From 1990 to 2004, the crown jewel of the Pittsburgh music scene was Nick’s Fat City on the South Side’s East Carson Street.
The venue served as the backdrop for live albums by nationally-known artists such as Hootie and the Blowfish and Donnie Iris.
Although Nick’s turned into Diesel, later rebranded as Foxtail, and is now the Avalon Social Club, renowned regional acts such as The Clarks, The Gathering Field, Brownie Mary, the Buzz Poets, Grapevine, The Vibro Kings, and Push all call Nick’s vital to their individual histories.
Coming up this Saturday, Nov. 30, all of the above acts will be convening for what’s being billed as the "Nick’s Fat City Reunion" at Stage AE on the North Shore.
Greg Joseph is the bassist and one of the founding members of the headliner, The Clarks, and he joined WESA's Jeremy Scott to discuss the big show.
Jeremy Scott: Greg, I think one burning question on the mind of anyone who went to Nick's back in the day is, will the checkerboard floor be making it appearance?
Greg Joseph: The checkerboard floor! There are so many things in Nick's Fat City that were that were memorable. And I don't think the checkerboard floor will be one of the things that makes it, unfortunately. I remember a story of somebody buying the big guitar that was behind the stage, and I don't know what has happened with that since.
So what you're saying is, people are just going to have to show up and see for themselves.
Yeah, we'll have to see what happens there. I know nothing. I'll be as surprised as the next person.
So there are no fewer than seven bands on the bill. You can make the case that this is a mini-festival. But I guess what I'm getting at here is, I have to imagine it takes a lot of advanced planning to get so many schedules to line up, especially since just about all the individual band members have families and jobs outside the music business. The term "herding cats" comes to mind, Greg. So when, exactly, were the seeds planted to make this happen? And for that matter, who spearheaded the effort?
I think this was a good time to revisit the Nick's Fat City reunion. We've done a couple of them before at Stage AE. And I think it was the notion of our tour manager, J.W., John Williams, to put this back together. And he's been in touch with the bands. And of course, a number of those bands are not in existence anymore. So for them to get together and rehearse and put the whole package together is probably quite daunting.
And your band, The Clarks, has been putting on Thanksgiving-time shows for years now, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. I mean, I think I've seen newspaper clippings from 30 years ago, with you and The Zippers, for example, putting on a Thanksgiving show and again, a portion of the proceeds going to the food bank. How did that partnership with the food bank first come about?
Boy, that's a good question. It's just a good charity. You know, it's been a Pittsburgh staple for years and we enjoy giving to them. They're great people to work with. And, you know — wow, you say back in the Zippers days that a lot of years ago. In recent history, our holiday shows at Jergel's, we've always had a charity component, and that has gone to the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
And, when I look at the bill for this show, I see sort of a who's who of Pittsburgh bands who were gunning for the big time back in the '90s, especially, and in the '90s it seemed like after the Seattle boom with grunge, industry folks were trying to find that next city to be the cash cow for the industry. Tempe, Ariz., for example, comes to mind. Bands like the Gin Blossoms and the Refreshments and on and on. But a lot of the bands will be playing on Saturday, at one point, had these major label deals. So as someone who was in the scene at the time, did it ever feel like Pittsburgh would, in fact, be that next Seattle?
I think there was a good bit of success at that time, but I don't think I ever felt that we would be the next Seattle. I think our music was quite different in all genres, from Brownie Mary getting a deal, to us, to Rusted Root, to Gathering Field, that there wasn't sort of a sound to Pittsburgh. Whereas some of the other cities seem to have that same sort of sound coming out of it. But it was a good time, you know. It certainly has changed the dynamic of what local bands can do and their success and what a club can do for a music scene. It has certainly changed since those days.
And the friendships among the bands have sustained through all these years. So with that being said, can we expect any onstage collabs on Saturday — Kelsey Friday of Brownie Mary possibly joining the Clarks or, who knows, Greg Joseph getting on stage with The Gathering Field?
Those things will happen, actually. I will be playing with The Gathering Field. I'll be playing bass with them. And I know there are a few other collaborations in the works throughout the night, but the rest will be surprises.
With seven bands on the bill, obviously you want to make sure that everybody gets a nice dose of each band. So it seems like with the doors opening at 4 p.m., that will in fact be the case, that each band will get a healthy amount of stage time.
Yeah, I think the set times are generally about 40 minutes apiece per band and I think that'll be a good taste for the fans too, to sort of reunite with those days. And it was just such a good group of people and I'm excited to get back and meet with and re-meet with some of those the bands; The Vibro Kings and the guys from Grapevine that I haven't seen in years and really all of the bands.
And it should be noted that while some of these bands do not exist anymore, there are some of them that are still working entities, not just nostalgia acts, but actually actively putting out new material. Matter of fact, the Clarks just put out a couple new songs this year, and because you were the one to agree to do this interview with me and sit down with me, I'm going to give you the floor. What can you tell us about any new Clarks material or anything else? Any other projects the Clarks might be working on, on the horizon?
On the horizon. Well, it's back to the drawing board. We did put out four songs, I guess, in the past couple of years, you know, two songs a year. And we're still sort of getting those out to the public. And I think that will last through the winter and into the springtime. And at that point, I think we'll probably get back and start looking at one another saying, "okay, what do you have?" "No, what do you have?" "What do you have?" And we'll get some new tunes together. I'm always excited to get new stuff together. I think that's the thing that that really invigorates our sets and our time together when we play live.
And I have to ask, too, the same four founding members are still in the Clarks, but you've expanded your sound in recent years. You've got a pedal steel player [Gary Jacob]; you've got Skip Sanders who can pretty much play every instrument under the sun. You've also got drummer Dave Minarik's son, Noah, who is another guitarist for you, as well. So with that being the case and this being a reunion show, kind of a throwback to the '90s, will the set be tailored more towards what you did back in the Nick's Fat City days, or will you incorporate some of the new stuff as well?
It'll be a mix. It'll definitely be a mix. You can't forget about the things that that got us to this point and the fan favorites that they're there looking to hear. But what makes the evening exciting for us is to do the new stuff. So it'll be a great mix.
So old fans and new fans alike will both be happy by the time this Saturday is over at the Nick's Fat City reunion.
We won't let anyone down.