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Grushecky, Springsteen teaming up for 2 shows
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
PITTSBURGH
Joe Grushecky’s career was in a slump by the mid-’90s. After years of going hard, his critically acclaimed band, The Houserockers, had slipped off the radar.
He needed a jump-start but instead got a rocket boost, with the help of his pal Bruce Springsteen.
“I was at the end of my rope with the labels,” said Grushecky in a phone interview with The Vindicator. “I had been with small ones, and then major labels, and then small ones again, and I didn’t know which way to turn. My wife suggested I call Bruce to see if he would play on a song, and he did. We started working on ‘Chain Smoking,’ and then we did more. Next we did a couple of co-writes, and then we had a whole record.”
The result was “American Babylon,” the brilliant 1995 album that rejuvenated Grushecky’s career and pushed him into a higher realm of respect.
“‘American Babylon’ put me back on the map,” he said. “It was a great boost.” Springsteen not only played on the record, but also produced it.
To promote the album, Grushecky and Springsteen played two now-legendary back-to-back concerts Oct. 20 and 21, 1995, at Nick’s Fat City (now Diesel) in Pittsburgh.
To mark the 15th anniversary of those shows, the two will again team up for concerts tonight and Friday at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh.
Although the concerts come almost exactly 15 years later, they weren’t exactly 15 years in the making.
“It was a rush job,” said Grushecky. The idea first surfaced when he and Springsteen played together at the Light of Day benefit concert in New Jersey in January. It got more serious over the summer, when the two discussed it again. But the serious planning didn’t begin until maybe a month ago, said Grushecky.
The last-minute nature explains the venue. Soldiers and Sailors Hall, a 2,300-seat theater near the University of Pittsburgh, was the only place available on short notice. A fixed-seat concert hall with fine acoustics (although not usually used for rock shows), it’s about four times bigger than Fat City.
Friends for decades, Grushecky and Springsteen were cut from the same rock ’n’ roll cloth.
“Bruce was a huge fan of [1980 Houserockers album] ‘Have a Good Time, But Get Out Alive’ and our subsequent albums, and that’s how we first met,” said Grushecky. Steve Van Zandt of Springsteen’s E Street Band produced much of “Have a Good Time.”
Grushecky said the anniversary concerts won’t duplicate the 1995 set lists. Instead, he said, they plan to just have fun with it.
“We’ll play some of his songs that I like and some of my songs that he likes,” he said.
The 1995 concerts were part of a mini-tour, with other shows in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Chicago. This time, there will be no other shows except Pittsburgh, said Grushecky.
Grushecky — who released his latest CD, “East Carson Street,” last year — said he is now taking a more relaxed approach to his performance schedule. He has infrequently played Youngstown over the years, mostly at The Cellar in Struthers.