Bar Band

To anyone familiar with The Hold Steady's first two records, it comes as no surprise that the Brooklyn band enjoys spending the occasional evening tossing back a spirit-or 10. Their gruffly spoken lyrics are a combination of old Twin Cities haunts, inside jokes and an eternal lament for the passing of that once mighty beast, the bar band. I spoke with guitarist Tad Kubler and frontman Craig Finn (out back, behind a bar) ahead of their Castle Clinton show, in order to get better acquainted with a few of the group's favorite local watering holes in order to find out, once and for all, what it truly means to be a bar band.

Hi-Fi, 169 Ave. A

Finn: Galen [Polvika], our bass player, bartends here. Our old band, Lifter Puller, played one of the last shows at [Hi Fi's former moniker] Brownies-we reunited for it because the club was so good. A lot of stuff leads back here. If I can make it, I always drink here.

Kubler: The jukebox is incredible, too.

Finn: If you can't find something on there, you're just an asshole. You're just making shit up.

McFinn's, 8 East 36th St. Kubler: We were at an awesome bar last week called McFinn's-which, his last name being Finn?

Finn: That place was pretty good; I'm not sure it was awesome. We were throwing them off a bit?

Kubler: The bartender was like, "You guys are in a band, aren't you?"

Cherry Tavern, 441 East 6th St. Kubler: I've never walked out of that place unscathed by some sort of situation.

Finn: That's some serious drinking. A friend of mine was arguing that Hi Fi was a place to get fucked up. I don't know about that. The Cherry Tavern's one step up. No one's going there for a social drink, I mean, it doesn't even have windows.

Motor City Bar, 127 Ludlow St. Kubler: The music's always good. They have some sort of DJ situation but usually just some dude playing some Faces records.

Finn: In most places, a jukebox is always preferred over a DJ. There's a "power to the people" vibe.

South's 273 Church St. Finn: When we did Separation Sunday that was the nearest bar. Tad got bit by a dog over there.

Kubler: I was so drunk that I got halfway down the stairs before I realized anything had happened, and I was like, "I think something bit me." I would get double Maker's and ginger, and they'd bring it to me in a pint glass.

DC's Tavern, 505 8th St., Hoboken Kubler: The guy who drum techs for Bobby [Drake] on [the forthcoming Boys and Girls in America] is one of the owners of the place. It's super small, and they've got a pool table in there, and it's just tiny.

Finn: It's the smallest bar I've ever been in. It's like a small living room.

Kubler: It's hardly big enough to put people in, let alone a functioning pool table. Great tunes. There's a record player behind the bar, and you get to hear the whole side of an album.

The band's third record, Boys and Girls in America, is coming to a jukebox near you this October. In the meantime-drink up.

July 27. Castle Clinton, 1 Bowling Green (Battery Park), 212-344-7220; 7, Free.