Episode 25 of Hooked on Creek features a discussion with Gary Backstrom. Gary first made a name for himself in the jam band scene as the guitarist and vocalist in the band Jiggle the Handle that played together from 1989 through 2001.
But in addition to Jiggle the Handle, Gary’s musical career has included a number of different projects and bands, including the Gary Backstrom Band. And over the years, Gary has been part of a variety of musical collaborations with current and former members of Max Creek. In this episode, Gary talks about his musical career and his love of Max Creek.
Connect with Gary Backstrom:
Episode 25 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 25.
Thank you for tuning in to Hooked on Creek. This is another very special episode because it features a recent conversation I had with musician Gary Backstrom. Gary first made a name for himself in the jam band scene as the guitarist and vocalist in the band Jiggle the Handle that played together from 1989 through 2001. But in addition to Jiggle the Handle, Gary’s musical career has included a number of different projects and bands, including the Gary Backstrom Band. And over the years, Gary has been part of a variety of musical collaborations with current and former members of Max Creek. As you can probably guess, Gary is a huge fan of Max Creek and we had a lot to talk about, so I am really excited to share this episode with you.
The music that kicked off this episode and that’s playing in the background right now is Max Creek’s performance of Love Makes You Lose Your Mind featuring special guest Gary Backstrom recorded live at Sterling Stage on September 4, 1999, in Hannibal, New York.
In the episode show notes, you will find links to connect with Gary and learn more about his music. And if you head over to hookedoncreek.com you can also read a full transcript of our conversation. And while you are there, click the contact link and let me know what you think of this podcast. If you have suggestions on topics to cover or people to interview, I would love to hear from you. Alright, now let’s get started.
Korre: Gary Backstrom, thanks for joining me on Hooked on Creek.
Gary: Thanks for having me, Korre.
Korre: I would love to start our conversation by learning how you first became exposed to the music of Max Creek.
Gary: All right. So I have a very clear memory of how I was exposed to it. I was at a friend’s 16th birthday party. They rented a hotel. It was one of those let’s get a hotel and we can get alcohol and stay here and not get in trouble — I think we eventually got kicked out. But actually my friend, Bob, who was like a year older than me, who’s a big Creek head — I was playing Max Creek on a boombox, he had tapes. Way back then, just like the Grateful Dead, Max Creek had tapers. So Creek tapes would get traded a lot and he kept playing it and playing it and saying, “Oh, this is really great” and “I don’t care if the Dead come around, I’m just going to go see Max Creek.” And I wasn’t getting it. I’m like, “All right.” I had just got into the Dead and I was kind of nuts about them.
And then one day, probably a month or two later, the same group of people, not kidnapped me, but they said, “Look, we’re going. You’re going to go.” So Max Creek used to play an all ages show at this place called Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. That was every Wednesday night. That was like their longstanding, I don’t know how long they had been doing it for, but I want to say from the early 80s up until past 86, but 86 was when I first went. And we went and I had no expectations at all. I knew nothing about them except a little clip of music I heard. And I left just dumbfounded. I was like, “Wow, that was the best thing I’ve ever seen.” It was so good.
Korre: By the time you saw Max Creek, you were already playing guitar? Or what were you doing at that point in time?
Gary: Yep. I was already playing. So let’s just say in high school, which was not long before that, I was super into — I think I went through the heavy metal phase that most boys my age do and getting into Led Zeppelin and Ozzy Osborne and Van Halen, ACDC and all that kind of thing, which I really still love. But then I had gone through a period of, “Oh geez. What else is out there?” And started discovering Santana and the Dead, Pink Floyd. I guess bands that would be more —Little Feat —more jazzy and more eclectic and not as much like hard rock, I guess you would say, if that makes sense. I think in my pursuit of that type of music, I was sort of crossing like a bridge. And I had a group — a band — at the time and I wanted to play that type of music. Like Santana was one that always came up for me. I just wanted to do what they were doing.
Korre: You said you were in a high school band and you were already kind of playing that music a little bit?
Gary: A little bit. Just starting to dabble in it, actually probably in 11th grade. And I went to my first Grateful Dead show in 11th grade also, and that was a big, big eye-opener as to this whole scene. It was like, “What is this?”
Korre: So the Grateful Dead went through a bit of a transition there, too, in the late 80s from being popular to being really popular or at least having a high level of awareness, I’ll say.
