The Hold Steady Wish Franz Nicolay 'All the Best'

In January, Franz Nicolay shocked Hold Steady fans by announcing that he was leaving the band after a five-year tenure. At the time, Nicolay said he felt like "a fox in a hedgehog band" with different musical directions he wanted to pursue, and most recently he's signed on to be the touring keyboardist for Against Me! Now that the Hold Steady have moved on and released their fifth album, 'Heaven Is Whenever,' frontman Craig Finn reveals to Spinner exactly how the split went down.

"He's a really ambitious guy and he had a lot of different musical things he wanted to do," Finn says. "It was getting to the point where scheduling was getting difficult. I really believe in the power of a rock 'n' roll band, the commitment you make to other people, so I said, 'If you really want to do all these other things, maybe you should just concentrate on that' -- and he agreed. He transitioned out over the next few months and it all was a pretty positive thing."

On top of his Against Me! duties, Nicolay in recent years has released a solo album, 'Major General,' an EP, 'St. Sebastian of the Short Stage,' and a book, 'Complicated Gardening Techniques,' and has worked with bands like World/Inferno Friendship Society and Star F---ing Hipsters and his own solo projects involving vaudeville and accordion-based music. And rather than show any signs of a grudge, Finn is impressed.

"There's just tons of stuff," he says of Nicolay's creative output. "I certainly come from a more punk-rock thing. I don't have the musical ability he does to do all these different things. "There was a really good understanding of what we both needed. We all wish him the best and I think he'll go on to do really cool things and it's all good."

The absence of Nicolay is noticeable on 'Heaven Is Whenever,' not only for its focus on the guitar playing of Tad Kubler but the looser vibe on many of the songs. "It got us back down to the four people who were the core of the band because Franz joined right before [the band's second album] 'Separation Sunday,' so it allowed us to kind of write and have a little more space," Finn says. "Having the fifth person absent kind of opened it up. The songs kind of have a little more space and maybe breathe a little more."

'Heaven Is Whenever' is out now on Vagrant.