This is pretty much how I felt upon hearing the news. I love what Franz brought to the band, and the records they made with him are my favorites in the LP/HS discography. That said........




Yeah. I buy this too. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Stay Positive, but I think a bold left turn of some kind would be the best thing for the band at this point.

Yeah, I remember this too. And I too, cracked up about it. I can't even look at Franz without thinking about that statement.

I was thinking this too.

fuck franz nicolay. hated the sound of his keys, hated his douchey stage presence.

I'm onboard with this. I always liked to call him Mustachio McBeret, for whatever that's worth. Glad to see his tropes go, even if, yes, he's a nice guy.

Having never seen them (fuck living in a small town) I can't speak to the second part of your statement, but I really like the sound of his keys.

Go back and listen to the records. The dude was pretty much the engine of that sound. The others just tried to keep up with him.

They aren't an art rock band. They don't need to mix things up every record. They just need to write good rock songs. Having this kick ass keys player out of the mix is going to hurt them sonically and in terms of energy.

I see this as more of a good thing the more I think about it. They don't need to make a bold left turn, but like 99.9% of bands, they do need to make the records different enough from previous records to be worthwhile. It's hard to think of Nicolay as the "engine" of the band when Kubler and Finn are the ones writing all the songs. They were great before Nicolay. They'll be beyond fine without him. He did add some things to the band, but after a while, I found his stage presence to be kinda irritating and maybe even contrived. The first time I saw the band w/him, he just seemed like a dude having fun playing keyboards. But the last time I saw them, he was bouncing two feet in the air during songs when it seemed out of place to do so and making all these crazy arm gestures. I might have been reading into things, but there was even a couple of times when Finn looked over in his direction like "dude..seriously".

100% Spot on... esp about his stage persona starting to feel like an act as of late, as opposed to just having fun.

not saying he didn't add a lot to certain songs, but i'd be lying if i said I was a huge fan of THS adding keys/piano in the first place. obvs. stuff like Stuck Between Stations rules, but then you had that awful harpsichord on Cutters, etc. that turned me off. i felt like they should use the keys sparingly, and Stay Positive they were a much bigger role. whether or not that was the reason it's my least fave THS album, i can't really say (i sort of doubt it).

and as it's been pointed out, Franz didn't really write music for The Hold Steady's songs, so that part won't change too much unless they decide to ixnay the keys/piano altogether.

Contrived is the word. Absolutely. I'll agree that he's a fairly versatile multi-instrumentalist, but when I heard his solo album (and immediately deleted it), I pretty much got a concentrated version of every fault I've found in the last two The Hold Steady records. In all honesty, I think that Nicolay's best contributions were lent to Separation Sunday, when his role was at its most limited. And welcome.

i think the keys - and the amazing guitar parts - are part of what makes stay positive my fave album by the band.

it felt like that bold left turn. it was certainly something different. while i wasn't a big fan of the squealing synth on "navy sheets" i absolutely loved the harpsichord on "one for the cutters". in fact, it's damn close to being my favourite hold steady song.

maybe i just have an aversion to harpsichord then... cuz i absolutely hated when Tori Amos went crazy with one on an album too. it's a bit too "circus music" sounding for my taste in instruments/tones i guess.

Yeah take it from Finn, the guy who keeps the crazy arm gestures and wackiness to a minimum.....

Stay Positive has two of their best tunes though in Slapped Actress and Joke About Jamaica. Both have incredible keyboard work that are the basis for the songs.

Honestly, I think people need to go back to the last few records and actually *listen* to the keyboard parts. They are essential. This is like Pink Floyd losing Rick Wright around Meddle.

It sucks and will unquestionably hurt the bands studio output at the very least.

I just listened to all the albums -- making sure to ignore the keys -- and I'm pretty sure they'll be just fine.

you forget that there are those of us who still prefer Lifter Puller to THS and think Almost Killed Me is one of, if not the strongest, THS album.

different strokes...

Sure. Finding a session keys player in NYC is just impossible - terrible market for out of work musicians.

Yeah you've never really been a keys guy I guess.

it depends on the group... like i said, used sparingly, i definitely loved some of Franz contributions (Stations being my favorite), but i definitely prefer THS more as a guitar/bass/drums trad. rock band moreso.

as i said above, the new songs i've seen live are all stronger than most all of Stay Positive, so i'll wait until we hear the album before I judge the effects of Franz leaving.

They should hire Steve Nieve.

Was Franz playing?

yeah, but none of the 4-5 they played last time i saw them had super strong keys.

who knows though, should they decide to get a new keys player, they could get an even better player, you never know.

True, but the dude was good and had his own sound. It was a bit "bigger" than your average keys sound. Guy knew his shit and what worked with THS. Almost larger than life sound and slightly cartoony.

it's that 'slightly cartoony' vibe I hate. Separation Sunday and Almost Killed Me don't have that. I want that band back.