Gary: Yes. I think I caught two years of going to Grateful Dead shows before, or three years before, that In the Dark album got really big. And we used to call them In the Darkies, like the people that would come to shows that just started to come —the same people that would make fun of you in high school like two years before for wearing a tie dye. They’d be like, “What are you listening to? That crap? What is that?” You turn a corner and you’re running into them in the parking lot. You’d be like, “What are you doing here? Why are you here? I escape you when I come here. Why are you here?”
Korre: So when you were listening to the Grateful Dead and Santana, were you picking up a little bit of that vibe in Max Creek — that there was a connection there? Or what were you hearing in Max Creek maybe that you weren’t hearing in the Grateful Dead? Maybe that’s a better way to phrase the question.
Gary: So I think they bridged some things. They had qualities of other bands that I liked that the Dead did not have. Not better or worse, just different. Like they did some things that sounded a lot like the Talking Heads to me. In fact, there were times when I felt like more than sounding like the Dead, they sounded like the Talking Heads a lot, on a lot of their jams and things. I think they might’ve been pretty influenced by them. I really loved that. And Little Feat with Mark’s piano playing in that sort of honky-tonk style that they get into. I was definitely loving that. And sometimes it would just get super psychedelic, almost like in a Pink Floyd way, more of a spooky, kind of elongated like dark sort of thing, which was really nice.
So at the time I felt like the Grateful Dead weren’t jamming like they did on the tapes that I had got. I had a lot of tapes from the 70s that my tape trading friends gave me. And when I went to see the shows, they weren’t really taking it out, like they used to. Or they’ll play one song and go off on like a 10-minute jam into another song into a really good 10-minute jam, and then one more song. And then before, you know, it, there’s only four songs in the set, but they just took you on this journey. And that’s what Max Creek were doing. And I felt like, “Oh, these guys are real. They’re still doing this.” Like this really cutting-edge improv. It made my head spin. I hadn’t witnessed anything like that in person. And so I think to see it the first time, I just was like, “What?” I just remember leaving there, just like on fire, just like, “That was so incredible.”
Korre: I’m trying to picture you as a teenager in one of these clubs. And these are not necessarily big venues either. So it’s a relatively intimate experience. Is that right?
Gary: Yes. Half the club, if you were under 18 or under 21 —I think the drinking laws were different in Rhode Island — you got to stay on this side of the line. And if you were older, you got to go on the other side. Yeah. It was small. You became part of this group of people that went. Everybody knew everybody. It was very intimate, sweaty, kind of nasty. There’d be a lot of slam dancing. We used to slam dance because the punk thing was still kind of happening. It had like an edginess to it also that I think maybe being 80s kids that I also thirsted for. It did at times also have like a little bit of a punk kind of vibe to it.
Korre: Scott Hall wanted me to ask you a question about a memory he had, I think of you recruiting Dead fans to Max Creek shows. Can you tell me about that?
Gary: All right. This is probably one of the most obnoxious things I’ve ever done in my life, but I liked Max Creek so much. And I went to a Grateful Dead show in Colorado and I just wasn’t feeling it. And I got really mad because I spent like $90 on a ticket. And they were just having an off night. So at the time, I made a sign near where people would walk in. And it said, “If you would like to see a really incredible band here’s directions to Rhode Island from Colorado. Every Wednesday night at Lupo’s. If you’re there, go check these guys out.” I’m sure plenty of people already knew about it, but it was my way of — I felt like I wanted to salute them.
When you’re 19 years old, you do silly things. And you also think, “Oh. The Grateful Dead are having a bad night. Oh, that’s it.” They had plenty of great shows after that. I was just mad, and I think it was my birthday and I’d spent $90 to $100 on a ticket. And I thought, “Oh man. It’s just not happening.” I would never get that at a Creek show. It was always like every time they were firing on all pistons. So Grateful Dead lovers, don’t hate me.
Korre: So then as you’re developing as a musician and you’re starting to become more exposed to these types of bands, take me up to where Jiggle the Handle formed. How are you developing your bands and your musical career?
Gary: Right out of high school, I had a band called Ice Nine and we did a lot of covers. It was mostly cover songs. I started writing a little bit. And there was a lot of leftover friends from high school that I played with. We played a lot of parties and things like that. But then it started to kind of fizzle and we ended up just not playing a lot and I really wanted to play all the time. And it really was at a Grateful Dead show — I remember watching the Grateful Dead and thinking, “Man, I want to do that. I want to do what they’re doing.” Obviously that one bad night was one bad night. I saw many amazing Dead shows after that.
