photos by Dominick Mastrangelo; words by Bill Pearis

"I saw Palma Violets four times in the last ten days.
They were really great at each show." - Craig Finn

Palma Violets @ Pianos, 1/28/2012

Palma Violets concluded their assault on NYC last night (1/28) with two shows, the previously-announced, second visit to Glasslands and an earlier show at Pianos which BrooklynVegan presented and was announced that morning. The industry-heavy Pianos crowd was probably the most subdued, sober audience the band played to in their six-show run (it was also their only show in Manhattan). That said, it was fairly raucous for a 7 PM show, and packed (and well-recieved). The band would play to a more typically frenzied crowd at Glasslands after. Pictures from their Pianos set, including the setlist, are in the this post.

Did you make it to any of the Palma Violets shows? What do you think? Did you meet the band's highly-assertive merch guy? The band will be back for SXSW, and maybe more shows outside Austin.

More Palma pics below...

Continue reading "Palma Violets played BV-presents show at Pianos before wrapping up their NYC run at Glasslands (pics, setlist)"

Craig Finn in Austin in April (more by Tim Griffin)

As mentioned, Doveman (aka Thomas Bartlett) is doing his final Burgundy Stains Session of 2012 at Le Poisson Rouge on December 13. Since we last spoke, the guests for the show have been revealed: Sandra Bernhard, Yellowbirds, Hannah Cohen, The Perennials, Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady), and Joey Arias. Tickets for that show are still available.

Craig Finn, who recently told us his favorite albums of 2012, is an especially interesting addition to the show, as most collaborators usually have a known connection to Thomas, but this is the first time The Hold Steady and Doveman getting together. As mentioned, you can also catch The Hold Steady playing Wellmont Theatre on New Year's Eve with Lucero and comedian Kurt Braunohler. Tickets for that show are still available.

Joey Arias and Doveman are also teaming up later this month for an End of the World show at Joe's Pub (12/21) with special guests Narcissister, Cornelius Loy (theramin), and the Pixie Harlots, but unfortunately that show is sold out.

Hannah Cohen, who will guest at the LPR show, released her most recent album, Child Bride, this past April via Bella Union. The album featured production by Doveman and some appearances from Sam Amidon and Rob Moose as well. The video for the title track is below. Hannah and Doveman have also already began work on her next record, and she'll be performing some new songs at the show.

That video and a list of all Doveman dates are below.

Continue reading "Craig Finn, Joey Arias, Hannah Cohen, Yellowbirds & more to appear at Doveman's upcoming LPR show"

Craig Finn w/ The Hold Steady in NYC in 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Listen to the references he makes in his lyrics or read an interview with him and you know that Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady) has a wide range of taste, and that isn't lost on his list of the top ten records of 2012, which bounces from underground rapper El-P to folk legend Bill Fay to non-stop rockers Japandroids. Of the list, Craig says, "A lot of my friends made really great records this year. To keep myself sane, I've created a list of my top ten records by people I don't know personally. Compiled quickly, probably with some ommisions." You can check the whole thing out below.

Craig will be taking part of the Soundtrack Series in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge this Friday (11/30) along with Cynthia Kaplan, Jenny Rubin, Daniel Ralston, Steve Zimmer, and host Dana Rossi. The event description reads, "Five artists-writers, comics, actors and musicians-tell the stories they forever connect with songs from their past. There's the song, the story behind the song, and the story inspired by the song. We're the third one." Craig will be doing his on "I Will Dare" by the Replacements. Tickets for that are on sale now.

Meanwhile watch Craig on the Chris Gethard show TONIGHT (11/28).

As mentioned, The Hold Steady will play Wellmont Theatre on New Year's Eve with Lucero. Since we last spoke, comedian Kurt Braunohler has been added to that bill as well. Tickets for the show are still available.

Craig Finn's top 10 albums of 2012 list is below...

