The Hold Steady Stay Positive For AOL

The good people at AmericaOL have kindly used their vast resources to alleviate some of the pain of this glacial news cycle with an Interface session starring the Hold Steady. We got to hear some of these tunes a few Sundays ago at the kickoff of the final summer of the McCarren Pool Parties (the Breeders this Sunday). Today there's less rain and less liquor involved, but just as much focus on standout Stay Positive tracks.

"Stay Positive"

"Sequestered In Memphis"

"Constructive Summer"


If you head over you can watch "Navy Sheets," "Joke About Jamaica," and watch a cool interview with Tad and Craig talking about what it means to age gracefully and stay positive as a rock band moving into your late 30s. I liked this quote:

I think the record in general is about the struggle to age gracefully, which in rock 'n' roll is an especially tricky business ... We're doing this for a living and it's great ... but you also wanna have some normal things. I like to go out to dinner with my high school friends -- one might be a school teacher, one might be a banker -- and have a normal conversation and not be all rock 'n' roll all the time. But at the same time we love what we do; the idea is to take some of the ideals you have as a youth and bring them to adult situations and adult responsibilities.

Also, you kids with "going out" blogs -- if you see Craig Finn out and report he's "totally wasted," you're probably wrong, and you're just beholden to the misconception about how much the Hold Steady drinks. (Thankfully, the Hold Steady seem to understand how that misconception took hold.) By the way Tad, it's Eight Men Out, not Seven Men Out, and agreed.

Stay Positive is out via Vagrant.

Posted at 12:17 PM by amrit in Video
Tags: The Hold Steady

11 Comments

Heads up: It looks like the video posted under the "Stay Positive" header is also "Constructive Summer."

Posted by: Jason at 07/11/08 12:59 PM | Reply
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Thanks Jason, that's fixed up.

Posted by: amrit at 07/11/08 1:14 PM | Reply
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Craig Finn keeps saying that this is their growing up album. it's a good album but it does not scream (or even hint and wink) and some more mature Hold Steady.

Posted by: grace6697 at 07/11/08 1:17 PM | Reply
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I drink a lot too!

Posted by: james at 07/11/08 2:00 PM | Reply
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those bonus tracks should leak!!

Posted by: juano at 07/11/08 7:06 PM | Reply
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they have

Posted by: greekgoat91  in reply to juano's comment at 07/12/08 12:07 PM | Reply
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donde estan, por favor?

Posted by: juano at 07/12/08 7:10 PM | Reply
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These guys put on the best live show around, but without an audience Craig's antics just look kind of silly.

Posted by: Ray at 07/12/08 7:43 PM | Reply
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i like the hold steady and their shows are fun but best live show? heck no. nothing comes close to the power of MMJ.

Posted by: grace6697  in reply to Ray's comment at 07/12/08 11:46 PM | Reply
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Also, this camera work just gives me a headache. I just watched Constructive Summer and there is literally not one second where the camera is zooming or swooping or twisting or otherwise making me feel seasick. These guys are dynamic enough by themselves; you don't need the ADD camera stuff to make it lively.

Posted by: Ray at 07/12/08 7:47 PM | Reply
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Yes, great job. :) Interesting indeed.

Posted by: Anna3 at 08/04/08 11:51 AM | Reply
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