The Hold Steady has drawn comparisons to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, comparisons which, while not entirely accurate, have their merits.
Among the similarities are vocalist Craig Finn's wordy lyrical style, the band's anthemic nature, and the piano-heavy sound provided by keyboardist Franz Nicolay. Before the band's show at Lulu's Nightspot, 129 1/2 Pugh St., Nicolay talked about the band's new video, playing acoustic, and the songwriting process.
Q: Are you guys working on a video for "Stuck Between Stations"?
A: We finished one in January. It's sort of a performance video, it's us in our rehearsal space. It's the same director who did our "Chips Ahoy" video.
Q: The band did an acoustic set in Colorado a while back. How did you guys get involved in that?
A: An English teacher in the same district where the Columbine shootings happened was a fan of The Hold Steady had been using Separation Sunday as part of his curriculum.
Q: What was the student reaction to the set?
A: I think they were just excited to have us there. From a musical standpoint, they admitted they weren't so much into the music at first.
Q: How was the transition to playing acoustic?
A: We've been doing that a lot for the last couple years, acoustic stuff for radio stations. During the songwriting process for Boys and Girls In America, we wrote a lot of songs acoustic. High volume can mask a lot of problems in an arrangement, so it's useful to work acoustic
Q: As the keyboardist in the band, do you have any input in the songwriting process?
A: I think that goes into the category of each person in the band does their own job. Unless you have a real problem. I don't give Craig advice about lyrics and Craig doesn't give me advice about piano parts.
There will be situations on this record where I'll say "We'd like to come up with a background vocal here. Me and Tad came up with a background vocal, can you come up with some lyrics for us?"
Basically, the way we've done it in the past is, we set aside some time when we're going to be writing and some time when we're going to be recording. We've tried writing songs on the road in the past, but it wasn't effective.
Q: How is playing in The Hold Steady different from your other projects?
A: I think there's a process of acclimating to a band's culture. It has its own inside jokes and rituals. I played on the first record, but I wasn't gelling with the band until the second record. I had never played piano in a straight-ahead rock band. You learn the language and then you start bringing to the language all the experience you've had in other situations.
Q: You guys signed to Vagrant Records, which usually focuses on punk bands. How did you get involved with them?
A: They came to us. They were big fans of the band. Obviously they wanted to diversify their label. They've had their biggest successes with emo bands, but that's not how they want their label to be defined. Labels get pigeonholed in a certain way, but that's not necessarily what they want to do.
Q: The Hold Steady is going to take part in a Bob Dylan tribute. Were you personally influenced by Dylan?
A: Personally, I listened to almost nothing else but Dylan and The Band in high school. I taught myself to play guitar by sitting down with his fakebook and the lyrics and just listening to the record.
