The Hold Steady’s arrived at an interesting moment in the progression of their smart-guy bar rock. As we’ve mentioned, album five is the first since the departure of Franz Nicolay, the one member you’d assume was a rock star if you passed the guys on the street. Tad Kubler is taking care of the keyboards in [...]

Reuters - With new albums by the Hold Steady, the National, LCD Soundsystem and Band of Horses scheduled to hit stores within a three-week span, the beginning of May has become blockbuster month for indie rock releases. No one could be happier about the indie stars aligning than Kevin Drew, singer/guitarist of Toronto collective Broken Social Sc...

We saw the Franz-less Hold Steady play “Barely Breathing” at their tour kick-off show in Ardsley. Craig Finn looked like he was having a great time, but it was hard to hear him singing over the video crackle. Now that we have this track, it’s clear that, once again, nostalgia plays a big part, as [...]

Maybe we underestimated the power of the stache. After posting “Hurricane J,” Rock Problems,”and “The Weekenders,” seems like even Hold Steady diehards are less than enthused about the forthcoming Heaven Is Whenever. To stay positive: A few of you mentioned “The Weekenders” was the strongest...

So far we’ve heard “Hurricane J” and “Rock Problems,” and now Hold Steady’s given up a third track from Heaven Is Whenever. As on “Rock Problems,” Craig Finn’s half-remembering, half-trying-to-forget a wretched night: “She said ‘The them...