Continue reading "Craig Finn lists his top 10 albums of 2012, appearing at 'Soundtrack Series' at LPR (and New Year's Eve in NJ)"

Craig Finn with The Hold Steady at Mohawk (more by Tim Griffin)

Hey Everyone,

I hope all is good. I've been enjoying my time at home writing music and seeing a bunch of shows. Thank you Nick Lowe, Wu Lyf, Titus Andronicus, Archers of Loaf, and Bruce Springsteen for some great times.

Besides going to shows, I'm also going to play quite a few coming up. The Hold Steady has a very fun tour in June...

I've also got a few solo shows. The first two are in Chicago on June 2...

Also, I will be playing a show with The Baseball Project on July 5 at City Winery in NYC. I had a great time performing and hanging out with these guys last year. This should be a great show...

For all the solo sets, it will just be me and a guitar. I'll tell you some stories and sing you some songs. This is the first time I've done sets like this, and I'm looking forward to it.

Hope to see you soon.

cf

The show is one of three current dates for The Baseball Project -- all in the Northeast. Below, you can check out those listed dates, a listing of all Hold Steady dates and a video of The Baseball Project's full set from The Met last month.

Continue reading "The Hold Steady touring in June (dates); Craig Finn playing with The Baseball Project at City Winery"

The 2012 edition of Calgary, Alberta festival Sled Island is set to take place from June 20-23 at venues throughout the city. This year includes over 200 bands performing at 30 venues plus a large comedy schedule, film screenings, and art shows.

Sled Island 2012 will once again use outdoor venue Olympic Plaza as its main stage, featuring performances by Feist, The Hold Steady, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Dudes, Shabazz Palaces, Parlovr, and others.

Acts including Russian Circles, Hot Snakes, The Antlers, Boris, Thurston Moore, Willis Earl Beal, Trust, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Terry Malts, Neil Hamburger, How To Dress Well, The Evaporators (aka Nardwuar's band), DJ Jonathan Toubin, Hannibal Buress, Andrew W.K., Tim Heidecker, Archers of Loaf, and many more will be performing at various bars and venues. Check out the full lineup at the bottom of this post.

Festival passes, individual tickets for some clubs shows, and tickets for the Olympic Plaza events only are all on sale. The full festival schedule iwill be announced in June.

Full lineup and 2012 festival trailer below...

Continue reading "Feist, Stephen Malkmus, The Hold Steady and lots more playing Calgary's Sled Island Festival (full line-up)"

Craig Finn on stage with Deer Tick at Brooklyn Bowl on NYE (more by Tracy Allison)

Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady) released his debut LP, Clear Heart Full Eyes, today (1/24) via Vagrant. You can stream the entire thing on NPR.

As mentioned, Craig will tour in support of the album this February and March. His tour includes early and late shows at Mercury Lounge on February 29 (which are both sold out) and a Maxwell's show on March 1, which is still on sale. He just added another NYC show to his tour, happening on March 8 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (1/27) with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/25) at noon.

Updated dates below...

Continue reading "Craig Finn releases/streaming solo debut, adds a Brooklyn show to tour (updated dates)"

photos by Tracy Allison

The night after Lucero played Brooklyn Bowl, Deer Tick rang in the New Year at the venue with assists from Virgin Forest (Phosphorescent's backing band, now their own band), Dead Confederate, and J. Roddy Walston and the Business. Here are some pictures from the New Year's Eve show (one of many in NYC. Ted Leo, Gogol Bordello and Patti Smith and many others played Saturday night too.).

Unfortunately we didn't get a Diamond Rugs set at Brooklyn Bowl, as promised, but that's because "Steve couldn't make it from the lobos show." Los Lobos was playing the same night at City Winery, and Steve from Los Lobos (who was supposed to cab it over to Brooklyn Bowl) also plays in Diamond Rugs who played their debut live show on 12/29 in Atlanta (two Deer Tick members and one from Dead Confederate play in it too).

