Friday, August 01, 2008

FM 94/9 Presents The Hold Steady @ Strate Sound 8.1.08

FM 94/9 Insiders are pretty accustomed to getting e-mails to enter a drawing to win entrance to private studio sessions with major artists when they come to town, and they've done a lot of good national acts as well as some killer sessions with local bands for The Local Pyle. Natalie entered to win tickets for The Hold Steady and actually won, so in response to her tweet, I got to be her plus one.

Strate Sound is a beautiful recording studio located in east county. I'll say, for the record, that as a San Diego native, I'd never been to the area, so it was kind of, um, eye-opening? It could've been Lancaster or Baker or Modesto. I arrived a little after 12 and helped myself to a Budweiser in the cooler, which I later found out belonged to some dudes...so sorry. I thought it was a free for all. Anyway, we hung outside while the band was being interviewed, enjoying awesome philly cheesesteaks from Gaglione Brothers until around 1, when we entered the facility. Nat and I took spots on the floor up front.




They dimmed the lights so my photos suck, but here they are anyway. Check Natalie's site for better ones later.





I was a little surprised the station wasn't videotaping the session, so I took it upon myself to record a song. After talking with everyone, it seems they would've been cool if I'd recorded the whole thing, but I didn't want to make a scene, so this is the best I got.



You can listen to the entire session, including the interview, this afternoon on FM 94/9 around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. Click HERE. Huge thanks to the station. It was pure coincidence that I had taken to day off from work and man, am I glad I did. I cannot wait to see the show tonight at the Casbah.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Did it sound like Bruce Springstein? You can't write an article about the hold steady without bringing up Bruce Springstein. What kind of journalist are you?!!!