Hold Steady LP for May; Tour April

Titled Heaven Is Whenever, it's out on Vagrant May 4. Tour dates below.

By Blurt Staff

The Hold Steady's new album 'Heaven Is Whenever' will be released by Vagrant on May 4 in the U.S. and May 3 in the U.K. and E.U. The album was produced by Dean Baltulonis, who engineered the band's 2004 release 'Almost Killed Me' and produced the followup 'Separation Sunday,' and was recorded at Dreamland Recording Studios in Upstate NY and Wild Arctic Studios in Queens, NY, with mixing also happening at Wild Arctic.

In a statement, HS frontman Craig Finn said that 'Heaven Is Whenever' is about "embracing suffering and understanding its place in a joyful life.  The lyrics speak a lot about struggle and reward."  Piano and keys take a backseat to guitar on the new record, which also gets production help from guitarist Tad Kubler.  "I really believe the album exposes new elements of the band that we hinted at on other records but weren't able to fully realize until this one," said Kubler.  "Rather than just concentrate on changes in the instrumentation, we made changes to the song writing process."

Recorded in several smaller sessions spread out over a long period of time, the songs on 'Heaven Is Whenever' received the benefit of being tested on the band's recent tours.  There was also a makeshift recording booth set up on the back of their tour bus so songs and musical ideas could be documented as they developed.  Finn said this allowed them to "see what was working and what wasn't.  I believe this record benefits from us working at a more deliberate pace."

Following the release of 2008's critically acclaimed 'Stay Positive,' which gave the band it's highest Billboard chart position to date, The Hold Steady toured relentlessly, playing to some of their biggest audiences to date. The band will kick off a string of tour dates in early April, followed by selected shows in May (including the Sasquatch! festival) then it's over to the UK and Europe in June.

Tracklisting:

1. The Sweet Part of the City

2. Soft in the Center

3. The Weekenders

4. The Smidge

5. Rock Problems

6. We Can Get Together

7. Hurricane J

8. Barely Breathing

9. Our Whole Lives

10. A Slight Discomfort

Tour Dates:

Fri        April 2 Ardsley, NY   LIFE the place to be

Sat       Apr 3   New Haven, CT          Toad's Place

Mon     Apr 5   Burlington, VT            Higher Ground

Tue      Apr 6   Northampton, MA      Pearl Street

Wed    Apr 7   Albany, NY    Linda Norris Auditorium

Thu      Apr 8   Woodstock, NY          Bearsville Theater

Fri        Apr 9   Jermyn, PA     Eleanor Rigby's

Sat       Apr 10 Syracuse, NY  The Westcott Theater

Mon     Apr 12 Rochester, NY            The Club at Water Street Music Hall

Tue      Apr 13 Cleveland, OH            Beachland Ballroom

Wed    Apr 14 Pittsburgh, PA            Diesel Club Lounge

Thu      Apr 15 Morgantown, WV       123 Pleasant St.

Fri        Apr 16 Harrisburg, PA            Appalachian Brewing Company

Wed    May 5  Los Angeles, CA        El Rey Theatre

Thu      May 6  San Francisco, CA      The Fillmore

Sat       May 29            George, WA    Sasquatch Festival

Sat       Jun 12  Newport, UK  Isle of Wright Festival

Mon     Jun 14  Paris, FR                     Fleche D'Or

Mon     Jun 21  Amsterdam, NL          Melkeg

Tue      Jun 22  London, UK   HMV Forum

Sat       Jun 26  Manchester, UK          Academy 2

[Photo Credit: Judson Baker]