With little to no love from radio or television, Hold Steady cracked the charts at 124 with its latest album, "Boys and Girls in America."

On this third disc, the self-described bar band rambles and soars through 11 tracks about drugs, infatuation and the complexities of young love.

"One thing I love about Craig (Finn)'s songs is you identify with them," said Tad Kubler, lead guitarist. "'I remember when that happened to me' or 'I know that guy.' Lyrically, the subject matter is very personal, so we tried to make the music more dynamic and personal to us."

CHANGES
Finn also wanted to change direction in his songwriting to move away from linear stories and concept albums. Meanwhile, Kubler wanted the group to expand as musicians.

 "As we starting writing songs, we wanted to try new things," he said. "We could do really big rock " we'd done that with the last one " so now we wanted something more dynamic and grow a lot on this record."

The Hold Steady manages to stand out, even in the congested New York market, where it's based.

"People got tired of music being about fashion and anything else but playing music and having fun together," Kubler said. "They have these weird, hip haircuts and none of them look like they're having fun." "Charles Martin