Craig Finn
Craig Finn
Craig Finnis an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the American indie rock band The Hold Steady, with whom he has recorded six studio albums. Prior to forming The Hold Steady, Finn was the frontman of Lifter Puller. Described by Pitchfork as "a born storyteller who's chosen rock as his medium". During a five-month break from The Hold Steady, Finn recorded a solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes, which was released in January...
home school parent
Before I had a driver's license, and I lived in the suburbs of Minneapolis and went to high school and came home - I could ride my bike around or get a ride from my parents, but my world was pretty small, limited. Like anyone at that age, I only knew things I could get to.
school home college
I graduated high school in 1989, and there was no alternative rock radio, and there wasn't really good college radio you could get on a car stereo. Once you get a car at that age, you're spending all the time you can away from home, sometimes just driving around aimlessly. Listening, or not even listening, but subconsciously soaking up this classic rock barrage.
girl song school
You are hearing this song, and you're 16, and it's a song about love, or a girl. And then maybe there's a girl at school that you like. So you're going to be thinking about that girl. That song is sort of about that girl. The songwriter doesn't know that girl, obviously. He wrote it for something else. But there's the specific meaning with the universal again.
fun hear hit loose loud music people perfect public record reminded showing sick sterile timing
People started showing up. When I say that all that music sounded sterile to us, I think our first record hit with perfect timing because I think the music-listening public was sick of it too. And people with loud guitars, solos, loose playing? I think it was fun for people to hear that, it reminded them of something.
bands compared feeling greatest
There are things that we do that differentiate us from them. But look, if you're going to be compared to someone, then those are two of the greatest rock-and-roll bands ever, so I'm feeling pretty good.
girl band bars
I would never talk to a girl in a bar, like a pick-up thing. But I could talk to anyone if they wore a t-shirt of a band I like.
song coffee want
I'm able to draw outside my own personal experiences. No one wants to hear the song about what I really did today, which is go get coffee and clean my apartment.
couple heart people
A conversation with you is a different thing than projecting to a couple hundred people. It's bigger and more animated and it's on a bigger scope, but still in the heart, it's honestly me.
ideas giving kind
Just looking into something kind of analytically can give a lot of ideas.
down-and bigs stuck
If I'm stuck, I'll sit down and read. That's a big thing.
song writing thinking
I don't really pursue writing songs for other people. I guess one of the things I always think about is a good line in a song should be something I can hear myself saying.
song writing people
I've tried to write songs for other people and it usually requires them singing it and then changing the phrasing. I can put a lot of words in a song, and one of the reasons is, I'm not that good of a singer, so I don't hold a lot of notes.
thinking trying way
There's a lot of ways to be honest that don't necessarily involve absolute facts being true. I think that's something I absolutely try to do.
thinking numbers people
You can think of a number of bands where the first record is by far their biggest record. And that must be hard for people to recapture. Hard for people to live with.