Me, too.

Those albums had keys, but the arrangements weren't nearly as good or vibrant.

eh. I'll take "How a Resurrection Really Feels" or "Cattle and the Creeping Things" or "Positive Jam" or "The Swish" or pretty much any track off the first two records over most anything on the vibrantly keyed Boys & Girls of America and Stay Positive. Not saying I don't enjoy those albums, but F. Nicolay's parts are usually the thing I dislike about a The Hold Steady song. Different strokes, I guess.

totally agree with pigfuck. Losing this guy is the best thing to happen to this band. He added to some some songs, but added too much to far more. Seeing this band in 2004, 2005 was a far more awesome experience than seeing them recently. The first two albums are the best. They need a lean, tough rock album again. Give me more ACDC riffs than frilly ELP fills. Going back even further, the keyboards in Lifter Puller were far better integrated. The Hold Steady often felt like to jarring styles smushed together live with Franz. And it was cheap fake electric piano, the worst keyboard sound.

THIS.

anybody suggesting he was the only great musician in this band is grossly underestimating Kubler's guitar playing

put me in the shrug category -- liked his parts, found him distracting live occasionally, confident that these guys are good enough that it won't be any significant loss in their future work

Agree with this. He probably helped some in the songwriting/arrangements, but this is not a huge loss by any stretch.

Tad actually plays piano pretty well too and wrote many of THS's piano/keys parts, fwiw

That's worth something to me. I don't really care one way or another for Franz, but I do like the organ/B-3/keys parts in the Hold Steady songs. I hope those don't go away completely.

This.

I liked many of his contributions, too, but the guy was just annoying live.

His solo stuff is awful.

Yeah... this could be good. Like has been said, dude was essential to something like "Stuck Between The Stations" (my favorite HS song), but the spectrum includes "One For The Cutters" as well. We'll see. Certainly would not mind seeing this band make a more "raw" record next. I think Stay Positive is just as essential HS listening as any of their other records--the band has been remarkably consistent--but it was definitely as shiny as I'd ever want them to sound.

There's a pretty big difference between the frontman of the band doing it and the guy who started playing keys in the band on the second album doing it. There's also the fact that Finn has always done that stuff; looking like a spastic dancing drunk having a good time during shows. It's not contrived at all with him. I hate throwing the "contrived" accusation out there at anyone, but like I already mentioned, when they were touring Separation Sunday, Franz wasn't doing that shit. Then a couple of years later, it was like the guy felt he had to constantly live up to his gimmick of Baron Von Beret-Stache and he was practically leaping over the keyboard while doing his "Whoa-oh-ho-oh!"s.

I just listened to Major General for the first time. It wasn't completely awful (or as awful as part of me expected), but I never need to hear it again. It's like a bad version of The Hold Steady doing a bad version of Billy Joel. Some of the vocals/lyrics, yowch.

just happy to never have to hear another The Hold Steady song like "Navy Sheets".

ha, is that real?

I know a couple of THS idiots who have been clinging desperately to that statement, in spite of the fact that it was contradicted countless times, by the band, during the promotion of Stay Positive. To me, even. Anyway, I don't know why they're clinging, but whatever. There you go. The bottom line is that that's a crock of shit.

Apparently. Nicolay posted it on the Hold Steady/Unified Scene board.

To clarify: Franz Nicolay really posted/said this. But I don't know how much validity there is to the claim that the harpsichord was Tad's idea.

Haha, that's great, I hate that darn harpsichord.

i love it.

hahah that is fucking awesome.

Franz rocked guys. He wasn't the prob.

If you ask me, there was never a prob.

Great quote. Don't give two shits whether it's true or not.
To a hold steady fan, this band was awesome. To a hold steady fan, I'm pretty sure this band will continue to be awesome.

Paste interview with Fancy Von Moustache



This seems like an unnecessary diss. I'd also argue that you can make plenty of different types of records of "wordy lyrics over anthemic rock" and that even though the Hold Steady have a definite "sound", each record's been different enough (for better or worse) from the last.



So I guess there will still be keys on the next one.

On a probably unrelated side note, I was watching them on that Artists Den show that's on Hulu.com and Tad's guitar (it could have been Finn's, but I think it was Tad's) was out of tune for half the set. I had to stop watching it, it was driving me crazy.

That said, I honestly think that they will be just fine without Franz, the next album will rock just as well as the last two, I have no concerns.

I watched that about a week ago. I'm not sure when it was taped, but they seemed a little rusty. I don't remember the guitar being out of tune for half the set but there was a point where Craig's guitar was definitely out of tune (I think in "Lord, I'm Discouraged") and he just stopped playing. He was also kinda stumbling over his lyrics a lot.