New song (Family Farm) and upcoming album!

[muzzleofbees]

They just dropped a new song on Spotify. Family Farm! A really poppy and joyful E-street Band kinda jam.

And from what I can tell, it seems there's an entire new album on its way. It's called Open Door Policy, and features Lanyards (previously known as Frog) and The Feelers, who debuted live in London.

This is the best news I've had all year

The song here:

[khawker]

Can't wait for this!!!!

Geeky fact of the day - the reflection is an Australian bottleshop called BWS. Today just got weird!

[muzzleofbees]

Full tracklist from iTunes:

01. The Feelers
02. Spices
03. Lanyards
04. Family Farm
05. Unpleasant Breakfast
06. Heavy Covenant
07. The Prior Procedure
08. Riptown
09. Me & Magdalena
10. Hanover Camera
11. Parade Days (Bonus Track)

[bigontheinside]

Love the new song! Got me jumping around my bedroom the way classic THS songs do. Great lyrics too, Craig's been on such a streak since We All Want The Same Things.

Guessing we'll get an official mention of the song later today - I'm curious if the album announcement was meant to be saved for the upcoming shows, would have been a nice way to do it, but the internet works too fast

Excited to hear Lanyards and The Feelers again, they both sounded amazing at the London shows. I remember seeing Open Door Policy on the setlist for the Sunday show that I wasn't at - guessing it's been renamed and it is on the album? I think Craig has an aversion to title tracks, Heaven Is Whenever was renamed to We Can Get Together, and Teeth Dreams was renamed to The Only Thing.

Art Brut and THS have overlapped a lot (toured together, interact on twitter sometimes), so I enjoy that they'll now have songs with such similar titles - Unpleasant Breakfast vs Art Brut's recent Awkward Breakfast.

[muzzleofbees]

Tried to transcribe the lyrics, but I didn't catch it all, and some of this might be wrong.

St. Catherine's was a nightmare, you know, they took away my headphones
Sure they let you keep your handset, but the courtyard is a deadzone
And the nurse that they assigned me had Eruption as a ringtone
Blasting out through built-in speakers like it's bug spray
Buzzing like a hornet halfway blown

If you're still in Pennsylvania, I'd advise you not to leave
Take some nickels from the fountain, and make new friends and fall asleep

Let's ? mission
I wish you wouldn't engage with all those creeps
Cause they never gonna love you that one specific way
That you want you want them to love you

? schedule of your willingness to trade your medications
? coming up on total suffocation
Seeking into the cantina, singing This Must Be The Place
Set faithful as his limits, I just want to see his face
Before she took her shot, she said a little grace
Said, Lord grant me the power to stop these hands from shaking
I’ve been falling in the fountain since a week or so before
I’ve been rattled by the accident, my shoulder is still sore
I almost rolled my eyes when they asked me how to score
But sometimes it feels sweet to be the teacher

When she was coming through the carpet, I could not resist her charm
She brought me to a fortress she called the family farm
And out along the towers there were guards with heavy arms
I guess there was some tension with the neighbours

Tripping at the airstrip, drinking on the runway
Laughing at the jets as we watched them fly away
She said you get what you get when you push through far ahead
They put us in these places for a reason

Shaving your head with reservation (?) masquerading (?) as wisdom
Leaning on the landpost just jangling your keys to the kingdom (?)
Listing (?) in the lobby of a hotel on the highway
Not sure you wanna be rescued
Cause you want them all to love you that one specific way
That you want them all to love you

[muzzleofbees]

Dec 1, 2020 8:17:09 GMT -5 bigontheinside said:

Love the new song! Got me jumping around my bedroom the way classic THS songs do. Great lyrics too, Craig's been on such a streak since We All Want The Same Things.

Guessing we'll get an official mention of the song later today - I'm curious if the album announcement was meant to be saved for the upcoming shows, would have been a nice way to do it, but the internet works too fast

That album "leak" looks like a internet-y mistake, but it's unusual that a song drops on Spotify before they send out an e-mail about it. They've been pretty hands on with this stuff the past couple of years.

[robs]

Twitter listening party, three shows and a new album - not a bad week in these gloomy times.

[robs]

Great effort!! From Apple music...

St. Catherine's was a nightmare, you know, they took away my headphones
Sure they let you keep your handset, but the courtyard is a deadzone
And the nurse that they assigned me had Eruption as a ringtone
Blasting out through built-in speakers like it's bug spray
Buzzing like a hornet halfway blown

If you're still in Pennsylvania, I'd advise you not to leave
Take some nickels from the fountain, and make new friends and fall asleep

Let's your sins be of omission
I wish you wouldn't engage with all those creeps
Cause they never gonna love you that one specific way
That you want you want them to love you

With a flexible schedule and a willingness to trade your medications
Obsessive and controlling coming up on total suffocation
She came into the cantina, singing This Must Be The Place
Said faithful has its limits, I just want to see his face
Before she took her shot, she said a little grace
Said, Lord grant me the power to stop these hands from shaking

I’ve been falling in the fountain since a week or so before
I’ve been rattled by the accident, my shoulder is still sore
I almost rolled my eyes when they asked me how to score
But sometimes it feels sweet to be the teacher

When she was combing through the carpet, I could not resist her charms
She brought me to a fortress she called the family farm
And out along the towers there were guards with heavy arms
I guess there was some tension with the neighbours

Tripping at the airstrip, drinking on the runway
Laughing at the jets as we watched them fly away
She said you get what you get when you push through far ahead
They put us in these places for a reason

Shaking your head with resignation masquerading as wisdom
Leaning on the lamp post just jangling your keys to the kingdom
Listing in the lobby of a hotel on the highway
Not sure you even wanna be rescued
Because they're never going to love you that one specific way that you want them all to love you
And you want them all to love you

[doctoracula]

Looks like it’s out in February?

www.resident-music.com/productdetails&product_id=74294

[tableinthecorner]

Dec 1, 2020 9:06:56 GMT -5 muzzleofbees said:

Shaving your head with reservation (?) masquerading (?) as wisdom
Leaning on the landpost just jangling your keys to the kingdom (?)
Listing (?) in the lobby of a hotel on the highway
Not sure you wanna be rescued
Cause you want them all to love you that one specific way
That you want them all to love you

muzzleofbees I think that first line of the last verse is "resignation" rather than "reservation," from what I can hear. Big thanks for transcribing the lyrics, though- this is the first place I've seen them written out. I thought the song was middle of the pack for THS, but that's 100x better than anything else coming out today. And goddamn, that last verse is perfection. The "shaving your head..." line gave me chills the first time I heard it.

[thedreadedlaramie]

What a week to be a fan! It's great to hear a surging classic THS anthem, and it really makes me wish the shows could've been held in person this year. 2021 will be special.

They should never work with a producer other than Josh Kaufman again - this mix and recording sound terrific.

[edinnj]

Here's the email I received around noon today:



New album OPEN DOOR POLICY out February 19!



Hey everyone!

2020 has been a, well, er, interesting year. Imagining The Weekender in London being the last time we’d all be together wasn’t the way anyone planned. But we’re excited to be able to play for you later this week with Massive Nights 2020 via the magic of live-streaming.

What we’re possibly more excited about is ending 2020 by bringing you new music and starting off 2021 with a brand new album!

OPEN DOOR POLICY is our 8th studio album and will be released on February 19, 2021 via our own label, Positive Jams, in association with Thirty Tigers. You can pre-order it here!

We recorded OPEN DOOR POLICY in two different sessions in the back half of 2019. Once again we teamed with producer Josh Kaufman and engineer Dan Goodwin, this time at the Clubhouse studio in upstate NY. Our intention was to create an album that worked as a grand piece, rather than a collection of songs. 2019 was an active year for The Hold Steady — our writing was consistent, and new songs were coming in pretty regularly. The recording process was creative, open and fun.

We were pretty much done with the record by the time we played a few of the new songs in London the first week of March 2020, as the unease of the pandemic was setting in. Not long after we got back from London, NYC shut down and we began to see our 2020 shows postponed. Over the next months, it became obvious that timing this album’s release to specific weekend celebrations wouldn’t be a possibility in the near future. But we were still excited to share it.

The songs on OPEN DOOR POLICY are about power, wealth, & mental health. They're about technology, occupation, consumerism, freedom, fandom and escape. And although the album was written and recorded in 2019, the themes of this record seem to be underscored and highlighted by this year of virus and quarantine. Big thanks to Dave McLaughlin for his photo on the album cover, which appears above.