That aside, Deer Tick, like Lucero the night before, played a raucous and entertaining show complete with frontman John McCauley in a New Year's Baby costume. They went on not long before midnight, meaning the countdown, which they may have been slightly late for, happened early in their set (complete with Cee-Lo in Times Square on the tv screens). Deer Tick's setlist pulled from their entire catalog and the encore-less night ended with two special guests and a stage full of people (and fallen confetti). First Craig Finn of The Hold Steady (who was also at Lucero) joined Deer Tick on stage for a cover of "Bastards of Young" by the Replacements (not the first time Craig performed that song), and then Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus came out to help them close the show with a drunken singalong of "Let's All Go To The Bar". By the end you couldn't really find Patrick though because half the audience seemed to be on stage... I think that's how it went. Details are fuzzy. Luckily we have these pictures to help jog my memory. More of them, and some videos, below...

Continue reading "Deer Tick & friends & special guests rang in the New Year @ Brooklyn Bowl (pics)"

Craig Finn will now play two shows with Marcellus Hall at Mercury Lounge on February 29th. The late show sold out at noon today. The early show goes on sale at 5pm. Meanwhile his Maxwell's show is still on sale.

Craig Finn on stage with The Hold Steady (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As discussed, Craig Finn does the solo thing at a pair of area dates: Maxwell's on 3/1 and Mercury Lounge on 2/29. Tickets for the Mercury show just seemingly sold out instantly, but the Maxwell's show is still on sale (hurry).

Craig Finn's other past time, a little band called The Hold Steady, play the Brooklyn Bazaar on Saturday (12/17) with Titus Andronicus, the night after our Fucked Up extravaganza which is tonight. Tickets are still available. Buy one OR you can roll the dice and try and win a pair! Details on how are below.

Continue reading "Craig Finn on sale; The Hold Steady is Saturday (win tix)"

Craig Finn at Cabinet of Wonders in October (more by Chris Graham)

Last week, we announced that Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn added a Maxwell's show (3/1) to his already announced solo tour. The Maxwell's show is part of a longer string of dates that he's tacked on to the end the tour, which also includes Mercury Lounge on February 29. Marcellus Hall opens all of the shows on the newly announced run, except for the 2/27 show live at Drew's house in Ringwood, NJ. Tickets for the Mercury show and the Maxwell's show go on sale Friday (12/16) at noon. AmEx presale for the Mercury show starts Wednesday (12/14) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile catch Craig front his band The Hold Steady at the Brooklyn Bazaar in Williamsburg this Saturday night, one night after Radical Dads play there (with Fucked Up).

Craig also recently made an in-studio video that talks about the process of his upcoming solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes. That video and all dates are below...

Continue reading "Craig Finn discusses new album, adds more tour dates (Mercury Lounge included)"

Craig Finn at Cabinet of Wonders in October (more by Chris Graham)

The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn is releasing his debut solo LP, Cleart Heart Full Eyes, on January 24 via Vagrant. You can stream the single, "Honolulu Blues," below and purchase it on iTunes. The album artwork and tracklist is below too.

When we first announced his solo tour in support of the album, it didn't include any NYC-area dates. He's since added a show on March 1 at Maxwell's. Tickets go on sale Friday (12/16) at noon. Mount Mariah open most of the tour, but no opener has been announced for the Maxwell's show yet.

The Hold Steady play even sooner at Brooklyn Bazaar on December 17 with Titus Andronicus, Wakey Wakey and W/O. Tickets are still available. That's the final night of the three night event which also includes a BV-presented Fucked Up and Dom show.

Craig tweeted that he's "happy to be sharing a 1/24/12 release with John K Samson" of The Weakerthans, who kicked off their run of 4 albums in 4 nights at Bowery Ballroom last night (12/7). More on that later.

All Craig Finn dates, song stream, album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Craig Finn adds Maxwell's show --- updated dates & album info"

Craig Finn, Tad Kubler & friends @ Bowery Electric last night

Though Brian Fallon cancelled, there was still plenty of talent to go around at last night's 1st-of-three BrooklynVegan-sponsored Replacements tribute shows at Bowery Electric. The Hold Steady's Craig Finn & Tad Kubler performed a cover of "Within Your Reach" which you can watch below (courtesy of jukeboxgraduate) along with a video of the encore performance of "Bastards of Young" that had Craig Finn, Titus Andronicus's Patrick Stickles, Jesse Malin, Tommy Ramone and others all on stage together.

