The Hold Steady - Stay Positive to be released 7/15

[BrlDsguise]

Leave it to Craig Finn to set up the new Hold Steady record better than anyone else ever could. As he says in a press release, "A great American philosopher named D. Boon once said 'our band could be your life.' I think that is true. But 'your life could be our band' is also a true statement. I know this because we have lived it. These are our lives. These are your lives. This is our fourth record. Stay Positive."

Stay Positive is due July 14 in the UK from new overseas home Rough Trade and July 15 in the States from Vagrant. The John Agnello-produced set, recorded in the greater New York metropolitan area this winter, sports both a wider array of instrumentation than past Hold Steady discs, and lyrics that concern themselves with "the attempt to age gracefully." Check out our chat with Craig and guitarist Tad Kubler from February for a little more insight into the forthcoming disc straight from the source.

Before and after the album emerges, the Hold Steady have a number of tour dates at home and abroad to attend to. They'll hit the stage at the impending ATP vs. Pitchfork festival in Rye, England and make their way to Chicago's Union Park the week of Stay Positive's release for the Pitchfork Music Festival.

Stay Positive:

01 Constructive Summer
02 Sequestered in Memphis
03 One for the Cutters
04 Navy Sheets
05 Lord, I'm Discouraged
06 Yeah Sapphire
07 Both Crosses
08 Stay Positive
09 Magazines
10 Joke About Jamaica
11 Slapped Actress


http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50362-hold-steady-reveal-istay-positivei-tracklist-release-date

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

The Hold Steady was born out of some loose talk in my Boreum Hill apartment in 2002. I had moved to Brooklyn about two years earlier. I was thirty-one years old, and the other dudes were about my same age. Our concept was to start a straight rock band, with low aspirations. Just local shows, no touring, and most likely, no real records. We practiced for a while and then played our first show in January 2003 at North Six, in Williamsburg. I was surprised at how many people showed up.

The show went well. It reminded us, all veterans of hard luck bands, that music can be fun. We played our second show in Baltimore, and it sort of becomes a blur after that. We quickly broke our rules about no touring and records, and released three records in three years. We lost one member and added two others. The most recent record, 2006’s Boys & Girls in America, was successful enough to get us in a bunch of magazines and take us pretty much around the world. It was, to be honest, pretty ironic- the band that set out to do nothing became a critics favorite and a touring machine. The Hold Steady had become our lives.

Thus, when we began talking about a new record, it became obvious that in order to keep up our schedule of releases, we would have to start writing on the road. We hadn’t done a lot of this previously. Ideas started taking shape in hotel rooms while we played European festivals in Summer 2007. Laptop demos were recorded and shared. I remember Tad coming up with the title track, “Stay Positive”, backstage at Manchester Academy. The music from “Lord, I’m Discouraged” had its genesis partly in Milan and partly in Hamburg. We couldn’t slow down, but we could get ready.

When the touring wrapped up, we went straight into rehearsals and fleshed out the ideas that were banging around. As with each record, there was a desire to make it more musical than the last one. In this case, more musical meant an attempt at more dynamics, different instrumentation, more complex arrangements, and not always hiding behind raw volume. The songs came together quickly, but were painstakingly rehearsed and reviewed, with many minor changes made along the way.

Finally, in early January 2008, we showed up at Water Music in Hoboken NJ to record our fourth record. We worked with John Agnello again, as we had developed a great sense of trust with him during the Boys & Girls sessions. When John says something sucks, it probably sucks.

We recorded basics for nineteen songs. Everyone was very excited with the progress. Everyone played to their utmost potential. Lyrically, I had an idea of what I was trying to say much earlier in the process than on our previous records. Spirits were high.

We moved on to Wild Arctic Studios in Queens for vocals and overdubs and then to the Magic Shop in Soho for mixing. We got some of our most favorite rock musicians to sing and play on it. We had some minor struggles, and a bunch of really good times. Finally, in mid-February, it was done.

[BrlDsguise]

Its always interesting how a record reveals itself to you. You can go in with the best-laid plans, but there is always a fair amount of uncertainty. Late night brainstorms become defining moments. Accidents become choruses. You might write the record, but it ends up teaching you something about yourself.

