The Mountain Goats and The Hold Steady

John Darnielle was born on March 16th, 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana. At the age of two he lost his birth father, leading him and his mother to relocate to Central California where he grew up with a physically and emotionally abusive step-father. To cope with it he retreated into music and writing in a big way, but found that once high school was over, he couldn’t bring himself to stay in his hometown any longer. He found a job as a psychiatric nurse at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, California and began writing songs on the guitar when he wasn’t working. He started performing live around 1990, and made a valuable friend in the form of Dennis Callaci.

Callaci was the owner of Shrimper Records, and after Darnielle gave him a boombox recorded demo tape of some of his early songs, Callaci released it as Darnielle’s first album “Taboo IV: The Homecoming”. Unwilling to perform under his own name, Darnielle took the moniker The Mountain Goats from the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins song “Yellow Coat” and began to tour with only himself on guitar and his friend Rachel Ware on the bass guitar. In 1991, Darnielle started attending the Pitzeer College in Claremont to study for an English degree, and it was during this time that he started properly focusing on songwriting, becoming renowned for his massively prolific output of songs.

Between 1991 and 1995 he released a large number of cassette’s and seven inch vinyl’s and built up a devoted following because of it. However, once he left college he decided to take his band more seriously and make a go of starting an actual career in music. His debut album proper, “Zopilote Machine”, had been released in 1994, and he spent the rest of the 1990’s building his following into a proper, nationwide fan-base. While the group have never been commercially succesful, they remain one of the most critically acclaimed and respected acts in American indie rock. Darnielle remains as prolific as ever, and has grown into a truly captivating live act to boot. The Mountain Goats are a band to see as soon as possible, and they come highly recommended.

After the Minneapolis based band, Little Puller, dissolved, their vocalist/songwriter Craig Finn and their lead guitarist Tad Kubler came up with the idea for The Hold Steady and enlisted bassist Galen Polivka, keyboardist Franz Nicolay, and drummer Judd Counsell to be in the band. Franz Nicolay would later leave the band in 2010 to be replaced by Steve Selvidge, and Judd Counsell would leave in 2005 to be replaced by Bobby Drake.

The Hold Steady received critical success with their 2004 debut album “Almost Killed Me”, which was released on Frenchkiss Records. “Rolling Stone” has listed the album as one of the 100 Best Albums of the Decade. The album is considered to be a concept album and focuses on several themes such as near-death experiences. Their second studio album “Separation Sunday” was released in 2005 and was also critically lauded. The album conveyed Craig Finn’s talent for engaging storytelling, which was heavily loaded with religious overtones. The album featured Finn presenting the lyrics in a gritty manner and almost talking the lyrics instead of singing them. The music on the album was also in the vein of classic rock and roll with loud, screeching guitar solos and riff based structures. Such publications as Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Billboard gave the album phenomenal reviews.

In 2006 The Hold Steady switched record labels and released their third album “Boys and Girls in America” through Vagrant Records. The album achieved critical acclaim like their previous albums and contained the singles “Chips Ahoy!” and “Stuck Between Stations”. The album was consistent in placing on many publications’ lists for best album of the year. After the release of this album, The Hold Steady was showing an increasing growth in critical praise and commercial success. In 2007 the band was asked to contribute a cover song for the film “I’m Not There”, which is a biopic about Bob Dylan’s life.

The Hold Steady’s fourth studio album “Stay Positive” was released in 2008 and showed the band expanding their sound with more instrumentation. The album also featured several notable musicians such as J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. and Doug Gillard from Guided By Voices. Apart from The Hold Steady, Craig Finn has also released music through his solo career. In 2012 Craig Finn released his first solo album “Clear Heart Full Eyes”. After Franz Nicolay left the band and was replaced by guitarist Steve Selvidge, The Hold Steady released their first song with Selvidge in the band titled “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”. The song was released in 2013 and appeared on the “Game of Thrones” series.

Through The Hold Steady, Craig Finn has released some of the most gripping songwriting of his generation. The band is known for their energetic live performances and have played many headlining shows as well as festival like Lollapalooza. The Hold Steady has also toured with many notable bands such as Les Savy Fav, The Rolling Stones, and Drive-By Truckers.