Episode 23: Scott Hall talks about Mark Mercier and Max Creek

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Episode 23 of Hooked on Creek features my interview with musician Scott Hall. In additional to being a huge fan of Max Creek, Scott is an accomplished songwriter, performer and recording artist who played keyboards in the Drunk Stuntmen for 20 years.

In this episode, Scott and I talk about Mark Mercier’s incredible piano playing, Mark’s unique approach to performing in Max Creek and Mark’s ability to reinterpret songs and make them his own. Scott also talks about Mark’s influence on his musical career and the opportunity Scott got to sit in and perform with Max Creek.

Scott Hall
Scott Hall

Connect with Scott Hall and his music:

This episode features the following songs:

  • Band from Chicago performed live by Max Creek at the West Hartford Ballroom in West Hartford, Connecticut, on February 13, 1987
  • Big Boat performed live by Max Creek at The Roxy in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 20, 2001
  • Cruel World performed live by Max Creek with special guest Scott Hall at Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, Massachusetts, on March 13, 2009
  • Wooden Wheel recorded on Scott Hall’s 2019 album Scott Hall Tries Technology

Episode 23 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 23.

Thank you for joining me on episode 23 of Hooked on Creek. Fans of Mark Mercier are really going to enjoy this episode because it features a recent conversation I had with musician Scott Hall about his deep appreciation for Mark. Scott is a huge fan of Max Creek and an accomplished songwriter, performer and recording artist who played keyboards in the Drunk Stuntmen for 20 years. In this episode, Scott and I talk about Mark’s incredible piano playing, his unique approach to performing in Max Creek and his ability to reinterpret songs and make them his own. Scott also talks about Mark’s influence on his musical career and the opportunity Scott got to sit in and perform with Max Creek. 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 to get all the details. And while you are there, click the contact link and let me know what you think of this podcast. That’s how Scott got in touch with me for this interview, and I would love to hear from you, too. Alright, we have a lot to cover in this episode, so let’s get started.

Korre: Scott Hall, thank you for joining me on Hooked on Creek.

Scott: Thanks for having me on the show, Korre.

Korre: Scott, I’m really excited to talk with you today because our focus is going to be on Mark Mercier, including your perspectives on his contributions to Max Creek and your appreciation for him as a musician. But before we dive into that, I want to set the stage and properly introduce you to listeners of the podcast, because you are an accomplished musician yourself and have been a fan of Max Creek for quite some time. So to start things off, can you tell me about your background as a musician?

Scott: Sure. I had moved out to North Hampton, Massachusetts, when I was 20 years old. And, I was actually bartending at Pearl Street Nightclub, which is a venue that Creek played routinely. I was a piano player starting to play with some local players. In fact, there was a short while where I was playing a little bit with some locals and I would literally have my bar back cover while I jumped over the bar and joined them for a couple songs and came back. There was a lot of jokes about that’s how a musician makes money.

Korre: What year is this?

Scott: I think this is 1995. Because 1996, I started playing — there was a band that had been playing in the area for about four years and they came to me in the interest of doing a straight up old time traditional country side project. And they asked me to learn Lovesick Blues by Hank Williams and we’d see where that went. I ended up joining their proper band. That was the Drunk Stuntmen. I played with them for 20 years, everywhere, all over the country. We went to Europe. We toured a lot. We’ve made five records. It’s just a great scene out there in Western Massachusetts. I played with a lot of other folks at that time. So that’s kind of the whole musical history of what I was doing and how I intertwined with all the players out there.

Korre: And so at some point in time, you got exposed to Max Creek. Can you remember what that was like? Or when that was?

Scott: The first time I was exposed to Max Creek was simply through stories. I had friends in high school, due to their parents’ dubious parenting methods, were going to see Max Creek every Wednesday night in Providence. So I was only hearing stories about what this band was and that’s good enough reason to not try to explain what Max Creek is. Because when I actually saw them for the first time at this tiny club behind Fenway Park on Lansdowne Street called Venus de Milo, I thought we were seeing a different band. I thought, “Oh, they must have been explaining something different.” They said this was a Grateful Dead cover band. There’s no Grateful Dead songs. They said it was like this traditional sound. It was so electric and so weird. It was maybe one of my very first club shows instead of a big concert. Maybe that was part of it. But I didn’t know any of the songs that I was hearing. And, it was much cooler than any live music experience I had had until that point.

Korre: One of the things we want to talk about today is Mark Mercier. So at some point in time, when you started following and listening to Max Creek, your appreciation for him must have grown. Is that right?

Scott: I stood right in front of him the first time I saw him, and I usually try to stand right in front of him. Mark is absolutely one of my favorite piano players in the world in any band or any solo act. He’s got a style that you can just chase quite apparently your whole life and try to mimic or figure out. Yeah, absolutely. The front three are all awesome, but I was drawn to that side of the stage because I’m a piano player.

Korre: If you had to pick a number, how many times do you think you’ve seen Mark perform?

Scott: I probably seen Max Creek about a hundred times, to put a good guess on it. I’ve seen Mark play with his side acts — there’s another 50 shows somewhere in there I would say.

Korre: At some point in time, did you get chance to meet him and get to know him personally or interact with him?

Scott: Absolutely. I’ve been bothering him with questions and everything, maybe not since the first time I saw him. Maybe there was a handful of times that I had seen the band before I started talking to him. But yeah, he’s absolutely very welcoming and he was very welcoming to me and always inquiring about what I’m doing or what I’m playing and stuff like that.

Korre: So as your musical career started to expand and Max Creek was a band that you were seeing, you probably started to develop some thoughts about his musical style and his approach to music. So I’m curious, as a piano player yourself, how would you describe his approach to that instrument?

Scott: Obviously he’s maybe the best honky-tonk piano player that you can find really out there. He does some other things, but he’s got that honky-tonk thing. I think maybe from the piano side of things, you could say it comes from Leon Russell. I think maybe Leon Russell really crystallized this thing in the 60s and in the 70s with everything that he was playing — all the records that he was playing on. So that’s part of Mark’s thing. But he’s also got his classical chops in order. He’s got these voice-leading things. It’s always a very, very harmonically strong thing. He’s kind of a folk performer in a way. He’s a great songwriter, but he does songs that people know from other walks of musical life and turns around and delivers that Mark Mercier style, in a way that Max Creek fans know very, very well. It’s jarring at first in how strong that it is. It’s instantly powerful, I think.

Korre: I get the sense that he is able to put his emotions into his vocals and his playing in a way that makes him as a storyteller of songs so believable. And it’s so captivating, I think, to hear him play and to hear him sing and tell those stories. Just because I think — maybe how he approaches it? I don’t know, but I’m curious what you think.

Scott: I think that it’s really unique what he does because the playing is so strong and the voice is so strong and his delivery is so strong. If you look at other players in the genre, I mean, obvious touchstones are to go to the Grateful Dead. Do you know what I mean? Pigpen at the outset of the Grateful Dead kind of was that figure. Really strong deliverer. Wasn’t the greatest piano player in the world — played the organ, played the harp, was the front man of the band. Mark has that power. But the other players in the Dead —Keith Godchaux, Brent Mydland, Bruce Hornsby, briefly — really strong players, but Mark’s a really strong player and a really strong performer. All three right across the front of the stage are when it’s their turn. They can essentially become the front man of the band for the next 5 to 17 minutes, whatever it may take to get through the next number.

Korre: When I hear them play as they cycle between that front three, and to have Mark hold that spot —he’s leading the band during his songs. And then to have that integrated with the improvisation that occurs among the whole band is such a unique mix. That’s just amazing to see and listen to, certainly.

Scott: And when he starts, he’s got this great trick. He reproduces his beginning to a song. What I mean is he’ll do You Can’t Always Get What You Want from the Rolling Stones. And he’s got a piano figure that lets the band know, and maybe that’s where it came from, this is the song. And he plays that opening figure exactly the same from year to year, decade to decade. Scroll through your archive and just pick out anyone. The beginning of the song will always sound the same. Season of the Witch by Donovan. He’s got a voicing every time that starts that song. Max Creek fans recognize that because they’ve seen that several times. You can have Donovan’s greatest hits and know Donovan’s greatest hits inside out. You may not know — you probably won’t know — that’s Season of the Witch when he begins it, if you’ve never heard it before. But within the crowd, within the listeners, he brands that. And he does that with absolutely everything. For a first timer, that just sounds like a really cool piano lick, but we know that it’s Mystery Train or something like that.

Korre: Scott, there was an opportunity for Mark to interview with Phil and Friends a while back. I’m curious, did you hear about that? And what were your thoughts about that opportunity for him?