“Family Farm” is the first song from the album we’re sharing. It originated from a demo Tad brought in, with Franz adding a classic THS bridge. Our friends Stuart Bogie and Jordan McLean came in with the horns. The song even includes a mention of the great Eddie Van Halen solo “Eruption”, an unintended tribute to a great rock hero in light of his recent passing. Click below to listen!




TRACKLIST
The Feelers
Spices
Lanyards
Family Farm
Unpleasant Breakfast
Heavy Covenant
The Prior Procedure
Riptown
Me & Magdalena
Hanover Camera
Parade Days*

*Digital Only

You can pre-order OPEN DOOR POLICY here, available to purchase on limited edition colored vinyl (blue!), standard vinyl, and limited edition CD. You will receive an instant grat of "Family Farm" with your purchase and digital download of the full album on release date, February 19, 2021. Of course we have lots of other new OPEN DOOR POLICY goodies to order with the music at The Hold Steady online shops: t-shirts, infant clothing, winter hats, drink coasters, and anything you may have missed.

To celebrate the new album and Massive Nights 2020, we're running a sale on all items in The Hold Steady online shops. For international buyers you will receive a 15% discount at checkout with the code "Unified" (does not apply to store bundles). For domestic buyers, when buying any music title plus one (1) other item, you will receive a 5% discount; you will receive a 10% discount on any music purchase plus 2 items; a 15% discount for a music purchase plus 3 items; and a 20% discount for any music purchase plus 4 items or more. No code is necessary for domestic buyers.

And if you haven’t ordered tickets for this week’s Massive Nights 2020, what are you waiting for?

Order tickets for the livestream via Fans.live here.

Thursday (12/3) at 9pm Eastern
Friday (12/4) at 9pm Eastern
Saturday (12/5) at 5pm Eastern (10pm UK)

We’ve got some surprises planned, so come join us for a socially distanced celebration!

Thanks for listening. Thanks for understanding. We're really glad that you're here.

Stay Positive!

The Hold Steady



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[violentredvisions]

THS have saved Christmas! Between this and the streams this weekend they’ve pinned a positive ending onto an otherwise very shit year. Also I love Josh Kaufman like another member of the band. Everything he makes sounds just how I want it to sound, absolute genius.

[muzzleofbees]

Dec 1, 2020 10:00:54 GMT -5 robs said:

Great effort!! From Apple music...

Pretty happy about it myself, as a Norwegian, haha.

I always knew official lyrics would surface pretty quick, but this guerilla style release (which quickly turned into album info and e-mails and all) made me think we might had to wait a few days. Always rewarding with a close listen, though.

I like these lyrics, they are familiar, but still set to a little different locations and scenes. It sounds a lot like a rehab situation to me.

[tvstimmyg]

Anyone know what makes the CD a “limited edition”? Don’t want to miss out on any tunes, but I’m fine with vinyl + digital if I’m getting everything through those means.

[charlie]

Dec 1, 2020 19:28:06 GMT -5 tvstimmyg said:

Anyone know what makes the CD a “limited edition”? Don’t want to miss out on any tunes, but I’m fine with vinyl + digital if I’m getting everything through those means.

my guess is that it's just going to be a limited run of CDs, as it's a dying medium, not an exclusive that way. 

[eyepatchgary]

Dec 1, 2020 7:18:25 GMT -5 khawker said:

Can't wait for this!!!!

Geeky fact of the day - the reflection is an Australian bottleshop called BWS. Today just got weird!

Great spot of the BWS reflection - though I'm more of a Dan Murphy's man myself! 

Anyone know where in Australia this shot was taken? I wondered whether it was in honour of the Melbourne gigs that were postponed this year.

[art81]

I think I saw on Instagram that he's in Perth.

And support your local, independent bottle-o, shout out to Goodwood Cellars in Adelaide.

[muzzleofbees]

I posted this in a THS Facebook group, but it belong even more naturally here. I would like to add how grateful I am that this message board existed back in the day. It wasn't easy to find fellow Hold Steady fans in my geographical proximity, and this board was so inclusive, and put me in touch with fans all over the world. Anyway:

After a week of Twitter listening party, a great reissue of Heaven Is Whenever and the absolutely amazing news from yesterday, a new song and an upcoming album, I just wanted to reminisce a little bit over the past three years.

