A Handstamp interview with Craig Finn: new music, funny lyricists, The Replacements and all-ages punk shows
The revered songwriter discusses his most memorable and formative live experiences.
I’m a long-time fan of Craig Finn’s band, Brooklyn-formed alternative rock cult heroes The Hold Steady. So, when I caught up with the frontman, wearing his lucky Minnesota Timberwolves cap in the opening week of the NBA playoffs, I had the chance to express how significantly his lyrics has resonated with me, even highlighting - to his apparent surprise - the track ‘We Can Get Together’ from the record Heaven is Whenever as my jam.
After some gushing about highly-entertaining Wolves star Anthony Edwards, I dove into the Minneapolis native’s latest, tremendous solo record, Always Been. With War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel producing, it sparked re-invigoration and excitement for Finn.
Craig Finn: “I always like the new records obviously, but because it was a change in personnel, it feels like there’s been a bit of a chance taken, so the payoff feels greater. I think we got somewhere cool and new. I’m really proud of this record, it actually feels special to me in a way that is hard to put into words.’
“I kind of knew where it was going the whole time. You hear so much in rock and roll about how difficult albums are to make, but this was the total opposite. It was such a pleasure. I got to hang out with Adam, who’s a friend and he knew what I was after the whole time. We enjoyed each other’s company and working together. It may sound like a sad record, but it was a joy to make.”
Handstamp: I feel as though you can really hear your relationship on the record. There’s enough influence from all directions that it comes through nicely. Any chance of this being an ongoing creative connection?
Craig Finn: “Hard to say, because Adam has his own rock band and his own schedule. It feels like a long way away, so I can’t answer that really.’
“As you say though, you can definitely hear that I’m doing my thing and he’s doing his thing, it works out really well when put together.”
Handstamp: There’s a really nice blend of melancholy and genuine fun on the album, so congrats on that. As I mentioned, your writing style often reminds me of the power of fleshed-out, well-constructed lyricism and how it can transcend any extravagant arrangement or production decisions when done right. A great example on this album is ‘Shamrock’. Do you feel passionate about that?
CF: “I mean, that’s what I can do. I have a nylon-string, classical guitar that I wrote all of these songs on. Before taking them to Adam, I tried to get the songs to the point where I could bring them to an open-mic night if I wanted to and try to move people emotionally, get the story across in a way that would connect with people.’
“I’ve been playing solo more often in recent years. I know that if I have a strong opening line that maybe has a punchline, or something funny to it and everyone at the show laughs, they’re with me, the show’s going to be ok. That’s the thing I can do, I’m not a producer, I’m ok at guitar, but my thing is the storytelling, so I make that as good as it can be.”
Handstamp: Some of my favourite songwriters do something similar, where they tastefully look for laughs in the right places, under the guise of an otherwise totally dead-serious sound. Who are some of the people who inspired you in that sense?
CF: “There are very few songwriters I like that aren’t funny in some way. It was a challenge I gave myself on this record, to have at least one line in each song that would at least make ME smile. Adam and I are connected on some of those type of L.A. songwriters - Warren Zevon, Randy Newman, Jackson Browne.’
“Zevon is the funniest to me, but Newman is hilarious. Nick Cave is very funny. Even Dylan, Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry - all very funny in their own way.”
Handstamp: Of all people I’ve ever interviewed, you may be the person who has shared the most about this page’s chosen subject matter in the actual text. Do you get a kick out of lacing your own live music memories in your songs?
CF: “Well, especially with The Hold Steady, there’s this sort of meta thing where we’re a rock band who sings about rock. Way back when we started, I went to see the Drive-By Truckers and I was blown away. The mythology is that the show made us start the band, but I recently investigated that and there’s a chance we had already been going for a few months, but it was certainly before we wrote a lot of songs.’
“I recently got off tour with Bob Mould and it made me think about ‘We Can Get Together,’ where I mentioned a lot of rock bands but Hüsker Dü is one of them and they’re big heroes of mine. But yeah, I think being a rock band in the early 21st century, there’s something about acknowledging the ridiculousness and the fantasy of it all.”
Handstamp: You’ve made an art out of it. It’s a hard thing to do without being corny.
CF: “It comes from the place of real fandom. It tends to be what my conversations are often about, when I’m with friends drinking and I’ll bring up some sort of cock-rock band that seems especially ridiculous or something. Those are conversational things that end up in my songs.”
