All photos by Joe O’Toole Words and photos by Joe O’Toole As this groggy Monday night crowd waited for The Hold Steady to take the stage, the house DJ played “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats, and the crowd seemed to collectively groan in agreement. We all needed a pick-me-up, and we needed … Read more
Photo by Graham Tolbert “Baby Missiles” perfectly illustrates everything I adore about musical juxtaposition. ’80s synth pop mixed with country-rock? Yes, please. I’ll have that. The War On Drugs frontman, Adam Granduciel, has a purposefully wobbly delivery on “Baby Missiles” that reminds me a little bit of Mark Knopfler on Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life.” … Read more
Craig Finn of The Hold Steady | Photo by Louis Kwok “Let this be my annual reminder, that we can all be something bigger,” sang frontman Craig Finn of The Hold Steady during their opening song, “Constructive Summer.” The band from Brooklyn became LouFest’s day one headliners after The Roots had to cancel because of … Read more
Photo credit: Miles Kerr Last January, we reported that Franz Nicolay, one of the founding members of Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady, had left the band. So, perhaps a lyric from the brand new track, “Have Mercy” is very fitting: “It’s who you leave behind, it’s not who you save / That you’ll be judged by.” … Read more
The Juno award-winning band, Wintersleep, just released its new album, New Inheritors, and is set to hit the road with matt pond PA starting this Friday for a four-week U.S. tour. In addition, the band has two confirmed dates with The Hold Steady in Philadelphia and New York this October. Preview five tracks from New … Read more
Soul and punk seem to be two very conflicting things – maybe that’s why The Gaslight Anthem’s 2008 release, The ’59 Sound, came out of nowhere for me. They’re a group of tattooed guys from the fertile punk grounds of New Brunswick, New Jersey, but when I heard the title track for the first time, … Read more
In a developing story, Franz Nicolay has decided to leave The Hold Steady, according to a post on his website. We’ll let his post do the talking: “You should know: I’ve left The Hold Steady. I told the band I’d be leaving in early September, played my last show with them in Minneapolis around Thanksgiving, … Read more