The Hold Steady: Havin’ A Really Good Time

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By: Dennis Cook

The Hold Steady

It’s rare when a single performance can transform one into a fan. That’s precisely what happened to this writer during The Hold Steady‘s barnstorming, glory-freakin-hallelujah great set at this year’s Bonnaroo Festival. They cut through a lot of layers fast, dispensing with the usual foreplay necessary for a rock & roll seduction, getting down to business with rare sureness and skill.

The Hold Steady are the kind of band that makes you want to lay on your bedroom floor and listen to their music on a thrift store turntable with built in speakers, long ago blown out by repeated crankings of “Massive Nights,” where you roll around on your back yelling “Whoa-oa-oa” at the top of your lungs, adding breath and faith and stupid enthusiasm to this plainly perfect rock band’s refined clatter. While their music press admirers most often liken them to Bruce Springsteen and The Replacements, these ears pick up the pub rock perfection of early Graham Parker, Squeeze and Rockpile infused with the snotty, tight assault of Bad Religion and the whole given a gutter poetic wash by singer-lyricist Craig Finn.

Their tales of kids trying to score, asshole clergy, stupid photo shoots and battered would-be lovers have a marvelous camera eye that puts us right next to the protagonists as they snort away their blues in another club bathroom stall. There is also great joy and tenderness to these glanced over shambles, and Finn never fails to complicate our expectations or confound our prejudices. What makes The Hold Steady really stick to your ribs is the ballsy, universal hesher riffage that’s equal parts pop-punk and hirsute late ’70s power chords from the time when Eddie Money was still kinda cool and Cheap Trick ran into trouble with nocturnal law enforcement.

We were lucky enough to score a little talk time with guitarist Tad Kubler during a rare moment off the road. The Hold Steady is much in demand these days. If there’s a more praised album in 2007 than Boys And Girls In America I haven’t found it, and once promoters and audiences get a taste of their live act they’re immediately hungry for more. They are the definition of a working rock & roll band, absolutely dedicated to their cause, down to believing in the power of music in a way many only find in religious practice. To that notion I offer a heartfelt “Amen” before delving into a happy ramble with Kubler…

JamBase: I had never seen your band before Bonnaroo this past summer, and I went in intentionally not having heard Boys And Girls In America. I wanted to see how the music hit me regardless of the massive buzz you’ve been getting on both sides of the Atlantic lately. And after two songs I muttered, “Okay, I’m fucking sold.”

Tad Kubler: It was the last show of a pretty long U.S. tour, and we’ve got it so dialed in after playing night after night for five weeks. It makes it that much easier to go up there and focus on nothing but having a good time. If you’ve played the songs for 30 days in a row you’re not thinking about that anymore. You just go up and have fun.

JamBase: After you’ve kicked the dust off of it, this is VERY participatory music. There’s definitely a give-and-take with the crowd.

Tad Kubler: It seems like indie rock had gotten so exclusive and more about being cool than going out and having a really good time. That’s something we noticed was missing when we started this band, like “God, what happened?” That’s one thing we try to focus on and make sure everyone gets involved in that.

JamBase: There’s always that well of about 10-feet in front of the stage and this motionless line of bodies at the edge of it.

Tad Kubler – The Hold Steady

Tad Kubler: It’s a lot of cigarettes just acting cool.

It seems like The Hold Steady are ready to shout and stamp their feet in order to get people to cross that gap.

I’d certainly like to think so. It’s so much fun for us to do it. A lot has, of course, has been made of our age and that we’re a little older but I think it’s allowed us to relax and concentrate on having a good time.

You guys are in your thirties, right?

Uh-huh.

I don’t know why people think that’s “older” except for all the manufactured teen talent out there these days.

To be honest, I don’t understand it either. It’s been brought up enough that I think, “Shit, now I gotta start lying about my age!”

You bring in life experience that someone younger just wouldn’t have. You wouldn’t write these songs in your twenties. You need to get fucked up AND see what the other side of that is like to gain real perspective and insight. Craig’s lyrics reflect that.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions like “How come all your songs are about teenagers?” Well, because you don’t have the perspective on what it’s really like to be a teenager until you reach this age and look back on how ridiculous it was.

The title of the new album reflects that. You’re not talking about Moms And Dads In America

The Hold Steady

[laughs] Obviously, a lot has been made about Craig reading [Jack Keroac’s] On The Road, which is where the quote came from. He read the book when he was in high school and though it stunk. Then he read it again in his thirties and realized he just didn’t have the life experience to appreciate what was happening when he was 16.

I’m going to be 40 in January but I still love rock & roll and getting messed up now and again. You can still tap into those things but they don’t mean the same things to you that they used to. You don’t necessarily have to lose the buzz entirely from partying and being reckless and running around like a hooligan just because you cross the “30 line.”

Exactly. Especially with the state of the world these days, people that are my age right now are kind of hopeless and this is one of the ways they deal with it. I won’t say if that’s good or bad – I’m not gonna judge that – but it’s also fucking dismal. We thought when we’d got to this age that our lives would somehow magically change. In fact, with the exception of having a three-year-old daughter, my life is very similar to how it was at 25.

