Interview: The Hold Steady

“It’s not about fashion, or smoke and lights, it’s just about being honest.” TOM WRIGHT talks to CRAIG FINN, frontman of the ‘best bar band in the world’: aka THE HOLD STEADY.

hold steady interviews Music the clash The Junction


Craig Finn’s Desert Island Discs

Let It Be – The Replacements
London Calling – The Clash
Goat’s Head Soup – The Rolling Stones

Luxury – iPhone
Book – The Bible (“because it’s really long…”)

The Hold Steady are old school. Nearly 40 years old school. They practically hark back to a different century, where rock stars wore leather jackets rather than H&M cardigans, before synth-pop was even invented, let alone revived, and when being in a band meant you had to drink, shag and get high to excess. By law.

Their entry into the UK market with their 2006 album Boys and Girls in America may have seemed like an overnight success, but was in fact far from it. It was their third album, and the sixth album that frontman Craig Finn had released since leaving Boston College in the early ’90s. “I think we have a special relationship with the UK. I remember thinking ‘we’re going to have to start over,’ but the audiences really caught up quickly, so since then we’ve spent a ton of time here. There’s always a receptive audience, so we really like being here.”

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOFeaedv3Uc

‘Chips Ahoy’, the single that first gave The Hold Steady mainstream success.

They connect so readily to their influences like The Clash and Bruce Springsteen because, well, they remember them from first time around. “I’m 39 years old,” chuckles front man Craig Finn. “It’s one of the things that defines us, being a little older. Things feel a little different at 39 even from 30, so you are writing from a different perspective.”

Fears of The Hold Steady falling prey to ‘Ageing Rocker Syndrome’ (symptoms include ‘dad dancing at a wedding’ stage theatrics and cringe worthy attempts to ‘get down with the kids’ by playing the National Anthem atop Buckingham palace) are swiftly dispelled because it seems that Finn and his band are in on the joke. “One of the things people think is fun about our band is that we are 39, but we can still go out and have a really good time. We sincerely believe we aren’t too old to be in a rock band: it’s our lives, and we’re really excited to be doing it.”

It’s a joke that The Hold Steady appear to embrace everywhere. In a music industry dominated by larger than life egos (Messrs Bono and Kanye, take note) the grounding of Finn and his cohort is remarkable. “One thing I learned from [’80s alt-rock legends] The Replacements, was that they were the first band I remember being self-deprecating. They were just: ‘hey, we’re not that good’.”

The Hold Steady’s success is self consciously rooted in a substance-over-style ethos. The epithet “best bar band in the world” is one that they hold to hard and fast: “I take it as a compliment. What it means to me is that we don’t get up there and hide behind behind makeup. It’s not about fashion, or smoke and lights, it’s just about being honest.”

What struck me most during our interview was Craig’s painful awareness of how religious overtones have suffused his writing. He sounded positively enthused: “I’ve always been fascinated by, you know, the rituals, but also the relationship with redemption, the idea that you’re never ‘too far gone’, that’s what appeals to me. But it was easy for me to get there, because of the time I spent in the church.”

However engrossed he was in a topic, however, a wry chuckle was never very far away. During his time at college, Craig’s fascination with religion took a turn from the sublime to the ridiculous: “It was always, kind of, hanging over your head. Whatever room you’re in, seeing Christ on the cross, it kind of gets to you – it’s a bit of a buzz kill…”

Ultimately, though, it seems that a redemptive quality is the one that The Hold Steady prize most highly in their music. “One of my big things is to experience rock and roll as this real positive thing, something that can, if not save your life, can certainly change it. That’s one of the number one messages of The Hold Steady, is for people to leave our shows feeling uplifted, feeling ten feet tall – because that’s how rock and roll makes me feel.”

The Hold Steady are performing at The Junction on the 17th February.