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Arts & Entertainment

A Quarter Century with The Clarks

The Clarks roll into the State Theatre.

Back in 1986, Robert James and Scott Blasey were students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania when they decided to form a band and play around college bars in the area. They added Greg Joseph on bass and Dave Minarik on drums and soon were making a name for themselves in the Pittsburgh area as The Clarks.

“I was a French horn player and I didn’t want to do the marching band thing. I found these guys to play with and gave myself nothing to fall back on,” James said. “Early on we had to have day jobs to pay the rent, and mine was fortunate to be at a CD distributor so that gave us a leg up in our region getting into the mom and pop shops and the big record chains.”

Fast forward 25 years and The Clarks are still going strong.

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“I have no clue how we have stayed together this long,” said James. “I think about it every once in a while and maybe it was just that naïve notion about it really being about the music. Most people look at this as a business but the most important thing for us always has been to play new music.”

On Saturday, April 2, The Clarks will be performing at The State Theatre for the first time.

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Although The Clarks have never played here before, they have heard great things from their opening band Memphis 59 and are looking forward to heading down.

“Scott, the lead singer, has been raving about it for a while,” James said. “We’re looking forward to putting on a great show and meet everyone who comes out.”

The Pittsburgh band has played in Virginia before, and has a strong following in the area.

“We have always had nothing but fantastic experiences in that region. There are a lot of Pittsburgh transplants there and whenever we are around they come out in full force in their Steeler gear and Penguins gear,” James said. “It’s really wild and a great amount of support. It’s always great to reconnect with those people who have followed our band for years.”

The Clarks recently added a keyboard player and pedal steel player, which James said energized the band even more.

“That’s been important. We always find those things that make it special and keeps everything moving in the right direction,” James said. “We haven’t been without those times when we said, ‘this is crazy, I can’t deal with it,’ but it always found a way to work out. I am very fortunate to have been always surrounded by three other guys who have helped get us through this like a family.”

The Clarks have experienced tremendous regional success and a bit of national attention—appearing on The David Letterman show and more recently serving as the band for the NHL Classic—but never had that one song to bring them over to the mainstream.

“We had a pretty big moment when we played the Letterman show in support of our album and it almost seemed like a turning point for us,” James said. “I don’t want to say that we let go of that notion of going after the brass ring, but for the ages we were—people were married, having kids—we were happy knowing we could make a living playing the music we created. Anything we do now is not geared towards the notion of being a big hit. It feels comfortable now.”

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