Almost to the day three years ago I went from Norway to Brooklyn to catch all four nights of Massive Nights 2017. At the time my kids were 1 and 2,5 years old, and I was slowly accepting that this new normal (less gigs and beers, a lot more of waking up at 5am, general exhaustion) was gonna be there for a while. The trip over the Atlantic felt a little like a condensced way to celebrate everything I used to enjoy: Travelling, beer, music and The Hold Steady.

But it also felt like a soft farewell to the band, in some ways. The days of releasing albums and going on tours seemed to be over, and I wasn't even sure if I got to see them play in Europe again. Franz being back, and the live sets being so good, was uplifting, but it also sent a signal about a band happy with pleasing existing fans, living off their legacy and just to these compact weekends to offer the fans something, while also making a little bit of money. I though they deserved it as a band - the momentum sort of faded somewhere around the Heaven Is Whenever release, and I understood that taking another shot at the main prize, at that point in their career, at that age and all, might have a bigger price than the reward.

Mere days before I left, though, Entitlement Crew dropped. It was a brand new song, and it was so damn good. It sounded very much like Hold Steady, but also like a new an reinvigorated version of the band. More mature, a little more mellow, but still sparkling with joy and energy. It sounded like something they've just made, not a throwaway b-side released for the purpose of releasing something. And it even had a b/w song, Snake In The Shower. I was thrilled. But it -still- felt like more of a goodbye than a new start - thanks for listening, thanks for understanding, in past tense, more than present tense. I thought it was a fitting closure of their career as recording artists.
The weekend in Brooklyn was nothing short of perfect. Four amazing shows, pilgrimages to the intersection where the Separation Sunday cover was shot, to Lake Street Bar, chatting with the band, meeting new friends, just breathing in the entire atmosphere of hanging around in the bands neighbourhood. I remember thinking I might never do this again, but that I could live on the memories forever.

Then, things started happening. They announced they would be doing a Weekender in London (and I got tickets right away). And they kept dropping songs, two and two at the time. Before those London shows, we got Esther and Eureka. In the summer, before a residency somewhere in the US, we go Star 18 (still among my favourites) and Stove And The Toaster. And closer to fall, even two more, in T-Shirt Tux and Confusion In The Marketplace.
I went back to London in 2019, another song was released, then two more, and suddenly we heard about a new album. I think that was when I decided I had to go back to Brooklyn as well. I just couldn't stand the thought of staying home, knowing that this beautiful thing was going down overseas. So I went again, another four nights, even more new friends, more late nights at Lake Street - it was almost as a reprise, and I was fine by that. It wasn't as extactic, but it felt good in a mellow, calm way. This was something I was happy spending money and time doing, it made me feel closer to the band, the community, everything I've been on the fringes of for the past 13-14 years. I felt culturally at home, and I felt happy.

In the past three years since I sat on the plane over to NYC, listening to Entitlement Crew, memorizing the words, I've seen Hold Steady sixteen times. I've heard a good dozen of new songs, followed the TTTP release cycle all the way through, and now we're on the doorstep of another cycle. Instead of turning into a legacy act, Hold Steady have reinvented themselves as a real, active band. And this (short) era have soon produced two albums and lots of shows. That makes 2017-2021 a more active period than the span between Heaven Is Whenever and Teeth Dreams.

I sort of think that's worth celebrating.

[cre618]

Dec 3, 2020 4:01:28 GMT -5 muzzleofbees said:

I sort of think that's worth celebrating.

Well said!

(What FB group are you talking about? I didn't know there was a group there. I only stick with FB for the music groups. No where else I can talk to the "kids on the net!")

[kayfaberaven]

Dec 3, 2020 10:04:45 GMT -5 cre618 said:

Dec 3, 2020 4:01:28 GMT -5 muzzleofbees said:

I sort of think that's worth celebrating.

Well said!

(What FB group are you talking about? I didn't know there was a group there. I only stick with FB for the music groups. No where else I can talk to the "kids on the net!")

It's called The Hold Steady Positive-Posting. Currently there are various margarita recipes flying around in there.

[Rattlesnake Gospel]

Dec 3, 2020 4:01:28 GMT -5 muzzleofbees said:

I sort of think that's worth celebrating.

Beautifully written. I remember seeing you were coming over for the BB shows, and thinking it would be great to connect with you. Alas, my wife has severe travel & social anxiety... just getting her to NYC is a minor miracle, without putting the stress on her of entertaining new company. Stringer & I are looking at playing some more EU dates once covid is less of a threat, so maybe then.

There was a time when I wished Teeth Dreams would be the last thing they ever recorded, for some of the same reasons you mentioned - we'd just had a kid, shows & records were getting harder to afford/travel to, etc. But also because the fadeout in "Oaks" sounds like the perfect way for THS to ride off into the sunset; it's so beautiful and tragic all at once, and seems to encompass everything in their history without needing Craig's voiceover. I actually remember being a little disappointed when I got the email announcing "Entitlement Crew," until I listened to it. It, along with "Snake in the Shower," was everything I wanted new THS to sound like. I can't add anything that'll make a difference; you already described it perfectly. I'm not 100% in love with every new song they've released, but enough that I can't believe I ever wished for them to stop recording. "Eureka" alone has probably cracked my top 10.

THS is the first band my wife & I got into together. A few days after a friend recommended them to us, we read a review in SPIN magazine that described them as "Thin Lizzy & the E-Street Band." BAGIA had just been released and we sought it out immediately. We were in love 30 seconds into "Stations." The shows & road trips have been some of our happiest times, and help to bring my already beautiful wife out of her shell a bit. It sounds weird, but with their new model, it's almost as if the band is growing & evolving alongside us. We're bummed about BB being virtual this year, but we're gonna include our seven year old, and try to make it like we're in NYC. We've got some fixings for hot dogs & street tacos, and bought a case of Brooklyn Brewing beer (for us, not the kid).

THS got me into playing music again. Rattlesnake Gospel was practically summoned by Craig's proclamation of "I got bored when I didn't have a band, so I started a band, man." That line plays in my head every time we do a gig.

This board & community have given me some of my best friends. I've literally crossed oceans to play music & drink a few beers with them, and I'll gladly do it again as soon as it's safe. I'd love to meet some more of you when that time comes.

Long live THS. And the Unified Scene. Thank you all.

[star18]

Hugely excited about the new record, and the single is really good. I agree with everyone who's said that Kaufman's production is fantastic -- I always thought "Teeth Dreams" sounded just a bit muddy, and I love the brightness and clarity of the more recent stuff.

Curious about the track "Me and Magdalena," which is the title of an existing Monkees song (from 2016, and written by Ben Gibbard.)  Would be unprecedented for THS to include a cover song on a studio record, but also seems odd to repurpose a song title from just a few years ago.

[bigontheinside]

Dec 3, 2020 13:27:33 GMT -5 star18 said:

Hugely excited about the new record, and the single is really good. I agree with everyone who's said that Kaufman's production is fantastic -- I always thought "Teeth Dreams" sounded just a bit muddy, and I love the brightness and clarity of the more recent stuff.

Curious about the track "Me and Magdalena," which is the title of an existing Monkees song (from 2016, and written by Ben Gibbard.)  Would be unprecedented for THS to include a cover song on a studio record, but also seems odd to repurpose a song title from just a few years ago.

**SPOILERS** I saw a comment from someone in the know that it is not a cover. Makes it a very interesting choice for a title though. Maybe the characters in the song are listening to the Monkees version in the song... Or maybe it was a songwriting exercise to try to write a song with someone else's title.

Regarding Kaufman's production, I agree that it's fantastic and suits the band so well. Closer to their live sound. The only beef I have is that the cymbals are mixed loud and centred, and since they're a similar frequency range to Craig's vocals, sometimes it can be a bit hard to make out the lyrics in the louder bits of the songs. This post brought to you by me learning how to mix over the last couple of years and thinking I'm an expert

While we're at it, Denver Haircut's fade out starts too early. Ok I'm done.

[doctoracula]

“Me and Magdalena on the run” is a lyric from Dylan’s “Romance in Durango”, so I figure any song with that title is a Dylan reference