The Iron City Houserockers
were an American rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, led by singer/guitarist Joe Grushecky, that existed from 1976 until 1984. Lumped into the heartland rock genre, critically praised but commercially unsuccessful, the band's fans view them as one of the great "shoulda-beens" in the history of rock and roll. Joe Grushecky has a slightly nasal vocal delivery similar to British rock musicians Elvis Costello and Graham Parker.
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JOE GRUSHECKY AND THE HOUSEROCKERS TICKETS
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History
Started in 1976 as the Brick Alley Band by Grushecky, a high school
special education teacher in Pittsburgh, the band was a fairly typical bar band. The band was distinguished by Grushecky's taut, focused songs about life in the open hearth and a distinctive, harmonica-and-guitar driven sound owing much to
the Rolling Stones and
the J. Geils Band, but which also seemed to borrow a lot of the thrashing fury of
punk rock. Most of the members of the Iron City Houserockers came from a genuine blue collar background: Art Nardini was the son of a mechanic and a part time college student, Joe Grushecky was a coal miner's son, and Gil Snyder's father was a construction worker.
[1] In 1977 they signed to Cleveland International Records, headed by former
Epic Records A&R chief and Pittsburgh native
Steve Popovich. Popovich christened them the Iron City Houserockers, but this caused some problems when touring outside their native Pittsburgh—when they played Cleveland their tires were slashed.
The band's debut album
Love's So Tough
was released in April 1979. With dense, no-frills production by Popovich and Marty Mooney, AKA the Slimmer Twins, the album successfully captured the band's live sound. "Hideaway" (the first single) and "Dance With Me" were viewed as standout cuts.
The band's follow-up album
Have a Good Time but Get out Alive!
was featured by
Rolling Stone
magazine as its showcase review with the headline "New American Classic" and
The Village Voice
called it the strongest album by an American band in 1980.
The tandem tavern-set tracks "Old Man Bar" and "Junior's Bar" were especially praised. Production was credited to the Slimmer Twins and
Mick Ronson, with arrangements by
Ian Hunter and
Steven Van Zandt. According to the notes within
Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers
, Van Zandt left after producing three songs due to musical differences between himself, Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson.
The Houserockers' third album,
Blood on the Bricks
, is a bit more restrained, but a lot richer and more consistent; for the first time, Grushecky's ballads measure up to his faster anthems. Produced by American soul-rock legend
Steve Cropper, the album crackles with restrained intensity. The 1983 edition
Rolling Stone Record Guide
praised it as the band's best album, although it had good marks for all of them.
The band then changed its name to simply The Houserockers to avoid the geographic limitation the "Iron City" moniker had put them in. It also shed harmonica player Marc Reisman, and saw Gil Snyder adding synthesizers to his trademark piano and organ. The subsequent album,
Cracking Under Pressure
, like all the band's previous efforts, drew critical raves - but didn't sell much. The band was dropped from
MCA Records shortly after the album's release, and broke up a few months later.
Joe Grushecky went on to a modestly successful career on his own, often under the name Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers. He has co-written several songs with fellow heartland rocker
Bruce Springsteen and made a number of on-stage appearances with him.
The Iron City Houserocker's first two albums,
Love's So Tough
and
Have a Good Time but Get Out Alive!
were released on compact disc in 1999.
Blood on the Bricks
and
Cracking Under Pressure
are still unreleased on CD, although cuts from both albums are present on
Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers
.
Lineup
- Joe Grushecky - rhythm guitar, vocals
- Gary Scalese - lead guitar (first album)
- Eddie Britt - lead guitar (subsequent three albums)
- Art Nardini - bass
- Gil Snyder – keyboards, accordion
- Ned Rankin - drums (first four albums)
- Marc Reisman - harmonica (first three albums)
- Joffo Simmons - drums, percussion (after the fourth album)
- Bill Toms - guitars (after fourth album)
- Joe Pelesky - keyboards (after fifth album)
- Bob Boyer - soundman (first four albums)
Discography
Albums
Iron City Houserockers
- 1979: Love's So Tough
- 1980: Have a Good Time but Get out Alive!
- 1981: Blood on the Bricks
- 1992: Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers
The Houserockers
- 1983: Cracking Under Pressure
Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers
- 1989: Rock & Real
- 1991: Swimming with the Sharks
- 1994: End of the Century
- 1995: American Babylon
- 1998: Coming Home
- 1999: Down the Road Apiece Live
- 2004: True Companion
Joe Grushecky
- 2002: Fingerprints
- 2006: Outtakes and Demos 1975-2003
- 2006: A Good Life
Videos
- 2006: Five Alive in Spain
References
- Liner notes from ''Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers''