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Post by nosferatu on Sept 7, 2018 13:15:40 GMT -5
Afraid not. Fascinated to see video of what they come out with though if anyone grabs some?!
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Post by nosferatu on Sept 6, 2018 11:47:53 GMT -5
I have a soft spot for
“She said the theme of this party’s The Industrial Age/You came in dressed like a train wreck.”
“When she storms out of the restaurant/I think you're supposed to chase her to the lights”
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Post by nosferatu on Sept 6, 2018 11:37:51 GMT -5
I think it's unfair to read these songs in an conventional album context. It was more of a thought experiment. If there's more songs to come, my guess is that they (like the others) will sound like separate songs, rather than as made to fit into what an actual Hold Steady album would sound like in ways of sequencing and song types. That's another reason these songs seems to be more in the spirit of the last to Craig solo albums. They both sound more like a great collection of songs, obviously sequenced in a certain way, but with less emphasis on the trademarks of a classic rock album. I somewhat agree - I would add that Almost Killed Me is probably more like this in the sense it’s a collection of songs they’d written by the time they recorded it rather than a cohesive piece of thematic consistency... that said, the production values and especially the predilection for horns on the 2017-18 releases provide an album-esque consistent aural perspective which makes me wonder whether there isn’t a plan to be able to compile them at some point in the future if the band so desired. I also wonder whether there is a big cache of riffs and material separately composed during the off season between writing for Teeth Dreams (which must have taken place some 5 years ago) and now and whether there has been a conscious decision to pursue material in a certain way or not, or whether this is a “best of” of everyone’s material?
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Post by nosferatu on Jul 28, 2018 15:27:08 GMT -5
Controversial.
1. AKM 2. SS 3. SP 4. HIW 5. BAGIA 6. TD
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Post by nosferatu on Jul 28, 2018 15:24:59 GMT -5
Sounds great. Love the production on these new ones. Really accentuates CFs voice for the first time since SP. Just relistened to the live record for the first time in years and the quality of the vocal balance even on that wipes the floor with the mix on BaGiA - CF was buried on that, HiW and TD. Glad to actually hear him again - it’s important. They sound really relaxed and balanced. Got a lot of The Modern Lovers about this recent gear.
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Post by nosferatu on May 18, 2018 3:32:35 GMT -5
My best educated guess as a fellow drummer is he could have used it for rumbling percussion in something like Both Crosses.
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Post by nosferatu on May 11, 2018 20:08:05 GMT -5
Oh no
This has been beyond sad. The sort of helpless empathetic sad one feels when you feel like you know someone is strong enough to pull themselves out of something time and again yet for some reason this time they don’t.
RIP Scott, always made time for your music.
Listened to Pedestrian Verse into BaGiA just now. Sure the parallels on Stations are as poignant now as they were when CF wrote it about John Berryman. Heartbreaking.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 13, 2018 7:57:26 GMT -5
I can probably transcribe that bit too...
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 12, 2018 17:57:48 GMT -5
“Alright London! We started this band, The Hold Steady, in 2003... that’s 15 years ago. 15 years ago, at least in New York City, you couldn’t go anywhere without a... DJ. You’d go to a club, of course there’s a dj, that’s cool. You go into a bar, there’s a dj, he’s pretty decent, if he’s honest he’s a good dj. You went to the POST OFFICE, there’s a FUCKING DJ. You walked into a party; there’s a DJ. That’s is when, the period of time we put together this band, The Hold Steady. With the loud guitars, fuckin piano, the bass, drums... WHAT ABOUT ROCK N ROLL? So, this song is about rock and roll... so we decided to play rock n roll. And just sort... and just sort of what I expected... turns out, it turned out all these DJs playing all this other music... people still liked rock n roll... and you know what London? I just wanna say, as the world goes on and gets crazier and technology advances, I do believe that what we’re doing tonight is the Most Important Thing, that is: getting people, real people, in a room together, in real time, and it is already important, and more important every year. Thank you so much for being a part of this, to get in a room with people, to drink some beer, to listen to some music, dance a little bit, to see old friends, and maybe make some new friends, to be around people who like rock and roll music as much as we do, and that feels just... so... I was wonderin’ [ascends into mass double timeclapping]”
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 12, 2018 17:55:23 GMT -5
I was at London this Saturday night, and recorded (for myself, and from the top pocket of my beer and sweat soaked denim jacket) a phone memo of the whole Saturday Electric Ballroom gig... I don’t know why I decided to, the recording sounds like me shouting a lot and getting pushed around by people I didn’t even know, yo. But Craig said a lot of things. Especially during DJs, I was very moved by what he said, and I remembered tonight that I’d recorded it - so, I transcribed what he said, I know it’s not the same written down than at the front of a sweaty THS show, but it totally stands up transcribed. Maybe this thread can pool together all those wonderful things Craig says completely off the hoof that easily could’ve been agonised over and formed part of The Hold Steady’s literary history... I’d like to think I’ve done a faithful job in transcribing... so here goes!