There was one in like 87 or 88 at Foxboro Stadium and I just thought, “Wow, these guys are so great. This is really what I want to do.” And I wanted to play all the time. And the group of friends from high school, we just weren’t all on the same page. So a friend of a friend, knew this band called All You Can Eat in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were all going to Clark University and they needed a singer for a battle of the bands show. And they asked me if I would do it. So we rehearsed and they added me in as a guitar player, singer, and we won. And we got a bunch of gigs out of it. We just sort of hit it off and it made this splash. That morphed into Jiggle the Handle. We changed the name maybe six months later. And we started to play around Worcester, that was our stomping ground — college parties and things like that.
Korre: So that was 1989. And that carried on through I think 2001, but there were different sort of iterations of the band, I would imagine over that period of time?
Gary: Right. Yes, in fact, one person that you should have on, and I talked to him, if you want to ever have Harry on. Harry Bridge was in the band before me. He’s the bass player. And he and I developed a really strong bonded friendship. Dave Osoff was the keyboard player and Jay Gillies was the drummer. And we were a four piece and that lasted through 1995. But between 90 and 95, we actually started getting booked by the same booking company that booked Max Creek. Oh, lucky me. Lucky us.
So they had us opening for them a lot and that was a real dream come true. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, “Whoa, we get to open.” Those guys were like my heroes and then got to meet them and eventually become friends, as our band was doing better and better. But I owe so much to them for many reasons. Stylistically, just learning how to play that style of music. Just watching them it was like a free music lesson every time. I’d walk out of there like, “Oh, that’s how you do that. Oh, that’s how you do that.” And Scott was a huge influence on my playing. I studied his playing hardcore. I just fell in love with everything he does. I still love his playing so much. And they’re all great guys. I feel like they were like big brothers to us.
Korre: Was Jiggle the Handle relatively a group of young musicians at that time?
Gary: Yeah. We were like 21, around there.
Korre: So Max Creek I guess, had been around for a while, even then, and so you could kind of look up to them.
Gary: Yeah. We were definitely all like, “Oh, here they are.” I became pretty good friends with Mark off the bat. I handed him a cassette of Jiggle the Handle at one of their shows before we ever opened. And I remember him laughing so hard at the name. I go, “Hey, Mark.” He goes, “Hey.” I go, “Hey, can I give you a demo tape?” He goes, “Sure.” He goes, “What’s the name of the band?” And he looked at it and just burst out laughing. Oh God. I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or if that was good. So we’ve been friends. I think he and I, out of anyone in that band are the closest. And we ended up doing a lot of duos together just with piano and guitar.
Korre: So what was the jam band scene like during the early, mid or late 90s?
Gary: Well it morphed a lot. In the early 90s, it was very driven by bands like the Spin Doctors, which we opened for a lot also, by Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews and Phish. All of those bands were at kind of the same level. And Phish were around Boston, so they used to play parties of friends’ houses. There was a band called Shakra. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of them. They were an early 90s jam band. There’s definitely like this early 90s wave. And I guess we got in right there when that happened. God Street Wine would be another one. Aquarium Rescue Unit was also big. Widespread Panic.
They were all coming out of the gate and they had the H.O.R.D.E. Festival. Are you aware of that? So that exploded and that made Dave Matthews, Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler, Widespread — all those bands got really big because they kind of bonded together. I think they helped each other ride that wave and it kind of blew up by the mid 90s, which is interesting because Max Creek had already been doing this stuff, right, since the 70s. Mark used to tell me of just seeing waves of trends come and go and come and go and come and go, which I thought was interesting to have that perspective, if you’ve been playing for that long.
Korre: As you were growing as a musician, was it natural for you to develop your live performances with improvisation as a key ingredient?
Gary: Once I heard that kind of music, yeah. That’s all I wanted to do. In fact, the longer the jam — as long as it was good — the more I was into it. So I gravitated on Grateful Dead to listening to a lot of stuff from like 72 to 75. Not that they didn’t jam before or after that, but I just really love that time period because I felt like they really hit this crazy peak where I just would hear things and I couldn’t believe it was all being made up on the spot. I was like, “Wow, I want to do that.” So I think I just got bit by that bug and that’s just what I wanted to do — experimental improv.