Handstamp: In social situations, do you feel as though people are ever conscious that you may be logging dialogue for potential usage in songs?
CF: “[laughs] I’ve never tapped into that, but my Twitter mentions are a mess of things that people think sound like The Hold Steady songs, but usually just contain the word ‘Minneapolis”
Handstamp: On that note. Growing up in Minneapolis, did you grow up with regular access to live music from an early age?
CF: “Absolutely, there’s a club there called First Avenue. It’s probably most famous because the performance scenes in ‘Purple Rain’ were shot there. It started before I was born and that’s fascinating because most American rock clubs don’t have that kind of history in one location. I think Joe Cocker was the first show in that room.’
“They had a commitment, which I still don’t understand economically, to doing all-ages shows. There would be a show at 4pm, then at 9pm. Mainly punk rock and hardcore bands that had a young following. But the thing about the 4 o’clock shows was that everybody paid $4 to get in, they sold soda which probably generated under $20. If there were about 100 kids, I guess it was worth it to some of the bands, but it may have just be altruistic, to introduce a group of kids to music, usher the next generation of show-goers in.”
Handstamp: ..and you benefitted from that altruism?
CF: “Yeah, so I was always into music. But when I got into punk and hardcore, it was the first time it felt like music for people my age. The first show I went to was all-ages, I was 13. It was at First Avenue, which used to be a bus depot and the small room was originally like a snack bar, but the main room was about 600 cap. I saw the Violent Femmes in the main room, then a few months later I went to the 7th Street Entry and saw The Replacements.’
“Once I went to those shows, I was kind of hooked. I was going to shows, if I’d heard of them or not. I’d go to four-band bills and stay for every moment. It was really educational and there was definitely nothing like that in the suburb I lived in.”
Handstamp: Any other shows from around that time that feel particularly formative?
CF: “Maybe the best show I’ve ever seen was also The Replacements. That was at the big room at First Avenue on January 21st, 1986. That was the same week they played on Saturday Night Live and they made a live album from Maxwell’s in New Jersey on the same week. They were really at the top of their game.”
Handstamp: I saw you shared a picture of yourself at a Fugazi show on social media too.
CF: “That show was incredible. It was in 1989. But yeah around those years I saw a lot of crazy shows from bands that became bigger. Green Day, Jawbreaker, Meat Puppets, The Descendants. I would go to pretty much anything I could. I even saw Eminem play at First Avenue.”
Handstamp: Fast forward to now, are you still able to enjoy shows with the same amount of enthusiasm, despite having toured professionally for years?
CF: “I love it. It’s one of the reasons I still live in New York. I love being able to walk out my door and go to the Music Hall of Williamsburg or something like that. I love going alone, I don’t like worrying about whether the person I’m with likes it or not. That way, I can also walk out if I get bored.’
“This is an age thing, but I’m starting to have a little less fun if I go to shows and they’re super crowded in small spaces. I’m finally at the point of not enjoying that as much, but that’s after thousands of those experiences.’
“Having done it for years, there are SOME things I can’t disconnect from. I think a lot about how many people are there, the ticket price and how much the band is probably walking away with and if they’d be happy or disappointed by that. But once the band starts, I can mostly just enjoy it for what it is though.”
Handstamp: Is the Music Hall of Williamsburg your favourite venue in New York?
CF: “My favourite in Brooklyn. My favourite in the city is The Bowery Ballroom. Sort of funny because the Music Hall of Williamsburg is sort of built in the image of The Bowery Ballroom with improvements. But they Bowery, just from being the OG and in the city, is my favourite. Plus, they’re independent now, so their drink prices are more reasonable, which is really important these days. A lot of the conglomerates cranked up prices after the pandemic, so it was like going to a baseball game instead of a show. You want to have some drinks, it makes it more exciting.’
“Outdoors, I love the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, where they used to do the US Open, is amazing. I played there once alongside The Replacements, but I love going to shows there, it’s such a nice atmosphere.”
After I recommended the Ornithology Jazz Club and we engaged in some further basketball rambling, that was that. ‘Always Been’ was released on the 4th of April 2025 and is available on your preferred streaming platform. Subscribe to Handstamp Substack for future interviews, follow @itshandstamp on social media and listen to Chief Springs on your chosen platform. Illustrations by the excellent Alice Bowsher.