... All that Christian imagery?

"Stay Positive" is another Hold Steady album loaded with biblical references, especially in "Lord, I'm Discouraged" and "Both Crosses." Finn was confirmed at Our Lady of Christ Church in Edina and attended the Catholic-affiliated Boston College.

"My family wasn't strict or super-devout, but we certainly went to church on Sundays," said Finn. "I've always found a sense of calm going to church. I don't go a lot but I've actually been going a little more in recent years. I always come back to the concept of redemption and forgiveness, which are beautiful things. It's a part of how I understand the world."

... The recurring characters?

Charlemagne and Holly have been prominent on past Hold Steady records, but they're only named in one song on "Stay Positive" -- and it's a bonus track only on limited editions of the record, "Ask Her for Adderall" (added after the album leaked online).

"'Adderall' was only supposed to be on the vinyl edition. I thought it was a good vinyl-only song, like it would make it cooler for people to hear those characters brought up again there, but only there. Otherwise, I deliberately took the characters' names out of the rest of this record and kept them ambiguous. And now, I'm deliberately not answering questions about whether they're the same characters."

... Ybor City?

Good ol' Ybor, a historic section of Tampa, made the cut once again in "Slapped Actress," where Finn sings/stammers, "Don't tell them Ybor City almost killed us again."

"At first, it was just a name I saw on the map and liked the way it sounded. So there was the song on the first record, and sure enough when we started touring, people in Ybor City said we had to play there. When we did, a bunch of hardcore Hold Steady fans showed up and even flew down. Since then, we've played a couple more times, and it has kind of taken on a mythology all its own.

"It's the old Cuban district of Tampa. Twenty years ago or so, they kind of tried to spruce it up and make it like South Beach, and it didn't quite work. So it's got these weird nightclubs and peripheral characters -- a good setting for a Hold Steady song."

... The Rolling Stones?

They didn't actually get to meet any of them, but the Hold Steady can at least say "We opened for the Stones" -- in front of 50,000 people, no less, at the famous Slane Castle in Ireland.

"We were on-site all day at the concert, and I kept wondering where they were. About 10 minutes before they're supposed to go on, I'm thinking, 'God, where are they?' Then I saw the helicopter on the horizon.

"It was cool just being involved. Hearing Mick say, 'We really want to thank the Hold Steady' gave me chills."

... Bruce Springsteen?

Rolling Stone ran a photo of Finn ecstatically dancing onstage with The Boss when the Hold Steady played at a Carnegie Hall tribute to him in April 2007.

"I almost lost my mind at that. I didn't get to talk to him that night, but I did get to spend a little time chatting with him when we played the State Theatre last year; the next night he was over in St. Paul."