The Hold Steady "Chips Ahoy" 7" Vagrant Records (US)

Record is NM, Jacket is NM!

Tough to Find!!  Out of Print!!

Track Listing:

A Chips Ahoy! B1 Arms & Hearts B2 Cattle & The Creeping Things [Acoustic Version]

The Hold Steady is an American Rock 'N Roll band from , , formed in 2004. The band consists of (vocals, guitar), (lead guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), and Steve Selvidge (guitar). Noted for their "lyrically dense storytelling," and influences, the band's -based songs frequently address themes, including , and , and often take place within the city of .

Formed four years following the break-up of Finn and Kubler's former band, , The Hold Steady released their debut album, in 2004, and came to prominence with the release of their third studio album, , in 2006. In 2010, keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist left the band prior to the recording of their fifth studio album, (2010). During the band's subsequent tour, the band became a five piece, once more, with the addition of former guitarist Steve Selvidge.

History

In 2003, Minnesota-raised vocalist, lyricist, and guitarist and New York City bartender and bassist Galen Polivka began talking about starting a band. Finn and lead guitarist Tad Kubler (both formerly of ) developed the idea of The Hold Steady when, while watching concert film , Finn asked Kubler, "Dude, why aren't there any bands like this anymore?" The Hold Steady's 2004 debut album , released on , was a among music , reaching No. 31 in the critics poll that year, an achievement which Finn described as "like being nominated for an Oscar or something." In May 2005, they were the first rock band to grace the front page of in 15 years. They were 's 2006 "Band of the Year".

The band in 2005.

The band released its second album, , on May 3, 2005. The album was a loose following the exploits of a character named "Holly" (short for "Hallelujah") and her quest to find a balance between and through drugs and a metaphorical resurrection. The album was critically lauded, and its religious overtones were picked up by many critics, such as Joe Gross of the , who dubbed it "the most egregiously American album since 's , 's , or that Jewish new waver 's ."

Boys and Girls in America (2006-2007)

After , the band moved from the imprint to . Released October 3, 2006, was ranked No. 8 on the Best Albums of 2006 list, and first by . 's Scott Plagenhoff wrote of the album, "[] not only has a commanding, rousing voice but he also says something worth hearing, displaying gifts for both scope and depth that are all too rare in contemporary rock — indie or mainstream." In 2006, they released a music video for "Chips Ahoy", directed by Moh Azima and starring . In 2007, the band recorded a modified version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to be played during the at home games. They also contributed a cover of the and / song to the motion picture .

Stay Positive (2008-2009)

The band's fourth album, , was released in the UK on July 14, 2008 and in the U.S. on July 15. The album was recorded in and Wild Arctic studio in with producer during January and February that year. Guests on the sessions included Ben Nichols from , of , , and , who played guitar in . Finn has said that he believes the album "captures a band hitting their creative peak, as well as enjoying each other's creativity and company." The album is more expansive than previous releases, including solos, , and tuneful vocals (the notoriously gruff-voiced Finn started taking voice lessons). "There are some bands that do five records that all sound similar," says guitarist Tad Kubler. "We've tried to avoid that." Many familiar elements – sing-along choruses, extended piano and guitar solos and lyrics that deal with faith, crime, rumor, loss and love – remain.

The Hold Steady has toured and played with a variety of other artists, amongst them , , , , the (as mentioned in the bonus track "Ask Her For Adderall"), , , , , , , the Oranges Band, and .

In April 2009, the band released a two-disc documentary and live album set entitled .

Nicolay's departure, Heaven is Whenever and the addition of Selvidge (2010-2011)

On January 20, 2010, confirmed on his official website that he had left the band. Regarding his departure, vocalist and guitarist stated: "Franz is a real ambitious guy, and I think he wanted to do a lot of different things, and we want to really follow this one Hold Steady thing to its logical end. And it takes up a lot of time. It was an amicable departure, and I think we all wish him the best. He’ll do a lot of interesting, cool things."

Nicolay has said that he considers his work with the Hold Steady to be completed, saying "I’m proud of the work we did together. In the end, I felt I completed the work I needed to do with them. I’d prefer to think of it as a closed book."

The Hold Steady announced the release of on Feb. 23, 2010. The album was released May 4 on Vagrant Records in the U.S. and May 3 on Rough Trade in Europe.

The band's subsequent tour featured additional musicians Steve Selvidge, formerly of , on guitar and Dan Neustadt, of and . Neustadt had previously played keyboards on Heaven is Whenever, but eventually left the touring band by 2011.

In 2011, Selvidge was added to the band's official line-up, with Craig Finn stating, "We added [Steve Selvidge], we are a five piece. We are rolling without keys right now. We did some shows without keys and we really liked it. It sort of opened things up for us. We have two pretty amazing guitar players in our band, and it's really fun to have that space and spread out. They can sort of work against each other/with each other. Steve's been a great addition to the band. We came across Steve many years ago and we always kind of said, 'Man, if things open up and we can get him in the band, we want him.' [...] Steve, lives in Memphis. So wherever we record this time, someone's not going to be at home."

In July 2011, during a five-month break from the band, Craig Finn recorded a solo album, entitled , which was subsequently released in January 2012.

Sixth studio album (2012-present)

As of January 2012, the band are currently writing their sixth studio album.

The band recorded a track for , entitled "The Bear and the Maiden Fair", and released it, alongside a new track, "Criminal Fingers", for 2013. Regarding the release, guitarist Tad Kubler stated, "Steve [Selvidge] – our guitar player wasn’t in the band when we did the last record so we haven’t formally released anything that he’s played on – other than an session or something like that. Having been away for a few years, we thought this would be a great opportunity to reintroduce the newest version of the band."

Regarding the band's sixth studio album, guitarist Tad Kubler stated in April 2013: "We’ve probably demoed 16 or 17 songs. I think there’s another few songs that exist in not totally finished versions. There is quite a bit of material. [...] We’re definitely looking forward to getting back in the studio and going on tour again. It seems like a long time since we’ve had a record out, but I think part of that is only because the pace that we worked at up to this point." Regarding the forthcoming album's recording personnel and release, Kubler stated, "Right now, we are talking to producers and figuring out how we want to tackle the recording. Our last record was our last record with so we need to figure out, are we going to do some more records with them? We have a lot of options right now as to how we want to approach the next record and were in the process of figuring that out."

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