(Published Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:43:58 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Frank Schultz Gazette staff
Tad Kubler and friends put on lip-synch shows in the backyard of his home in Janesville in the 1980s.
On April 5, he performed with Bruce Springsteen at Carnegie Hall.
It's been a long road for the guitarist whom teachers once considered both gifted and hyperactive.
That was in the days before attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder became a common diagnosis, Kubler said in a telephone interview from New York City last week as he was packing for a European tour.
The 1991 Craig High School graduate remembers Janesville fondly, although growing up had its bumps. He struggled in some classes and excelled in others, he recalled.
Janesville native Tad Kubler performs with The Hold Steady in Chapel Hill, N.C., last year.
Sean Birdsell photo
Music kept him going, said his mother, Kathleen Watson of Verona.
Kubler's earliest musical influence was what he heard at home. His father, Patrick, and Kathleen had a lot of records. The Beatles, Jim Croce, Willie Nelson and Peter, Paul and Mary were names that stuck in Kubler's mind.
His next big influence was Ed Reich, a former strings teacher who taught Kubler cello in fourth grade.
"One thing I'll always remember about him is the amount of passion that he had for what he did," Kubler said of Reich.
Kubler's own passion for the music probably is what got him to Carnegie Hall. The occasion was a benefit concert in which artists paid tribute to Springsteen's music.
The lineup was diverse, from Badly Drawn Boy to Patti Smith to Odetta. Tad plays lead guitar for the rock band The Hold Steady.
"We were kind of the surprise guest, and they wanted us to close the show," Kubler said. "To be in front of a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall was a pretty intense experience in itself."
Springsteen came out after The Hold Steady. He did a couple songs and then invited all the performers onto the stage to perform "Rosalita" with him. Kubler said he was within arm's reach of The Boss.
"Singing along to one of his songs was just incredible," Kubler said.
Springsteen exchanged a few words with band members backstage and said he was aware of the favorable comparisons of The Hold Steady to Springsteen's E Street Band.
It was a moment that Kubler will always remember but couldn't have imagined when he was back at Craig High School.
Kubler said band teacher Dave Rush encouraged him, even though the young guitarist couldn't read music as well as some of his classmates.
"He was like, 'Dude, you play better by ear than anybody I know, so what do you care that you don't have the background that all of these kids do?'"
Some might recall Rush gave Kubler a solo when the pep band played at a Craig High basketball game. He played the "Star Spangled Banner," putting his own flourishes to a Jimi Hendrix-style performance.
"It turned out to be great, and it seemed to go over real well," Kubler said.
Watson still smarts that her son never told her he was going to play the solo. She heard from a friend that the crowd went wild for the performance.
Kubler also recalls beer parties in rural hideouts and trips out of town.
"I was a rebellious teenager that didn't really like high school or growing up in a small town," he said. "That was really difficult for me, especially getting in to punk rock and hardcore."
The Internet wasn't a household word at the time, so as soon as he could, Kubler drove to nearby big cities to sample the scene.
"Looking back on it now, I wish I would've applied myself more, and I wish I would've finished college … But at the same time, I'm playing sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall, so I really don't have that much to complain about."
In the 1990s, Kubler went from the short-lived Janesville band Doublespeak to Minneapolis fame with a group called Lifter Puller.
Then he hit it big in Brooklyn, N.Y., with Minneapolis bandmate Craig Finn and The Hold Steady. The band has garnered rave reviews, often for Finn's storytelling but also for the music. Kubler said he's often the leader when the band writes the tunes for Finn's creations.
The Hold Steady's music has been called indie rock and bar-band music. When people ask Kubler, "I say we're just a rock 'n' roll band. I always get kind of a dubious look, and I say, 'No, really, we're just a rock 'n' roll band.' … We just wanted to play rock music, and it sounded good to us, and it's something that we grew up with."
Pursuing his musical dreams for more than 16 years has rarely been easy. Asked how long he has lived exclusively on proceeds from his music, Kubler chuckled: "About six months."
Responding to the critical acclaim, he said: "I think we work really hard. I like to think so. ... But there's a lot of luck involved in this, and it's just being at the right place at the right time. It's just a competitive industry."
While The Hold Steady's national stock is on the rise, Kubler remains close to his Janesville roots. When the band rides Interstate 90/39 through Janesville, he always points out his elementary alma mater, Monroe School.
"Never forget where you're from because I think that's something that's always going to make you earnest and honest," Kubler said. "(Janesville) is not a place I've ever been ashamed to come from because it's part of who I am."
The Kubler file The Koob: From The Hold Steady's fansite, www.theholdsteady.com, a description of Kubler from the band's lyricist, Craig Finn:
"Out of control. One of my favorite guitar players ever. We call him the Janesville Jammer."
Wild youth: From the same site, Kubler's take on the Midwestern roots of the band's music:
"When you're 18, there's some idiots who are like, 'We're gonna go drink this under a bridge, you wanna come?' And you're like, 'Yeah. Absolutely.' How would we not want to drink under a bridge? … The delinquents out there are pretty delinquent. And everyone's got a car, so there's like, a lot of mobility. A lot of bad ideas can be put into action quickly. Cause you can, like, haul stuff.'
Blast from his past: From a feature story in 1993 by Janesville Gazette reporter Mike DuPre', about Kubler's post-high school band, Doublespeak:
"Tad Kubler exemplifies the echo and evolution of rock. Wearing dark-rimmed rectangular glasses and playing a white Gibson SG Special, he resembles a latter-day Buddy Holly, albeit with an earring and blond buzzcut, not a pompadour. Between Doublespeak originals at practice, Tad ripples riffs from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors. They're not just exercises to limber his fingers. He plays the classics on acoustic guitar whenever and wherever friends gather for fun. …
"Tad, 19, graduated from Craig and works at FabTech. The band's veteran musician, he took a 'couple of lessons' in the eighth grade and has played guitar for about five years.'
See him live: The Hold Steady plans an American tour after it returns from Europe, including these upcoming dates:
