April 17 was Record Store Day, and the Hold Steady celebrated in a big way. Billboard.com reports that the band played two full sets in honor of the music holiday, one in Manhattan at the Bowery Ballroom and another in Brooklyn. The Hold Steady’s Bowery Ballroom set list sampled songs spanning the band’s entire career, such as “Navy Sheets” off 2008’s Stay Positive and “Positive Jam” off 2004’s Almost Killed Me.

Another highlight from the gig was “Rock Problems,” from the Hold Steady’s latest album Heaven Is Whenever, while frontman Craig Finn & Co., including new guitarist Steve Selvidge and keyboardist Dan Neustadt, capped off the performance with a two-song encore comprised of “Massive Nights” and “Slapped Actress.”

The Hold Steady’s fifth full-length album, Heaven Is Whenever arrived on May 4 via Vagrant and, according to Billboard.com, could be the tipping point for the band, much like Phoenix experienced with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix last year. Vagrant Records COO Jon Cohen told Billboard.com prior to the release of Heaven Is Whenever, “Like the Hold Steady, Phoenix were on a steady rise, then made an amazing record and got some important looks. [Saturday Night Live], then the Cadillac commercial. Things happened in succession to move the band to the next level.”

The steady (excuse the pun) surge in popularity of the Hold Steady can be seen in Nielsen SoundScan records, which show 2008’s Stay Positive moved 88,000 copies while 2006’s Boys and Girls in America sold 94,000 copies.

The members of the Hold Steady, however, measure success more in terms of attendance at shows than anything, and the Hold Steady tickets have certainly become more and more popular! “Just knowing that there’s never really going to be a dead show-that’s huge. That makes me feel like we’re already operating at this really high standard,” frontman Craig Finn told Billboard.com.

Finn formed the Hold Steady with guitarist Tad Kubler after their Minneapolis punk-pop band Lifter Puller fell apart. The pair recruited drummer Judd Counsell and bassist Galen Polivka to join the lineup and the Hold Steady released their debut album, Almost Killed Me, via Frenchkiss Records in 2004.

Separation Sunday followed in 2005, and then the lineup expanded to include the World/Inferno Friendship Society’s Franz Nicolay (keyboards) and Bobby Drake (keyboards; formerly of End Transmission and Arm). The Hold Steady’s third album, Boys and Girls in America, followed in 2006 and was the band’s first release for the Vagrant label, which also released 2008’s Stay Positive. Kubler told Billboard.com that Heaven Is Whenever is “more dynamic and has more depth” than the Hold Steady’s previous albums. The departure of keyboardist Franz Nicolay earlier this year also shifted the sound, making it more focused on guitars.

The Hold Steady has a batch of festival dates lined up this summer, including Sasquatch outside of Seattle and Summerfest in Milwaukee. Fans can also get the Hold Steady tickets online to see the band in Solana Beach, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.; San Francisco, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Athens, Ga.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Denver, Colo.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; New York, N.Y. and more.

The Hold Steady opened for both Counting Crows and Dave Matthews Band in 2009, and the band’s manager Juan Luis Carerra told Billboard.com that the band would like to see them support more acts in the future, also adding, “My vision for this record goes to the end of 2011. And maybe somewhere in there something No prescription cialis like SNL will happen and we’ll really pick up steam.”

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Category: Music
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