Take a trip back in time with a pair of Boston rock legends. Where they will be playing

The musical wayback machine will be dialed back more than four decades on Saturday night, when the Narrows Center in Fall River offers a show with a pair of Boston rock legends, as The Nervous Eaters will rock out, with Robin Lane opening. Both made their first big national splash on the rock charts in 1980, The Nervous Eaters with their star-crossed national debut on Elektra Records, and Lane with her Robin Lane & the Chartbusters debut on Warner Brothers, which yielded the hit single “When Things Go Wrong,” and went on to become an MTV staple.

Saturday’s show begins at 8 p.m., and tickets are $30 in advance, and $33 the day of the show. The Narrows Center is located at 16 Anawan St. in Fall River, close to Battleship Cove, and tickets may be purchased through the narrowscenter.org website, or by calling 508-324-1926.

The Nervous Eaters were formed in 1973 in Beverly by singer/guitarist/songwriter Steve Cataldo and his friends, and before long they were a staple at Kenmore Square’s legendary bastion of punk rock, The Rat, whose owner Jimmy Harold soon became the Eaters’ manager. Their raw garage rock sound was perhaps closer to early Rolling Stones or The Who than punk rock, but they were happy to ride that wave, and they had a big local hit with the gritty “Loretta.” Ric Ocasek, leader of The Cars, liked the band so much he produced a demo album to help get them a major label deal, and Elektra signed them soon after.

But the Eaters’ debut album, produced by Harry Maslin, did not dent the national charts, and despite some fantastic opening slots on major tours for the era’s biggest rock stars, the quartet seemed to be destined to return to their Beantown roots. By 1981, the Eaters had disbanded and gone on to other projects, but they were back in ’86 with a six-song EP, “Hot Steel and Acid,” that got them some notice. Reunions were sporadic after that, and in 2018 a “Live at The Rat-2” live record kept their fans eager for more.

Little Steven gets band exposure

In 2022, Little Steven Van Zandt, who’d founded the popular Underground Garage radio show to spotlight classic garage rock and 1960s-style rock, when he wasn’t playing guitar with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, heard some of the latest Eaters material and was mightily impressed. Van Zandt signed The Nervous Eaters to his Wicked Cool Records, and 2023’s “Monsters and Angels” got a big national release, along with steady airplay on Underground Garage and other rock radio. That led to as much touring as the reformed Eaters wanted to tackle, and over the past couple years I’ve heard stunningly vital shows at both Brighton Music Hall and the Narrows Center.

We caught up with Cataldo by phone last week, as he and the band prepared for a modest tour.

“The whole thing with Little Steven has been great,” said Cataldo. “He is a rock ‘n’ roll maniac, but also a real music historian who is really into it, from the beginnings of blues, to the first jazz in the New Orleans Era, to all the music genres happening now. And, he is a big supporter of all the groups that are signed to his label, so we appreciate that very much.”

Supportive record label a welcome change

A supportive record label is certainly a nice change from the band’s early years.

“Our early years had some ups and downs,” said Cataldo. “Working with 'The Rat' was great, and Jimmy Harold (who died in 2022) was a great manager, who had us on his own little local label, where we released our first records. But once we got signed to Elektra it was not such a good time. The producer didn’t know much about the group, and we didn’t know him, or feel we could object to what he wanted to do. He’d just come off producing albums for Air Supply and Eric Carmen, who are not anywhere close to what we were doing. We didn’t expect or want our album to turn out that way, but it did, and it didn’t represent what the band really was at all. For tour support we got opening slots with The Pretenders, The Ramones and Iggy Pop, among others, who were all more like what we played. But the record went nowhere, and by the next year we were all pretty tired of touring so hard.”

The current version of the Nervous Eaters includes Cataldo on guitar and vocals, with Adam Sherman on guitar and vocals, David McLean on drums, and Carissa Johnson on bass and vocals. Initially, Boston rock and blues stalwart Brad Hallen was the bassist but he was too busy with other projects, so Johnson joined. While Cataldo was the only songwriter in the original band, Johnson and Sherman both write music too, so the new Nervous Eaters have three veteran songwriters.

