If sing along songs are your scriptures, (and in wizard rock, what song isn’t a sing along song?) then the Hold Steady is a band that you should definitely spend some time with. There’s actually a fair chance you’ve already heard one of their songs, DatM‘s Brian Ross covers ‘Your Little Hoodrat Friend’ every once in a while. (This linked video also includes Matt of the Whomping Willows, and Alex of the Remus Lupins).

While front man Craig Finn’s sing-speak vocals may take some getting used to, his lyrics are, for lack of a better word, awesome. He has a very witty, and literary style to his song writing. Many of the songs follow the story of three main characters Holly, Charlemagne, and Gideon. To explain the story of these characters would cause you to be reading for hours, and it is much better experienced by listening to the music. One thing I have to say about the story is that it is scattered throughout the five albums and is open to the interpretation of the listener. For those who are wowed more by the music than lyrics, Tad Kubler’s guitar is there to please with some inspiring guitar licks and some extraordinary solos. Tad’s guitar is half of the reason I really became motivated to learn how to play the guitar (the other half being wizard rock). His solos can be incredibly simple, or completely massive, but they always make sense within the song they are a part of.

One of my favorite things about this band is their live performances. Craig often says “there is so much joy in what we do up here” and their performances back that statement. The entire band puts everything they’ve got into every show. I have seen them live 11 times, and my 12th is coming up later this year. 12 shows may sound a little excessive, but you can see the joy from even one live performance. Craig loves to perform, and when the crowd is into it, he loves it even more. The band truly gets into performing when the crowd is participating right along with them, whether it be clapping along to songs (At one of the last shows I have seen, the crowd was clapping along to the beat of “Chips Ahoy” and Craig through the microphone said “This sounds amazing”) or throwing confetti (which usually causes multiple smiles to break out). Craig is usually the more animated of the bunch, and as he gets into performing, his joy is portrayed through his smile, and his “interesting” dance moves.

The Hold Steady have influenced some of our favorite Wizard Rock bands. On DatM’s second album Party Like You’re Evil, ‘Knockturn Alley’ is a song that is written with the Hold Steady in mind. The lyrics are performed more sing-speak than normal, which is a direct nod to Craig. The lead guitar in the song is also very reminiscent of Tad, with it’s simplistic quality. While I do not have a video of a performance ‘Knockturn Alley’ I do have two videos for comparison. They are both performances of the song ‘First Night.’ The first is The Hold Steady performing the song, the second is Brian covering the song at The Sidewalk Cafe.

Their influences in wizard rock do not end there, one of Matt’s early Whomping Willows shirts, “The Whomping Willow Almost Killed Me” is a direct reference to a Hold Steady shirt “The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me.”

The Hold Steady have a five album discography; Almost Killed Me, Separation Sunday, Boys and Girls in America, Stay Positive, and Heaven is Whenever. In my honest opinion, the most accessible album for the new listener is the third installment, Boys and Girls in America. (If you are looking for ‘Your Little Hoodrat Friend’ check out Separation Sunday.) Their most recent album, Heaven is Whenever, was released earlier this year on May 4th. For more information about The Hold Steady visit their website, listen on myspace, or download at iTunes.