It seems like indie rock had gotten so exclusive and more about being cool than going out and having a really good time. That’s something we noticed was missing when we started this band, like “God, what happened?” That’s one thing we try to focus on and make sure everyone gets involved in that. -Tad Kubler

Photo from Brooklyn Vegan

I hear you completely. I have a nine-month-old son. People that don’t have them can’t possibly relate. You learn in profound ways that your time is not your own anymore. It’s funny though because now that I have a kid I understand that you don’t have to completely abandon the person you were before they arrived. You can still party a bit and swear and enjoy pop culture in a stupidly passionate way.

The Hold Steady from community.livejournal.com

I totally agree. I run into these people who say their whole lives changed when so-and-so was born. Well, mine changed in that it got kinda interesting, at least more so. I’m still the same person. Murphy is three now and the dialog I have with her is so fantastic. We went to see the Drive-By Truckers on Friday and then we went to see Band of Horses on Sunday. Now I always have somebody to go to shows with as long as they’re outside. A lot of the festivals we did, in the U.K. especially, had lots of families. And at our shows in general, there’s parents with their kids. I met this guy John and his daughter Holly. It was her 18th birthday at the Latitude Festival and she wanted tickets to go see us for her birthday. That’s really cool.

You have music that can be appreciated across that divide. Younger folks pick up on the energy and their parents probably pick up on the lyrics.

I think it’s kind of important to keep things kid friendly because we are at the age where we’re having kids. There’s this thing in New York called KIDROCKERS. This couple has set it up and they get all kinds of bands to come in. Once a month they pick a venue and come in and do a stripped down acoustic version. So, the parents can go have brunch and Bloody Marys and the kids can hang out and have this experience with live music, too.

I was really taken aback, in a positive way, by the incredible connection your band has with your fans. At Bonnaroo there was a core group of a few hundred people who really knew these songs, knew all the “hey hey hey” parts. There was something about that core constituency that carried everyone else along with the music. There’s actual ritual developing as part of your live experience.

The Hold Steady

It’s Craig with the clapping thing and how he walks away from the mic still singing a line. I don’t know if I’d say it’s a cult following but if you go to our MySpace thing or check our message board there’s people who travel with us. There’s John, our friend from Florida, who came over to the U.K. and did five shows with us and our friend Maneesh, a freelance writer. And those guys shared a hotel room and hung out together. One cool thing about our band – I wouldn’t say we’re similar to the Dead – but I’m noticing as our shows are getting bigger there’ll be three or four nights where I’ll notice the same people in the front row. And there’s six-hour drives between shows! That’s really kick-ass. There’s a real sense of community at our shows that goes back to our desire to include everybody in what’s happening.

A lot of the nicest people I met and then ended up hanging out with were folks I met at your set. They were just good people. That’s all I can say.

That’s what it’s all about. Our thing is to celebrate all the great things about rock & roll. It can be a really positive force in your life. I know “sex, drugs and rock & roll” has been the cliché for years – and not to say that’s not true – but there’s also so many positive things that come out of rock & roll.

There’s not a lot of things that are easy to believe in these days. Rock & roll seems to bypass a lot of our cynicism and still hit us in that place of faith.

There’s a lot of hope in it. That’s what people are looking for right now.

I picked up Separation Sunday and Boys And Girls In America right after your Bonnaroo set, and I’ve listened to them obsessively since then. They give a lot back for one’s investment. What I find funny – and maybe this is something you hear a lot and see in reviews – is I don’t hear Springsteen or The Replacements, the things your band is always compared to.

The Hold Steady from Stereogum

I grew up in Wisconsin. Craig and I had a band in Minneapolis called Lifter Puller. So, I moved there and spent about 10 years there but I don’t have the connection with The Replacements that say people who grew up there do. Craig’s a big fan, and I’m more of a bystander. Not to say they weren’t great but they didn’t mean what AC/DC or Cheap Trick meant to me. With the Springsteen thing, he’s one artist you could pick out that everyone in the band is a fan of but at the same time I’ve listened to four hours of Led Zeppelin for every hour I’ve listened to Springsteen [laughs].

Cheap Trick was one of the first influences I picked up on with The Hold Steady.

They were my initial exposure to music. I grew up across the street from these girls, Cary and Camille Adamany, and their dad was Ken Adamany who managed Cheap Trick all through the ’70s and maybe all through the ’80s. I met Rick Nielson [Cheap Trick guitarist and architect of the band’s sound] when I was like seven, and that obviously had a big influence on me. I got the first three Cheap Trick records from them, and then after that it was AC/DC.

My Cheap Trick connection is I used to play Dungeons & Dragons with Bun E. Carlos’ nephew when I lived in Denton, Texas during junior high.

Nice [laughs]! One thing I will say about Cheap Trick is they’re still doing it and they seem comfortable with their place in rock & roll. That’s another thing that’s really cool about them. They understand where they lie in the scheme of things.

