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Franz Ferdinand biography
FRANZ FERDINAND BIOGRAPHY
Like the assassinated Duke Ferdinand, after whom they're named, Scottish popsters Franz Ferdinand are indeed arch and not at all pretentious.
Trailing post-punk influences from Talking Heads and fellow Scots Josef K and Orange Juice to Chic, their strident, angular guitar pop is by turns visceral and wistful. Since they formed in 2002 they've sold more than 3m albums and made a bigger impact in America than Oasis and Robbie Williams. They've landed two Brits and an Ivor Novello Award to boot.
Franz Ferdinand were formed with Glasgow's art scene as the backdrop. Alex Kapranos met guitarist Nick McCarthy at a warehouse party. McCarthy, born in Blackpool and raised in Germany was a classically trained pianist with a passion for Adam Ant. Kapranos then enlisted Paul Thomson, as drummer. Yorkshireman Robert Hardy was enlisted as bassist.
The band began to rehearse in an abandoned warehouse nicknamed The Chateau in Glasgow. Kapranos cultivated it into the centre for Glasgow's underground art scene and as well as ramshackle gigs, assorted local artists would hold exhibitions and the band would host specially themed parties - eventually it was like an illicit, modern Prohibition era party. The local scene and people and faces that populated it would inform much of the band's early music. When the Chateau was raided by police, the party continued at a disused Victorian courthouse. Truly, the Ferdinands were renaissance rock and roll dandies.
By the summer of 2002 the band had recorded an EP's worth of material that they intended to release by themselves but Domino Records came courting and the band signed to the label in 2003. Their debut EP, Darts Of Pleasure, was released in the same year and the band spent time supporting acts like Hot Hot Heat and Interpol on tour. The group's second single, Take Me Out, was released in 2004 and shot straight into the UK Top 5 - its 80s referencing, jaunty and strident guitar rock struck a chord with the masses and provided a refreshing alternative to the predictable Brit rock of the Stereophonics and Oasis. Their eponymously titled debut album was released in February 2004 to massive critical acclaim. Fizzing guitars, military drum patterns and hook laden choruses abounded. The lyrics too were quirky enough to attract attention. Matinee depicted furtive, (possibly gay) goings-on in a cinema while Michael appeared to be a love song aimed squarely at a man. Previously only Morrissey had really catered for the indie gay market so even in 2004, this was a bold move on the band's part. Like the band themselves, the album pulled off the trick off sounding clever but unpretentious, quirky but accessible.
The success of the album led to fame in the US a month later when Take Me Out became a chart hit. The video earned the band an MTV gong later that year. They also picked up the 2004 Mercury Music Album prize.
The band spent much of 2005 working in the studio in Scotland on their follow up album, You Could Have It So Much Better. They brought in Mars Volta producer Rich Costey to roughen up their sound. The initial effects seemed to make it a more inaccessible album than their debut, overwhelmed with extra decoration but the sense of celebration on tracks like Do You Want To and the range of musical moods - from wistful on Fade Together and and romantic on Eleanor Put Your Boots On, proved sufficiently anthemic to sway the doubters and satisfy the art-rock hardcore. The band even received 'props' from the urban crowd. In 2005 Kanye West said the Ferdinands were his favourite group, claiming the band's 'white crunk' sound had influenced his latest work. Snoop Dogg also expressed an interest in a future collaboration.
In between summer festival stints, including Reading and Leeds and trips to Australia and New Zealand, the band plan to put the finishing touches to a new album in late 2006. The band's newly acquired, peripatetic lifestyle suits Kapranos, who, as a mature, thirty-something rocker, is mature enough to have avoided the usual drink and drugs pitfalls that have befallen his younger counterparts. "A lot of being creative is treating it like a job," says Kapranos. "You still have to put in eight hours a day. And at the end of the day, I just want to make music I like. To make the blood surge in your veins, music that makes you want to get up and dance.'
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