If you missed the show, you have two more chances to experience it tonight (11/17). The early show is sold out though, but tickets are still available for the late one. Tonight's guests will not include Craig, but you will get:

Alex Levy
Anthony D'Amato
Danny Sage (D Generation)
Dave Hause (The Loved Ones)
Don DiLego & Bree Sharp (Beautiful Small Machines)
Jesse Malin
John Eddie
John Gallagher (American Idiot)
Matt Pinfield (MTV's 120 Minutes)
Matt Sweeney
Nicole Atkins
Paul Bearer (Sheer Terror)
Ted Leo
Tommy Ramone
Walter Lure (Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers)
& MORE

Meanwhile Craig Finn has announced a solo tour in support of his upcoming album which he also posted a song from. No NYC dates for now, but you can see all the other dates, listen to his new song and watch the videos from the Replacements event, below...

Continue reading "Craig Finn covered the Replacements (video), posted a new song (stream), touring solo in February (dates)"

photos by Chris Graham

"I just saw Craig Finn play a theramin with a beer bottle." - Kate McKean

Craig Finn, Eugene Mirman & friends @ City Winery

"Craig Finn, frontman of The Hold Steady, has confirmed the November 25 release of his new 7" single "Honolulu Blues," a preview of his highly anticipated solo debut out early 2012. The limited edition 7" vinyl, released with new b-side "Rented Room," will only be available in select record stores nationwide on Record Store Day's "Black Friday" sale. Both songs will be available via all digital retailers on November 29.

Produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead) in Austin, Texas earlier this year, Finn's solo album features backing by members of White Denim, The Heartless Bastards, Phosphorescent, and Centro-matic." [PR]

Continue reading "Craig Finn releasing Record Store Day 7", played Cabinet of Wonders (pics)"

Mountain Goats @ Knitting Factory, Halloween 2005 (more)

As previously mentioned, John Wesley Harding is holding a "Cabinet of Wonders" variety show at NYC's City Winery on October 28th with Hamilton Leithauser (The Walkmen), Eugene Mirman, John Hodgman, Emma Straub, Paul Harding, and more TBA. Since our last mention, two very special guests have been added to the bill: Craig Finn (The Hold Steady) and John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats). Hopefully you didn't sleep on tickets because the show is now sold out.

Tickets are however on sale now for A Haunted Hot Tub Halloween at Littlefield, also a comedy and music variety show, happening one day later (10/29) with Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, Wyatt Cenac, Andres du Bouchet, and... John Darnielle, and more.

Tickets are also on sale for Hot Tub on 10/10 and 10/17.

Tickets are also still on sale for the 11/18 Cabinet of Wonders at City Winery with The Blue Fisherman (from Edinburgh, Scotland), Howe Gelb, Myla Goldberg, Ted Leo, Eugene Mirman, Audrey Niffenegger AND "Plus for this Cabinet of Wonders, and this Cabinet of Wonders only, the House Band will be THE KING CHARLES TRIO, comprising: Peter Buck (REM), Jenny Conlee-Drizos, Chris Funk, John Wesley Harding (Appearing as Himself), Scott McCaughey (The Minus Five), John Moen, and Nate Query." That's a lot of Decemberists. More upcoming JWH shows HERE

Speaking of Ted Leo and Craig Finn, both are scheduled to make appearances at the BrooklynVegan-presented Replacements tribute shows happening at Bowery Electric in November. The previously announced two shows (and movie screenings) are sold out, BUT a third tribute concert - a late one on 11/17, has been added. Tickets for the new show are on sale. More info HERE.

Mountain Goats dates and flyers below...