One cool thing about our band – I wouldn’t say we’re similar to the Dead – but I’m noticing as our shows are getting bigger there’ll be three or four nights where I’ll notice the same people in the front row. And there’s six-hour drives between shows! That’s really kick-ass. There’s a real sense of community at our shows that goes back to our desire to include everybody in what’s happening. -Tad Kubler

They’ve had their hits but they seem most at ease just being a working rock band. They put out a new record every couple years, tour the club circuit, play bigger theatres in some markets, but the doing of it seems way more important to them than any accolades. I get the exact same vibe from The Hold Steady.

The Hold Steady

We’re trying [laughs]! With the music industry the way it is these days, for us to be able to make a living doing it we have to get out there and tour. And that’s what’s really fun for us, too. If you look at our schedule the last year has been totally fucking nuts. That’s the kind of band we are. We enjoy being on the road, and the best way to experience the band, I think, is to come see us and cram a bunch of people in a room and throw a big party. And that’s been to our benefit – getting more people out to the shows.

It’s joyous music on a lot of levels. Even when it’s about getting busted or getting your heart broken there’s still great joy in the music itself.

I’m hoping everybody appreciates that.

How do you think things have evolved up to the latest record? Boys and Girls does have a different vibe than Separation Sunday or the first album.

The first album we wrote really quickly. All of the sudden we had shows coming up and we figured, “Shit if we’re doing shows it’d be great if people had something to walk away with.” So, we recorded it really fast. We knew some people at French Kiss [label] from Lifter Puller who were into putting it out. It happened really quickly. With the second one, Franz [Nicolay, keyboards] wasn’t really a member of the band yet. I wrote a lot of the music while my girlfriend was pregnant. I don’t know if it’s more guitar-driven than the first one but guitar-wise it’s more complex. Franz joined right before we went into the studio, and I was thinking, “God, I really like these songs but there’s something here I’m hearing that I’m not hearing.” Franz played a little on the first record and I ran into him at a bar one night and it hit me – we need a piano player! He’s got so many other things going on musically he wasn’t sure he could do it but he played on the record and it went so well he joined the band.

Then, on Boys and Girls In America, the songs generally start with a guitar part. I’ll put together two or three pieces I think work for a song and Franz and I will sit down. On this one we definitely wanted to figure out the relationship between the guitar and piano because a lot of times they can fight for space, occupy sort of the same melody. That was the thing we really wanted to be conscious of. And we wanted to step out a bit from the area we’d always been comfortable in with songs like “First Night” and “Citrus.” Craig wanted to sing more on this record and use his voice more rather than just being a storyteller. It’s the longest we’ve ever been able to stay in the studio, and John Agnello was the first time we’d ever worked with an actual “record producer” – somebody that would have an extra set of ears and actually offer some good input. It’s a natural evolution and hopefully that’ll continue.

On a basic level, there’s just more going on musically. What impresses me is how you can pull off something kind of delicate like “First Night” live. That people will actually be attentive to something piano driven and beautiful is to your credit. They have a respect for your music that’s dwindling in the live setting.

The Hold Steady

It’s interesting because that’s like one thing they said to us when we did [Late Night With David] Letterman. It was just the five us getting up there, setting our shit up and playing some rock music. They were like, “You guys are the first band that’s come in here in months that doesn’t have a Pro-Tools rig downstairs in the sound room.” Well, we just play rock, and that’s something people can appreciate.

In Scotland, at T In The Park, we’d played the Oxygen Festival in Dublin the night before then drove up to Belfast, stayed that night and then caught the ferry to Scotland. The set times were super tight and everyone was on the ferry. The Interpol guys were on there and Brian Jonestown Massacre – who I try to stay away from – and we ended up showing up late, they couldn’t shift around times, and had just 15 minutes left to our set. In front of a festival crowd, Franz grabbed an accordion and I grabbed an acoustic guitar off the bus, and we ended up doing four songs. And people went nuts! It was just an acoustic guitar, a snare drum and accordion. The fact that we can pull that off and we did everything possible so we could play, well, people appreciate that and it was cool to have them respond that way.

There’s an impression that The Hold Steady is Craig Finn and a bunch of faceless guys behind him. The press this year especially has really fueled this idea unfortunately.

Craig is incredibly charismatic, and he’s definitely the face of the band, and live, the voice of the band, too. I think it used to bother me a lot more but not as much anymore. It’s funny to do interviews and he looks at me and says, “Do you want to take this one?”

I ran into him before a radio thing in Tennessee and he was very affable right away, and I got the same feeling from the rest of the band, too.

There’s not a lot of preciousness about what we do. I always try to email people back, even if it’s just a note saying, “Dude, you rock!” If somebody takes the time out of their day to say I rock I can take five minutes out of my day to say thanks. We feel very lucky to be able to do this. There’s so many bands out there that are easily as good or better than us who never get the kind of opportunities we’ve been granted like traveling all over the world now. We’re definitely counting our blessings.

The Hold Steady Tour Dates available HERE.

JamBase | New York City
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