Scott: I heard about it from Mark, actually. He told me that he got to play Pigpen’s organ out in the west coast. I don’t know if it’s in San Francisco or exactly where Phil Lesh lives. But yeah, he said it was a really cool experience. I don’t know any more about how Phil Lesh tries players out. You know, Mark’s a lot different than Grateful Dead piano players. They wouldn’t let Mark be at the front of the stage singing once out of every three songs. Do you know what I mean? Keith Godchaux. I love Keith Godchaux’s playing in the Grateful Dead with the real piano. I loved the way that he pushed. I love Bruce Hornsby and everything. Actually Mark Mercier would have been better suited in the Jerry Garcia Band from the piano playing era back when he had Nicky Hopkins and guitar solos and piano solos were a lot more shared back and forth, and that player was a lot more prevalent. I’m glad he got to go out and play with Phil. I’m glad he came back and played Max Creek shows.

Korre: So when you’re in the crowd at a Max Creek show, you mentioned earlier you’re usually standing on Mark’s side. What are you looking for? Because you’re a musician, right? I imagine your eyes are seeing things that maybe other fans don’t look for. What do you look for on the stage?

Scott: When you see a guitar player play a G chord, you know it’s a G chord. Piano is a little different. I mean, I do look. I look right at his hands if I’m close enough and can watch that. I don’t actually know what I get out of that, but I just think it’s really cool. I just think it’s great to watch those fingers — much less busy than you think they need to be. Do you know what I mean? I don’t know what I look for. I just think it’s my favorite vantage point is to be able to put my eyes on his hands and watch them. I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten anything out of that besides what my ears take in.

Korre: Yeah. I think watching a guitar player like Scott Murawski play, there’s some beauty to seeing him go up and down the fretboard. Just as I think watching Mark play, there’s some beauty to watch his fingers dance across those keys, right?

Scott: Yep. Absolutely. That’s the funny thing about people that are good at things. They make it look easy.

Korre: So where do you think Mark is sourcing some of his inspiration to do what he does on stage? It sounds like you’ve obviously seen him a lot of times. You’ve met him. You maybe know him a little bit. Where do you think he sources that inspiration?

Scott: Well, I’ll just go with his answer. I mean, he credits Billy Payne from Little Feat. And, Billy Payne is a great player and he certainly plays right in that style. Billy Payne comes up with those little piano hooks that become part of the song. I’m a Max Creek fan. I’ve seen Little Feat two times and I’ve seen Max Creek a hundred and it’s not just because of the ticket price and how often they’re around. I like Mark’s playing. Billy Payne is Mark’s answer to that. Like I say, you got to think about Leon Russell because he laid it down for everybody. And his church work — leading choir is evident and in that he can do something really traditional and it’s legit. Sometimes somebody tries something like that, you’re like, “Hey, that guy — he’s got no business doing this.” Or, “That’s a gimmick” or something like that. If Mark plays Amazing Grace, that is an appropriate and powerful Amazing Grace. And that’s because that’s one well of his musical training and love. We can look at Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel from The Band. There’s an organ player and a piano player. And Mark is both the organ player and the piano player and the 80s synth, analog-synthesizer-playing guy. He holds all of those roles. This isn’t the E Street Band where you’ve got an organ on this side and a piano on that side. He does a great job of carrying all those roles and changing his sounds between the part of the song. Having one sound for the verse. And when it’s the chorus, adding something else. That helps the listeners. When you’ve never been to a show and you see a three-hour show, sometimes you need to know that this is the chorus of a song or this is the bridge of a song. He does that and runs that all himself from that cockpit of his.

Korre: And I would imagine for anybody, the time and place they grew up, right? Late 60s to early 70s. The bands that were at least popular then, or that he could listen to then influenced him. Certainly folk music somehow got into his genre and he’s been exploring that really ever since he joined the band.

Scott: Yeah. He’s a got a monstrous band around him helping carry that message. But I think that there’s a folk singer in a sense at the core of that. A great deliverer of a song, which is not all that common. When we had talked about doing this. I’ve been thinking ever since of who else out there leads a band like that. I don’t mean Elton John and Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder that are their own acts and have a band. I mean are part of a band. And besides Terry Adams from NRBQ who is a front man piano player and a crazy player and a great player, I can’t think of anybody else who delivers like that. Do you know what I mean? If you look at Max Creek from the side, sometimes I’ve seen Mark’s piano stand literally leaning, sitting somewhat over the edge of the front of the stage. And when they’re all playing and they’re all playing powerfully, those three of them —Mark, Scott, John across — they’re like a hockey team. They’re like the center and two wingers on a hockey team. Right up there. Do you know what I mean? Usually the piano player kind of gets shoved over there. They’re over there. They got to sit down. Mark doesn’t even really sit down. He’s got a chair, but it’s kind of a standing sitting and he’s a big guy. And, the songs coming through, like it’s a big guy playing them.

