Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band's original line-up was composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals), Bob Hardy (bass guitar, percussion) and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Julian Corrie (keyboards, lead guitar, backing vocals) and Dino Bardot (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) joined the band in 2017 after McCarthy left during the previous year, and Audrey Tait (drums, percussion) joined the band after Thomson left in 2021. The band is one of the more popular post-punk revival bands, garnering multiple UK top 20 hits.[1] They have been nominated for several Grammy Awards and have received two Brit Awards—winning one for Best British Group—as well as one NME Award.
The band's first two singles, "Darts of Pleasure" and "Take Me Out", peaked within the top 50 on the UK Singles Chart. "Take Me Out" charted in several countries and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; it became the band's signature song. Their self-titled debut studio album won the 2004 Mercury Prize and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album.
In 2005, the band released their second studio album, You Could Have It So Much Better, produced by Rich Costey. It peaked within the top-ten in multiple countries and earned Grammy-nominations for Best Alternative Album and for one of the singles, "Do You Want To". The band's third studio album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, was released in January 2009; by then the band had shifted from a post-punk-focused sound to a more dance-oriented sound. A remix album of Tonight, titled Blood, was released in July 2009.
Four years after the release of Tonight, the band released their fourth studio album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, in August 2013. In 2015, Franz Ferdinand and American rock band Sparks formed the supergroup FFS and released a one-off self-titled album in June 2015. Following the departure of McCarthy, the band released their fifth studio album, Always Ascending, in February 2018.
Collaborations and covers[edit]
Franz Ferdinand covered the LCD Soundsystem song "All My Friends" which appeared as a B-side on the single and LCD Soundsystem covered their song Live Alone in return, which appeared on a covers EP alongside Stephin Merritt, ESG and Debbie Harry who all covered songs from Tonight.[47] They have also covered "Sexy Boy" by Air, "It Won't Be Long" by the Beatles, Pulp's "Mis-Shapes", Gwen Stefani's top 5 hit "What You Waiting For?", Blondie's "Call Me", Britney Spears' "Womanizer" and David Bowie's song "Sound and Vision", featuring Girls Aloud[48] on backing vocals, for a compilation disc marking the 40th anniversary of BBC Radio 1, along with other leading artists. Additionally, Franz Ferdinand recorded a cover of the Fire Engines' song "Get Up and Use Me". In return, the Fire Engines recorded a cover of "Jacqueline". The band also took a similar approach with Dutch band De Kift, covering the song "Heisa-Ho" whilst De Kift recorded a cover of "Love and Destroy" with Dutch lyrics. The cover by De Kift is named "Liefde En Puin" which is the title "Love and Destroy" translated into Dutch. The band has had remixes by electronic artists Daft Punk, Hot Chip, Justice, The Avalanches, Microfilm and Erol Alkan.
The band also performed, played and recorded with Jane Birkin, covering the Serge Gainsbourg song "Sorry Angel" for the 2005 album Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited. In addition, Franz re-recorded the track "Brown Onions" for David Shrigley's compilation album Worried Noodles.[49] The band kept instrumentation identical but used lyrics written by Shrigley which include the consistent repetition of the word "No" and occasionally "No brains, no teeth, no legs, no eyes...". Hot Chip, a band who are reported to be a favourite of Franz Ferdinand, also performed their own version of "No" on the same album.
The band partnered with Sony in Tokyo, filming commercials for the launch of the A Series Walkman music player on 8 September 2005.[50][51] A limited edition Franz Ferdinand-themed Walkman A Series player was released by Sony Japan in January 2006, with only one hundred made.[52]
The band 'met' Gorillaz in December 2005 and interviewed each other for a feature in Observer Music Monthly.[53]
At the 2009 NME Awards ceremony, they performed a cover of Blondie's "Call Me" with Elly Jackson of La Roux on guest vocals.
When Franz appeared on Radio 1's Live Lounge on 6 April 2009, to promote "No You Girls", they covered "Womanizer" by Britney Spears.
They have also collaborated with Marion Cotillard for the 2010 Lady Dior campaign. The band wrote the lyrics and plays the music for the song "The Eyes of Mars", while the actress is on vocals. Kapranos noted that it was refreshing working with her as she had a lot of fun going and retrying the song time and time again.
In 2010, Franz Ferdinand contributed to the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack with their adaption of the song "The Lobster Quadrille". Later that year, Kapranos and McCarthy collaborated on the song "Do It Again" with Edwyn Collins on his album Losing Sleep.[54]
In 2016, Alex Kapranos took part in a documentary about Glasgow music and Chemikal Underground Records called Lost in France. The film was directed by Niall McCann and brought Kapranos (along with members of The Delgados, Mogwai and others) to Mauron, Brittany, to recreate a gig they played when Kapranos was in his earlier band, The Karelia. The film features Kapranos playing live with Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, and other musicians such as Emma Pollock and RM Hubbert, and Holy Mountain, as well as interviews with Kapranos and his old label-mates. Lost in France premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to wholly positive reviews and was called "funny, vital and sobering"[55] by Scotland's arts bible The Skinny.
In 2022, Franz Ferdinand's single, "This Fire" served as the opening theme song for the Polish-Japanese animated series, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.[56]
Sony BMG payola scandal[edit]
In 2005, the Sony BMG record company was involved in a scandal with the New York authorities, as some record company leaders would have practiced payola, an illegal practice in which certain people pay radio stations to broadcast a certain song or band, clarifying that they should not report the payment under any circumstances.[57] One of the groups involved in the 2005 payola scandal was Franz Ferdinand, according to documents released by New York authorities.[58] The documents showed that a member of the Epic Records label paid about $4,000 to a Buffalo radio programmer to play the single "Take Me Out" on the station. It was also commented that Alex Kapranos did not feel so comfortable with the business that Sony handled, in addition to the fact that a second agreement was made in which he received only $750, and that later, due to Alex's disagreement with the model they handled, it was decided to stop doing it.[59]
Studio albums