A roster of songwriters now

“I had come back the last few times with David McLean, who I’d known forever, from playing with Willie ‘Loco’ Alexander,” Cataldo explained. "When I reformed the band and needed replacements for the original guys, I called around and Brad Hallen came on and I thought he’d be a standout member. I knew Adam Sherman from his work with Private Lightning. We were all older, in the ‘new’ band so we were not looking to tour very much or travel very far. When Brad had to leave, we got Carissa Johnson, a singer-songwriter with her own band, who is much younger. But she’s a premier bass player in the band Low Down, and she’s great.”

The Nervous Eaters expect their second album on the Wicked Cool label to be released this August. Cataldo's more recent writing still involves love and finding that certain someone, but it also comes with the added perspective of maturity and an appreciation for life's ironies. But songs can take unexpected turns, like "End of the World Girl" from the last album, and the sweep and power of the band's music still makes it indelible, invigorating rock 'n' roll.

“I’ve always been writing a lot of songs, even when we weren’t playing a lot,” said Cataldo. “During the COVID-19 period especially, because I know record companies are always asking for more. We are certainly not running low on new material, and I’m always bringing some new tunes into rehearsals to see if it’s pretty good, or if it stinks. So, we have a lot of new music ready for this next album, and Adam writes a lot also – he must have 15 albums of his own stuff out – and Carissa writes too.”

“It’s not like I need help writing new songs, but they are writers, too, and I know what a drag it can be to be in a band where they don’t play your songs,” Cataldo added. “Our audience expects a certain Nervous Eaters sound, and it is my band, so to speak. But the reason we never used other writers before was simply that no one else was writing songs. Now we have three songwriters, so it’s a really good thing.”

Small local venues a favorite stop for band

During these past couple years when Van Zandt’s support has sparked a Nervous Eaters resurgence, the quartet has had many venues asking them to play, but they’ve had the luxury of being able to choose only the best and most comfortable places.

“The Narrows Center has a great PA system, and nice people, so we’re looking forward to going back there,” said Cataldo. “This weekend we’ll also be bringing our new keyboard player, Jim Sullivan. On the last record we had keyboards on almost every song, and this new one we’re doing has keyboards all over it too, so we decided it’s crazy not to have a regular keyboardist. But we’ve played the Spire Center in Plymouth a couple times – another super venue we loved. We’ve done a few Boston shows at Brighton Music Hall, which seems to fit us very well. The Music Room on Cape Cod is a beautiful room for about 100 people. We can limit ourselves to the best venues for us.”

The pairing with Lane is a special treat, not just for fans but for the musicians themselves. Lane has released three albums since 2020, including 2022’s twangy “Dirt Road to Heaven,” and last year’s “Yellow.” Since 2010 Lane has been based in western Massachusetts, where she works with an organization she founded, Songbird Sings, helping trauma survivors recover through music and songwriting sessions.

“We’ve actually done a lot of shows with Robin over the years, and we’re very compatible, both garage-rock bands,” Cataldo chuckled. “She’s sounding terrific, and her newer music is almost acoustic sounding, but it still rocks out. I think Robin Lane and the Chartbusters were right up there with The Pretenders for quality music, so being able to do a show with her is really cool.”

Cataldo still likes the classic album format

As music consumers tend towards smaller formats like singles or EPs, Cataldo still likes the classic album format, but the Nervous Eaters will also be releasing singles until the full album comes out. Fans at the Saturday show can expect to hear new music, as well as some of those ‘80s classics. The single "Vampire," a surreal love song backed with "Knockdown Day," is just out with a new video too.

“We’ll be doing songs from our next album, and the last one,” said Cataldo. “Adam has three songs on the upcoming album, like “In The Shadows,” and they are outstanding. And of course, we do the popular older tunes too, and we have some cool new arrangements. We intend to keep slowly building up speed before that August release of the new album.”

The Nervous Eaters will be opening for The Dead Boys at Sonia in Cambridge on May 16, and then headlining The Fallout Shelter in Norwood on June 14. Their fall schedule is heating up, with a return to The Music Room in Yarmouth on Sept. 7, and their first-ever gig at the new Rockwood Music Hall, in Boston's Fenway neighborhood, on Sept. 13.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: The Nervous Eaters and Robin Lane hit the Narrows Center in Fall River