![]() ![]() Tad: To be honest, “Stuck Between Stations” is probably my favorite song on that record, but because Craig picked it I wanted to pick something else. Tad’s choice: “You Can Make Him Like You” So, when we started to work with a piano, we wanted that to be at the forefront because it felt more legitimate, especially after Separation Sunday and Almost Killed Me, when we certainly perpetuated the whole bar rock thing. I was so excited to have a piano in the band because when you’re a guitar player, there’s this tendency toward not feeling like a real songwriter or not feeling like a real musician. Tad: The piano is just really - I don’t want to say in a bad way, I don’t want to piss anybody off - but it’s so loud to me it’s almost oppressive. Sometimes you’re a little off or you can’t quite get there, but that one I was happy with it being a concise way of saying what I wanted to say. Obviously, there’s a huge history of this. I had gone through a period where I tried to clean up a little bit and was really running a lot and was trying to not drink, because I realized I was getting a lot of my material from being hung-over. But when I first started writing the record, I was thinking more about the relationship between art and mental health. People always ask me, “Did she die?” But I don’t like to comment on that.Ĭraig: Boys and Girls in America is an album that ended up being a lot about love, and it was timed well because I was going through a divorce. “Resurrection” is the culmination of that album when she comes into the church. With “When she said Father can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels?” I thought, Fuck, holy shit! That’s the best thing I ever heard.Ĭraig: Because we’re a little older and came of age during albums, we work pretty hard on the last songs on the album. And there are all these moments in the studio when Craig’s doing vocals and I’m sitting in the control room listening, and there’s a particular line where the hair on the back of my neck stands up. Tad: It was really the first record where it was like, “Okay, I’m going to be in charge of the music and Craig’s going to be in charge of the words.” There became this understanding and mutual level of respect. Tad’s choice: “How a Resurrection Really Feels” Tad: I just really love that last line: “Youth services always find a way to get their bloody cross in your druggy little messed up teenage life.” It sums up the whole thing to me a little bit. I don’t think there’s another song in our catalogue that’s quite like it in feel. Depending on the night, it can be where the audience takes a breath or it can get this weird, almost halftime groove. It’s a little laid back compared to a lot of our stuff, so it has a different groove. So it’s a one-two punch there.Ĭraig’s choice: “Multitude of Casualties”Ĭraig: It’s become one I really love live. “Positive Jam” sets it up - “Here we are, we’re the Hold Steady, we’re a rock band.” Then “The Swish” is actually a song. It’s one of my favorite melodies of Craig’s and it’s one of my best memories about writing with him.Ĭraig: “The Swish” is a close second for me. I’d pick up a 6-pack or a 12-pack or a case or whatever, and then we’d go back to his house and I would sit at his kitchen table with this old Telecaster not plugged in through anything and just play, and he would drink beers and pace back and forth in his kitchen and we would write songs. Tad: This was one of the first songs I really remember Craig and I writing together in his kitchen. And it would be cooler if you were part of this.” You’re either part of this or you’re not. It’s like this modus operandi, like “This is what we’re going to do. It doesn’t have a typical song structure at all. Tad: “Positive Jam” is such a weird song. You know, “We’re gonna start it with a positive jam” is sort of self-aware, as it’s our first song on our first album. The Hold Steady is here.” It actually says “hold steady” in the lyrics. It had that line, “I was bored when I didn’t have a band, so I started a band.” It’s meant to bring everyone up to speed like, “Here we are, and this is an album. (The two interviews were conducted separately.) We’re going to start it with a positive jam, literally.Ĭraig: It’s obviously our first album and I wanted to make something kind of like a declaration - a thesis statement if you will. Read on to see their selections, and then listen to the full list, below. ![]() ![]() To celebrate a decade of the Hold Steady, Vulture asked the band’s two principal songwriters, lead singer Craig Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler, to pick the best track from each album. Ten years later, the group is still going strong and is touring in support of its sixth studio album, the acclaimed Teeth Dreams. The Hold Steady released its first record in 2004, back when being a Brooklyn-based band meant something totally different.
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