The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady
Stay Positive
Vagrant, 2008

The Hold Steady are a Brooklyn-by-way-of-Minneapolis band who have been around for about four albums, after rising from the ashes of the indie band Lifter/Puller. I just picked up their latest album, Stay Positive, after hearing an interview with them on The Sound Of Young America, as well as their first single, “Sequestered In Memphis.” They are basically Jawbreaker reimagined as a Springsteen-worshipping bar band. In other words, they rawk in a punky, blue-collar kind of way. Their whole average Joe schlub thing is a bit affected, and from their interview is was clear that their whole normal guy vibe was carefully calculated. “We want to be timeless,” they said. Equally calculated was the first song on their album, which is all about the summer. They knew the album was coming out in the summer, they wanted a summer jam, and voila. As much as I find their classic rawk stylings somewhat calculating, I can’t help but be won over by their riffs and their songwriting. They are one of the few bands who really carry on the legacy of storytelling in rock that Jawbreaker (and the Boss) did so well. I don’t know if this is totally my thing, but I’m willing to give it a shot.