Multi-instrumentalist (and sometime Spectrum Culture contributor) Franz Nicolay left the Hold Steady last week. While Nicolay's interests outside the popular rock band include solo touring, writing stories and collaborating with other bands, many fans were surprised at his decision to go out on his own.
Nicolay took some time out of relaxing in his new Brooklyn home during a short break from his hectic tour schedule to talk to me about his decision to leave the Hold Steady, what's next and an idea for a pretty interesting collaboration with some other artists that also went solo. I am pleased to present the Spectrum Culture interview with Franz Nicolay.
How are you doing, Franz?
I'm doing good. Enjoying my time off. Just cooking myself some dinner.
Well, the big news this is that you left the Hold Steady. But, based on some of your official comments, this sounds like it was a long time coming.
Yeah, it was never a relationship that was built to last. When they first asked me to join the band, I did on the understanding that at that time it wasn't going to be my number one priority. It later became that way because it turned into a such a big deal. The reality of it was then, and now, I had other stuff going on. It seemed like a good enough time as any to make a clean break. The album cycle was done. We started to work on new songs that I didn't really feel that strongly about. They wanted more of my time than I was willing to give.
So this was an amicable split?
Yeah, pretty much. I think everyone's happier this way.
The interesting thing is that when we were talking last year, I told you about a comment I read on the fan board that said, "If anyone in the band is going to quit, it's going to be Franz." You said, "That's probably right." Was it already in the cards by that point?
It's a question I went back and forth on almost the entire time I was in the band. The reason people could sense it is that I am the only one in the band that does other projects. While I share an affinity with some of the goals of the Hold Steady, it certainly wasn't all I was interested in doing with my life. Basically, it was someone else's grand vision. I saw a really interesting opportunity which is why I joined the band in the first place, in terms of what I could bring to the band and the amount of growth potential for it and I thought I could be helpful and could make some really interesting music. But that sort has been achieved. When I was re-evaluating this last year it didn't seem like there was a similar level of growth apparent. I have no problems with the basic conservatism with rock and rock fans, people who are into rock with a capital "R" and have really strong ideas about what it is. But I had different ambitions than that.
When you and I first met, you said you didn't want your epitaph to read sideman in a band.
I think that's still the case.
It seems you have some pretty grand ambitions about where you want to go with music.
Grand? Yeah, I guess so. I'm not sure I think that an idea of wanting to continue to be creative and be interested and be surprised is a grand ambition. I think that's an ambition most people basically share in their day to day life. Whether they get to achieve that is another question. I don't think that ambition itself is a particularly grand one.
Is it going to be a financial strain for you to leave the band?
No, I make way more money on solo tours than I did with the band. My margins on solo touring are pretty low and the Hold Steady was an expensive proposition in a lot of ways.
Can you share with me some of your favorite memories of being in the band?
Two in particular. One being the Springsteen tribute we did at Carnegie Hall which felt like a coming out in a lot of ways. That was a great moment to be on stage with Patti Smith, Ronnie Spector and Springsteen, not to mention other bands that are our peers. To close out that concert playing piano on the Carnegie Hall stage and getting a standing ovation and a pat on the back from Springsteen, all this stuff was one of those great rock dreams. I also remember the day Boys and Girls in America came out and we did a warm-up show the night before out in Connecticut at an American Legion hall. But then we were playing Irving Plaza, October 1st, I believe, of 2006. It was a Sunday night, so there weren't that many other concerts going on and we had a big spread on the cover of the Times arts section talking about the band and talking about the record. It really felt like that, that night, we were playing the biggest show in New York. It was an ambition I had when I moved to New York when I was 17 to be a musician. So about 10 years later I felt I was playing the biggest show in New York.
Which of the four Hold Steady albums is your favorite and why?
I think Boys and Girls. I think Stay Positive is underappreciated only in comparison to that. Boys and Girls was the first where I felt like I had a real songwriting contribution. It was difficult to make in a lot of ways because there was a real conflict about what the vision for the record was going to be and I think it led to a really productive creative tension.
How about your favorite song and why?
"First Night." I love waltzes and it has this great grandiose coda which I love also. I wrote a string arrangement where I was trying to do something like the one the David Bowie song "Five Years." I was trying to do something like that. Unfortunately, you can't hear it so well because there is so much else going on, but I was pretty proud of that.
Are you going to keep in touch with those dudes?
Yeah, but not right away. I think we need a little time apart. We've just been touring really hard for a couple of years. I think we need to do our own things for a little while.
Speaking of your own thing, let's talk about what's next for you. You have this new Guignol band and a collection of fiction coming out.
Actually, Guignol is an old band. We started that in 2003. It was a spin-off of World Inferno basically. Peter Hess and I had written a bunch of material that didn't have a place in Inferno so we had been talking about doing a Balkan instrumental band for awhile. We actually started backing up the Coney Island Circus Sideshow at a series of dates at CBGB's and then kept it going. We put out a couple of records right away and then took a couple of years off because everyone was on the road so much. We got back together to do a collaboration record with our friend Erik Petersen of Mischief Brew out of Baltimore, a folk/punk songwriter. That record I am really, really proud of. It's one of the five best records I've ever done. Hopefully we'll be doing more touring behind that. The short collection is the first in a series of chapbook collections that have come out over the course of the year and then they will be anthologized early next year. Then I'm doing a bunch of solo touring. I'm going to start working on another solo record in May. I may end up hooking onto another band in a similar role as with the Hold Steady. There's at least one I've been talking to. It's not like I put that aspect of myself aside either.
Is that band a secret right now?
Yeah; just because nothing has come of it. But I don't think I'm done playing keyboards in rock bands.
Can you briefly describe your fiction?
The guy who is putting out the stories is describing it as an old world Mark Twain style thing. The stories that are in the first collection have that quality and of Sholem Aleichem, the Yiddish writer.
Are you Jewish?
No, I'm not (laughs). But I pass for it a lot. I am going for a fantastical folk tale quality even though a lot of the stories are based on my life.
Is writing becoming a more prominent part in what you do?
I think so. Given that it seems that people are interested in it, it makes for a really productive use for my downtime, especially on tour. When you're on tour, most of your day is spent sitting around waiting for the show. If I can be doing something during that time that is also productive, that is really helpful.
What did you learn while making Major General that you will apply to the next record?
I'd like it to be a little more of a coherent statement. I think I emptied out my old songwriting scrapbook on Major General and the new set of songs will be more of a piece both in terms of instrumentation and level of songwriting. I have this idea. I love country music and I love that style of songwriting and I also love these melodramatic pop productions that have big string sections. I have been listening to this Lyle Lovett record, I Love Everybody, a lot over the last couple of years. I feel like he really nails a sweet spot of traditional songwriting with really eccentric and devious sensibility. Also, he has that big Nashville arrangement, except for instead of a giant string orchestra doing it he just has this little string quarter. So it has that epic sweep in the melodies but a real chamber quality to the sound. Not that I want to make a record exactly like that but I am using that idea as an inspiration.
Anything else in terms of the future? Is it wide open right now? How are you feeling about it?
There's a lot of options and I'll just see how it goes. I'll do a package tour with Jason Isbell and Matt Sharp called That One Dude From That Band. Not the Main Guy, The Other Guy. We can get Isobel Campbell and Lou Barlow on board with that.
Last question: What Hold Steady song are you happy to never play again?
(pause) I shouldn't say that because, who knows, maybe I will end up playing it again. I don't know. Any song you have to play every single night becomes a little bit of a drag after awhile. So maybe "Hoodrat." Not because I don't like it, but basically we played it literally every show for five years.
by David Harris
[Photos: Jason Stoff]
