The Hold Steady / The Checks / The New York Fund

The New York Fund do not hail from NY, but from good old London Town. They are saving up in a jar above the fridge for a trip to the Big Apple to show off their brand of rock and roll. ‘Winnebago’, 'Wild Birds’ and ‘Don’t Amount To Much’ are head nodding ditties with a bit of country flavouring. ‘The Guns Of Camden Town’ is a good choice as a single from the ‘Guns’ EP, though with all the mention of weapons they do not appear to be violent people! It’s a shame the gig isn’t in the larger room; the room feels empty however as the crowd is yet to congregate.



The Checks have bags of energy to say they have travelled from New Zealand for this tour. At first I thought it was a Strokes rip off band, but they impress with soft and loud rock with blues and jazz influences. The musicians are very tight, and it can’t hurt that the singer is cute. They appear quite young, all in their tight jeans, but the performance is good to the increased crowd. ‘Hunting Whales’ is a repetitive but catchy track with plenty of yelps from the drummer. They only have one EP out at the moment, 2005’s ‘What You Heard’ but keep an eye out for more from these youngsters.


Ever since I heard album ‘Boys And Girls In America’ early this year I have wanted to see The Hold Steady. Their sound takes me back to 1992; no nonsense rock and roll. The Brooklyn five-piece are very down to earth, especially singer Craig Finn who meets the ground suddenly by misjudging the stage.

The guy is so pissed it doesn’t really matter. An excellent frontman; his spoken word vocals may have to grow on some people, but there is no mistaking the distinctive informative style of delivery. Franz Nicolay on the electric piano has a moustache that I have never seen on any other living human being, you know the cartoon style that curls and twists at either end. Add to that the hat and you have a unique musician, who’s piano skills are amazing to boot.



Guitarist Tad Kubler plays heavily distorted solos to harmonize with Nicolay’s piano, whilst drummer Bobby Drake and bassist Galen Polivka hold the whole thing steady (sorry - had to use the name). The sound is very tight; these guy’s are definitely a live band. Rather than regurgitate the songs as they are on the album, the tracks are somewhat improvised. They all look to be having the time of their lives, and the crowd has definitely grown to full capacity.

The main bulk of songs that everyone seems to know (‘Chips Ahoy’, ‘Stuck Between Stations’) are from the BAGIA album, as the first two albums are yet to be released over here (May 2007 I heard). There are a few ones that are unfamiliar (‘Girls Like Status’ and ‘Arms & Hearts’ are Australian only imports), but they blend so well together that you can still relate to them.



Tad gives his guitar to an audience member to play whilst he attempts harmonica duties; the lad could be part of the band, really impressive. For the last song Finn, who is now very drunk, pulls the majority of the crowd onto the tiny stage which is already quite full with the band. I had a riot and the crowd did too. I am expecting big things from these guys so watch out for them.

Set list:

Stuck Between Stations
Arms & Hearts
Chips Ahoy
Party Pit
You Can Make Him Like You
Massive Night
Stevie Nix
Your Little Hoodrat Friend
Southtown Girls

First Night
Girls like Status
Killer Parties

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.