Korre: In an earlier episode of this podcast, Greg DeGuglielmo describes successful improvisation as being in the flow — this universal flow that seems to connect each of the band members together, along with the audience. And this flow seems to exist outside the thinking mind. I really enjoyed hearing Greg describe it that way. So I’m curious how you would describe what happens when a jam develops organically on stage.
Gary: Yeah, he’s really good at that. He was the drummer for Creek when I first started seeing them. Yeah. He and I have gotten to play a lot together. We’re also very good friends. In fact, he was the first drummer I ever got to play with that knew how to do that. And when it would happen — it happened a lot. He started playing with us in the mid-90s. We had a thing happen where we didn’t have the same drummer anymore and we’re trying people out and he was available. And he’s right. It feels like there’s something else driving the car, you’re sitting there kind of facilitating it. But yeah, I guess you could equate it to when people go to church maybe and they say they feel the spirit, right? They feel the Holy spirit or Qi, if you’re doing martial arts. This sort of encompassing energy. If you were into Star Wars, I guess it’s the force. Yeah, if everyone really lets go at the same time and gives into it, it’s wild. It’s really cool. Everyone will start playing the same ideas together, but it’s not spoken. No one said, “Hey, let’s do this.” It’s almost like you start reading each other’s minds.
I remember one night we had Mark, actually, and Greg playing with us. Greg DeGuglielmo and Mark on keys, because we also had our keyboard seat vacant. So we really started to play a lot together at that time. And they were so good at it. Again, I had never experienced it on that level until playing with them. And I remember thinking, “Wow.” All four of us are playing — me, Harry, Mark, and Greg DuDug — but yet it felt like there was this other thing doing it. Like we were just sitting there like vessels and it was just coming through. And I remember feeling like I was floating off the ground. It was such a cool thing. And it kept going and going and going and going. And I’m like, “Is this going to stop?” But it didn’t need to because it wasn’t boring. It was going with like a lot of intensity and excitement.
Korre: So how did you get introduced to Greg Vasso and where did that friendship start?
Gary: It’s funny, they had two Gregs and they’re both Italian — Vasso, DeGuglielmo — back to back. Greg Degug left and one night I went to see them. I guess it was like 90 or 91 at this place in Boston. And I’m like, “Wait, Greg’s not there. Who is that guy? What’s that guy on drums?” And I didn’t realize what had happened. I went and stood behind them and I watched him play all night, right from behind the kit and I remember thinking, “Whoa, this guy is really good.” I didn’t think anybody could sort of — Greg Degug, big shoes to fill. He’s a powerhouse. So I was very skeptical, like this isn’t going to be good, but it was fantastic. Greg Vasso has his own style.
Well, when we first started opening for them, we hung out. He was having a cigarette, and we were hanging out outside and we just bumped into each other. I gave him a tape and we just hit it off. We just started talking and that happened a few times. And then he listened to us and said, “Hey, you guys sound really great.” And we just sort of struck up a friendship. So anytime we would play together, we would hang out. So soon after that, we started doing these shows called Jiggle the Creek, which I think would’ve been Greg Vasso, Harry Bridge from Jiggle — the original bass player — me and Mark. And we would do these, a string of shows where we’d do some Creek songs and some Jiggle songs. And it was really cool to sort of bring both groups of fans together. Then we really started hanging out and becoming friends because we were practicing together.
Korre: How long did Jiggle the Creek last? How many shows did that go on for?
Gary: That’s a really good question. We did a lot, I think between 95 and 96 because we didn’t have a solid keyboard player at that point. So we did a lot of shows that way. I think we might’ve done some into the late nineties just because we liked it and it was fun. That might’ve been the last time, sometime in the late 90s.
Korre: As a musician though. It sounds like you had maybe a handful of side projects. So tell me about Zodiac Mambo.
Gary: All right. So that was basically, I think me, Greg DeGug, Harry, and Mark wanting to do something after not playing together for a while. So yeah, that was in like 2004 maybe. Around there — 2003 or 2004. I think originally the idea was we were going to write a bunch of new songs and have it be a thing where we got to do different cover songs that we didn’t get to do anywhere else and new originals. I think it just really turned out to be more of a Jiggle the Creek thing, but with a different name.