Korre: How do you see Max Creek’s improvisational style unfold? It’s dependent on your relationships with your band members, right?

Scott: Scott Murawski plays solos and Mark Mercier plays solos. John doesn’t usually do long bass solos, but he will be the first to play. He’ll be like the first guy to lay down an idea. And then everybody else — I say everybody else, there is only two others there with the instruments in their hand — layer themselves in. They’ve got this incredible — I don’t know who told them it could work — but they’ve got this amazing thing where nobody is leading. Where just as a threesome, they’re doing something and they’re going somewhere. And every time it’s going really smooth, every time it’s like clicking, it’s almost like one of them picks up a bowling ball and throws it at the other two guys just to throw them off. And they have to adjust to that. And every time that bowling ball goes, there’s a click and a stutter and the gears catch again and it comes back more powerful. And, if you’ve been to a Max Creek show, or if you’ve listened to many Max Creek shows, it’s kind of like climbing Mount Monadnock. Is that going to be the top? Is that going to be the top? Is that going to be the top? Oh my God, this is a top. That’s awesome. It’s tough to describe. I don’t try to describe it to anybody.

Korre: So in your own musical career, is that something that your band tried to do, the improvisation?

Scott: Funny, you should ask. When I joined the Drunk Stuntmen, they had been a jam band for a few years and they didn’t like where it was going and they were really trying to write concise songs and get concise, appropriate parts for that. And for the first few years, we jammed not at all. We played the song the way we wrote them, and we did that on them all the time, repeatedly. Then as a way of making tours work, you need some good paydays, right? We used to go down to Bike Week in Florida. We had a couple, three different venues that we were playing. But now we’re playing five-hour shows, eight shows in nine days or something like that. Well, singers get tired. Voices get tired. So that four-and-a-half-minute Lynyrd Skynyrd song started becoming a 10-minute Lynyrd Skynyrd song because we needed to fill up this time. And that is what brought us back to improvising. And when we got back home, there was no stopping that improvising thing from just popping up anywhere in our own material. And we did start to do it again in our own way, You don’t want to do it exactly like everybody else. You don’t even want to do it like yourself. You don’t want to do it like you did it at the last show. You learn to recognize that and like, “Hey, that was real. We were making that up today. We weren’t just kind of doing the same improv that we did six times. We found something new.” And that’s what you hope for. That’s what the Creek has. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s literally been there all the time, ever since I’ve been seeing them in 1993.

Korre: In 2009, you had the opportunity to go on stage with Max Creek. Can you tell me about that opportunity and what led up to it?

Scott: I don’t know what led up to it. I’ve been trying to pinpoint this in my mind. I think it was the fact that Mark was playing with Bruce Mandaro from Slipknot or The Knot in a regular Wednesday night thing in Worcester. Mark needed a sub because he was busy with other stuff and he knew my playing. I think that at a show I came up at one of those things and played on a couple songs. And after that, Mark had said to me, “Hey, we want to get you up there.” I think when he said, “We want to get you up there” he was saying that he wanted to get me up there. I’m pretty sure it was a surprise to everybody else. And it worked out actually at a Pearl Street show in Northampton. I mentioned to him I knew lots of Max Creek songs, but I was like, “Hey, I’m really comfortable with Cruel World if that works out.” And so this is actually really funny, the way it worked. They started playing that. I went up there. I asked them to put it on just the piano sound, so I wouldn’t have to touch anything. And there’s the first verse and there’s the first chorus. And I know that right after that, it’s time for keyboard solo and you want to be right there. You want to be right there with it. It’s one thing Max Creek is so great at — their transitions from a part to a solo or handing off from one to another. It’s always so good. So I wanted to be right there. But my tendency at the time was to play a solo one time around, and that would be it. So if you listen to it, you hear me play a solo and then just stop, thinking it must be the time for the second verse. If you listen very carefully, you can hear Scott asking me, and I’m saying, “Oh, more?” And the last thing you hear from Scott Murawski is, “If you want it. If you want it.” And then I come in with this one note rushed, like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll play more. I’ll play more.” I took it two more times around and it gets this big roar. It’s so cool. And after the song they took it into drums. And so I walked off the stage after eight pretty cool minutes.

Korre: Let’s paint the picture. So we’re at Pearl Street and this is on March 13, 2009. So when you get up on stage, where’s the Mark? Is he playing? Is he standing on the side? Just letting you sit in his spot and play or is he accompanying you?

