First Impressions: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Oh man, the poor Hold Steady. Their new album leaks the same day that I go see Springsteen live and my first chance to listen to the record is overshadowed by memories of The E-Street band being amazing at pretty much the same sorta schtick they trade on (OK this is a really lazy stereotype to bring up when discussing The Hold Steady, they’ve really toned down the Bruce stuff since Separation Sunday, nothing they’ve done since comes as close to aping the boss as the frankly brilliant line “Tramps Like Us and We Like Tramps”, but hey I’m lazy and I’m gonna run with it, for a couple of paragraphs at least).

It’s not a problem though; Craig, Tad and the boys hold up pretty well under the extra scrutiny that they’re placed under this morning. Maybe it’s because I’m just in the mood for this sort of thing right now or maybe because it’s actually a really good album.

You pretty much know what you’re gonna get from any Hold Steady release. The band unashamedly plays classic bar-room American rock and one of the best (if perhaps a little one track minded) lyricists of his generation sings songs about drinking, getting high, screwing, college kids (often doing the previous 3 things), Catholic guilt and there’s usually a truck load of references to the St.Paul/Minneapolis area, Ybor City, Fl. as well as to songs that he’s previously written. And if you’re not a fan at this point Stay Positive isn’t going to win you over now.

Basically this is just another Hold Steady album.

But that’s fine with me, because I really like Hold Steady albums.

And this song fuses the things that I most liked about each of their previous 2 records into just under 3 marvellous minutes.

MP3: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive from Stay Positive. Removed as requested. There's material from the album up on the band's MySpace.

Hold Steady back in Dublin in May.

The May clashes continue to pile up, this time it's up against Yeasayer in Whelan's.

The Hold Steady
Academy(Formerly Spirit 57)
Dublin, IE
Tue, 13/05/08
On Sale now.

All the sniffling indie kids. Hold Steady. All the clustered up clever kids. Hold Steady.

I got bored when I didn't have a band. So I started a band. We're gonna start it with a positive jam.

HOLD STEADY

My former (for like 5 minutes while I rocked a Gmaj like a motherfucker) band are back in Ireland in May. Fingers crossed for a date south of the border. Though that week is already jam packed in Dublin.

Wed 14/05/08 Spring And Airbreak, Belfast

MP3: The Hold Steady - Killer Parties from Almost Killed Me.

Because I've not posted an MP3 in almost a week.

I was flicking through some end of year best of list this morning and noticed that Boys And Girls In America had come somewhere in the top ten albums of the year poll in whatever the publication was.

It's an album that I've sort of forgotten about recently, in fact I can't think of the last time that I listened to it. Certainly not since September as I know I was going through something of a Seperation Sunday phase at the time. All the same Craig Finn, his band and his lyrical universe of scumbags, dealers, addicts, drunks and losers have been on my mind a lot today and in the absence of having any CD's to hand this afternoon I trawled through my music folder and opened up their debut Almost Killed Me. When I got to the album's final song, the one that's my favourite from it, I got an odd nostalgic feeling for some reason. And I began thinking that I'd like to be in a band again.

Then it hit me. When I joined them on stage in the Temple Bar Music Center back in February after Tad Kubler leaned out into the crowd and said "Can any of you play guitar?" this was the song that I played with them.

MP3: The Hold Steady - Killer Parties from Almost Killed Me

Who can come up with the most creative way of describing Franz Nicolay, the keyboardist for the Hold Steady.

Personaly I like "Super Mario after his Brooklyn neighbourhood was gentrified and he tired to stay down with the local kids by dressing like them."