Motif Interviews Craig Finn of the Hold Steady
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Motif Interviews Craig Finn of The Hold Steady Craig Finn from Brooklyn indie rock act The Hold Steady believes the lyrics make the song and it shows with everything he writes. In support of his second solo release, Faith In The Future, he’ll open for New Jersey act Titus Andronicus at The Met in Pawtucket on Saturday March 26 as part of his current tour with them. I had a chat with Finn about making the transition from where he grew up in Minneapolis to where he lives now in Brooklyn, what his vision of his new album was while he was making it, being a fan of hip-hop and what his plans are after this current excursion. Rob Duguay: You grew up in the Minneapolis music scene, starting Lifter Puller and then moving to Brooklyn after the band broke up in 2000 to eventually start The Hold Steady in 2004. When you moved to Brooklyn was it a rough adjustment? Craig Finn: It’s certainly a bigger city; during my first year in New York my ability to take the wrong subway was impressive. I was riding all over and I was definitely getting on the wrong train. Daily stuff like that took some adjustment but I was also very excited to live in New York and have a bigger area to explore. I get a lot of inspiration artistically from walking around and seeing things so I was initially excited to kind of get lost in neighborhoods I didn’t know. I think I adjusted pretty quickly though. RD: A lot of critics have noted The Hold Steady’s classic rock influenced sound. You’ve said in interviews that you used to hate bands like Led Zeppelin and other bands from that era while loving The Clash, then you eventually got to love a lot of rock ‘n’ roll from the ‘70s. Why the change of heart? CF: I think the big thing is, and I find that a lot of people go through this, is that when I was young and I was kind of coming up punk rock was such a big part of my identity. That’s what I wanted to people to think about with me and I was thinking that I had to listen to obscure music or music that was really fast and difficult in some way. Led Zeppelin was what you heard at high school parties in the parking lot with these sort of mainstream kids. Even though it was great, that part of it was a turn off for me. I think I had to get confidence in myself as a person to sort of listen to any music and appreciate them while not making it so much about me and wearing the t-shirt of the band. As you get older you hear music differently and you understand how impressive it might be. RD: People love your lyrics. One lyric from The Hold Steady that sticks in my head is off of “Positive Jam.” “The ‘80s almost killed me, let’s not recall them quite so fondly, some Kennedy OD’d while we watched on MTV.” You’ve mentioned the ‘80s in a few other songs in a somewhat negative context. Was that decade rough for you on a personal level or is that just an observation? CF: Being in the 2000s or even in the 2010s and hearing ‘80s inspired music leaning back toward a new wave sound. I don’t think it’s a decade we should necessarily be romancing although when I think about it, I like the ‘80s better than the ‘90s. I think it’s sort of just a cultural thing, a lot of that ‘80s stuff was not that cool and not that exciting. It was kind of fake and not that soulful to me so it’s speaking to that, it’s more about the ‘80s music revival so to speak. RD: This past September you released your second studio album, Faith In The Future. What were you trying to capture with the album? CF: When the producer on the album Josh Kaufman and I got together, the first thing I said to him was “I want to make something that’s hopeful and elegant.” By elegant I mean kind of age appropriate for someone in their 40s. I wanted it to be an extension of myself; we talked about the songs and one of the things we did on the record was really put the stories and the words up front. We made decisions on how best the songs could support the stories they’re telling. That was something in the mix and a lot of the vocals were up front, but also a lot of the instrumentation was fairly sparse. We didn’t load a lot of the tracks with too much music and even with the way the drums are played and sound throughout the record. I don’t think there’s a drumstick being played on the record. It’s all brushes, softer things, mallets and whatnot. That was just to make the vocals be up front and let the stories carry the song. RD: You don’t hear a lot about indie rock musicians being involved in hip-hop. You’re somewhat involved in the Minneapolis hip-hop scene, you’ve worked with the rapper P.O.S. and Lifter Puller has gotten a few shoutouts on Atmosphere’s albums. So why do you gravitate to hip-hop? CF: Certainly in Minneapolis when I lived there the Rhymesayers label was coming up and it was really exciting to see because it just turned on and people were going crazy for it. Atmosphere roared out the gate pretty quickly, I saw an early show of theirs and I knew they were going to blow up right away and we were friendly. In Minneapolis it was just knowing those people, getting close to them and being excited by it. I know less about hip-hop now, I sort of listen to the stuff everyone else does. Drake, Kanye, that kind of thing. It’s stuff you kind of can’t ignore, I wish I knew more but I think the thing that’s fascinating about hip-hop is that obviously it’s a lyrics first genre. It’s a lot about the lyrics and I like how they’re competitive when it comes to being the best lyricist. Lyrics are a very interesting part of what I do and they’re the most important thing to me so I like that hip-hop follows suit. RD: What can we expect from you after this tour with Titus Andronicus? CF: I’m working on another solo record and then hopefully The Hold Steady will play some shows soon. We’re kind of taking a break because we figured we all needed one, but I’d like to think that we’re going to play some shows so we’re going to figure that out. There’s nothing imminent and I’m not sure about a new record with the band because we don’t have any new Hold Steady songs but eventually it’s a possibility. I’m hoping we’ll come back at some point and play some shows, we’ve taken over a year off now and everyone needed a break. Everyone is a little older, people with kids and stuff but I don’t have any kids so I’m out on the road so I’ll keep on writing music and telling my stories any way I can. Buy tickets for Titus Andronicus & Craig Finn @ The Met on March 26: etix.com/ticket/p/3343244/titus- andronicuscraig-finn-of-the-hold-steadyon-sale-friday1218-noon-pawtucket-the-met?cobrand=themetri; Craig Finn’s Website: craigfinn.net.