Craig Finn

Wheels Off with Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller

Music, Performing Arts, Arts

4.9 • 609 Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2022

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Craig Finn is a Minnesota-bred singer/songwriter based in New York City, best known as the singer of The Hold Steady. He joins Rhett to talk about his podcast, That’s How I Remember It, which is about the connection between memory and creativity. Craig and Rhett discuss the inspiration behind the podcast as well as Craig’s songwriting process, the importance of a band’s first record, and why he feels that albums have ‘seasons’. Craig shares the tricks he uses every day to dispel anxiety, depression, and remove any self generated obstacles. Finn spent the ’90's leading Minneapolis indie band Lifter Puller, which released 3 albums and an EP. After relocating to New York, he joined with Lifter Puller member Tad Kubler to form The Hold Steady in 2003. The Hold Steady quickly achieved critical acclaim and a worldwide fanbase with their unique pairing of dense lyrical narratives with big rock guitars. Pitchfork has described Finn as “a born storyteller, who has chosen rock as his medium.” When performing his solo material live, Craig Finn is joined by a dynamic group of musicians called The Uptown Controllers. Craig’s latest album, A Legacy Of Rentals, is available now. Wheels Off is brought to you by Osiris Media. Hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Co-produced by Kirsten Cluthe in partnership with Nick Ruffini (Revoice Media). Editing by Matt Dwyer. Production Assistance by Matt Bavuso. Music by OLD 97’s. Episode artwork by Katherine Boils. Show logo by Tim Skirven. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Please leave us a rating or review on iTunes. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Will Forte, Lydia Loveless, Allison Moorer, Ted Leo, Paul F. Tompkins, Jen Kirkman, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	O'SIMUS
0:02.0	Welcome to Wheels Off, a show about the messy reality of the creative life.
0:09.3	I'm Rhett Miller.
0:10.0	That's when it got wheels off.
0:14.0	He started ugly ain't gonna stop.
0:16.0	Oh, she made me feel like a good car.
0:19.0	That's when it got wheels off. Craig Finn of the whole That's when it got wheels off.
0:22.6	Craig Finn of the Holt Steady
0:25.5	is the kind of songwriter
0:28.8	who is constantly described as literary.
0:35.9	He's a word smith. I guess it's no surprise that when he and I
0:41.4	settled into talk, we wound up discussing a few different books. We kind of spun off into
0:49.2	conversations about different literary favorites of ours.
0:56.2	He is someone I really admire because he places such an emphasis on the story, on the words.
1:10.1	I was supposed to record a wheels-off conversation with him just before the
1:15.7	pandemic. We were going to try and do something live at a venue in Brooklyn, a proper event,
1:22.2	a live podcast taping. That used to be a thing. It didn't happen for all the obvious reasons. Since then,
1:30.6	he and I have both had to navigate, oh, you know, a new world. It was great getting to
1:36.0	hear how he was doing. It was great getting to hear about his new podcast. That's how I remember it.
1:50.0	I'm really lucky to get to have friends that I admire like I do, Craig Finn. I feel like I'm inspired constantly when I talk to these peers and,
1:59.6	you know, co-workers, contemporaries, he's a great one. He's the perfect
2:06.3	wheels off guest because the way he is able to communicate his deep thoughts about creativity,
	...

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