Both Gregs, I feel so blessed to be able to play with either of those drummers because they would just kick your butt, in a good way. I guess it’s like playing sports with somebody that’s really good. You get your ass handed to you. The first time I played with Mark and Greg Vasso at I think it was Pearl Street in North Hampton, Massachusetts, at the end of the show, I felt like I had gotten beaten up by a gang. But it was the best. It was just so great. I couldn’t sleep. It was just so exhilarating. But I could barely keep up. Those guys have been playing for so long and they were so seasoned. It was like getting thrown in the ring with a heavyweight — boxing and just getting the crap beaten out of you. But it was such a great learning experience.
Korre: Well, it sounds like you and your bandmates all sort of struck up some pretty good friendships with those members of Max Creek. Is that sort of what also then led to, is it Moss on a Rock? An extension of your friendship with Mark?
Gary: Yep. I would say me and Mark still are really good friends, although I haven’t seen him as much lately. Yep, that was the two of us — would just do duo things. Greg DeGug and Harry Bridge, I would say paired up as really good friends. In fact, Greg sometimes flies to California and they hang out. That’s where Harry ended up moving to. And me and Greg Vasso. Greg Vasso is my child’s godfather. We are very involved and we’ve done a Paul Simon project together where we do all Paul Simon music. So we play together a lot still.
Korre: Tell me about the Gary Backstrom Band.
Gary: So after Jiggle stopped, I wanted to keep doing something similar. But I didn’t feel right using the name because there wasn’t anyone else in the group, but me. So I thought, “Well, you know, I could make a new band name.” Then I looked at people that I really like — like other musicians, so Santana, Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren. Those three people, right there are probably some of my — they are my biggest influences, outside of what we just talked about. I looked at them and I thought, “Geez.” It’s Stevie Wonder and he has whoever in the band, like it changes. Santana — if you look at how many people have played in that group. There was the original lineup and then if you follow it like on Wikipedia, you’d be blown away at how many different people have come and gone. And Todd Rundgren, same thing between the band Utopia. And even that band morphed and changed.
But I thought, “Geez, if I just play under my own name, I know I’ve been doing this long enough.” Because Jiggle had, believe it or not 13 drummers over the course of the whole time we played. That’s probably a whole podcast by itself. I’d be completely dumb to think that that’s not going to happen and people aren’t going to change. It’s changed. We’re probably in the fourth incarnation at this point. And I just didn’t want to have it be like, well these people are gone, so I can’t even call it what we called it — whatever it was. It felt to me like a way to hold the door open, and if people come and go, that’s fine. And there’s no animosity. Its just things change. I don’t think Santana was yelling at people when they left. You know what I’m saying? Or if something didn’t work out. That’s how it is. That way I thought I could focus on the brand of music, the songs, and that would be the focus. And whoever’s in the group, great.
Korre: Are you always writing songs? Do you need a band as a place to put your songs? Is that it? Or is there something else?
Gary: I will write whether I have a band or not. And I will record them either in a studio or in my own studio. But so I’ve gone through a lot of dry spells, but that has changed lately, which is great. I started to write, I feel like that’s the one thing you have to do, is you have to write. I kick myself because I’ve gone through periods where I just have not written. I mean, some of the songs I play, I wrote in the early 90s. They’re popular with the people that come out. When we opened for Max Creek, we played one of these songs, it’s called Invisible. I wrote the chorus when I was in high school and the whole theater knew the words when we played it. The words are: I’m invisible to you, you don’t even see me. And it was so cool. I’d sing “I’m invisible to you” and everybody in the audience saying, “You know don’t even see me.” I was not expecting that. I was like, “Whoa, that’s so cool.”
So I don’t stop playing songs if they still feel good. But if I outgrow them and it’s like I can’t relate to these lyrics, I’ll stop. Just because it’s hard to sing about cars and french fries or whatever, if that’s not your thing. You know what I mean? Or something that you used to do that you’ve just outgrown. So yeah, I feel like for me, it would be horrible if I never produced anything new. So, I’m trying to just really make that the focus right now, writing new stuff.
Korre: I understand you’re also providing music lessons as well. Is that another way for you to lean into this love of music?
Gary: That’s another way for me to pay the bills. I love to teach music. I really do. Early on, I did not. I was very begrudging about it. And I love it. I teach all ages. I have students that are pushing 70 and I have little kids. I just, have fallen in love with it. So that’s sort of my main day job, as far as making money goes, is teaching. Every time I teach someone a lesson, I learn something. I just love seeing people get good at it. It makes me happy. Like when the student comes and they’ve practiced something and they got it, I’m like, “Yes.” I jump up and down. It’s exciting.
