October 06, 2006

The Hold Steady -- FREE INSTORE

The Hold Steady
FREE INSTORE
Sunday, 10/15, 4:00 PM

The Village Voice called last year's Separation Sunday "...literature with power chords" and they couldn't be closer to the truth. The Hold Steady write stories, stories that would have made a young
Springsteen get along with his dad just so he could show someone what he'd written. Their music is gritty, passionate, and vivid. Craig Finn's songs are character based slices of life, peopled by
hoodrats, pimps named Charlemagne, and fallen Catholic girls. At times, the songs have a sideways religious fervor to them, almost as if someone had broken into the church storeroom, polished off half a case of the holy blood, and used the rest to paint their own Sistine inspired ceiling, a painting which on closer inspection looks more like Picasso's Guernica drunk dancing with one of Diego Garcia's creations. Bulls, blood, darkness, light, near tragedy and pride all lying together in a big beautiful heap. Theirs is a brand of rock and roll that was almost lost to fashion and image and marketeering...yet The Hold Steady have done exactly that, they've held on to the passion of the poet, the grit of the roadhouse, and the innocence of youth. At a time when everyone is trying their hardest to live life in full-saturation color, the Hold Steady make black & white look like the place to be. Please join us for this special acoustic performance and signing.

This will be a wristband event. Free wristbands will be available with pre-order or purchase* of The Hold Steady’s newest album Boys and Girls in America starting Friday, 9/29 at 10:00am up until the day of the event (10/15) when any remaining wristbands will become available, no purchase necessary and first come - first served, beginning at 10:00am.

* Note: Boys and Girls in America will be released on Tuesday, October 3rd and all copies purchased or pre-ordered, prior to or at the event include a free custom in-store poster, which you can have signed at the event.

Some press from The Hold Steady's last album, Separation Sunday:

"Sounds like the best bar band in the world."
- Blender

"Damn you, Hold Steady! How can any band be this good?"
- Rolling Stone

"These are songs full of offhand aphorisms, and they can grab you from the first line."
- The New York Times

"The music is like some unholy amalgamation of Born to Run-era Springsteen and Billy Joel shazam. This is a good thing."
- Austin Chronicle