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 12, 2018 17:00:18 GMT -5
Shane Magowan. Warren Zevon. Phil Lynott. Joe Strummer. Mick Jones. Willy Vlautin. E. Alex Turner. Jason Isbell. Patterson Hood. Mike Cooley. CF. FN. Mike Scott. Jim Carroll. Patti Smith. Kate Tempest. Andy Hull. Alan Hull. Lloyd Cole. Karl Wallinger. Michael Stipe. Baxter Drury. Bob Dylan. Bruce Springsteen. Brad Roberts. Chris Difford. Many fine choices but I’ll single out Baxter because, despite his famous father, he’s maybe not as well known as some of your other choices. We listened to his new album, Prince of Tears, twice on the way to London on Friday. Fantastic stuff. That is such a brilliant album. I had my suspicions from listening that he sounded like Ian Drury (who should’ve made my list!) but had no inkling they were related until I actually investigated what in hindsight should’ve been an obvious link! I guess thinking War on Drugs used to just be early Waterboys B-sides threw me. Prince of Tears is a fantastic record and moreover a perfect length. Great use of swear words. CF if you’re reading - check him out! A Baxter Drury/THS collaboration would be absolutely incredible.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 12, 2018 10:26:12 GMT -5
RE: crushing lows. Train cancelled yesterday back to Manc! Minor incursion on the accumulated joy though. Back home in the end.
Lovely to meet and put faces to board names. Too many to remember, and some I’ve not seen in YEARS too. Great show on Saturday... next time I’m in for all shows. Felt like I just dipped my toe in this weekend.
Craig was on top form preacher man mode too on Sat - assume the same for Fri/Sun too?! Did a great speech.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 12, 2018 10:22:25 GMT -5
Shane Magowan. Warren Zevon. Phil Lynott. Joe Strummer. Mick Jones. Willy Vlautin. E. Alex Turner. Jason Isbell. Patterson Hood. Mike Cooley. CF. FN. Mike Scott. Jim Carroll. Patti Smith. Kate Tempest. Andy Hull. Alan Hull. Lloyd Cole. Karl Wallinger. Michael Stipe. Baxter Drury. Bob Dylan. Bruce Springsteen. Brad Roberts. Chris Difford.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 9, 2018 15:07:27 GMT -5
Where is everyone meeting tomorrow? Ideally I’d like a good recommendation for a pub that doesn’t serve solely Camden Brewery beer but something better nearby... not a snob just want a decent pint and a good vibe. Is that what The Black Heart brings to the table?
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 8, 2018 8:11:59 GMT -5
Hey kirst/camie - would you be willing to split? My friend is after one for Saturday...
Edit: scratch that sorry - already sorted.
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Post by nosferatu on Mar 3, 2018 12:06:13 GMT -5
In for Saturday.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 22, 2018 4:46:54 GMT -5
. It wasn't that long ago when you'd get in to watch the band soundcheck for free. And while they never brought me for Sunday lunch, they did treat me to a Nandos. As the song goes, money changes everything Money does change everything. The lack of money bands make from recorded music, which means they have to find ways to monetise everything if they want to make a living making music. Not their fault. Couldn’t agree more. Listening to the “state of THS” bit of that writers podcast it seems we’re locked into this way of doing things if we’re going to have THS over in Europe ever again at all. I’m happy to pay the price - totally get why it makes no sense whatsoever to traipse round everywhere - it’s as easy to get to London from Manchester with advance notice for one big weekend for me. I appreciate I live near a convenient/not too expensive train though. However, with the ticket just for one show and associated travel and accommodation I’m £100 ‘down’ before I’ve even spent anything in London! I’d have loved to do all three but firstly that’s another night of accommodation, secondly another two nights of spending money and thirdly the Lexi show - whilst a great bonus -has come too close to the event to arrange finances/travel for. I guess what I’m getting round to is I’m not averse to paying for the weekend experience - much like other fans of, say, famously but a little incongruously - Marillion do... perhaps in the future there might be a way of spreading the cost of these events over the course of a year, maybe through Patreon, I mean - who wouldn’t want to give £10 a month to THS if it meant we could guarantee a weekend of European shows each year?
