Franz Ferdinand

Alex Kapranos- Vocals/ Guitar
Bob Hardy- Bass
Nick McCarthy- Guitar
Paul Thomson- Drums

Franz Ferdinand are one of the most stylish, cool and fantastic bands to emerge in the 21st century. Forming in Glasgow, Bob Hardy and Alex Kapranos discovered Nick McCarthy after he tried to steal a bottle of vodka from them at a party. Paul Thomson was working at the college of art where Bob was studying. They came together and named themselves after the Arch Duke whose assassination led to the First World War.

The band built up a local fan base through playing at an abandoned warehouse they nicknamed ‘The Chateau’. When this venue was shut down by police Franz found an abandoned Victorian courthouse and played there.

An EP was recorded with plans to release it independently; however such was the demand for the EP Franz Ferdinand signed to Domino Records to help distribute it. ‘Darts Of Pleasure’ was released in 2003 and showed the public what the band were made of, suave and sophisticated it perfectly encapsulates Franz’s art pop.

The band were tipped for great things but nobody could have expected the success that ‘Take Me Out’ would bring. The song starts with a slow, deceptive intro that breaks down into a foot stomping, floor filling riff. To put it simply, it’s a modern day classic. Hitting a chord with daytime radio and the alternative it hit number 3 in the charts and propelled the band to dizzying heights of success.

‘Dark Of The Matinee’ was the follow up to ‘Take Me Out’, ‘Matinee’ contains the line “I’m on BBC 2 now, telling Terry Wogan how I made it”. The accompanying video, set in a school, had the band singing said line in front of a massive picture of Terry Wogan. Showing that Franz Ferdinand have a sense of humour and are not style over content art rock posers.    

Third single ‘Michael’ was a much darker affair, with Alex Kapranos showing sexually ambiguous lyrics. It set tongues wagging as to which way Kapranos swings but he is rumoured to be dating Eleanor Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces.

Rather than sitting on their debut album for years Franz Ferdinand quickly followed it up in 2005 with ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’. Whilst not a great departure from their debut it does show a darker harder edge to the band whilst still retaining their pop sensibilities. The first single to be released from the album ‘Do You Want To’ is conversations Alex Kapranos overheard at a party set to a simple “Do doo” vocal hook. ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’ was another resounding success for the band, the album went to number one and spawned the singles ‘Walk Away’ and ‘The Fallen’.

In terms of a British rock renaissance very few bands are as pivotal as Franz Ferdinand. They have re-invented pop music, giving it a fashionable edge and shown that you can be signed to an independent label and still be massively successful. Without them the current landscape of popular music could be very different indeed.

Albums-

2004- Franz Ferdinand
2005- You Could Have It So Much Better