This story originally appeared in the Asbury Park Press on July 24, 1995.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN got into the act here Saturday night to help an old friend whose new record he produced.
“At least, we’d like to get him to be in the position where he can make a living playing his music,” Springsteen said earnestly, running a towel through tousled strands of sweat-soaked hair. “He writes very tough, touching music. He should at least be able to make a living playing it.”
Tradewinds 1995
The “he” in question is Pittsburgh-based rocker Joe Grushecky, a friend of Springsteen’s since the late ’70s, when Grushecky’s Iron City Houserockers seemed destined to join the E Street Band and Asbury Jukes in rock’s pantheon of great, R&B-inspired working-class bar bands.
Alas, the combination of luck, business arrangements and popular support needed to make a hit record never connected for the Houserockers. But when your pal is one of the biggest-selling rock superstars in recent memory, there’s always a few strings to pull.
On Saturday night, 2,300 fans saw what kind of leverage Springsteen can bring for the right cause. Sitting in for the second half of Grushecky’s headlining show at the Tradewinds nightclub, the Freehold-born rock superstar brought along former E Street bandmates Miami Steve Van Zandt on guitar and drummer Max Weinberg.
Three-time Oscar nominee Susan Sarandon and her companion, (an Oscar nominee as well) actor Tim Robbins, looked on from the sidelines. They are in town with Springsteen as he tries to craft a song for the pair’s latest movie venture – a script written and executive produced by Robbins and starring Sarandon with the working title, “Dead Man Walking.”
Tradewinds 1995
Of course, Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, also was backstage, though she never ventured into the spotlight. Instead, she watched along with the sold-out crowd as Grushecky’s new Houserockers roared through choice Springsteen songs such as “Lucky Town,” “Murder, Incorporated” and “Darkness at the Edge of Town.”
Adding to the spirit of fun, the ad-hoc group threw in rock classics including “Mustang Sally” and “Gloria” – previewing the rootsy feel and dark vision of Grushecky’s new Springsteen-produced album, “American Babylon,” with songs such as the haunting ballad, “Dark and Bloody Ground,” and the forceful title track.
It was clear, once the last note of the band’s three-encore show had rung out, that The Boss had brought quite a party to town.
“I like just being the guitar player,” the 45-year-old rocker said, a wide grin spreading across his goateed face. “It’s almost a relief – I get to sing a few songs, turn it over to Joe, play my stuff. It’s a good time.”
For Grushecky, who still works jobs as a counselor to troubled teens and tutor for adults earning their GED in Pittsburgh, the concert was nothing less than a fairy tale come true.
“It’s just a great night,” he gushed as friends and family filled the Tradewinds’ tiny backstage area. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
“We were jamming tonight,” said a breathless Van Zandt backstage. “When you whip out something like `Gloria,’ then you know you’re jamming.”
Asked by a reporter why he and Sarandon decided to take in the show, Robbins – clad casually in a tank top and scruffy, shortened hair – waited until the last notes of “Lucky Town” faded before pointing to the stage and saying, “Does that answer your question?”
The all-star show Saturday was the latest step in a journey that began almost three years ago, when Grushecky stepped onstage with Springsteen at Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena auditorium, holding a borrowed guitar, pumping out the chords to “Glory Days” as a sold-out crowd of nearly 20,000 fans cheered on.
Remembering that night while planning his next album, Grushecky decided to give Springsteen a call.
“At first, I was just supposed to play guitar on a few tracks, maybe some harmonica or something,” Springsteen said, his sweat-soaked white T-shirt clinging like he’d been dunked headfirst into a tank of water. “But Joe was relentless. Anyway, I had a studio at the house in Beverly Hills and one here (in Rumson), so I said, `Just come on out, and we’ll mess around a bit.”‘
Taking the producer’s role for the first time since he put together Gary U.S. Bonds’ 1981 album, “Dedication,” Springsteen helped Grushecky assemble two songs with a couple of studio musicians in California. Soon, the pair were making plans to bring Grushecky’s backing band out to Los Angeles for a whirlwind seven days of recording.
“The band brought a lot of different edges to what we were doing,” Springsteen said. “There was a certain authenticity to their playing that really worked well. That was definitely the most fun part of making the record for me. It made me think that, no matter what I’m working on – if it’s E Street or just me or another band – I want to (record) it live . . . it felt that good.
“I didn’t consider myself a producer, but I wanted to change the music rhythmically a little bit,” he added. “Joe would play me a song and I’d hear the way I might play it. I don’t know if I saw a lot of him in me, but we seem to have a lot of the same concerns. I just wanted to make him sound slightly less primitive – even though that was what I liked about his stuff.”
In fact, the work with Grushecky went so well, it convinced the Grammy-winning songwriter to try collaborating with other writers, as well.
“I’ve been contained with the same group of people for a long time,” Springsteen said. “I’d like to write more with other people. . . . It’s nice to have fresh ideas in there, helping you decide which chord goes where.”
Which leads to the subject of his next moves, and whether they will include the E Street Band. “I don’t read a lot of the stuff that’s written about me . . . because that (speculation) always happens with people who do what I do,” Springsteen said, sidestepping rumors of an album and tour with the E Street Band, and speculation that Grushecky is helping with songs that may appear on that record.
Grushecky’s “American Babylon” is scheduled for a fall release in Europe through British-based Pinnacle Records, as negotiations continue with American labels for a U.S. release.
“I have a lot of freedom now to do whatever I want . . . and I’d like to do everything that I do, from the E Street, to me solo to other bands,” he said. “I’d like to work consistently from year to year – not taking all this time between records – and we’re in the process of putting that together right now. I’d like to get stuff out to the fans more regularly.”
Acknowledging that his creative whims also affect a great many people in his life, Springsteen admitted planning more carefully when it comes to pulling together the E Street Band, including saxophonist Clarence Clemons (who canceled a show planned for this past Friday in Asbury Park), bassist Garry Tallent, guitarist Nils Lofgren and keyboardists Roy Bittan and Danny Federici.
“I’d like to let them know what I’m thinking when I’m relatively sure of what I’m thinking,” he said, laughing. “I have to plan more, because everybody’s all grown up now. We can still run off and play – I got them together for the Greatest Hits sessions in four days – but everybody has got families and other jobs now.”
But the all-important question – at least, for Springsteen fans – remains a simple one: When will an album of all-new material hit the stores?
“Soon, soon, soon,” said Springsteen, who – despite releasing a Greatest Hits record with four previously unreleased songs in March – hasn’t offered an album of all-new tunes since 1992’s double release of the “Human Touch” and “Lucky Town” records.
“I’ve got some songs finished and we’ll see what we can do.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen joins Joe Grushecky, Tradewinds
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