We kick off this record with “Constructive Summer”, a driving song about trying harder. “Navy Sheets” features a guest harmony vocal by Patterson Hood from the Drive-By Truckers, who have been a modern day inspiration to us. “Both Crosses” was a live in the studio experiment that ended up working. The record ends with “Slapped Actress”, which combines a mammoth Tad Kubler riff with a lyric inspired by the John Cassavetes movie Opening Night.

I think this record, musically and lyrically, is about the attempt to age gracefully. This is no easy feat, especially in rock and roll. I am now 36, and will be 37 shortly after this record is released. At the age of 30 I was working in an office, thinking my rock band days were behind me. This last summer we opened for the Rolling Stones in Ireland. We have met many of our musical heroes.

Meanwhile, in the five years since forming, the guys in the band have gone through a bunch of typical thirty something stuff- babies born, family members dying, relationships started, relationships ended, health problems, joy, struggle, life, etc.

But possibly the most exciting aspect of our band is the community of fans that have followed us around the country. In talking to them, we have found that no matter their ages, they are so much like us as people, that they seem at times an extension of the music. A great American philosopher named D. Boon once said “Our band could be your life”. I think that is true. But “Your Life could be Our Band” is also a true statement. I know this because we have lived it.

These are our lives. These are your lives. This is our fourth record. Stay Positive.

Craig Finn
Brooklyn NY
4.21.08

[BrlDsguise]

Let it roll. Here are some summer tour dates:

Jun 8 2008 8:00P
Devore Stadium Field - Southwestern College Chula Vista, California
Jun 27 2008 8:00P
Rams Head Live Baltimore, Maryland
Jun 28 2008 12:00P
Festival Pier - The Paul Green School of Rock Music Festival w/Devo Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jun 29 2008 8:00P
McCarren Pool - JELLYNYC’s Pool Parties (FREE) Brooklyn, New York
Jul 6 2008 8:00P
O2 Wireless Festival - Hyde Park London, UK
Jul 8 2008 8:00P
Liverpool Summer Pops - Echo Area Liverpool, UK
Jul 10 2008 7:00P
The Irish Centre Leeds
Jul 11 2008 7:00P
Carling Academy 2 Newcastle
Jul 12 2008 8:00P
T In The Park Kinross, Scotland
Jul 17 2008 8:00P
Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio
Jul 18 2008 8:00P
Crofoot Ballroom Pontiac, Michigan
Jul 19 2008 5:00P
Pitchfork Music Festival @ Union Park Chicago, Illinois
Jul 21 2008 8:00P
Majestic Theatre Madison, Wisconsin
Jul 22 2008 8:00P
First Avenue Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jul 23 2008 8:00P
Fargo Theatre Fargo, North Dakota
Jul 26 2008 8:00P
Capitol Hill Block Party Seattle, Washington
Jul 27 2008 8:00P
Crystal Ballroom Portland, Oregon
Jul 29 2008 8:00P
Mezzanine San Francisco, California
Jul 30 2008 8:00P
Avalon Los Angeles, California
Aug 2 2008 8:00P
Rialto Theatre Tucson, Arizona
Aug 3 2008 8:00P
Club 101 El Paso, Texas
Aug 5 2008 8:00P
Palladium Ballroom Dallas, Texas
Aug 6 2008 8:00P
La Zona Rosa Austin, Texas
Aug 8 2008 8:00P
Proud Larry’s Oxford, Mississippi
Aug 9 2008 8:00P
40 Watt Athens, Georgia
Aug 10 2008 8:00P
The Pourhouse Charleston, South Carolina
Aug 12 2008 8:00P
Cat’s Cradle Carrborro, North Carolina
Aug 13 2008 8:00P
The Norva Norfolk, Virginia
_________________

The first single "Sequestered in Memphis" will be released May 20th on i-tunes.

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

I just heard this on the radio. Without a doubt the most E-Street Band sounding song The Hold Steady ever did.

