The band has done it with an indefatigable work ethic, performing a staggering 300 gigs in 18 months (currently, the group is touring Europe before heading to Australia, New Zealand and Japan in the new year). Like Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand has broken through in North America in a way that can only leave other top British acts like Oasis and Robbie Williams deeply envious. Says Kapranos: “We’re like a gang of friends.” Plus, a lot of our friends are artists and we often invited them to display their work at our early shows.” Still, he adds, the brotherhood of the band rules supreme-especially when the group is on the road. “It’s a world we’re pretty familiar with, because Bob and Paul both went to art school. “One of the first gigs we ever played was at the Transmission gallery in downtown Glasgow,” explains Kapranos. “Here we are at the Transmission party,” sings Kapranos, “I love your friends, they’re all so arty.” Like many of Franz Ferdinand’s songs, the references are to real people and places.
#Cover or album franz ferdinand take me out full#
Nothing reflects the friendship within the band, nor that “outsider” stance, better than the spirited video for “Do You Want To.” Set in an art gallery, it features Kapranos and his mates, all dressed in matching Japanese jackets, striped shirts, tight black pants and pointy boots, colliding with a party room full of pretentious hipsters. “There’s been some changes,” sang Kapranos, “but we’re still outsiders.”
And when the band came back for its encore and delivered “Outsiders,” the last song on You Could Have It So Much Better, it indicated how the group members see themselves amid the madness of sudden fame. But Franz Ferdinand, named for the Austro-Hungarian Archduke whose murder sparked the First World War, did perform the album’s mid-tempo masterpiece, “Walk Away,” with its film-noir guitars and tale of romantic tragedy. That euphoria was in abundance this past October at Toronto’s Ricoh Centre, where Kapranos, McCarthy, Thomson and bassist Bob Hardy rocked through a set list that featured urgent, anxious new numbers like “This Boy,” “Evil and a Heathen,” “You’re the Reason I’m Leaving” and the kinetic hit single “Do You Want To.” One of the new album’s most adventurous tracks, the slow, piano-laced ballad “Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On,” wasn’t included. “But other parts are intensely euphoric and optimistic as well.” “Some of the album is a little more introspective,” admits Kapranos, the band’s singer and chief songwriter with guitarist Nick McCarthy. But it’s garnering rave reviews and promises to avoid the sophomore jinx by winning even bigger sales. The group’s brilliant followup, You Could Have It So Much Better, is a little more downbeat. The band’s self-titled debut album, featuring the exuberant hit “Take Me Out,” fulfilled the group’s stated mission “to make records girls can dance to,” having sold more than three million copies. But like New York’s Talking Heads, the skinny Scottish rockers are rapidly becoming both revered and wildly popular with their arty, dance-friendly sounds. There’s a great crossover between the two scenes.”įranz Ferdinand isn’t the first rock group deeply rooted in the art world. “We’re a product of the Glasgow scene,” says singer Alex Kapranos, “where artists play in bands and bands perform in art galleries. Then, hamming it up like Ringo, Thomson turns into a crack-head Tin Man, puffing on a dubious-looking foil pipe. First, the group mummifies drummer Paul Thomson. After tossing and kicking many rolls of foil, more tin-foolery follows.
It’s a photo shoot for Franz Ferdinand, the reigning dukes of pop-rock, and the four band members are happy to play along. Silver balloons add a surreal, festive touch. Walls, windows, doors and furniture are all encased in tin foil. It looks like Andy Warhol’s fabled Factory in New York.
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