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Here goes
Jan 27, 2018 15:24:26 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by nosferatu on Jan 27, 2018 15:24:26 GMT -5
Maaaaybe... just a thought could be... $19.99? So I don't want to get too literal about reading Lifter Puller lyrics as applying to the THS universe, but I have to admit that with, for example I want everybody who's been eyeing my girl to slowly close their eyes the SH1999 girl is explicitly being framed as the centerpiece of the song. That's absolutely right. Why is the EC narrator apologizing for the centerpiece, though, if the centerpiece is Mary herself? Totally get why you wouldn’t delve too deep into the Lifter Puller world, it’s a dangerous game! I just heard that and with all the “Craig clues” you’ve written about so far I thought it was difficult to ignore... In terms of the centrepiece - I’ve been doing some thinking and I think I mean that the centrepiece is a confrontation derived from the narrator being uncomfortable with a situation involving Mary and the ‘crew’. I think the “thanks for understanding” line could be ironic. Like this was a key event in whatever path Mary ends up taking. Also - massive apologies if I’m picking up things that have already been discussed up thread, I’m playing catch up on this one - you and muzzle seem to be doing a great job! How about the space humpin’ - Space City (Houston) parallel? Anyone caught this already? I also heard the same reference as muzzle to “sleepless in Seattle” - in fact, SH$19.99 refers to “I know what you did last summer” (1997). I also don’t know if it’s already been referred to, but is the loud, dumb and bloody film in Almost Everything also from 1997... “Event Horizon”? 1997 certainly was a “blockbuster summer”.
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Here goes
Jan 25, 2018 8:11:18 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by nosferatu on Jan 25, 2018 8:11:18 GMT -5
“Hotel room in Houston with the shades against the sunshine. Or maybe still in Scranton like in 1999.”
Maaaaybe... just a thought could be... $19.99?
The girl in Space Humpin’ $19.99 by LP watched a lot of Daytime TV - you’d literally need to shade the sunshine to watch TV during the day. She’s also blasting off and touching down:
“And she was bombed on the bass and the Bombay gin”
“She said it looks like a binge She said it felt like a blast Woke up in the grass with the assless chaps
Looks like a blast She said it felt like a binge Woke up with your friend in the Indian fringes”
Indian fringes - the edging of a rug - suggests crashing out on the floor at a party.
The Entitlement Crew could also be referring to the owners of the prying eyes in Space Humpin’ -
“I want everybody who's been eyeing my girl to slowly close their eyes Said "it's great getting high" I want everybody who's been eyeing my girl to slowly close their eyes And think about what you've got, compare it to what I've got, and ask yourself: What do you think my girl wants?“
This could explain the line “I wasn’t all that into it but there was nothing I could do about it”. The narrator’s girl in Space Humpin’ does whatever she wants in spite of the narrator. Perhaps the “centrepiece” referred to in EC is literally an ‘event’ at a party - in this case where the narrator from Space Humpin’ confronts the entitlement crew who’ve been - wrongly? - envious of his girl.
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Here goes
Jan 25, 2018 5:37:24 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by nosferatu on Jan 25, 2018 5:37:24 GMT -5
“So what's happening here is this. The Narrator is at a party (in a situation very like the MPADJs/RP party, if not the same place), and sees Mary come in with the Skins, high and out of her mind (in takeoff/Scranton state, not landing/Houston). But then a great song comes on, and the kids all start singing along --- a thousand voices booming out in stereo --- and Mary, distracted by the sound from her vision, comes back down to earth. The key words are the elided half of the D4 line: *choking out the radio,* where the radio (as in SiM, 212M, etc.) is her visionary power.”
Ooh! Maybe a bit more evidence:
“And D4 is for the lovers And the hard drugs are for the bartenders and the kitchen workers and the bartender's friends And they're playing it again And Ellen Foley gives 'em hope And certain songs, they get scratched into our souls”
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Post by nosferatu on Jan 13, 2018 12:57:39 GMT -5
This is ace! Love the video!
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Post by nosferatu on Dec 8, 2017 8:58:10 GMT -5
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Post by nosferatu on Dec 1, 2017 18:45:07 GMT -5
Anyone want to speculate as to the openers? I'm guessing Art Brut for one of the nights... They're mutual fans, toured together (how I found out about THS in the first place), Art Brut have recorded a new album, and Eddie Argos posted about A Positive Rage recently. This is what I thought too. Frank Turner?
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Post by nosferatu on Nov 30, 2017 18:27:41 GMT -5
I always thought Honolulu Blues was the closest Craig came to sounding like Dylan, but the vocals on Entitlement Crew is another peak. I agree... but can I throw Jim Carroll at you? Whole thing reminds me of Catholic Boy.
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Post by nosferatu on Nov 17, 2017 18:57:34 GMT -5
Just pointing out that this is only 16 weeks away.
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