Sequestered in Memphis

They said that when we were dancing
It got heavy when we got to the bathroom
We didn't go back to her place
We went to some place where she cat sits
She said I know I look tired
But everything's fried
Here in Memphis.

Man they wanna know exactly which bathroom, dude
Doesn't make any difference, it can't be important
Yeah, sure I'll tell my story again

In barlight, she looked all right
In daylight, she looked desperate
That's all right I was desperate too
I'm gettin' pretty sick of this interview

Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

I think she drove a new Mustang
I guess it might be a rental
I remember she had satellite radio
I guess she seemed a bit nervous
Do you think I'm that stupid?

Well what the hell I'll tell my story again

In barlight, she looked all right
In daylight, she looked desperate
That's all right I was desperate too
I'm gettin' pretty sick of this interview

Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas
Sequestered in Memphis

I went there on business
I went there on business
I went there on business
I went there on business

Streaming on http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady or available on itunes today.

Wayne

[bobfrombob]

I just heard this on the radio. Without a doubt the most E-Street Band sounding song The Hold Steady ever did.

The piano and the horns certainly have something to do with that. Great first single.

[Daddy-O]

What a great song! I'm thinking it is the keyboards that give it the E Street feel. A vibe Phantom Dan would be proud of. :music:

[BrlDsguise]

Great article in The Guardian - with some Bruce content.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2283867,00.html

"I met Bruce [Springsteen] last year," he [Craig Finn] reports. "We performed with him at Carnegie Hall. It was a tribute to him and everyone did a cover. We did Atlantic City - we were gonna do Rosalita but we only had two days to practice and it was too much."

At the end of show, Finn continues, Springsteen came on stage and did a couple of acoustic songs. He started to play Rosalita, but stopped in the middle, and invited all the artists on stage. Aware that Finn knew the words, Bruce invited him to sing the first and last verses of the song.

"It was pretty great," Finn says. "But I didn't get to talk to him."

He got a second chance in Minneapolis several months later, when the Hold Steady and the E Street Band happened to be in town on the same day. Springsteen invited Finn to stop by for a chat, and they spent about a half hour backstage, talking about music. "He gave me the chills," Finn said, still a bit awestruck from the meeting. "We were talking about finding joy in rock'n'roll music, and he said, sometimes, if he sees someone in the audience that's loving it, he'll just keep singing right at that one person."

Wayne

[Richard Tafoya]

We're working on getting the band in for a LiveDaily Session. Almost happened last week, but the logistics were just a little too tough.

[BrlDsguise]

We're working on getting the band in for a LiveDaily Session. Almost happened last week, but the logistics were just a little too tough.

Maybe when they are in LA. It is killing me that I am going there next month and will miss there show in Hollywood by two days.

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

A bunch of songs are up on their myspace

http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady

Actually - the entire CD.

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

Made several listens now. New CD sounds fantastic - a few lyrical highlights:

And this whole town is like this.
At night, we all haul ashes.
Work at the mill until you die.
Work at the mill, and then you die.

-Constructive Summer

(Did Bruce cowrite?)

Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer.
I think he might’ve been our only decent teacher.

-Constructive Summer

(Well we busted out of class........)

I know it’s unlikely she’ll ever be mine,
so I mostly just pray she don’t die.

- Lord I'm Discouraged

Cuz it’s one thing to start it with a positive jam
and it’s another thing to see it on through

- Stay Positive

Don’t mention the bloodshed don’t mention the scams.
Don’t tell them Ybor City almost killed us, again.

- Slapped Actress

We’re the directors—our hands will hold steady.
I’ll be John Cassavettes—let me know when you’re ready.

- Slapped Actress

Lots of cross references to previous characters and songs (though not by name) and again some of the best songwriting I've seen by someone not named Bruce or Bob. More musically adventureous than the previous CD's, but most of it just flat out rocks.

Were gonna build something this summer.....

Wayne

[HeldUp]

Maybe when they are in LA. It is killing me that I am going there next month and will miss there show in Hollywood by two days.

Wayne
They're playing Avalon, as in Catalina Island? Is there an Avalon arena or club somewhere in town? I've never heard of it.

