A Musical Melting Pot

by Mary Lou Sullivan

Before you can understand Max Creek, you have to get one thing
straight. They are not, repeat, not a Grateful Dead tribute or clone band. They
never have been and they never will be. Once you make that important, you will
enjoy the band. It’s not that they’re hostile; they’re just weary of fighting that
unfounded rumor

“There’s such an aura, particularly from people in the media, who want
to label us with this Grateful Dead thing,” protests percussionist and drummer
Rob Fried, as he munches on a Buffalo Hot Wing at Brock’s Restaurant in West
Hartford. “But when this band formed in 1971, I don’t think the word clone was
even in existence. Tribute bands didn’t exist then - none of that existed then. We
all have our own identities and have been playing our music for such a long time,
that we’re really offended by this categorization.

“When we first started, there was Quicksilver (Messenger Service),
Jefferson Airplane - All these California bands that had the same ambiance as the
Dead.,” interjects Mark Mercier, keyboard player and vocalist. “But as of 1975
or 1976, the Dead were the only people left to do something like that. The thing
is, we have always been this way. We’re not trying to imitate anyone; this is the
way that we were brought up musically. We never have changed.

Max Creek formed in April 1971 by bassist and vocalist John Rider,
drummer Bob Gosselin, and guitarist Dave Reed, who left the band in 1977. That
trio had originally played charts for strippers with a Cordovox (an electronic
accordion) player at the old Shaker Park nightclub in Enfield. Artistically, the gig
was far from fulfilling, so they left and formed Max Creek, a name derived from
the small town in Virginia where Rider grew up. Max Creek played country rock,
folk rock and bluegrass as well as a few original tunes.

“The premise of Max Creek was to give us an outlet for our original
music,” recalls Rider. “We were all writing music and trying to do originals, but
we had to supplement it with cover material to survive.”

Both Mercier and guitarist and vocalist Scott Murawski joined the band
in 1973 and Fried added his percussive touch in 1979. Greg DeGuglielmo
replaced Gosselin on drums in the fall of 1985.

Max Creek’s repertoire is eclectic; their music has a depth, clarity and a
professional polish that would send even the snobbiest musician struggling to
find any valid criticism. The musical background of the players speaks for itself.

Varied Backgrounds

Rider graduated from Hartt School of music, where he was a music
education major. He studied trumpet at Hartt but later took up the bass to
“improvise and get away from written music,” he says. “I started the bass to play
from scratch; it’s all done by ear ad improvisation.” He taught music for six years
at two middle schools in Newington CT and his earliest musical influences were
classical and experimental music.

Mercier is a classical musician who studied liturgical music, specializing
in organ at Hartt. After graduation, he taught music at a Catholic girls high
school and played piano in cocktail lounges. He is currently the choir director and
organist at the St. James Episcopal Church in Hartford and plays at services
every Sunday morning. He cites his major influences as blues, jazz, and classical
music.

Murawski pursued a formal music education on both the guitar and
trumpet, but decided his first love was the guitar. He dedicated many years to
fervent self-instruction and considers himself self-taught.

Fried is also a self-taught musician who has played in a variety of styles.
He’s played his musical dues in polka, funk, country swing, and has a mixed bag
of musical influences, particularly Brazilian jazz.

DeGuglielmo studied music at the Berklee School of Music in Boston,
majoring in jazz, and studied for three years with Alan Dawson, former drummer
for Dave Brubeck. Not suprisingly, he brings a jazz background to Max Creek.

“The beauty is everyone is bring in such a varied background, that
you’re not stuck to one particular style,” Mercier says. “You can apply yourself
to other people’s (musical) ideas, and at the same time, other people apply
themselves to your ideas.”

Mercier, Murawski, and Rider pen most of the band’s originals; most
are solo ventures, others are collaborations. Windows, their recent LP on Relix
Records, is a highly danceable, upbeat album that has been getting airplay as far
away as California. The songs are much shorter than the extended jams that Max
Creek play in concert, and there’s a bluesy tune, “Band From Chicago,” that
features the saxophone of the late Paul Nigro. The most accessible and catchy
tune is “L.F.S.,” co-written by Rider and Linda Edick, the sound person for the
band. (note: Linda is actually the lighting person for the band - Tony)

Relix

Windows is Max Creek’s fourth LP, but the first on Relix, a well-known
Brooklyn-based independent label which publishes Relix Magazine. (See
Advocate, 3/23/87.) Windows is the band’s first album to have national and
international distribution. It has already sold well over 10,000 copies.

