afternoon. It was actually a lot of fun.
Korre: So the earliest fans of Max Creek were just your own handful of friends showing up. Is that right?
Bob: Yeah, that was about it. We started considering ourselves a band at some point and started searching for a name. After a couple of ideas, John came up with Max Creek because he was from Max Creek, Virginia, originally.
Korre: So in the spring or summer of 1971, how old were you, Bob?
Bob: Let me see. I was 19. These guys were 20. Maybe I was 20. I graduated high school in ’69, so I wasn’t even of drinking age at that point. That didn’t matter back then though.
Korre: You’re out of high school by then. What were you doing for a living? Were you still living at home with your parents or did you have a job during the day?
Bob: I did a lot of things over the years. I started out working as an orderly in a hospital. I worked a little bit on cable TV. Whatever I had to do, you know.
Korre: Scott Murawski first began playing with the band I think in 1972 and then joined the band in 1973, the same year Mark Mercier joined the band. What do you remember about your first impressions of meeting Scott and Mark and playing with them at that time?
Bob: Well, Mark came in — I’m sure you’ve heard the story — David had an appendectomy and he was tied up for a few days in the hospital. We had a gig at I think it was called the Other Horse in Manchester, Connecticut, and John talked Mark into sitting in. And here again, the stuff we were playing was not all that complicated. We started doing a couple of original songs back then, but it was still pretty much pretty easy stuff. Mark sat in with us. And back then, Dave was giving Scott trumpet lessons. Scott was still in high school. Dave was giving him trumpet lessons.
So while he was over at Scott’s house one day giving him a trumpet lesson, Scott pulled out a guitar and started playing a few licks on it and Dave went, “Wow. This kid can play guitar.” So we were living in a house back then. All of us were living in a house in Feeding Hills, Mass., and we practiced down in the cellar. So Dave asked Scott to come down and sit in with us. So he did. And that gave a whole new sound to us — having the acoustic guitar and electric guitar playing. So that was pretty cool. Scott started playing some gigs with us until they found out how young he was, and that kind of ended that for a while.
Korre: So Mark and Scott obviously added more sounds to the band, and writing, and the band started to evolve from that point into later into the ’70s. When you look back at that time in your life in the ’70s, what was it like to be a drummer in a band at that point in time? You were young. You were probably traveling and going out to nightclubs and bars and probably having a good time. Is that right?
Bob: That was all it was. It was a good time. That’s what we did for fun. We played our songs and we drank our tequila and we had a blast. We probably shouldn’t have been driving home, but we did. That’s what you did back then. Here again, that’s what we did for fun.
Korre: So as you guys approached later on in the 1970s, you guys put out a record in 1977. Rob Fried joined the band later on in the ’70s and you started to really solidify yourself as a band, in a way. What memories do you have around that period in time when that first album came out?
Bob: Well, not too long before that we started taking it more seriously. Back when we were playing the Rocking Horse, it was just a big joke. Just get drunk and play our tunes and go home and do it again next week. But before the first album came out, we started taking it more seriously and actually approaching it as a band and stop getting so drunk on stage and stop clowning around. It was about that time when we came up with the first album. Rob had joined, which was great. That was a great thing. Rob was great. And he added so much to the band. So everything changed. As time went by, everything changed and started getting more serious.
Korre: As a drummer, I’m curious to know what was it like to have that additional person in the band who is playing percussion? Did that free up some space for you? Did it add another dimension to the band? What was that like? Because that seemed to be a big change.
Bob: Well, one thing that you have to learn as a drummer or any musician is less is more. It seems like musicians all want to try to fill in every note, try to play everything and show everybody how great they are all the time. And you really can’t do that. You really just got to lay back and let it fall together. And when Rob joined, he added so much fill that we could all — not myself in particular — but all of us lay back and just play the necessary notes to make the song work and Rob’s fill just took care of the rest. It kind of taught everybody a lesson, I think, that less is more. Kind of like how reggae just falls together. No one’s playing a whole lot, but he listened to it, and it all just drops together so perfectly.
Korre: At this point in time in the band, was the Grateful, Dead an influence for you personally or for others in the band? And I’m curious if you saw the Grateful Dead during that period?
Bob: Yeah. We went to see the Dead. You know, that band that played Casey Jones — that’s all it was to me. We went to see the Dead at Dillon Stadium and took a little LSD. In the show, it’s interesting because John Archer and my wife Sue at the time, we were tripping balls at the time and we made our way to the front of the stage. We got to the front of the stage just as they pulled out of a jam and slammed back into Playing in the Band. And I just went, “Wow.” It’s one of those scenes in your life that you never duplicate. It’s like all the cornstalks lined up, you know? And that had a profound effect on me.