[BrlDsguise]

They're playing Avalon, as in Catalina Island? Is there an Avalon arena or club somewhere in town? I've never heard of it.

Formerly the Hollywood Palace:

http://www.avalonhollywood.com/

Looks like it is a night club/concert venue now.

I guess "Slapped Actress" will be a must-play there.

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

THS's myspace page now says the album will be available for download on itunes next Tuesday 6/17.

This pushes the release date up almost a month - obviously in response to the fact that it was leaked a couple of weeks ago and has been available on various download sites.

After seeing "Magic" and "Stay Positive" become widely available before the official release date it is obvious the rules of the recording industry are changing in front of our eyes.

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

A well thought out review:

Playing out like the vivid musings of a reformed punk rocker, the stories on the Hold Steady's fourth LP, Stay Positive, are among the most fluid Finn has ever written. We are no longer visiting with Holly, Gideon, Charlemagne or any of the other characters from previous Hold Steady songs. Instead, these are new characters, who maybe knew those people back in the day but are now growing up to face some "Massive Nights" of their own. Where the band's last album, Boys and Girls in America, primarily celebrated the pangs and joys of youth, Stay Positive focuses on the aftermath of the parties, trying to find substance scattered throughout the broken bottles and cigarette butts. In a sense, the parallel between these two albums is not unlike that of Springsteen's Born to Run and its much-lauded follow-up, Darkness on the Edge of Town: the former sets the story into motion; the latter provides the cathartic conclusion.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1417

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

Free show in Boston Thursday night - must RSVP:

http://boston.going.com/event-337607;Miller_Lite_Music_Series_The_Hold_Steady

Hold Steady sets the scene once again
By Sarah Rodman
Globe Staff / June 20, 2008

No band in recent memory so deeply fuels the desire to construct musical cinema in the mind more than Brooklyn's the Hold Steady. The songs on the band's fourth album, "Stay Positive" - available now as an exclusive iTunes download and in stores July 15 with three bonus tracks - are like mini-movies just waiting to be cast.

Each of the group's street-corner symphonies is peopled with ne'er-do-wells and try-to-do-wells that singer-songwriter Craig Finn paints in strokes both relatively broad and minutely specific.

Take the good girl gone to seed in "One for the Cutters." She sneaks off to party with the townies while away at college and watches her life spiral out of control as she aids and abets a very bad boy. As a chilling harpsichord underscores her tale, emulating the all-too-familiar stomach trembles that accompany youthful risk-taking, Finn sings of dead-end kids partying in cars at the quarry, "windows wide open to let the hard rock in."

With her "sutures and bruises" and sunken eyes, the even more deeply misguided woman at the center of "Lord, I'm Discouraged" floats by as a vivid image in a downbeat waltz of blurry, rainy-day piano and prickly guitar heat.

Those two are joined by greasers, punks, junkies, and good Christians who make bad decisions. They seek self-medication, redemption, or at the very least, some kind of sign to stay positive. The band gives it to them with a rush of siren-like keys or a communal chant or careening rhythm.

And even though these are not new characters by any means, there is something legitimately life-size about them, as if the band was making a documentary.

Even more impressive, as Finn spins his yarns, he and his bandmates are mindful of the power these small narratives gain by hitching them to widescreen backdrops. Stadium-ready guitar riffs, resounding piano chords, punchy horns, and "whoa-oh-oh" group choruses are balanced by intimate acoustic passages in ways clearly inspired by forebears like Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.

Ultimately, "Stay Positive" achieves the admirable feat of being a record you can listen closely to or rock out to, equally adaptable to late-night wallowing and the party at the water tower. It's also peppered with inside references meant to delight the band's diehard fans - who call themselves the "unified scene." But what's ultimately so positive about the record is that you don't have to be a "scene"-ster to enjoy a good rock band doing much more than simply holding steady

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

Rolling Stone Review - what a surprise they mention Bruce!

