Starting last summer with Jon Batiste (QRO photos), The GRAMMY Museum has been running a series of ‘A New York Evening With’ events in the Big Apple, where a musician sits down to be interviewed, and then performs. They’ve stretched from big names like that then-Late Show bandleader to while-headlining-two-nights-at-Madison Square Garden (QRO photos) Stromae (QRO live review), to recently Eugene Hütz (QRO’s own interview) of Gogol Bordello, being interviewed by auteur director (and long-time friend) Jim Jarmusch (QRO live review). On Thursday, May 11th, Brooklyn-by-the-way-of-Minneapolis (or perhaps Minneapolis-by-way-of-Brooklyn) The Hold Steady talked & performed for their big fan Seth Meyers at National Sawdust.
Unlike with Hütz, this was an interview with the entire band, not just frontman Craig Finn. Finn, guitarist Tad Kubler, bassist Galen Polivka, drummer Bobby Drake, keyboardist Franz Nicolay, and guitarist Steve Selvidge talked about everything from their early days playing small spaces like National Sawdust (if not as classy) to their upcoming oral history book, The Gospel of The Hold Steady, which Meyers promoted for the band like the professional talk show host that he is. Indeed, Meyers noted how the band went from a bottle of Jameson on stage back when to their current songwriting process, which was described as basically “drop a song idea in the DropBox.” There was naturally a specific focus on the band’s latest release, this year’s The Price of Progress, from its more cinematic element to producer Josh Kaufman to that, “A ninth album is unlikely to make or break you.”
While it was no surprise that the host of Late Night was a great interviewer, it was of particular note how much of a fan Meyers is of the group, and knowledgeable of their large catalog of songs. Meyers mentioned how the Brooklyn-born band has lots of songs about the streets of Minneapolis (Finn’s hometown), so much so that a long-time Hold Steady fan like he could find his way around that Twin City. Meyers noted how his comedy special Lobby Baby started with The Hold Steady’s “Most People are DJs” (because it gets him ready to kick) and ended with a song the band wrote special for him, “Lobby Baby” (which the Lobby Daddy can’t help but cry when he listens to). There was even a nod to the current WGA writer’s strike that has stopped Late Night and so many other productions, how the writers are fighting for the streaming money that musicians missed out on, as well as Meyers noting that, during the 2007-08 writer’s strike, he and then fellow SNL Weekend Update anchor Amy Poehler would say “Hold steady” to each other on the picket line (Meyers also said that he’s still amazed that Poehler & Finn are college classmates…).
After a short change-over, Meyers came on to introduce the band for their performance. Finn admitted that they were doing a bit different take on some songs, seemingly designed for the still seated audience [note: Meyers stood at the back, so enjoying the performance that your correspondent/Late Night fan, who’s been going through “A Closer Look” withdrawals, refrained from mentioning to him that while Polivka might have a face like Andrew McCarthy – QRO interview – he had total Steff hair). The set included a number from Price, though no “Lobby Baby” or “Let’s Get Awesome”, The Hold Steady theme song to Meyers’ misfit superhero team cartoon series, The Awesomes. After mentioning earlier that the band has since become welcome heroes in name-checked Ybor City of “Killer Parties”, they’re still not in Modesto – perhaps because the full song title is “Modesto Is Not That Sweet” (which the band did a “rascal” version of, the version they did on television that used that word instead of “asshole”). Indeed, Finn had the stories behind many of the songs, from faulty couples to a pop star in trouble abroad.
While we are without talk shows right now, and we might be without shows in general in the near future, there’s still music to go and see – and even music & talk, with The GRAMMY Museum’s ‘A New York Evening With’.
