Iron City Houserockers

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Iron City Houserockers


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Origin = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Genre = Rock
Years_active = 1976–1984
Label = MCA
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Past_members = Joe Grushecky
Gil Snyder
Ned Rankin
Art Nardini
Gary Scalese
Marc Reisman
Eddie Britt

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.

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, 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 seemed to borrow a lot of the thrashy fury of punk rock. In 1977 they signed to Cleveland International Records, headed by former Epic Records A&R chief and Pittsburgh native Steve Popovich. Their debut album "Love's So Tough" was released in June 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." 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.

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.

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)

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 and the Houserockers

* 1989: "Rock and Real"
* 1991: "Swimming with the Sharks"
* 1994: "End of the Century"
* 1995: "American Babylon"
* 1998: "Coming Home"
* 1999: "Live: Down the Road Apiece"
* 2004: "True Companion"

Joe Grushecky

* 2002: "Fingerprints"
* 2006: "Outtakes and Demos"
* 2006: "A Good Life"

External links

* [http://www.grushecky.com/ Joe Grushecky web site]