Hold Fast (album)
| Hold Fast (album) | ||||
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| Studio album by The Crookes | ||||
| Released |
 July 9, 2012 October 1, 2013
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| Recorded | 2012 | |||
| Genre | Indie pop | |||
| Length | 33:07 | |||
| Label | Fierce Panda | |||
| Producer | Matt Peel | |||
| The Crookes chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Hold Fast | ||||
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Hold Fast was the second full length studio album released by Sheffield-based indie pop group The Crookes. Produced by long-time collaborator Matt Peel, it was recorded in February 2012 and released on Fierce Panda Records on 9 July 2012. Three tracks from the album were released as singles, and the album generally received positive reviews in the media.
Hold Fast was the first Crookes album to feature guitarist Tom Dakin, who was brought in to temporarily fill in on an autumn tour of Europe and the UK when founding member Alex Saunders left the band in September 2011; Dakin has since become a permanent member of the band. As was the case with their 2010 EP Dreaming of Another Day and 2011 debut album Chasing After Ghosts, all lyrics on this album were penned by guitarist Daniel Hopewell.
Hopewell was inspired to title the album Hold Fast after a late night conversation the band had with friend Richard Hawley, in which Hawley explained to them that "...sailors used to tattoo 'HOLD FAST' across their knuckles...they couldn't hear each other speak because of all the gunshots, but they [had] tattooed 'HOLD FAST' [on their hands] and they'd grip onto their oars and keep going, and eventually all the blood would drain from their hands, but the message would still be there [visible] in ink. And I just thought it was such a fantastic metaphor for being in a band, for sticking it out and keeping going that it seemed the most perfect song choice and title choice for this album."
To raise funds for touring and other incidentals, the Crookes started a PledgeMusic campaign in spring 2012 based around the release of Hold Fast. Fans who pre-ordered Hold Fast through the project had exclusive access to purchase limited edition and rare Crookes merchandise such as shirts worn by the band, signed guitars, and personalised lyric sheets, as well as to purchase unusual special events like a private guitar lesson with the band to learn a Crookes song, a gig in a fan's living room, and a five-a-side football match in which the band themselves would play the sport with their fans.
The Crookes' PledgeMusic campaign site provided a physical location to host fan exclusives, including the "Hold Fast Interviews" series in which the band members took turns interviewing each other on camera. In the series, Hopewell was interviewed by drummer Russell Bates and revealed that Hold Fast was a happier album lyrically than Chasing After Ghosts because he suffers "quite badly from seasonal affective disorder" and "in winter when it's cold, I just generally find it impossible to write happy songs because I'm always quite miserable, but then this last album, which was written while we were abroad, and it was sunny, and it was an incredible time, so I think it was impossible for me to be unhappy when it is like that." When the album was released in July 2012, the campaign had raised funds over 124% of the band's original goal. The campaign's Web site stated that "a percentage of our proceeds [will go] to Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity Fund..."
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