Continue reading "3rd Replacements tribute show added, John Darnielle schedules guest appearances, Craig Finn too"

The Hold Steady at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 (more)

Last month, we announced that Truck America is returning to the Catskills in September (the 9th through the 11th) and will be headlined by The Hold Steady and Okkervil River. The only other confirmed bands at the time were Ra Ra Riot and Wye Oak. The lineup has since been updated to include Fruit Bats, Vetiver, The Felice Brothers, CItay, Gary Higgins, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Takka Takka, Hospitality, The Low Anthem and others. Check out the full list below. Early bird tickets are still on sale.

For The Low Anthem, it's one of many dates they just announced including one at Terminal 5 with Iron & Wine.

Speaking of The Hold Steady, frontman Craig Finn posted to his Tumblr that he's making a solo album:

"I'm in Austin TX for a few weeks. Making a record. Staying in a friend's guest house. Got here yesterday. So far so good. I'll be tracking the progress here."

Check out the full Truck America lineup update below...

Continue reading "Truck America expands lineup, Craig Finn working on solo LP"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Andrew Frisicano

The "Our Band Could Be Your Life" tribute Sunday night at Bowery Ballroom ran more than four hours with 14 bands playing the music of 13 bands (plus a special encore act that covered Nirvana). Set changes were kept short, and bands generally played about 10-15 minutes (between one and four songs). Unannounced guests included Tim Harrington and Lee Ranaldo singing the Minutemen, Craig Finn playing the role of Minneapolis cop, and Dan Deacon's multimedia barrage and three-piece band. More highlights, lots of pictures, and a bunch of videos (UPDATE: NPR has audio of the show) are below...

Continue reading "'Our Band Could Be Your Life' in pics, video & review (Dirty Projectors, St Vincent, Dan Deacon, Ted Leo, Wye Oak & more)"

On one of the sunniest day of the year so far, Hobokenites came out in droves to eat, see local art and hear live music at the Hoboken Arts and Music Festival on Sunday afternoon...

The Baseball Project... proceeded to rip a hole through the afternoon with the sheer power of their rocking and songwriting prowess. Highlights (and there were many) included Wynn's ode to Detroit Tiger's pitcher Mark Fidrych entitled '1976', McCaughey's wordtastic 'Panda and The Freak,' and the ridiculously talented rhythm section of Buck and Pitmon.

Craig Finn (of the Hold Steady) made a truly electric guest appearance on a tune for which he penned the lyrics called, 'Please Don't Call Them Twinkies.'" He was entirely captivating and having never heard/seen him sing live before, I think I fully understand now why his band is so popular. -[Patch]

And with those triumphant dates in their rearview, The Baseball Project has announced their return to NYC with a date at City Winery on June 5th. Tickets are on sale. The NYC date is part of a larger string of mostly Northeastern dates that will also include a stop in Baseball Hall of Fame home Cooperstown on June 3rd (they play a brewery there).

All of this touring is in support of their second album, Volume Two: High and Inside, which was released March 1 on Yep Roc and includes guest appearances from Craig Finn, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan, and Chris Funk and John Moen of The Decemberists.

All tour dates, a video of the band on "Extra" (where they play "Fair Weather Fan" and talk about being accepted by the baseball community), and the above-mentioned videos, below....

Continue reading "The Baseball Project played Hoboken & Brooklyn w/ Craig Finn (and Drew's House too), announce more dates (City Winery)"

The Baseball Project

Like he recently did with the Mountain Goats, Twins fan Craig Finn will reportedly make a guest appearance with The Baseball Project at the Bell House in Brooklyn tonight (4/29). As Wikipiedia puts it, "The Baseball Project is a supergroup composed of Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon formed in 2007." Also playing tonight's show is Baseball Project member Steve Wynn's band Steve Wynn & The Miracle Three.

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan probably won't make it to collaborate or see the Brooklyn show because he'll be busy playing with Marshall Crenshaw over at City Winery. Ira did recently play with a bunch of R.E.M. members though, at a show whose focus was Big Star.

if you miss the Brooklyn show, you have a couple more chances to catch the Baseball Project this weekend, especially if you know Drew (they play at his house in Ringwood, NK on April 30th), and if you don't mind heading to Hoboken for the annual and FREE Hoboken Arts & Music Festival on Sunday (5/1) with Ian Hunter and more on three stages (I bet Ira is at that one). Full fest schedule, a video of Craig Finn playing a new song, and all tour dates bleow...