The people at Relix had their eye on the band for quite some time before
approaching the musicians, recalls Fried. The break came when Max creek
opened for Kokomo, a Grateful Dead splinter band, at the Ritz in New York
City. Relix Magazine editor Toni Brown reviewed that show and was more
impressed with Max Creek than by the headlining act. A stringer for Relix was
also impressed with the band and interviewed them after a gig at Jonathan Swift’s
in Cambridge. The October, 1985 Relix ran both articles and Brown sent a
follow-up note to the band expressing further interest.

“We were at the Lone Star, in new York City, and Toni Brown came in
with Relix publisher Les Kippel and said they were interested in a record deal
with us,” Fried recalls. “We talked about it and they helped finance this LP.
They’ve been shipping the records out to radio stations and they’re working on a
tour to promote the album.”

Max Creek’s musical style, if one can actually label it, is experimental
rock, based on the improvisatory style of San Francisco music, with healthy
doses of jazz, folk, and blues. Although they do play covers to increase their
marketability. They often play the same venue on two or three consecutive
nights, but the band never get stale because each time they play a tune, they play
it differently.

“The interpretation is how everyone happens to feel that night,” explains
Mercier. “It’s very emotional music.” “Everyone listens to different types of
music,” adds Fried. “I listen to a lot of Brazilian jazz, which is very
improvisational music. We play off each other like jazz musicians. That’s where it
comes together; it’s a big melting pot.”

Take Max Creek’s following - now there’s a melting pot. where else
would you see a floppy straw hat or a guy wearing cut-offs with a turquoise and
purple tie-dye shirt? Or pull into the parking lot and have a teenager flash you the
peace sign? Or see six people sitting crosslegged in a circle on the floor? What
other band could you go see and find someone blowing bubbles onto the stage?

Max Creek’s following, called Creekers, Creek Freaks or whatever, is a
dedicated, loyal and highly visible audience that will travel quite a way to hear the
band in concert. It’s like entering Mr. Peabody’s Way Back Machine (You do
remember Rocky and Bullwinkle?) and flashing back to the ‘60’s.

Devoted Fans

“It’s the idea of the 60’s, when everybody was friendly and peace
loving,” said Walter Jones, a 23-year-old fan wearing a tie-dye t-shirt, patched
shorts, and white sneakers at a recent Max Creek concert at the West Hartford
Ballroom and Music Hall (the Agora - Tony). Jones said he’s been a fan since
1981, when he and his high school buddies in Boston would drive to the Agora
Ballroom just to see the band. He said many of the followers are rebelling against
today’s heavy metal and punk rock scene. “Who needs it?” he asked, flipping his
long reddish blonde hair, a wild look in his eyes. “This is by far better music.”

“People think we just carry around a circus, but our people are very
highly underrated,” says Fried. “They really are. So many people goof on them -
say they’re into drugs and are ‘just hippies, man.’ But it’s really not like that.
These people are very sensitive, intelligent people on the whole. These people
listen. Our people are very attentive, very aware of what’s going on onstage. If
you’re having a bad night, they know it.”

“They’re into a deeper meaning,” Mark Mercier interjects. “They’re all
searching. It’s not like your general unintelligent person who figures he has found
his answers, he’s made up his mind and that’s it. These people are experimenting,
searching, questioning, listening, trying to define something else. They do have a
tendency to be judgmental about the rest of the world, but they’re looking for
something, a sense of community.”

When the Advocate talked to some Creekers at a recent concert, we
found the musicians’ opinions to be right on the mark. “I’m very much into Max
Creek,” said Bill Schnabel who was attired in contemporary fashion, in an MTV
t-shirt, jeans and a visor baseball cap. “Naturally the music is the first attraction;
pretty much it’s 50/50 with the people. We call it our family. It’s not just another
concert crowd. They’re not friends; they’re family. I can say hi to anybody here
and get a smile back.”

