Normally when we think of the wordier members of the Hold Steady, we naturally think of Craig Finn. But in a recent interview with the BBC, Hold Steady lead guitarist Tad Kubler acted very Noel Gallagher-like in picking a fight with Radiohead, and in particular their pay-what-you-want model:
"I think they've lost the plot," he said. "What are they doing? Where are they going? What's happening? I don't get it any more. They lost me.
"I still appreciate what they're doing, or what they're trying to do. But I think they're trying too hard not to be Radiohead. That seems a little ridiculous to me."
"I like them as a rock band, all the buttons and sequencing and stuff like that I don't really care for. I'm a fan of rock music and what they're doing now I don't think is very good."
While were on the subject of Noel Gallagher, it's worth remembering that Kubler is a devoted Oasis fan. We'll see if Radiohead takes it on themselves to respond, but for the most part this just seems like an innocuous honest criticism that's the kind of thing that will inevitably get blown out of proportion. Kubler and Thom Yorke are hardly 50 Cent and Kanye.
[NME]
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Isn't he a few years late with this comment? "All the buttons and sequencing and stuff"??? That was the line circa Kid A and Amnesiac, but Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows have been somewhat a return to guitar-based rock.