The Hold Steady Announce New Single Understudies

03-09-2023

Album art

(Big Hassle) The Hold Steady will share their latest song, "Understudies," tomorrow, Friday, March 10, at all DSPs and streaming services. The release of "Understudies" will mark the third track heralding The Hold Steady's ninth studio album, The Price of Progress, arriving on their own Positive Jams label via Thirty Tigers in three weeks, Friday, March 31.

A variety of formats will be available, including digital download, CD, standard black vinyl, translucent green vinyl (theholdsteady.net), metallic gold (Independent Retail exclusive), metallic silver (Vinyl Me, Please exclusive), and white (Rough Trade exclusive).

The band has also announced another 20th-anniversary celebration show at Austin, TX's Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater, set for June 3 with special guests the Mountain Goats. Tickets for the show are available tomorrow, Friday, March 10.

"This is sonically a leap from any song on the previous eight THS records," says frontman Craig Finn. "Franz brought this idea in and it went to a lot of cool places. I remember walking into the control room to see Galen and producer Josh Kaufman working on the panned bass part that comes in on the last verse. I was surprised and wildly excited by it. We all were. The story here: an actor is restless after his performance. He and a fellow crew member disappear into the night trying to find something to help them sleep. The next day neither of them can be reached, and the director is scrambling for a replacement."

The Hold Steady - who recently started commemorating their 20th anniversary with intimate, sold-out shows in Brooklyn, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC - will celebrate The Price of Progress with a wide-ranging live schedule including this weekend's sold-out edition of The Weekender, the band's annual multi-night live event for fans in the United Kingdom and European Union, set for this weekend at London's Electric Ballroom (March 10-11) and Colours Hoxton (March 12). In addition, this week has seen The Hold Steady making sold-out in-store appearances - including live performances and signing sessions - at Rough Trade stores across the UK, in London, Bristol, and Nottingham.

The Hold Steady will replicate the in-store event in New York at Rough Trade's NYC store in Rockefeller Center on Wednesday, April 5 at 7:00 pm - tickets for the live performance and signing session are on sale now. This Spring will see the inaugural We Can Get Together, a THS weekend curated for fans in Portland, OR on April 27-29 - the band's first visit to Portland since 2014. The event kicks off Thursday April 27 with an intimate show at Mississippi Studios (sold out) before moving over to Revolution Hall for shows on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29. A variety of special events are scheduled to celebrate their return, including We Can Get Together Saturday - three exclusive pre-show fan events at Revolution Hall on Saturday afternoon, April 29. The schedule for We Can Get Together Saturday features a live edition of lead singer Craig Finn's popular That's How I Remember It podcast featuring his The Hold Steady bandmates; The Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay will be featured in a special one-on-one interview discussing his two critically acclaimed books, Someone Should Pay for Your Pain and The Humorless Ladies of Border Control; and an exclusive guitar workshop hosted by The Hold Steady guitarists Tad Kubler and Steve Selvidge, who will talk gear, demonstrate some Hold Steady songs, and take questions from the audience. Three-day passes for We Can Get Together are already sold out as is Night One at Mississippi Studios; limited tickets remain available for Nights Two and Three at Revolution Hall, including a special Soundcheck/Happy Hour event on Friday, April 28.

The Hold Steady's 20th-anniversary celebration continues May 13 with a very special evening at Boston, MA's Roadrunner, joined by special guests Dinosaur Jr. and Come. Additional dates include a sold-out two-night stand at Chicago, IL's The Salt Shed, set for June 30 and July 1, joined by special guests the Mountain Goats and Dillinger Four. A further sold-out show at Chicago's famed The Empty Bottle is slated for July 2.

The Price of Progress includes the previously unveiled singles, "Sideways Skull" and "Sixers," both available now at all DSPs and streaming services. "Sideways Skull" - which The Hold Steady performed live at last year's annual Massive Nights celebration at Brooklyn, NY's Brooklyn Bowl - was greeted by critical applause from such outlets as SPIN, Relix, NME, Consequence, and Stereogum, which declared it to be "a big, meaty rocker...The Hold Steady are once again returning with a new LP. If the first single is any indication, we should get ready for another ripper."

"Sixers" was met by similar acclaim from the likes of Stereogum, Under The Radar, and CLASH, which wrote, "A dose of helter-skelter indie rock, 'Sixers' is marked the band's taut energies, and songwriter Craig Finn's excellent lyrical stance." "'Sixers' sees the band reclaiming some of their classic rock DNA," wrote Far Out. "A welcome return to the kind of music that The Hold Steady excel at."

MARCH
10 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom *
11 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom (SOLD OUT) *
12 - London, UK - Colours Hoxton (SOLD OUT) *

APRIL
27 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios ** (SOLD OUT)
28 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall **
29 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall **

MAY
12 - New York, NY - WFUV Highline Bash
13 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner ^

JUNE
3 - Austin, TX - Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater #
30 - Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed † (SOLD OUT)

JULY
1 - Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed † (SOLD OUT)
2 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (SOLD OUT)

SEPTEMBER
2 - Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN - TBA
22 - Jersey City, NJ - TBA
23 - Philadelphia, PA - TBA

OCTOBER
7 - Las Vegas, NV - TBA

NOVEMBER
29 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl ***
30 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl ***

DECEMBER
1 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl ***
2 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl ***

* The Weekender 2023
** We Can Get Together
# w/ the Mountain Goats
† w/ the Mountain Goats and Dillinger Four
^ w/ Dinosaur Jr. and Come
*** Massive Nights 2023