Episode 24: Storytime with Max Creek

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Episode 24 of Hooked on Creek features a collection of Max Creek songs that includes stories from the band about the meaning and origin of the songs. These stories add another dimension to the music and help bring the songs to life in new ways.

This episode features the songs Crystal Clear, Double Dare, The Field, Mama Are You Ready and Emerald Eyes.

This episode features the following songs:

Episode 24 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 24.

Thank you for joining me on episode 24 of Hooked on Creek. I am so glad you are here with me, right now, listening to this podcast. For those of you who might be listening to Hooked on Creek for the very first time, welcome aboard. It’s great to have you here. Feel free to explore past episodes and enjoy the podcast at your own pace. And for those of you who have been with me since the beginning, thank you for your continued support and feedback.

Alright, in today’s episode I am going play clips of a few Max Creek songs recorded live over the years that offer more than just incredible music, because each of these recordings also includes a story from the band about the meaning of the song. As a huge fan of Max Creek, I absolutely love hearing these stories because they add another dimension to the music and help bring the songs to life in new ways. So stay tuned to learn the stories behind the songs Crystal Clear, Double Dare, The Field, Mama Are You Ready and Emerald Eyes. But in fair warning, you are going to hear about drugs, strippers and mystic visions, among other things.

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. I would love to hear from you. Alright let’s get started, this is story time with Max Creek.

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Episode 24 of Hooked on Creek features a collection of Max Creek songs that includes stories from the band about the meaning and origin of the songs.

To kick things off, we are going to travel back in time to Saturday, January 8, 1983. The band was playing at The Taurus Ballroom in Hartford, Connecticut, and they began the show with an acoustic set featuring just Scott Murawski and John Rider. And from that acoustic set, you are now going to hear John introduce his song Crystal Clear. And if this story is interesting to you, I encourage you to check out my interview with Bob Gosselin in episode 22 to learn more about the formation of Max Creek.

“This tune is weird one. We hardly every pull this one out. This is some 12 years ago when Bob and I, the drummer, were working in a strip joint playing together. And we decided there must be something better to do than that, all though now I am not quite sure. I decided I would write a song. So, I wrote this song 12 years ago, and I said, ‘God, now I am a song writer, Mom.’ So, we don’t do this song anymore, but this is the song that started the band off. The name of it is Crystal Clear. If anybody wants to sing along, please do. There is a big finish at the end and you are all supposed to come in on that, you know, clap your hands. This band started off as a bluegrass band and that’s why this song is a bluegrass-type song.”

It’s fascinating to hear John talk about those early days, the uncertainty, and the drive to create something more. John’s story here is a perfect snapshot of how raw inspiration can strike in the most unexpected of places — even in a strip club. This story a reminder that great art often has humble beginnings. It’s a testament to the idea that creativity isn’t confined to pristine studios or elaborate setups — it’s born out of life itself.

Coming up next, I have an incredible Double Dare story lined up for you. This was captured back on Friday, May 3, 2002, during the band’s performance at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. And if you have a copy of the video tape Scott is referring to in his story, please find a way to get that on YouTube and share it with me. My curiosity is driving me crazy.

“I wrote this song in some sort of drug-induced haze after being awake for fucking four days. I have no fucking idea what it is about our what it means. I woke up a week later and I listened to the tape and I am like, ‘Oh, wow. This is pretty decent actually.’ But I didn’t think it was that good, and then a friend of mine and I were fooling around with a Betamax video camera and we made this little animation where we set up a little bear who was driving a little truck. And we made this animation of the bear, and we had this big rock of cocaine in the middle of the mirror. We don’t do that anymore. So, we made this animation, and the bear comes out and plows out these lines and then snorts them all up. We don’t condone that at all. We think that is very bad for you. And were looking for music to put behind it, a soundtrack. I dug out the tape of this and threw this in the background. And since then, the tape got passed around to various people. Then a good friend of ours girlfriend came up to me at a show and she said, ‘You know that video you made of the little bear and everything?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And she said, ‘Well my boyfriend, every morning he puts that video tape on just to turn up that song and crank the shit out of that song. He loves that song.’ I was like, ‘Really?’ Well, I figured maybe it would be a good song for the band to do, so I brought it in at that point.”

Scott’s story about Double Dare is a wild ride, to say the least. It’s a glimpse into the creative process, how inspiration can strike in the most unexpected circumstances, even during a “drug-induced haze.” The image of a little bear snorting cocaine in a homemade animation is both hilarious and shocking, a relic of a different era. But what’s really interesting is how the song found its audience. It wasn’t through a carefully planned release or promotion, but through a shared video tape, passed from friend to friend.

It speaks to the power of music to connect with people on a visceral level, regardless of how it was created. And it makes you wonder, what was it about Double Dare that resonated so strongly with that one fan? What did he hear in that original version of the song that kept him coming back for more? Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Double Dare has a story to tell, both on and off the stage. And while we all know that certain behaviors of the band aren’t something to emulate, it’s these tales that capture the spirit of a time when creativity had no boundaries.

And now, let’s continue on our trip through Max Creek history and visit Providence, Rhode Island, back on Wednesday, March 5, 1997, to hear Scott introduce his song The Field during his solo acoustic show at The Living Room, which includes a story about the origin of this classic Creek tune.

