Franz Nicolay is that multi-instrumentalist and man-about-town peddling a modern vaudeville with full-throated songs and stories shamelessly strident, stentorian and more than a little sentimental. He’s been a member of cabaret-punk circus World/Inferno Friendship Society, world’s best bar band the Hold Steady, gypsy-Balkan carnies Guignol, founded the outlaw orchestra Anti-Social Music, has been an occasional touring member of agit-punks Against Me!; and recorded (complete discography here) or performed (complete list here) with everyone from Leftover Crack to Bruce Springsteen.
He has been a contributor to magazines from Blender to Impose, is a regular columnist for the literary journal InDigest, and has released several collections of essays. His first story collection, “Complicated Gardening Techniques,” was published by Julius Singer Press in 2009 (more writing here).
