Masters Series: Songwriting
With Scott Murawski of Max Creek, Depth Quarter, Mike Gordon Band...
Phil Simon
2004-03-29
Two years ago we introduced the masters series for songwriters here at Jambands Business School with an in depth conversation with Dan Pritzker of the band Sonia Dada. I would like to revisit the concept and topic with Max Creek's Scott Murawski. In addition to being one of the most talented and celebrated guitarists on the scene, Scott is also a songwriter, not just for the band Max Creek, but also for his side project solo album and for another side project called the Depth Quartet that occasionally makes appearances around New England. We sat down virtually for a conversation about song writing, and all the surrounds it. What does the term songwriter mean to you? Do you feel comfortable referring to yourself as a songwriter? I guess a songwriter is anybody who writes songs. and to me, that's more of the priority to me than singing or playing the guitar. When people ask me what I do, I say I'm a guitarist first. But when I have free time, I bury myself in the task of songwriting, whereas, most guitarists bury themselves in practicing or learning new riffs. I am a frustrated songwriter at the moment. My schedule is so hectic that I barely get the time I need to open myself up to the time and energy it takes to write music. You are in a band with multiple song writers. Is it difficult sometimes to balance the needs of the different writers in the band? When we perform, we take turns singing, so there's no conflict there. When we rehearse, originals always take precedence over covers, so there's no conflict there. If two people bring in originals, we learn both. In the case of Max Creek, since we usually rehearse during sound check, it has kind of forced my songwriting to be simpler than it might be if we had more extensive rehearsals... I always write like I only have five minutes to teach them the song... because that's usually the case! Which is harder for you personally- lyrics or melody creation? Lyrics, to be sure! I can come up with melodies all day long, for the most part... but to think of something I want to say is quite difficult... sometimes... other times, lyrics pour out of me. I have a theory about time that equates the future as being just like the past in that it already exists, but our limited perceptions are unable to take it in. As such, writing music can be a lot like remembering some song I heard as a child. It seems like it's already there, on the tip of my tongue, and I just need to remember how it goes... Do you hatch your songs fully fledged, or do they dribble out slowly? What is the process like for you usually? The process is different, almost every time... sometimes, things fly out of me... some of the best stuff happened in 10 minutes- other times, it takes weeks to put it together. I can't say one is better than the other... One of my biggest problems is that I'm too anxious to play. The longer I can sit, and visualize the song in my head before picking up an instrument, the better. Many times I'll start playing an idea before it has come to fruition, and then I start playing my usual, habitual bullshit and it overwrites what would have come out of my head. How difficult is it to give your song over to the band? Is it painful to see the changes that occur between your original vision and the end result? It goes both ways... sometimes, I hate the way the band does my stuff... they completely lose the fire and essence of the original idea... Other times, though, the band expands a simple idea into an epic. I love it when this happens.. and it sometimes takes years... As an example, we do a song of mine, "Emerald Eyes", and at the end is this massive jam that has a number of sections to it... and we never, EVER talked about it... when we first started doing the song, it was just supposed to be our usual "put it to the wind" jam thing that we do, but this one, over time, developed this amazing structure to it. This is one of the beautiful things about Max Creek- the ability to compose as a group over long periods of time, unconsciously. Many of our jams at the end of songs developed this way...
How is your position as guitar player effected by your role as songwriter? Do you attempt to do certain things as a player for other people's songs?
Interesting question. Sometimes, people bring in ideas that are totally complete, and what I do on the guitar is just bit parts that fill in the holes. Mark's (Messier – keyboard player for Max Creek, Rev Tor, and others) songs are like this. He develops his tunes into a very cohesive thing before he brings them in... Whereas, John's (John Rider, bassist for Max Creek) songs are more like sketches when he brings them in. In a way, I feel like I help compose john's tunes, to some extent because he leaves them so wide open to interpretation, at least as far as the guitar goes. He usually has a definite idea about what he wants the drums to play, and in some cases, the guitar too, but in a lot of cases, I get to shape the tune by creating guitar parts. I like that. Garcia said he would rather fill in all of the "o's" in the phone book than write a song. Do you understand his statement and how does it jive with your own songwriting habits? Musicians are inherently impatient people. That's why they're musicians, and not artists. Songwriting is more like oil painting- you have to be patient and let ideas develop. I am NOT patient... I would say that the majority of my material is unfinished, but I push it out the door anyway. I wish that most of my material had another section to it but I'm impatient. Another aspect to the whole thing is the expectations around song writing - an idea is an idea, and good or bad, it is what it is. Sometimes, it's not about writing that epic that everyone is going to love. Sometimes, it's about getting something out of you. sometimes, that something is less than flattering, or rather, less than what you expect of yourself as a songwriter. Sometimes a little ditty, is just that, a little ditty. And as such, if you are expecting "hey jude" and you get "the hokey pokey" instead, it can be frustrating. Are there certain moods that you have or emotions that you feel that help to hatch songs for you- or over the years do songs come from all forms of emotion for you? There is nothing like angst to inspire. And there's nothing like the love of a beautiful woman to inspire as well. Frustration... Anger... Fear... Joy... You can play off of all of this stuff. Anger is one of the best because if you write something out of anger, you're not so concerned with the final product- you're just venting through your music. Not being concerned with the final product is one of the goals in good songwriting. It's enabling to feel that way, for me anyway.
