The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever

Heaven is whenever we can get together. Sit down on your floor. And listen to your records.

Sometimes you see an opening act and can easily predict they’ll be huge. I saw The Hold Steady open for The Twilight Singers at some Polish American home back in 2004 with my boy Scott and the two of us knew they weren’t going to be an opening act for very long. I was broke that night. I had just enough money for some Zywiec beer and a plate of pierogis and kielbasa. Note:  All clubs should sell these things before shows (says the guy who’s last name ends in “Ski”). But anyway I ate/drank the last of my cash and after The Hold Steady got off the stage found myself pissed I couldn’t afford their CD. As I wandered around the front of the stage waiting for Dulli and crew to come on I found a ten dollar bill on the ground and promptly walked back to the merch stand and bought “Almost Killed Me”. This would prove to be one of my better all around show experiences and the last time I found money totaling more than 5 cents.

Let’s pretend now that you live in a fucking cave and know nothing about the band. The Hold Steady are what Springsteen would sound like if he came up in the Hardcore Scene. Singer Craig Finn first reminded me of Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks if he was really into beat poetry. Most of their songs are about drugs, drinking, sex, punk rock shows, and youthful indiscretions. But there’s this underlying theme of redemption and rising above one’s circumstances that pops up on all their albums that makes The Hold Steady a little more than just good story tellers. Fans of the band might miss keyboardist Franz Nicolay (World Inferno Friendship Society, Loved Ones, Leftover Crack) on this album. But truthfully that dude’s mustache always freaked me out a little and I think The Hold Steady does better bringing their guitars forward and losing the keyboards all together so I’m cool with him leaving. Plus they traded up by adding guest guitars by FSS favorite John Reis (or Speedo if yer nasty).

The albums starts out with sort of a country vibe and works its way back into and out of familiar Hold Steady territory. Lyrically Finn spins yarns about Skins trying to kill him at a Youth of Today show and later being confused by Shelter’s Hare Krishna pamphlets (Barely Breathing); getting the girl by virtue of being the last one left to chose from (The Weekenders); listening to the Dead Boys and getting high (Rock Problems); and New York City nightlife (A Slight Discomfort). Easily though the standout track on the album is We Can Get Together. It’s also the song where they got the album’s title from (and the song I quoted at the beginning of this article). And its sly references to Pavement, The Psychedelic Furs, Hüsker Dü, and Todd’ Rundgren’s Utopia makes this one a music nerds anthem.

“Heaven Is Whenever” comes on a hefty 180gram vinyl slab that sounds as great as it feels to hold. It includes a download code. There’s also a pretty rare hand silk-screened Record Store Day version out there too if you don’t mind getting butt banged on eBay. Just save your money and get the regular heavy gram black version and you’ll be fine though. Odds are you won’t be finding money laying on the ground any time soon.

Popularity: 2% [?]