But that concert had a profound effect on everybody in the band because we all went home and went, “Wow.” And we all had the idea of let’s try to jam. That’s what everybody was impressed with. How they can jam and do this freeform jam and just move the music around without any structure to it. So that’s something we wanted to try. We tried it.
Korre: So the Grateful Dead’s influence on Max Creek is something that’s long been discussed, right. And over the years, Max Creek has performed a number of just incredible covers of Grateful dead songs. But later on, maybe towards the end of your time with Max Creek, it sort of felt like the band had been shifting maybe away from playing so many Grateful dead songs. Can you talk about how that evolved over time?
Bob: Yeah, that happened pretty much mostly after I left. We were at the time infusing a lot of original material, but we also played a lot of Dead. And you got to understand that we played Dead because it’s so much fun to play. And that’s what we were doing up there anyway. We were having fun and playing Dead songs is a blast. It really is. They are really good songs to play. So we weren’t trying to rip anybody off. We weren’t trying to capitalize off them or anything. We just played them because we liked to. Then as the more original songs that were written infused into our set list, then obviously the less Dead we played. But obviously their influence is still there — in the writing of the songs and the jams. You can hear it all over the place.
Korre: I’m curious to know how did the band support itself? I mean, was there a crew that would go with the band as you guys traveled around or was it just everybody sort of helped set up and tear down? What was that like?
Bob: We had a big crew. We had John Archer on the sound and Linda on the lights. And then we had usually two or three crew members that would go ahead of time. At the time, we were hauling around a huge PA system. We had a 26-foot truck and they would go ahead of time and set up. So it was a big undertaking and we took all these people on the road with us, plus girlfriends and entourage. So when we went on the road, there was a lot of people. It was kind of crazy.
Korre: So when Amy Fazzano joined the band, I think she joined in 1976, can you talk about your early memories of her and what she added to the band?
Bob: I think the best the band has ever sounded on stage was when we had Rob and Amy and we had the whole package. I think it was pretty cool. It was a great sound back then. And by losing either one of them, it detracted from the total sound. I know the band sounds great today and they’ve always sounded great no matter who they have playing drums. But I thought that was a really good era, with Amy singing her harmonies and with her lead on certain songs. And of course, Rob. That was my favorite time of the band. It hasn’t been equal sense, as far as I’m concerned.
Korre: How would you describe a Max Creek fan, at least during your era with the band? What was the audience like? Who were these Creek Freaks who’d show up to see you?
Bob: Well, it started out with our friends. Back then, we were all peace, love and tie dyes back in the ’70s and our friends were all that way. As we started playing more Dead, we started picking up Deadheads coming to hear us more and more. And here again, like I say, it wasn’t our intention to rip them off. We just liked playing the tunes, but the end result was we ended up picking up a lot of their audience. So that’s what you had. You had a lot of Deadheads showing up. I think now in 2020, you have a lot of people wearing their grandparents’ clothes at Creek shows — tie dyes and bell-bottoms. Like, “Where’d you dig them out of? A trunk some place or what?” But a lot of the kids going to the shows now, their parents and grandparents were at the shows.
Korre: At some point in time in 1985 you left the band. Can you talk about what led to your decision to leave the band in 1985?
Bob: Mostly financial. I have a son — my wife and I had a son. I lost my part-time gig. Everybody back then had to have some other kind of income. The band wasn’t going to pay the bills. And my part-time job was with my dad. He had a small TV sales and service shop. And when I wasn’t on the road playing, I could work for him. And that way, I could at least support my family. When he died and sold off the business, got rid of the business, that ended my part-time gig. And I was relying only on the band and we were starving, virtually starving to death. I couldn’t support these people. I had to make a decision and I had to make a decision for my family and that was cut and dry. I had to. So I had to leave the band and do something else.
Korre: So when you look back at your time in the band, are there a couple specific memories that really stand out to you that you remember fondly as far as you being in Max Creek at that time?
Bob: There’s too many to even begin. I don’t know where to start. There were certain shows that were memorable. Certain shows we played with other bands that were memorable. There’re some funny things that happened. I remember one time we were heading up to Mount Snow in a blizzard, back when we could fit everything into Dave Reed’s van, and the windshield wipers broke. So we tied ropes to the windshield wipers and through the vent windows of the van, and we push, pull, push, pull, push, pull, push, pull the windshield wipers all the way to Mount Snow in a blizzard and back. We got there and we played. I mean, it was always “the show has to go on” type of thing.
Another time, Dave Reed’s van had broken down and we were playing in a high school, and so we tied all the equipment on the roofs of our cars and drove to the high school in the blizzard, of course, and play that show. It seems like we’re always traveling in a blizzard. I don’t know why that is.
