Franz Nicolay sticks out among The Hold Steady‘s members like a Yankees fan at a Red Sox game. He downs bottles of red onstage while his bandmates opt for cases of Budweiser. He mans the accordion and organ for songs more akin to ’80s punk and ’90s alt-rock. His moustache has finer handlebars than a Schwinn 12-speed.
But for all my committed love of The Hold Steady and their secret ‘stache, I never imagined that Nicolay would open his January U.S. tour for his new solo album, Major General, in Virginia. In Charlottesville. At Boylan Heights. Hey, the man knows how to stick out.
I spoke with Nicolay during a break from a recording session in Brooklyn, and he spoke a bit about his upcoming solo album, due on January 13. Interview highlights after the picture.
Franz Nicolay: The very model of a modern Major General?
- Nicolay called Major General "kind of a grab bag," and said that the songs range from tunes he pitched to other bands to tracks that he wrote years ago then gave a lyrical overhaul to ("You don’t always want to sing things at 31 that you wrote at 21.") Asked about his commitment to multiple bands while recording his solo album: "Ideally, I wouldn’t have a deep drawer of unused songs when I die."
- An increasingly popular hired gun for acts like Dresden Dolls as an accordion or keyboard player, Nicolay returned to six-strings frequently for his solo record: "I’m not a guitar player’s guitar player…I’m not a virtuosic player for its own sake. I learned guitar towards the purpose of writing songs."
- Busker alert! Watch for Nicolay on the Corner or Downtown Mall during the afternoon of January 6: "Especially on Hold Steady tours…you’re wrapped up with soundcheck by 4, set time’s not usually ‘til 11pm, so one of the things I’ve done in past is go out and busk." (The show at Boylan Heights starts at 9pm.)
- Nicolay’s ideal wine for an evening of rock? Argentinian, Chilean and Spanish reds, "riojas," preferably with a bit of a peppery flavor. "The good thing with taking a bottle of wine in hand and walking around with that for the night is, you always know where you stand," said Nicolay. "A bottle of wine in an evening is a perfectly reasonable amount to drink and, when you get to the end, you’re happy but you’re not drunk. You can make a conscious decision whether you want to take it any further."