“This first song is one of my first songs that I ever wrote, one of my first real songs that I ever wrote. It was like in 1977 or something like that. And, there was a whole lot of stuff going on with sensory deprivation tanks and stuff like that. People were getting into these tanks and cutting off all their senses. I thought, ‘That’s cool, but I can’t really afford that.’ So instead, I smoked a bunch of pot and I took my stereo, put my headphones on and tuned it in between the stations so it was doing that white noise sort of noise. I turned it up to about 120 decibels and closed my eyes, and I started to hear music inside the noise. And inside the music was also a vision. There have only been a couple songs that I have written that have been around a vision.”

I love how Scott’s story about The Field captures that surreal, almost magical moment when chaos transforms into art. It’s a fascinating look into his creative process, including his DIY approach to sensory deprivation, using music and other substances to explore his inner world. It’s interesting how he talks about hearing music within the white noise, as if the song was already there, waiting to be discovered.

And then, the vision. He mentions that only a couple of his songs were inspired by visions, making The Field all the more special. But what was that vision? What did it reveal to him? He doesn’t say, leaving us to wonder and interpret the song ourselves. But it adds a layer of depth to the music, knowing that it came from such a personal and transformative experience. It makes you listen to the song in a different way, searching for clues, trying to decipher the hidden message within the notes.

Next up, we are headed to Bridge Street Music Hall in East Syracuse, New York, to hear Max Creek perform Mama Are You Ready back on Friday, August 22, 2003. As the band starts the song, Scott opens up about the genesis of the song and what sounds like a really fun time at a Grateful Dead show.

”How are you all doing? Way back in the ‘70s, I used to go see the Grateful Dead a lot. I don’t know if anybody has heard of them. And every year they were prone to do, on the east coast, like a summer’s end concert on Labor Day weekend. And this song is about going to one that they had at Giant’s Stadium. We had no tickets and a Volkswagen Squareback. I got a speeding ticket for doing 75 in a Volkswagen Squareback which is nearly impossible to do. I got down there at like sunrise. I hooked up with some tickets and some doses and some dope. And that is what this song is about.”

What an adventure! Scott’s story here transports us back to a time when every night was a story waiting to be told. It’s a glimpse into the reckless, joyful and youthful spirit that defined both the band and the music they created. And It highlights the lengths people would go to experience the magic of a Dead show. Mama Are You Ready is a snapshot of a specific time and place, a musical postcard from the ’70s, capturing the essence of a scene that continues to resonate with music lovers today. I wish I was there in that Volkswagen with Scott, that would have been fun!

And now I am going to play a couple clips of Scott talking about the song Emerald Eyes. Together, I think these clips work well to convey the origin and meaning of the song. So first, let’s listen to this clip from the band’s performance back on Saturday, August 21, 1999, at the Webster Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut.

“I guess there is a Hindu philosophy that says, you know they believe in reincarnation, that we all reincarnate in groups. And every time we come together as a group, we have a different role in that group. So, I guess you can look at everybody around you and figure that you’ve known these people really forever because you’ve lived lifetimes with them, over and over again. And that is what this song is about, actually.”

The idea that we travel through lifetimes with the same group of souls is a profound and thought-provoking concept. It suggests that the connections we forge in this life are not fleeting, but rather echoes of relationships that stretch back through time. Imagine looking at everyone around you at a Creek show and feeling an inexplicable, deep connection — a sense that you’ve shared countless lifetimes with these people. Tapping into that feeling would certainly elevate the experience into something almost spiritual, where each performance is a reunion of souls.

And now, let’s listen to Scott provide more details about the history of Emerald Eyes in this clip from the band’s performance recorded on Saturday, February 23, 2002, at Pearl Street Night Club in Northampton, Massachusetts.

“So, I was hanging out with this woman who practiced some of the white magic and we had this vision of a lifetime previously. We went into great detail about the previous lifetime that we had. And it involved a woman and a child and a man. And, they inevitably get separated through time and space and whatever. So after we had this whole thing, I wrote the first two versus to this song and played it for the woman and she liked it. And then I went elsewhere and wrote the third verse in a friend of mine’s basement. And while I was doing that, she was actually at a psychic convention. And she sat down and the psychic said to her, ‘Well, there is a girl named Emily that wants to give you a rose.’ And when she came back from that she told me about that. And I had written the last verse about putting a rose on the daughter’s grave. It was very strange. I didn’t understand then, and I don’t now.”

The vision, the white magic, the psychic and the rose — it’s a tale that blurs the lines between reality and the supernatural. After hearing all of this, I think the intertwined layers of mysticism, personal visions and serendipitous encounters make Emerald Eyes one of the most intriguing songs Scott has gifted to us. The idea that music can be a bridge between our past lives and our present moments is a powerful one. It’s a reminder that art often transcends logic, tapping into something deeply mysterious and transformative.

I really enjoyed collecting these stories and putting them together for you. I have a few more stories about Max Creek songs that I did not include in this episode, so I am thinking of doing this type of episode again in the future. But with nearly 50 years of music, I am sure there are stories out there that have been captured on live recordings that I have not heard yet. So please reach out to me if you know where I should look to find more of these stories that give insight into the meaning behind their songs.

If you are curious, during the introduction to this episode I played Max Creek’s performance of the Greatest Story Ever Told recorded live on Monday, October 9, 1989, at Island House in Misquamicut, Rhode Island.

As always, let me know if you have suggestions for future episodes or recommendations on people to interview for this podcast. As some of you know, I live in Milwaukee and am a bit disconnected from the local Max Creek scene, so any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. You can get in touch with via the contact link on the Hooked on Creek website at hookedoncreek.com or via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Just search for Hooked on Creek to get connected. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for tuning in.