The ’90s are back. Walk through Uptown on any Saturday afternoon and you’ll find Gen Z and millennials sporting claw clips and scrunchies, denim overalls and mom jeans, combat boots and fanny packs. But the revival doesn’t stop with fashion; many iconic TV shows have been rebooted and ’90s bands are reuniting left and right. Once again, that trend tracks here as Seneca Drive resident and Mt. Lebanon Magazine photographer John Schisler leads the comeback of ’90s alt-rock band New Invisible Joy.
New Invisible Joy — a four-man band composed of Schisler (vocals), Mike Gaydos (guitar), Evan Handyside (bass) and Brian Colletti (drums) — formed in 1997, heavily inspired by the popular grunge style.
Initially starting at small venues in the Strip District and South Side, New Invisible Joy eventually gained national attention and began touring in cities outside of Pittsburgh, opening for acts such as John Mayer, The Killers, Dave Navarro and The Strokes. Pale Blue Day, their debut album, released in 2000 and contains their most popular song, New Orleans. Their fourth album dropped in 2007 and four years later the band took an indefinite break from music. That is, until now.
Earlier this year, New Invisible Joy released their first single in 17 years: Innocent Kids. This comes after the band reunited in 2019 at The Original Pittsburgh Winery for a one-time show. The musicians hoped to play again, but life (and COVID) happened, and their plans stalled. In 2023, the band reconnected at a funeral and decided to follow through with the revival. The Original Pittsburgh Winery booked them for a sold-out show later that year.
In the early days of the band, “we were really tight and symbiotic, with a lot more rehearsal, three days a week for four-to-five hours each session,” said Schisler. Now, creating new songs has been “fun because we didn’t put any pressure on it,” he said. When asked about the band’s musical influences, Schisler pointed east. “We all listened to Brit-pop like Oasis, Coldplay, U2 and Radiohead.”
New Invisible Joy most recently performed in May, again at The Original Pittsburgh Winery, and will return to the venue on December 14. But for now, Schisler said the band’s main goals are writing, recording and reconnecting.
“We always got along,” Schisler noted. “It’s still a creative outlet for us.”