There was one time we played someplace in Wallingford, Connecticut, some bar in the middle of a blizzard. There was all of five people in the audience. I was kind of pissed that we even did it, even drove all this way to play this show for five people. Because you got to understand, no matter what the contract says, what comes in the door pays the band. And if nobody comes in the door, the band doesn’t get paid. What’s a contract but a piece of paper? What are you going to do? Sue them? So I was pretty pissed off that we actually did that. I said to Linda one time during that show, “This is the stupidest thing Max Creek has ever done.” And it was.
We played Block Island once. We never made a bunch of money at Block Island, it was kind of like our vacation. And then after that, we went up to Maine to play a couple of shows and I think it was hurricane Gloria hit. And here again, we had five people in the audience, but we were there, hook or crook. We were there. Played to our five people. Of course, we didn’t get paid anything for being there. And then we drove all the way back down to Connecticut to finish the two-week tour and they had no power. So we didn’t play at all. So I come home after two weeks being on the road and I couldn’t make rent. Like, “Oh, this isn’t good.”
Korre: So when you see Max Creek today, nearly 50 years later, what do you think is so special about Max Creek that this band in some form or another has stayed together that long, and has maintained an audience for that long? What do you think is so special about this band that they’ve been able to last?
Bob: Well, I think the front three. John, Scott and Mark, they’ve gotten to the point — we had it even back in my day. We could just read each other because we played together so much and for so long. But now — many, many years later — these guys can just read each other. They can take any good set of drummers and after a little bit of time, feed them into the situation. But it’s the three of them that make it and their ability to just play together and feed off each other.
Korre: So, Bob, I wonder, nowadays in your life, do you tell your friends about the time that you were the drummer in Max Creek? Is that a story people like to hear you tell?
Bob: Not really. Most of the people I’m in contact with today have no idea that I was ever in a band or anything like that. Before I retired, my last 10 years of work, I worked as a dispatcher for the Agawam Police Department and it took them a while to figure out who I was. Once they did, it was just like, “Oh really?” They never let me forget it either.
Korre: I’m wondering, do you have any favorite Max Creek songs that you still enjoy listening to now?
Bob: I got to think on that for just a second. I think my favorite song and actually my favorite recording is the second album, the Rainbow album. I think the recording of The Field into Rainbow is timeless. And the few times I get to play with the band, I love it when we can actually play Field into Rainbow. I’ll tell you a story of how that worked out, we were in the studio and we were playing Field and we jammed off Field. And we jammed, and jammed and jammed and we dwindled it down and we were getting a little tired and we were like, “Oh, OK. Let’s knock off for the night.” So we left. The next day we came back in and picked it back up. Picked up the jam and jammed out of that into Rainbow — kind of a two-session thing, and it came out beautifully. The second album is still the best Max Creek album to my mind.
Korre: Do you still follow Max Creek pretty closely as far as where they’re going and who’s in the band or is that something that you just set aside and every once in a while you pay attention to?
Bob: I follow it. I follow what’s going on. I try to make one or two shows a year. I live up in Deerfield, Mass. I’m retired and this is a great life. Let me tell you. But when they play Pearl Street, I like to go down there and possibly sit in, but it’s getting more and more difficult because my body is just — being a drummer, you’re half musician and half athlete and the athlete part of me is gone. I blew out my back and my legs and my arms and my wrist. Playing drums is not something I do anymore. If I know I’m going to be playing at Pearl Street, I may practice a little bit for a week or two and try to get some chops going, but I really don’t play anymore. It’s not even a least bit comfortable.
Korre: Do you have a drum set in your house somewhere?
Bob: Yeah, I do. It’s not set up. It’s still in boxes. It’s been in cases for 35 years. I don’t have the heart to sell them.
Korre: Bob Gosselin, thank you so much for joining me on Hooked on Creek. I really appreciate it.
Bob: Okay. Thanks, Korre. I hope you gained some knowledge of the old days.
Korre: I sure did. Thanks.
It was an honor getting the opportunity to talk with Bob Gosselin and I really hope you enjoyed listening to our conversation. But stay tuned, because I have some great Creek tunes lined up featuring Bob on drums. But first I want to acknowledge during the introduction to this episode, you heard a live performance of Going Down the Road Feeling Bad performed by Max Creek at the Agora Ballroom back on Feb. 18, 1984. And now, this is Max Creek performing The Field into Rainbow live at E.M. Loew’s in Worcester, Mass., on Dec. 27, 1983.
And that concludes episode 22 of Hooked on Creek. If you have feedback about this episode or suggestions for future episodes of Hooked on Creek, visit hookedoncreek.com and click the contact link to send me a message. And you are always welcome to join the Hooked on Creek community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for tuning in.