Roughly 30 minutes ago, I ripped open the latest record by Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady. Ever since, I’ve been suspicious that my colleagues know what I’m thinking: As soon as I get out of this office, I am finding the nearest car (preferably mine) and running a 10-mile circle around town blaring this record like an air-raid siren. Why?
Besides its informal title of "America’s Bar Band," The Hold Steady is a summer band—a group of musicians whose particular chemistry feels better when blasted on porches or spewed from the windows of overheated cars on sweat-soaked nights. (All that bar band title means is that their music feels better with beer. I could say the same about many, many musicians.) The line that opens "Constructive Summer"—"Me and my friends are like the drums on ‘Lust for Life‘"—is instantly resonant, because "Lust for Life" is the same type of record.
Boys of summer: The Hold Steady unveil the ripping new record Stay Positive next week. Just in time for my pool party. By which I mean, my "drink outdoors and wear sunglasses" party.
So what makes a summer band? Jeff Weiss, the L.A. Times’ music critic and blogger behind Passion of the Weiss, has been posting a couple "Summer Jamz" mixes a week for download—my favorites so far involve Dr. Dre, Mariah Carey and KISS. (Seriously, try listening to "Love Gun" in the dead of winter. That gun don’t fire.) I can make the case for Dre and Snoop pretty easily. Remember the video for "Nuthin’ But a G Thang"? When it’s summertime, the living is particularly easy in the city of Compton. And it’s gotta be bumpin’.
I can put my finger on a few components—live drums seem important, but I’ll sacrifice a drummer for something with a woozy sample and a slow drum machine. I don’t think I’d listen to a live record in the winter, but I’ve already played Neil Young’s Live Rust and a live album from The Pogues this summer, not to mention that bootleg of Paul Curreri and Danny Schmidt on Archive.org. There doesn’t seem to be any true formula.
What makes a summer record? A winter record? What would you prefer to listen to while kicking back with an Amstel or a Brooklyn Summer Ale? Leave your summer bands and beers below. I’ll comment on ’em or drink ’em when I can.
For more on The Hold Steady, you can see photos here from their November gig in Richmond and read my review in Fredericksburg’s Free Lance-Star here. Also, listen to an mp3 of the song "Sequestered in Memphis" on the Feedback Muxtape.