You are in a few different side projects and have your own solo album. When you write a song, is it obvious to you for which project it is most suited?
I've written so much junk over the years. The depth quartet project is very cool because it's given me an outlet for some of the material I felt was not suited for Max Creek. But now that I've brought some of that stuff into dq, I'm tempted to bring it into Max Creek, just to get Max Creek's take on it. But when I write, I don't aim it a project. I try not to focus on the goal if I can help it. Sometimes when I'm trying to come up with a rhythm, or hook, I'll envision Max Creek playing it, just to try and hear the overall effect it might have... to see if it's creating the vibe I want. Who do you think has influenced your songwriting, in terms of songwriters of the past? Wow... just about everything I've heard... Lowell George... Sting... the Beatles... Alanis... Pink Floyd... Led Zeppelin... the Dead. I listen to a lot of music. Usually, right before I write, I listen to stuff I want to be influenced by, and for melodies, I listen to a lot of female vocalists because they seem to be more creative in their melodies. Then, one day, I shut off the music. I listen to silence for a few days, and then things start to happen in my head. I start hearing things I've never heard before... I have a digital voice recorder in my pocket at all times, and anytime I hear a song idea, I sing it into the voice recorder. this has helped me immensely!! Another thing about is that if I haven't played the guitar in a while, when I first pick it up, usually something amazing and new and different comes out. Then I go back into my habitual schlock. But now that I have the voice recorder, I record that new amazing thing. I have a ton of them to work with now. In the olden days, artists like Carole King and Neil Diamond were used as song writing mills. Could you see yourself adopting a project like this where you would write songs or even a whole catalog of songs for another artist? How would that affect your writing? I would love to do this. I always enjoy hearing other people do my tunes. I secretly wish that Phish would cover one of my tunes. Ha ha. But to become a songwriter for someone else? I wouldn't mind it, but I'm not sure I could write on demand like that. Maybe I could, if I had the time. Does it make you uncomfortable to think of yourself within the league of great songwriters that have come before you? Or are you comfortable with the creation of songs as art and really see yourself fitting into a group of writers? I write to express. The fact that others enjoy what I write is a bonus and I am grateful that that actually happens. I don't consider myself a great songwriter, just a songwriter. I write because when I don't, I get frustrated and blocked. Writing is my creative outlet of choice. I mean, playing guitar is a great outlet for me, and allows me to express, but songwriting allows me to get deep inside my psyche and get shit out I wouldn't be able to otherwise. I need it. If you had to group your songwriting as fitting in with a category of other writers, who might that list include? It's hard for me to elevate myself into the group of songwriters that I admire... How conscious are you of your potential audience, whether with Max Creek or elsewhere, when you are writing a song? Do you abandon certain songs because you don't see your audience digging it? I abandon songs because I don't dig it; and I've written stuff that I can't stand, but the audience loves, so I keep playing the stuff. I guess when I'm writing, I'm trying to picture the tune live. Perhaps a good idea would be to try writing something to stand on its own instead of gearing something for performance. I've started to do this before, and gotten frustrated... Have you seen other bands cover your material? How has that made you feel? It feels great!! I love hearing someone else's interpretation of my material... Do you think that it is true that songwriting in general is in the decline in recent years? Is Pop music getting dumber? How do you relate to the song writing of more popular and less jam oriented music? I think it's the same as it's always been- a sea of schwag but then a diamond emerges. So much of the alternative music sounds the same to me lately. But then, as an example, I heard Evanescence, and I love them. The woman who writes the melodies is just great- angst driven lyrics perfectly expressed. So, has it changed much? In the 70s, there was a sea of disco, but then you had Prince-brilliant. In the 80s, all this punk out there, and then Talking Heads in the middle of it all. I would like to thank Scott Murawski for the time he took to get deeply into this subject. If you would like to hear some of Scott's materials, check out www.maxcreek.com They will be out this Spring playing, both in the Northeast and for a 3 night run to Colorado visiting Boulder and Denver April 29 – May 1. Or you could check them out at Harper's Ferry in Boston on May 14.
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