Ah, dear Franz Nicolay. Erstwhile keyboard player/soul of the Hold Steady, he released a very wonderful solo album recently and supported Eitzel on his recent tour. It is undoubtedly the best one-man guitar/accordion/banjo show you will see.
Here he is performing ‘Jeff Penalty’, a song detailing the time he was asked to support the Dead Kennedys, only to note they were hamstrung without one important component – Jello. Instead, some bloke named Jeff was doing the vocal chores. Having previously dismissed him, he reconsidered. It’s a song of punk rock redemption. Just don’t aske about Pisspuddles the Clown.
Franz’s album Major General is available now. You’ll probably have to go online for it, mind.
Filed under: General Stuff | Tagged: franz nicolay, jeff penalty, mark eitzel, the Hold Steady | Leave a Comment »
The end of a decade is a strange, unsettling time. Caught on the cusp of what has been and what is yet to come, we huddle in front of our flatscreens desperately trying to make sense of it all. Are you confused just now? You are not alone. The questions, those unanswerable questions, just seem to mount up….like, what’s with Richard Hammond’s hair in those Morrison’s adverts? Seriously. He looks like someone has cruelly blow-dried a basset hound whilst high on acid.
For the truly great American bands of the 80s – R.E.M., Húsker Dú, The Replacements, Black Flag, Uncle Tupelo, The Pixies – success (or a relative of it) shined upon them at some stage, be it in those incarnations or for some of their members after the fact. For Mark Eitzel, it didn’t. American Music Club were as great, as cult and as important as anybody from those days, but no matter what he’s done he’s just found it that bit out of reach.
Vespertine on the happening Yanks – 
In the final part of our look at decade-defining works, we shift gears slightly and look at what the current era will be remembered for musically. Frankly, we’re gutted John and Edward won’t release a record before the qualifying period ends.
The decade where things could only get better brought the world cargo pants, Sunny Delight and Chris Evans. Musically, Grunge and Britpop could lay claim to being the defining movements of the era, though that’s to do a disservice to Jive Bunny. ELM suggests it wasn’t a band who could lay claim to the most important track, but rather a remixer…
There was more to the 80s than Duran Duran and massive cocaine habits, you know. Scandalously disregarding the work of Sonia, Salamander takes us through the fashions and then goes for a song coming right out of left field. 
It wasn’t all ‘put ‘em away love’ and dreadful haircuts in the 70s, you know. There was also a massive rise in STD’s. And some sublime music. Vespertine makes his case for Kraftwerk to get the recognition they deserve….
Ah, the 60s. In the second part of our series, Scant Regard argues the case for one of the Fabs most out-there tracks defining the decade. Must have just pipped ‘Needles and Pins’.