CONVENIENT SHORT BIO FOR YOUR COPY/PASTE NEEDS:
Franz Nicolay is a musician and writer living in New York’s Hudson Valley. In addition to records under his own name (“a natural-born star”—Pitchfork), he was a member of cabaret-punk orchestra World/Inferno Friendship Society, “world’s best bar band” the Hold Steady (“one of the all-time great New York bands”—Rolling Stone), Balkan-jazz quartet Guignol, co-founded the composer-performer collective Anti-Social Music, was a touring member of agit-punks Against Me!; and recorded or performed with dozens of other acts.
His first book, The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar, was named a “Season’s Best Travel Book” by The New York Times. His second book, the novel Someone Should Pay For Your Pain, was called “a knockout fiction debut” by Buzzfeed; and was named one of Rolling Stone “Best Music Books of 2021” (“finally, the great indie-rock novel…like Dostoyevsky in a DIY punk space”). Band People, a non-fiction study of the working and creative lives of musicians, was named to Rolling Stone’s “Best Music Books of 2024,” and Hua Hsu writing in The New Yorker called it “one of the least bacchanalian books ever published about the rock-and-roll life style, but also one of the most honest.” His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Paris Review Daily, The Kenyon Review Online, Ploughshares, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Threepenny Review, and elsewhere. He has taught at UC–Berkeley and in Columbia University’s MFA fiction program, and is currently a faculty member in music and written arts at Bard College.
THE FULL(ER) VERSION:
Franz Nicolay is a musician and writer living in New York’s Hudson Valley. In addition to records under his own name (“a natural-born star”—Pitchfork), he was a member of cabaret-punk orchestra World/Inferno Friendship Society, “world’s best bar band” the Hold Steady, Balkan-jazz quartet Guignol, co-founded the composer-performer collective Anti-Social Music, was a touring member of agit-punks Against Me!; and recorded or performed with dozens of other acts. He studied music at New York University and writing at Columbia University (where he was awarded a Felipe P. de Alba Fellowship). He received fellowship residencies in composition at the Rensing Art Center and writing at the Ucross Foundation, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and Art Omi. He has taught at Columbia University and UC–Berkeley, and is currently a faculty member in music and written arts at Bard College.
His first book, The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar (The New Press, 2016), was named a “Season’s Best Travel Book” by The New York Times (read more press here). His second book, the novel Someone Should Pay For Your Pain (Gibson House, 2021), was called “a knockout fiction debut” by Buzzfeed; and was named one of Rolling Stone “Best Music Books of 2021” (“finally, the great indie-rock novel…like Dostoyevsky in a DIY punk space”). Hua Hsu, in The New Yorker, said Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music “might be one of the least bacchanalian books ever published about the rock-and-roll life style, but also one of the most honest,” and it was named a Rolling Stone “Best Music Book of 2024.” His writing has appeared several anthologies and in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Paris Review Daily, The Kenyon Review Online, Ploughshares, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Threepenny Review, LitHub, Longreads, The Week, VICE, and elsewhere.
As a solo act, he has appeared on the comedy/variety shows Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Hot Tub (hosted by Kurt Braunholer & Kristen Schaal), The Chris Gethard Show, Tell Your Friends (hosted by Liam McEneaney), Radio Happy Hour, and The Moon Show. As a member of The Hold Steady and Against Me!, he appeared on Showtime’s Billions, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Later…With Jools Holland, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson; and has performed in legendary venues from ABC No Rio and CBGB to the Beacon Theater, Slane Castle, Ryman Auditorium, and Carnegie Hall.
He has written scores or directed music for several works of dance theater, including choreographers Alison Chase (founding artistic director of Pilobolus and Momix), Ivy Baldwin, Chelsea Bacon, and Diane Carroll, as well as for film and television. He has performed on premieres by composers including Tristan Perich, William Brittelle, Kamala Sankaram, and others; and as vocalist on works by Frederic Rzewski (with the percussion ensemble Talujon) and William Brittelle (with Anti-Social Music).
He was once named #1 of “Punk’s 10 Best Accordion Players.”
Photo by Susan Lirakis.
