Just like it used to be in the olden days The Hold Steady's third album Girls And Boys In America was the one which got them international recognition.

It was a shock in a time where bands can get on magazine front covers before they even release a single.

Now, two years on the Brooklyn-based band has a fourth album, Stay Positive, in the can.

They are an anathema to the youth-obsessed bands generally found filling column inches around the country, having formed when frontman Craig Finn was 31.

"Our concept was to start a straight rock band with low aspirations," he says.

"Just local shows, no touring, and most likely no real records."

After a few popular shows they broke those rules and released three records in three years culminating in Boys And Girls, which became a critics' favourite in most of the 2006 end of year magazine polls, and was re-released in expanded form last year.

The band started throwing ideas around for the new album while on the road, before going into the studio earlier this year to record it.

"I think this record, musically and lyrically, is about the attempt to age gracefully," says Craig. "At the age of 30 I was working in an office, thinking my rock band days were behind me. This last summer we opened for the Rolling Stones in Ireland."