“I started seeing them when I snuck into Mad Murphy’s (in Hartford)
when I was 15 or 16 years and I’m 27 now,” Schnabel continues. “I thoroughly
enjoyed it so much that I saw them constantly for years. I didn’t see them for five
years or so when /I was married but a friend talked me into coming back and
seeing them. Just when you think you’ve grown out of it, I went back. It’s a
fierce addiction,” he adds with a smile.

“This is about the 2,000th time I’ve seen them in the past six years,”
said David Lord, an energetic 24-year-old whose muscular body movements
seemed to be choreographed to the beat of a distant drum. He could barely stop
dancing to talk to the press. “I’ll drive hours to see ‘em; I drove five-and-a-half-
hours to Camp Creek in Bowdoinham, Maine (where the band played outdoor
concerts on Labor Day weekends for four consecutive years). I love to dance,
and they make me dance like nothing else. It’s the beat, the music,” he adds.

Dying Breed

Max Creek does keep the beat and they are one of the dying breed of
professional musicians, free from working the dreaded day job in order to pay the
rent. “It’s been a full time job for everyone for about five years,” says Mercier,
“but we definitely have had our share of macaroni and cheese.” That
accomplishment (the full time status, not the macaroni and cheese) is not without
its own demands, however, and constant traveling is the price they must pay.

“We do a lot of traveling, one nighters most of the time,” says Fried.
“We’ve played the whole Northeast, every state but Delaware.” “We’ve gotten
to the point now that anything three to four hours away is commuting distance,”
add Mercier. “So we’ll even drive back from Philadelphia or Portland, Maine.
But you get to the point where you get used to it and just want to wake up in
your own room, in your own bed. But if we go to Rochester or something like
that, we do rent rooms.”

Constant traveling has its drawbacks, and Max Creek has lost a few
members due to the demands of life on the road. Vocalist Amy Fazzano left after
seven years, and founding drummer Bob Gosselin left a year ago to spend more
time with his family.

“It’s hard for you to maintain a relationship, never mind being married,”
says Fried. “I’ve had my share of relationships fall by the wayside because people
either don’t understand what the business is about, or the media or whoever tells
them what they think it should be about, all those road stories with women in
every town. That’s not really the way it is.”

“It might be that way for some people, but not for us,” says Mercier.
“It’s hard work, and after a while your body tells you what you can and cannot
do. I don’t think any one of us plans to become a rock and roll casualty.”
“Playing in a band, particularly a high energy band requires having your body and
your mind together,” says Fried. “You can’t have one without the other. If those
are not working together, it’s not working. If you can’t get up there (on stage)
without being high, then you really can’t do it at all.”

The Team

In Max Creek you have to be a team player; there’s a 10-person
entourage, including musicians, light and sound personnel and roadies. The band
works an average of 21 gigs per month and that translates into many hours spent
together, working, setting up, playing, eating, driving and just hanging around
between sets and before and after gigs. Multiply those hours by 16 years and you
wonder how so many people can manage to still get along. Most musicians claim
that being in a band is like being married to four or five people, and Max Creek is
no exception.

“Yes, it’s a great big marriage,” agrees Mercier. “You start to exist on a
whole mess of different levels where you can get angry with each other or maybe
even not like each other for a little while but you all know really deep inside if
anything happened to anyone else, it would be like taking a part of you out of
yourself.”

“Grace Slick said it once,” adds Fried. “I read an interview where they
asked her how the Airplane’s been together for so long and she said, ‘We allow
everyone to be an asshole once in a while.’ It’s the only way to do it. You have
to give everybody that license every now and then and understand that certain
people are going through different things, and have a little sensitivity to what’s
going on.”

Max Creek celebrated their 16th Anniversary last month. “Our aim is to
get better and better,” says Rider. “If we don’t get better then it’s time to quit.
As long as we keep writing, putting out albums, and can still support the whole
road thing - as long as we can still keep it going, that’s a good place to be.
Beyond that, I’ve never made any aspirations of playing every Civic Center in the
country. That’s not a specific goal, although it would be nice.

Max Creek appear in concert with the New Riders of the Purple Sage at
the paramount Theater in Springfield on Thursday; at the West Hartford
Ballroom and Music Hall on Friday; and at the World Super Jam ‘87 at
Woodbury (CT) Ski and Racquet Area on June 14.