Scott: Nope. He just sat on the side of the stage or at least I assume he did. He was there when I started and he was there eight minutes later. I can’t account for what happened in between that. I was trying to look at everybody else.

Korre: So I would imagine that must have been a highlight for you as a Max Creek fan to get to go up on stage and play in his chair on his keyboard, right?

Scott: Yeah. Are you kidding? I mean, It’s a good thing he asked me. I would have never presumed to say, “Hey, why don’t you take five, Mark. I got this.” No, it was awesome. I remember, I listened to it 20 times and played it for all my friends afterwards and called people over my cell phone at 1:30 in the morning right outside the club. No, it’s awesome. It’s a really cool thing. Really cool thing. And I definitely treasure it.

Korre: So as a fan of the band, do you ever wonder what if? What if Max Creek made it big? What if over this nearly 50-year-long career they would have got a break — something would have happened that would have put them at the next level? And I’m curious as you reflect back on your own time listening to this band, what you think of that question?

Scott: I don’t think of that question. You know, several years ago the music industry was rocked when digital music just slaughtered record sales and change the lives of James Taylor and Crosby, Stills & Nash and Madonna and everything like that. It didn’t change Max Creek’s career. They’ve got the most repeat customer base in history of any sellable product. I’ve seen them play to a thousand people a lot of times. They are a successful band. They don’t exist in a major-label context. The Grateful Dead did. Hell, the Pixies existed in a major-label context, which is why they were able to come back after not being a band for several years, but they had six tapes on a major label. So I don’t think about that because Max Creek, to me, is going to see Max Creek. Every Max Creek fan in the world is horrified, “How could I lose this?” So I think when Max Creek fans think what if this was the biggest band in the world they think, “Oh, no. Now I can’t go down and see them at Providence this Wednesday.” Do you know what I mean? So, my mind doesn’t really go there. I just keep on finding more and more people who love Max Creek or when I mentioned I went to see Max Creek they’re like, “Oh yeah. I used to see them 18 years ago. Oh, yeah. I used to see them 24 years ago. Oh yeah. I went to see them four times with my wife before we got divorced back in 1978.” It’s a really big thing. It’s just over here in the Northeast. That’s all. Listen, over here in Massachusetts, we have a country band called the Lonesome Brothers. They’ve been playing together for 35 years and I’ve been to Nashville. I’ve seen country bands all over the world. I love traditional country music. They’re the best, but they’re both 60 years old and they’re not driving further than an hour and a half. So if you’re lucky enough to find something like that, I’m not going to look at it and say, “How can we change it and make it bigger, better or more square or more circle,” or anything like that. I just think it’s perfect like it is.

Korre: In addition to your 20 years or so with the Drunk Stuntmen, I understand you’ve done some work as a solo artist and you have a couple of albums out there. I’m wondering to what extent has Max Creek influenced the work you’ve done as a solo musician?

Scott: Well, funny, you should ask again. My new record Scott Hall Tries Technology finishes with a song called Wooden Wheel. And that is a song that I was thinking I was writing for Mark Mercier. I had gotten into the production end of things. And I was pushing some different people like, “Hey, if you’re going to record, maybe I could be the producer on such a thing.” And Mark said a funny thing. He says, “Well, you know. Everything I’ve got is really recorded with the Creek. I don’t know if I’ve got that much material.” Now, nothing became of this as far as Mark singing this song. But it’s what got me started. To be a songwriter, you need an idea for a song at some point, you know. Maybe I’ll write a song about talking with Korre on the Max Creek podcast. There’s an idea. That’s the start of something. The idea for that was Mark — it’s like we were talking about — is so traditional sounding, so old world. I was like, “Well, I need a traditional sounding chorus.” And that’s why that chorus to Wooden Wheel is what it is. That’s a really direct answer to your question. As far as, how has it affected me? Listen, he’s my favorite piano player. I try to play like him. I play with friends and we play Max Creek songs and I don’t have to do anything else except pretend to be Mark Mercier and try to make my playing sound like that. It’s not as good, but it kind of sounds like him, sometimes. I can’t really be a church organist, but it’s what I’m going for. And once you put anything like that into your playing, it never really gets out. So, I know it’s there. Max Creek fans will sometimes say, “Hey, that was kind of a Max Creek thing.” And I’m like, “It was, Oh, well.” Surprise, surprise. I saw them a hundred times and then recorded. Kind of sounded like Max Creek. Good for me.

