The Hold Steady - 'Chips Ahoy!' (Vagrant) Released 13/11/06

There’s two camps when it comes to The Hold Steady: those that regard their brand of blue collar American arena-rock as just one evolutionary step above free-jazz in the soul-destroying stakes, or those who think the five-piece are the saving grace for a scene still seemingly scared of thinking big and emotional lest it be tagged un-fashionable. The Hold Steady definitely don’t care about fashion. Instead ‘Chips Ahoy!’ sounds like The Replacements chasing Counting Crows through a beer factory: it’s what older people might call “good-time rock and roll” with a straight face, and it is strangely, annoyingly good. That feeling of wanting to shoot every member that accompanied every listen of, say, Nickleback, just isn’t there. After the success Razorlight and The Killers had using Springsteen for inspiration on their recent material, maybe it’s time to tag The Hold Steady as dark horses. This time next year they could be bigger than both.