Continue reading "the Baseball Project is here (Craig Finn will join them), Hoboken Arts Fest this weekend (they play that too)"

photos by Ryan Barkan

Megafaun @ Bowery Ballroom

The Mountain Goats and Megafaun played their third of three Bowery Ballroom shows in a row on Wednesday, 3/30. NYC Taper has recordings (and the setlists) of the Mountain Goats' set from NIGHT ONE and NIGHT TWO.

We previously posted pictures from the first night, and from the other show John Darnielle (Mountain Goats) played earlier on Wednesday for WNYC. This post contains pictures from the last Bowery show where the Hold Steady's Craig Finn again joined the headliner on stage. They continue below.

Megafaun and the Mountain Goats continue on tour through 4/15 when they hit the Theater of Living Arts in Philly. One day later, Megafaun return to NYC to open for their friend and collaborator Sharon Van Etten at Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets are still available). In May you can catch both Sharon and Megafaun at MusicNOW in Cincinnati.

Megafaun recently released a new videeo for their song "Carolina Days." You can watch that, with more Bowery pictures and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Megafaun opened for Mountain Goats (night 3 pics), opening for Sharon Van Etten, playing MusicNOW, made a video"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

John Darnielle's The Mountain Goats played their first of three shows at Bowery Ballroom with the amazing Megafaun last night (3/28). Surprise guest Craig Finn from the Hold Steady (whose upcoming Terminal 5 show was being advertised via projection on the wall at last night's LCD Soundsystem show) came out and sang on "This Year" as you can watch in a video below.

And they do it again tonight (3/29). More pictures, the video and the setlist from last night, below...

Continue reading "The Mountain Goats w/ special guest Craig Finn & Megafaun played Bowery Ballroom (night 1 pics setlist, video)"

photos by Lionel Bergeron

Craig Finn & Frightened Rabbit

Just hours before Saturday night's Frightened Rabbit show, I wrote "The Craig Finn duet audio is still not available." That is no longer true, though the audio now available is the live audio from the part of the Terminal 5 show where The Hold Steady's Craig Finn came on stage and sang "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" live on stage with the headlining band during their encore (video below). The excitement continued after that when Frightened Rabbit invited up costumed crowd members, of which there were many in attendance since the show's date was October 30th.

Plants & Animals and a very stylish looking Phantom Band (who recently played our Friday CMJ day party) opened the show. More pictures with Frightened Rabbits' setlist and the videos, below....

Continue reading "Craig Finn joined Frightened Rabbit @ Terminal 5. Phantom Band & Plants & Animals played too (pics, setlist & video) "

Frightened Rabbit @ Lollapalooz 2010 (more by Josh Darr)

"Having [recently] kicked off their headlining tour, [Frightened Rabbit] is simultaneously ramping up for their fourth single, "The Loneliness and the Scream" (FatCat Records), due December 8. For the b-side, frontman Scott Hutchison teamed up with The Hold Steady's Craig Finn for an all-male duet of the Elton John and Kiki Dee classic, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Dressed in Hutchison's individually hand made artwork, the physical single will be included in a limited 500-edition box set that will house all four 7-inch singles from the album.

The unique choice of a cover was actually planned well ahead and Hutchison turned to a respected peer to see it through. "The b-side has been an idea of mine for a couple of years actually, two guys singing the Elton John/Kiki Dee duet. When I was making a list of the ideal Kiki's, Craig Finn was at the top," reveals Hutchison. "I couldn't believe it when he agreed to do the part. Craig is quite simply one of my favorite lyricists and his voice works brilliantly in the role." Frightened Rabbit's part was recorded at Glasgow's CaVa Studios while Finn recorded his vocal in The Hold Steady's studio, Wild Arctic Recording in New York.

