Front man for The Hold Steady, Craig Finn, can’t keep still. He’s set up a new side project which has seen him head down to Austin in Texas to record something which suspiciously seems like a side project, although he hasn’t quite decided whether it will be put out under his own name or it will come out on a yet to be decided band name.
Finn recorded the Americana-style tracks with Trail of Dead and Spoon producer producer Mike McCarthy and a who’s who of local bands including Centro-matic, Phosphorescent, Heartless Bastards and White Denim. The tracks were mostly whipped together over the course of five days and fans can hope to hear the results early next year. Alas we haven’t been given a teaser of the tracks yet, but The Hold Steady are still touring like troopers – they will spend the rest of this year on the road and lest fans be worried that the band will be put on errr… ‘hold’ Finn assures us that this new venture remains a mere side project.
The Hold Steady are in a bit of a errr … holding pattern at the moment – their last album (2010’s rather underwhelming Heaven Is Whenever kinda stiffed with the general public and critics and while they still hold an unrivalled position as a goodtime live band, they may need to consider bunkering down in the studio to come up with some songs to equal block busters like ‘Stay Positive’.
