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Dec 01, 2020 The Hold Steady By Joey Arnone Photography by Adam Parshall

The Hold Steady have announced a new album titled Open Door Policy, along with sharing a song from the album, “Family Farm.” Open Door Policy will be out February 19, 2021 on the band’s Positive Jams label via Thirty Tigers. Listen to “Family Farm” below and check out the cover art and tracklist for Open Door Policy below as well.

Singer Craig Finn had much to say about the song in a press release: “Songs are created a bunch of different ways in The Hold Steady, but to me, our most classic songs are driving rock songs with piano breaks ‘Family Farm’ fits the bill. The genesis of the song was the guitar riff that starts it. Tad Kubler played a home demo for me and our producer Josh Kaufman, and we thought it was worth pursuing. At this point it had the working title ‘August.’ We brought it to the band and Franz had the idea for the bridge. This seemed like a ‘scene change’ of sorts, and gave the song more depth and intrigue. We recorded it in December 2019 at the Clubhouse in upstate N.Y., just after our annual run of shows at the Brooklyn Bowl. Our friends Stuart Bogie and Jordan McLean added horns a bit later. I was personally happy to get a mention of Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’ in the lyrics, and I appreciate it even more after Eddie Van Halen’s unfortunate recent passing. Overall, it feels like a song that will be fun to play live—uptempo, dynamic, and a chorus with shout-along potential.”

Finn had a bit more to say about the new album: “Open Door Policy was very much approached as an album vs. a collection of individual songs, and it feels like our most musically expansive record. This album was written and almost entirely recorded before the pandemic started, but the songs and stories explore power, wealth, mental health, technology, capitalism, consumerism, and survival—issues which have compounded in 2020.”

The Hold Steady are also holding their annual Massive Nights event, a three-day concert celebration held every year at Brooklyn Bowl in New York, albeit in a different format. Held across December 3, 4, and 5, the event will be available as a livestream, and tickets can be purchased here.

The band will be putting out a 10-year anniversary double-album reissue of their fifth studio album, Heaven Is Whenever. It is available for pre-order now on black vinyl as well as limited-edition colored vinyl, along with a number of exclusive bundles, which can all be found here.

The Hold Steady consists of Bobby Drake (drums), Craig Finn (vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (guitar, vocals), Franz Nicolay (keyboards, vocals), Galen Polivka (bass), and Steve Selvidge (guitar, vocals). Their most recent album was Thrashing Thru the Passion, which came out back in August 2019 via Frenchkiss.

Open Door Policy Tracklist:

1. The Feelers
2. Spices
3. Lanyards
4. Family Farm
5. Unpleasant Breakfast
6. Heavy Covenant
7. The Prior Procedure
8. Riptown
9. Me & Magdalena
10. Hanover Camera
11. Parade Days*

*Digital Only

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