The Hold Steady

Stay Positive

RS: 4of 5 Stars Average User Rating: 5of 5 Stars

2008

View The Hold Steady's page on Rhapsody

Right now, no band displays the ranting soul, haunted heart or diseased liver of the American rock myth with more truth and empathy than the Hold Steady. The Brooklyn band's fourth set — their most adventurous yet — shows their loser-outlaw storytelling and classic riff propulsion in full flower. It's a punk-weaned, 21st-century version of The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle.
Per the title, Stay Positive is remarkably optimistic. Of course, the Hold Steady's optimism is usually stoned and unreliable. "We're gonna build something this summer!" Craig Finn hollers on the jet-engine opener, "Constructive Summer." But when the mob-chorus shouts, "Get hammered!" it's clear the season may not be so constructive after all. By "Sequestered in Memphis," the singer is in trouble with the law; the specter of cops, fights and bad craziness continues throughout.

The music is more rousing than ever; the power chords and hair-metal wanks spiked with singalong chants and new instrumental flavors: harpsichord ("One for the Cutters"), Frampton Comes Alive!-style talk box ("Joke About Jamaica"), even psych-folk jamming ("Both Crosses," with J Mascis on banjo). The small-time hustlers, hoodrats and druggies feel high-school-yearbook true, and the band's idols might be yours too: They invoke Springsteen and Iggy Pop, and credit "Saint Joe Strummer" as "our only decent teacher." Tellingly, Stay Positive ends with a shout-out to another punk hero: indie film pioneer John Cassavetes, who blurred fictional and real-life trauma in brilliantly raw art until hard living killed him. May Finn and company take his inspiration in moderation.

[BrlDsguise]

The Hold Steady
Stay Positive

Either you get them or you don’t. There’s no in-between. Like many a cult-band, they have a devoted following who will deconstruct the songs and the meanings and follow their every move. And then there are the others who will just spout easy rock and roll clichés, such as, they are merely an E-Street tribute band just because they have the balls to play keyboards, horns and loud guitars at the same time in 2008.

But the fact is that the detractors are also correct in a way. The band are kind of a tribute band to Springsteen and post-punk US rock, but this is by no means is a bad thing.

Continued at http://www.rockbeatstone.com/rockbeatstone-magazine/album-reviews/20081/the-hold-steady1.html

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

*****
From Uncut:

THE HOLD STEADY - STAY POSITIVE
The Hold Steady
(Rough Trade)

Elliptical, euphoric and "staggeringly good" says Allan Jones, plus a Q&A with Craig Finn

If it was their intention with this record to, among other things, leave the listener speechless, they’ve done a good job.

I’ve been listening to it virtually non-stop for the last few weeks, and I’m still trying to find the right words to describe Stay Positive, the astonishing fourth album by The Hold Steady – the vaulting ambition of which combines aspects of the dramatic euphoria and anxious nostalgia of Who’s Next and Quadrophenia and the maggoty grandeur of Lou Reed’s Berlin, alongside the scalding musical dynamics of The Attractions and familiar loud echoes of the E Street Band, especially in the hurtling, incident-packed velocity of most tracks, which, overall, are bigger, more soaringly anthemic than ever, Tad Kubler’s monster guitar parts everywhere to the fore, the sound of something waiting, somewhat impatiently, to fill stadiums.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/the_hold_steady/reviews/11826

Here is the last question to Craig Finn:

Q. The characters on Stay Positive go through a lot of grim times, but what continually pulls them through is rock’n’roll.

A.Well, my heroes are people like Joe Strummer and Bruce Springsteen. People who make you feel anything’s possible, that rock music, for instance, can be real big and important. You can’t put words on what it’s like to see Springsteen in concert – it’s so huge, so big. Do I believe in the redemptive power of rock’n’roll? Absolutely. At its peak, played with the best intentions, it can be transcendent.


Wayne

[Richard Tafoya]

Saw them tonight in Chicago. I'm a believer now. Great show.

[BrlDsguise]

Saw them tonight in Chicago. I'm a believer now. Great show.

I saw them too - the show was streamed on the internet.

Wayne

[BrlDsguise]

In addition to music they (unsurprisingly) are very talented at bar games - don't take them on unless you are ready to explain your new tat:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8e-5cUBe5l0

Wayne