Franz Nicolay

American musician and writer (born 1977)

Franz Nicolay (born 1977) is an American musician and writer. He is best known for playing the accordion and piano in The World/Inferno Friendship Society and keyboards in The Hold Steady from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2016 onwards. He is also notable for founding Anti Social Music, a composer/performer collective based in New York City, and for performing in the Balkan jazz quartet Guignol. Nicolay has worked as a producer, arranger, session musician, and collaborator with Mischief Brew, Leftöver Crack, The Dresden Dolls, The Loved Ones, and The Living End. He has performed with Frank Turner, Star Fucking Hipsters, and Against Me! His first book The Humorless Ladies of Border Control, about DIY touring in the former Communist world, was published by The New Press in August 2016. The New York Times named it a "Season's Best Travel Book". His second, the novel "Someone Should Pay For Your Pain," was called "a knockout fiction debut" in BuzzFeed and named one of Rolling Stone's "Best Music Books of 2021". His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review Daily, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, LitHub, Longreads, The Week, VICE, and elsewhere. He has taught at University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University's MFA fiction program, and is currently on faculty at Bard College. In 2012, Dying Scene named him the #1 accordionist in punk rock.

Nicolay grew up in Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, and graduated from New York University's music program.

Nicolay joined the New York City anarcho circus punk band the World/Inferno Friendship Society in late 2000. He recorded three full length albums with the band and was a member of their longest continuous lineup 2000–2008.

In 2001, Nicolay organized "An Afternoon of Anti Social Chamber Music" at Columbia University, a program of new music from emerging New York based composers. This concert led to the founding of Anti Social Music, a non profit new music collective of composers and performers that presents concerts of premieres by emerging (primarily New York based) composers. Since the first "Afternoon," the group has played over 75 shows, premiered 123 new works by 28 composers, and seen over 110 performers have played or recorded with them. Nicolay's compositions appear on their CDs "Greatest Hits LIVE(ish)" and "Sings The Great American Songbook".

Guignol, described by the Times of London as "a combination of punk, jazz, folk, tango, klezmer, cheap red wine, woolly pinstriped suits, newsboy caps and one waxed moustache," is a quartet founded in 2002 by Nicolay and clarinetist Peter Hess (World/Inferno Friendship Society, Balkan Beat Box) to accompany performers from the Coney Island sideshow at a weekly show at CBGB. They became a part of the growing New York gypsy punk scene and released a full length, self titled album in 2004 and the EP "Drink The Best Wine First" in 2005. In 2005, Guignol made a guest appearance on the album "Smash the Windows," by the Philadelphia folk punk band Mischief Brew. In 2009, they released a full length collaboration called "Guignol & Mischief Brew Fight Dirty," which included six songs by each band, as well as covers of songs by Django Reinhardt and Iron Maiden. "Fight Dirty," off "Guignol & Mischief Brew Fight Dirty," appeared in the superhero movie Deadpool 2: Super Duper Cut, and on the soundtrack album.

After appearing as a guest on The Hold Steady's debut "Almost Killed Me," Nicolay joined the band in 2004: "World/Inferno played some shows with Lifter Puller in Chicago a long time ago, then when Craig (Finn) moved to New York he was doing A&R for the now defunct DCN live label and signed us up for the live record ‘Hallowmas at Northsix’. Over the course of working on that, we'd go out drinking with him and Tad (Kubler) when The Hold Steady was kind of coming together as ‘this new band we're sort of working on’. When it finally happened, they called and asked me and Peter to come play on the first record ("Almost Killed Me"), which led to me coming and playing those three songs on NY shows whenever it worked out, which led to ‘Hey, do you wanna get together and work on some songs for the new record?’, which became ‘Well, do you want to join the band?’

During his time with the band, The Hold Steady earned almost universal praise by the press for their performances and records. In 2010, Nicolay announced he had left the Hold Steady after five years with the band. In 2016 The Hold Steady announced a series of concerts celebrating the tenth anniversary of Boys and Girls in America, featuring Nicolay with the band. Their 2021 album "Open Door Policy" was their first Billboard top ten record.

In 2007, Nicolay released Black Rose Paladins, a set of solo demos. Only 50 hard copies were made, which were sold at his concerts. On November 5, 2008, Nicolay announced he would be releasing his first full length solo album, titled Major General, with former World/Inferno bandmate Yula Beeri currently of Nanuchka, Brian Viglione of World/Inferno and The Dresden Dolls and Jared Scott of Demander. World/Inferno saxophonist Peter Hess also appears on the album. The album was released January 13, 2009 on Fistolo Records. In fall 2009, Nicolay released the 10" EP "St. Sebastian of the Short Stage," with art by Nicholas Gazin and including a short story by Nicolay. The EP featured "The Ballad of Hollis Wadsworth Mason, Jr.," based on the character from Watchmen. He also published his first story collection, "Complicated Gardening Techniques," on Julius Singer Press. In 2010, Nicolay released "Luck and Courage" on Team Science/Decor Records, and in 2012 "Do The Struggle" on Xtra Mile Records (followed by the outtakes EP "Bad Advice"). 2015 saw the release of "To Us, the Beautiful!" on Xtra Mile/Silver Sprocket, produced by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) and featuring Andrew Seward (Against Me! ), Ara Babajian (The Slackers, Leftöver Crack), and guitarist Yoni Gordon.

Nicolay produced the album The Birth and Death of Meaning and EP "Follow Me" by The Debutante Hour, as well as playing several instruments and providing guest vocals. He co produced the album Killing the Darlings by the New York trio Pearl and the Beard. In 2014, he produced songwriter Emilyn Brodsky's sophomore album "Eats Her Feelings." In summer 2010, Nicolay was a touring member of the Florida punk band Against Me!. In 2015, he announced that his book "The Humorless Ladies of Border Control," about DIY touring in the formerly Communist world, would be published by The New Press in early 2016.

Nicolay appeared in the music video for the Star Fucking Hipsters' "Two Cups Of Tea." He also appeared in the video book trailer for Salman Rushdie's Luka and the Fire of Life.