Korre: When a student asks you, “How do I make it in the music industry?” What do you tell them?
Gary: Don’t quit. If somebody really asked me that question. And if they said, “I really want to do this.” If they’re young enough, I’d say play as much as possible. It’s different now, though. In the 90s, it was way more grassroots. You would just play as much as possible. Maybe that’s still the case. I don’t know. The internet — it was just becoming a thing, you know? I guess I would just say the longer you stay in it, the better your chances are of picking up an audience and becoming — it’s almost like you’re a plant, right? Or you’re like Moss on a Rock. Where you grow. But if you don’t, if you quit, that’s not going to happen. And there’s been times when I’m like, “Why am I doing this? This is too hard.”
I mean, I could spend a whole podcast telling you crazy stories about touring the country and the whole band ready to kill each other. Just crazy things like leaving our sound guy in Las Vegas to fix a van while the whole band rents a U-Haul and drives with half the band stuffed in the back of the U-Haul illegally to California, while waiting for our sound guy to fix the van, while he ends up in the hospital because he gets hit in the head with a rock from a truck. There’s all these disaster stories that we sucked it up and made it through. I think you have to just be ready to, while you can, while you don’t have kids especially, to do as much as possible — but also ask for as much help from other people and network. And there’s so many things I’m sure younger musicians know about that I don’t, as far as marketing on the web, but I’d say just be persistent.
Korre: Let’s circle it back to Max Creek and let me ask you a softball question. What’s your favorite Max Creek song?
Gary: Oh God. There’s a lot. Oh, man. That’s going to be a Scott song and it’s going to be? I think I’m going to say, I got to say Emerald Eyes for some reason. Do you know that song?
Korre: Yeah.
Gary: There’s other ones that I love. There’s something about Emerald eyes that I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s the chord progression or the story. I love the story of the lyrics. Every time they would play it, I would just get sucked in its beautiful guitar work. Oh my God. I remember sitting there just watching from the side of the stage, just going, “Oh, my God.” I get to see this person play guitar and I’m 20 or 30 feet away and he’s doing things more incredible than people on TV. How lucky am I? It was like a free guitar lesson. I can’t even put it into words. Scott’s playing is just brilliant. I have to say he’s just up there with everybody, for me. He’s got his own sound, his own thing. And I love his songwriting and singing. Just something about that particular song just hits me here. It’s always makes me feel super emotional and I just love that song. I can’t put my finger on why, but I think that might be it.
Korre: Gary, if fans of the podcast want to get in touch with you or learn more about your music, what should they do?
Gary: First thing, probably just go to Gary Backstrom Band on Facebook. And once we start playing shows again, go to garybackstrom.com that actually has some links to a lot of our stuff that’s on archive. We’re on archive.org. One song is on Spotify right now called The Story. We have a whole album we’re almost done with. There will be three more songs on Spotify, let’s say in the next month. Other avenues to get ahold of me? Really just garybackstrom.com and Gary Backstrom Band on Facebook and Instagram. Those are hooked together. And please watch out for new music. If you were a Jiggle the Handle or Jiggle the Creek fan and I’ve lost touch with you somehow, I would love to see you.
I have been playing in Connecticut and reconnecting with some people that would go to see Creek and see us. And I’m trying to reconnect with people. So, I’m hoping some old familiar faces will pop back up. Have a great new band. It’s eight pieces — backup singers, horn, percussion — it kind of like picks up where Jiggle left off and has a whole bunch of new material, as well as we do the old favorites. And we really would love to see you. So drop me a note on Facebook and sign up on the band page and let me know you’re out there.
Korre: Great. All right. Gary Backstrom, thank you for joining me on Hooked on Creek.
Gary: Thank you. It was such a pleasure to meet you and hopefully we’ll talk again.
It was a lot of fun talking with Gary and learning about his music and hearing about his love of Max Creek. And now, I have very special treat for you because Gary was nice enough to send me a track from the new Gary Backstrom Band album that is coming out soon. This is Aliento.
That concludes episode 25 of Hooked on Creek. As always, let me know if you have suggestions for future episodes or recommendations on people to interview for this podcast. 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.