Marc Reisman thinks it's been 10 years. Joe Grushecky says no, it's 15. And Ned Rankin surmises it's been 17 years since the Iron City Houserockers have performed together in their classic lineup.

No matter how many years have passed between gigs, there's an inherent, inevitable musical alchemy when Grushecky (vocals and guitar), Reisman (harmonica), Rankin (drums), Gil Snyder (keyboards), Eddie Britt (guitar) and Art Nardini (bass) perform.

"There was always something magical about that band," Grushecky says in advance of the group's reunion show Saturday at the Altar Bar in the Strip District. The show will honor Dom DiSilvio, owner of the Decade, the bandbox of a nightspot that hosted the Pretenders, the Police and U2 before they became stars. In their heyday, the Iron City Houserockers took a backseat to no band that came through the Oakland landmark.

They couldn't afford to, lest they fall behind the local talents that also vied for stage time.

"There was Billy Price, Norman (Nardini), the Silencers, and on down the line," Grushecky says. "They'd try to blow you off the stage every time they played. You had to be good, or you'd go home."

Grushecky says the band was "battle-tested" when it signed with Cleveland International Records and started touring the country in the late 1970s. They were young, brash and had a confidence borne from playing four or five nights per week in front of local audiences that demanded the best.

"The Decade, it was just crazy, playing packed houses every night," Reisman says. "People knew the music. And then, all of a sudden, we were recording with people we really admired. They were producing our records."

Steve Van Zandt, Mick Ronson, Ian Hunter and Steve Cropper all took turns trying to fashion the Iron City Houserockers' steely rock 'n' roll into gold records. That none of them succeeded is not due to any artistic failings; the albums "Love's So Tough," "Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive" and "Blood on the Bricks" earned rave reviews from publications including Rolling Stone magazine and the Village Voice. Steve Popovich -- the Greene County native and president of Cleveland International Records, who signed Meat Loaf, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and Ronnie Spector to the label -- tirelessly championed the Iron City Houserockers.

Grushecky recalls going into town after town as unknown qualities and winning over audiences by sheer will and determination of their performances. One particular night in Buffalo, N.Y., the Houserockers opened for a band that was infinitely more famous. Spurred, the Houserockers put on a singular performance.

"I thought we kicked J. Geils' (butt)," Grushecky says. "We thought we were better. And then the next time they were in Pittsburgh, they killed. They put on one of the best shows I've ever seen."

Despite the Iron City Houserocker's talents, despite their passion for the music, despite the inherent oddness of being on "Solid Gold" with Andy Gibb and the Solid Gold dancers, the Houserockers' days as a national touring band came to an end. There was not enough traction to sustain a career.

"It was the biggest disappointment to all of us," Reisman says, "that we got to a certain point and just got stuck and ended up back in the bars. We just couldn't get any further at some point. We'd see our records in Billboard in the Top 200 chart, we'd see our name floating around on the list, and for whatever reasons, we couldn't get any further."

Grushecky, who will release a new album in the next few months, is proud of the current incarnation of the Houserockers, which features Art Nardini as the lone member from the Iron City days. The current lineup, he insists, is special.

And yet there was something almost beyond words about the vintage lineup.

"That band was from a different era," he says. "In our prime, we could take on anybody."

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A Good Life

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