The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me

The Hold Steady are a bar band. There's no shame in admitting it. They often reference themselves as one in their lyrics: "She said it's good to see you back in a bar band, baby/ I said it's great to see you're still in the bars." Their lead singer, Craig Finn, looks like a guy who could've been a substitute teacher at your high school or a member of your bowling league.

Craig Finn, Lead Singer of the Hold Steady

The band tours incessantly and frequently chooses to blast their no-holds barred rock in smaller venues with a bar atmosphere. Perhaps it's these modest, everyman circumstances and a lack of pretensions surrounding this band that have made them beacons of hope to the indie rock community as well as being one of my favorite groups.

Forged from the remains of the exceptional Lifter Puller, the Hold Steady breathed life into the indie-rock scene by reincorporating seemingly ignored classic rock musical mainstays of bombastic guitars and explosive riffs. The song, "The Swish", off their debut album in 2004, received a good deal of attention for it's Zeppelin-like riffs and sweeping guitar work by lead guitarist, Tad Kubler.

"Ginger and Jack and four or five feminax

Psycho eyes and a stovepipe hat.

A ray of light in tight white rayon slacks."

Often overlooked is the witty and literate penmanship that Finn puts into the lyrics. This is demonstrated most effectively in the tune, "Stuck Between Stations" off their finest album, Boys and Girls in America.

Underneath the big hooks is the hypothetical inner conversation that poet, John Berryman, experienced before he committed suicide by jumping into the Mississippi River.

"The Devil and John Berryman, they took a walk together/

and they ended up on Washington talking to the river./

He says I surrounded myself with doctors and deep thinkers/

but big heads and soft bodies make for lousy lovers.

That was the night that we thought that John Berryman could fly/

but he didn't, so he died./

She said you're pretty good with words but words won't save your life/

and they didn't, so he died."

The Hold Steady also have a weakness for power ballads that often tell the stories of youths coping with religion, drugs and fleeting innocence. These themes are pervasive in Hold Steady's work. "First Night" is probably the band's quintessential example of this.

"And then last night

She said 'Words alone

never could save us.'

And then last night

She cried and she told us about Jesus.

Holly's inconsolable

Unhinged and uncontrollable

'Cause we can't get as high we got

on that first night."

This past year, the Hold Steady released their 5th album, Heaven is Whenever, to strong reviews. They continued their thesis on the hurdles of being an adolescent in America while retaining their attention to musicality.

"She said the theme of this party's the Industrial Age

and you came in dressed like a train wreck....

So if it has to be a secret

then I guess i can deal with it.

God only knows

it's not always a positive thing

to see a few seconds into the future."

The band continues to be eternally touring and working on new exciting material. I can personally attest to them being a fantastic live band, a great group to see while drinking with friends.