Mood Modifiers

New York City hard rockers the Hold Steady count their October 22, 2005, appearance at the Casbah as one of their best shows ever...probably because their tour bus accommodated 17 people after the show.

"The last time we played San Diego, Bobby [Drake, the drummer] got drunk and walked into the hotel hot tub with all his clothes on and then slept in them," says guitarist Tad Kubler. "When he took his jeans off in the morning, he hung them up in the bus and a cockroach crawled out of them. I shit you not."

There are a number of reasons why the band keeps coming back to town.

"Our rider on our contract asks for 'mood modifiers,' " vocalist Craig Finn says. "San Diego is one of the few places that fulfilled that request. The rest would be too much to tell."

The Hold Steady play the Casbah for the third time in less than a year on February 19.