Korre: So I’m wondering, do you have any favorite Max Creek songs or maybe Mark songs that you always go to when you’re looking for that sound?

Scott: Well, Big Boat was my favorite Mark song from the very start, but for an answer for my favorite Max Creek song, it’s got to be Jones. It’s got to be Jones because the structure of that song is absolutely ridiculous. It is absurd. It’s the same progression over and over. And it never changes. It takes a long time just to get through playing it once. The beginning of the song doesn’t start at the beginning of the progression. It starts at the end. And it sounds like a great introduction and the words are ridiculous. There’s no complete sentences. It sounds like a band that’s touring too much that forgot to finish the song. And the end of it is a one-chord jam, which they don’t do a ton of. They usually stick to progressions. That is just one chord. It’s E minor and you can go anywhere in the world. And it usually kind of means that they’re feeling it. It really does. You can feel it in the crowd. You can feel it amongst the Max Creek fans. OK. Everybody get your pee breaks and your beers out of the way, we got to settle in for this one because we could be here for a while and they’re probably not going to stop for a while when this one gets started. So Jones is my favorite Max Creek song.

Korre: Scott, if somebody wants to learn more about your music, where can they find you online?

Scott: I do have a website, scotthallmusic.net and you can see a lot of different things there. Every recording, a lot of recordings that I’ve been a part of with people that I haven’t even mentioned here. You can find those there. You can find links to all the Drunk Stuntmen records there. A couple of them are still on iTunes or Spotify. And my brand new record, or my pretty new record, Scott Hall Tries Technology, you can stream that as they say wherever you stream music, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, etc. Put it in that whole thing with the name of the record, Scott Hall Tries Technology. Because apparently, there are other Scott Halls in the world and not just the wrestler. So put in Scott Hall Tries Technology if you want to listen to that new record or if you want to listen to that song Wooden Wheel, I told you that the germ idea for that was making a song for Mark Mercier. And the website is scotthallmusic.net.

Korre: And they can also purchase the album on Bandcamp, which is what I did. And I love the album, just so you know.

Scott: Thank you. You can purchase either of my records on Bandcamp. I have an older record called Humor Me. That’s how you can buy it digitally. And if you go to the website, certainly there’s a link, if you want to buy an actual compact disc. Because that’s how I listen to music. I don’t trust it to the cloud. That cloud is going to go away someday.

Korre: All right, Scott. Well, thank you so much for joining me on Hooked on Creek. I really appreciate it.

Scott: Hey Korre. Thanks for doing this. It’s really cool to hear the entire existence of Max Creek, to have somebody sum it up. Because I wasn’t going to do it. But as soon as I saw it, I was like, “Oh, well, that’s a good idea.” And it’s been a blast listening to it, man. It’s been a real blast listening to Bob Gosselin, who I never got to hear with the band. And my friend Greg DeGuglielmo, who I’ve played with and seen play many times and listening to him tell his story. He didn’t tell me all those stories just hanging out with him. And so it’s been great to hear this whole thing. It’s really cool. And I’m glad you’re doing it

Korre: Well, thank you. It is a lot of fun. Alright. Take care.

Scott: Hey, I am going to go and listen to my Max Creek tapes now. Have a good day.

It was a lot of fun talking with Scott Hall and I really hope you enjoyed listening to our conversation. But now stay tuned, because I have some great tunes lined up. First you’re going to get a heavy dose of Mark by listening to an acoustic version of Big Boat performed live by Max Creek at The Roxy in Boston, Massachusetts, back on March 20, 2001. Then, I am going to play that version of Cruel World with special guest Scott Hall sitting in with Max Creek performed live at Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, Massachusetts, back on March 13, 2009. And I am going to end this episode by changing things up and playing Scott Hall’s song Wooden Wheel recorded on his 2019 album Scott Hall Tries Technology. And as Scott mentioned, the idea for that song was inspired by his appreciation for Mark Mercier.

Alright, enough talking. Let’s listen to some music. This is Max Creek performing Big Boat live at The Roxy in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 20, 2001.

This is Max Creek performing Cruel World with special guest Scott Hall live at Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, Massachusetts, on March 13, 2009.

This is Wooden Wheel recorded on Scott Hall’s 2019 album Scott Hall Tries Technology.

And that concludes episode 23 of Hooked on Creek. If you are curious, during the introduction to this episode I played Band from Chicago performed live by Max Creek at the West Hartford Ballroom in West Hartford, Connecticut, on February 13, 1987. 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.