A 'Major' one-man rock machine

The hardest working musician in Brooklyn makes room for a solo tour — between four other bands

PROFILE. Franz Nicolay, whom you more than likely know at least by sight if you frequent indie rock venues, is sitting in the parking lot of a post office and attempting to itemize the number of songs in his mental jukebox. “Let’s see. I’ve probably got 60 or 70 World Inferno songs. Two dozen or so Guignol. Fifty or so Hold Steady songs. All the covers I’ve ever done. A couple of dozen of my own songs.”

He concludes that he can probably account for somewhere between 400 and 500 songs, “maybe not perfectly, but with a quick index card note pinned to the keyboard.”

Nicolay is the mustachioed keyboardist for a playlist of  bands, including the punk cabaret collective World/Inferno Friendship Society, performance collective Anti-Social Music, gypsy punks Guignol, and the Hold Steady, that old school style bar band that seems to take over more of the world each year.  What else to do? This month, he added his own solo record, under the name "Major General."

No one will be shocked to hear that the East Coast’s busiest musician was able to rope in quite a few extra guest stars for his first record, including Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls, most of the band Demander, Peter Hess from Balkan Beat Box, World/Inferno lead singer Jack Terricloth (who contributed some lyrics)and former World/Inferno musician Yula Be’eri, most of whom showed up to record over six days in Hoboken, in exchange for family dinners and “gallons of red wine.”

Stepping to center stage has led him to a few modifications in his playing style.

“When I’m off to the side playing keyboards, I can jump around like a monkey. I know all the parts and I can play them in the worst states of inebriation. After all these years I spent pissed off at lead singers, it turns out remembering a hundred or so words, in order, is hard. Who knew?”
With so many bands, however, scheduling tours can get dicey. How does he decide which bands take precedence? “Triage,” says Nicolay. “With extreme prejudice. The Hold Steady comes first, then Major General, then Guignol. I’m glad we did this. I just figured it out.”

"Major General" comes out next week on Fistolo Records.