Ahead of the single's release, a video for "The Loneliness and the Scream" [was released]

Frightened Rabbit's tour with Plants & Animals and The Phantom Band hits Terminal 5 in NYC tonight (10/30). Looking for last minute plans? I have a few pairs of tickets to give away to the show. Details on how to win them, with all dates and the video, below...

Continue reading "Frightened Rabbit on tour, releasing duet w/ Craig Finn -- win T5 tix, watch their new video "

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Jessica Amaya

"About to see the hold mother fucking steady at music hall of wburg. I've been drinking all day in preparation." - David Chaitt

The Hold Steady hosted a pair of NYC shows on Saturday (4/17) to celebrate their new album, Heaven Is Whenever, out May 4th, and its limited Record Store Day release earlier that day (miraculously, the album remained unleaked up to that point, so those that braved the line for one of their store's 5 or so copies were the first to hear it). Now it's legally streaming in full online.

The shows were also a chance to show off the band's new touring members - guitarist Steve Selvidge (ex-Lucero) and keyboardist Dan Neustadt (ex-The World/Inferno Friendship Society) - who replaced key player/accordionist Franz Nicolay, and who'd been with the group for less than two weeks.

The late crowd at Music Hall of Williamsburg (the earlier show was at Bowery Ballroom) were part enthused revelers, part intent observers. Those up front were going wild.The set mixed old and new - "Massive Nights," "Stevie Nix," and late-in-the-set "Stay Positive" came off riotously, while the newer, more neat and polished songs like "The Weekenders" and "Rock Problems" were more subdued (time will tell how those play live post-release).

The band seemed sober and focused, a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. Craig Finn raised a sole bottle of beer to end the night, "I think I've earned this." (Compare to the two NYC shows by LCD Soundsystem a week prior, with frontman James Murphy demoing his new album blissfully shitfaced.) With the new album, the Hold Steady have clearly done some growing up. Appropriately, their next show set for New York will be at the regal, seated Beacon Theatre on October 7th.

NYC Taper has a recording of the Bowery show. More pictures from Music Hall of Williamsbug and both setlists below...

Continue reading "The Hold Steady played 2 NYC shows in 1 night (pics, setlist), new album streaming online"

"One Saturday, I went to the Regal Cinema in Union Square to see the reissued The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese's film documenting The Band's star-studded final performance at the Winterland Ballroom in 1976. I came out of the theatre energised by the music and performances of The Band, and Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan.

What struck me about the movie is how much fun the musicians were having. I began to understand music as being a fun thing, and started to miss playing with people. I missed the fingers on the strings, the buzz in the amplifiers. I was ready to date, but guarded against falling in love." [Craig Finn]

Continue reading "Craig Finn tells his story, the Hold Steady announce dates"

The Hold Steady are on tour with Art Brut. Pitchfork spoke to both of their frontmen at the same time....

Eddie Argos: I met John at the Pitchfork festival, actually. It was weird because I'd been playing Mountain Goats constantly. And I said, "I'm so glad to meet you! I'm playing you lot constantly!" And then they said the same back to us! Like, aha! This is nice-- when you really like a band, and it turns out they like you too. You're doing the right thing.

Craig Finn: That's one of the greatest things. If someone like John Darnielle says "God, that's a great lyric," you feel, "Whoa!" That's a great compliment. Where it's not like some college journalist saying "this album rocks!", you know? It carries a lot of weight. Like, John Samson from the Weakerthans, another one of my favorite lyricists. Right now-- I mean, Bob Dylan aside-- I feel like I know most of the really good lyricists personally. Like, they're in my phone. And that's a cool perk, I think. Obviously if you're into lyrics or rock'n'roll, you're out here doing it, making it your life... [more fun @ Pitchfork]

In related news, Eddie Argos has formed yet ANOTHER band....

Continue reading "the Black Arts' EDDIE ARGOS vs CRAIG FINN the great lyricist, WIN TIX (to Art Brut & Hold Steady)"