Initially a trio for their first gigs in December 1972, the original members were guitarist and vocalist Kim Mitchell, bassist Mike Tilka, and drummer Phil Trudell.

The band quickly gained a reputation on the Toronto bar scene for their humour, stage antics, and repertoire including Jethro Tull and Frank Zappa covers as well as their compositions spanning a wide range of genres.

Artists they opened for included Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Blondie, The Cars, Cheap Trick, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, The Guess Who, Kansas, Ted Nugent, Rainbow, Rare Earth, REO Speedwagon, Rush, Strawbs, and Styx.

[8] With some international recognition having arrived, Max Webster then toured the UK and Europe backing Rush in 1979 and played successful dates of their own at the famed Marquee Club in London.

However, their career momentum was stalled when the band's American label Capitol Records refused to finance a follow-up headlining European tour.

The band returned to the UK over a year later, but poor ticket sales from a lack of promotion led to their shows being cancelled, and only two dates supporting Black Sabbath were fulfilled.

Prior to the recording of the band's fifth and final studio album, Universal Juveniles (1980), Watkinson exited, leaving Max Webster a trio of Mitchell, McCracken, and Myles.

The song "Battle Scar" was recorded live with all three members of Rush playing alongside Max Webster (Watkinson returned just for this session).

In a 1978 interview, Rush bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee commented that he enjoyed their music, insisting "they're quite hard to describe, but they have amazing musicianship and very interesting lyrics.

The band reunited in 1990 for a gig at the Toronto Music Awards, with the High Class in Borrowed Shoes lineup of Kim Mitchell, Terry Watkinson, Mike Tilka, and Gary McCracken.

Max Webster did a proper reunion tour in 1995–96, with longtime Mitchell collaborator Peter Fredette joining the band as bassist in place of Tilka.

On May 24, 2007, The Mitchell/Watkinson/Tilka/McCracken lineup of Max Webster reunited for a one-off gig as part of the Q107 30th anniversary concert and live radio special at The Docks in Toronto.

McCracken sang "A Million Vacations" with his tech Robert Sibony on drums, and Fredette joined the band onstage to sing Geddy Lee's part on "Battle Scar."