Franz Ferdinand (band)

Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish rock and roll band. The band's debut self-titled album released in 2004 debuted on the UK album charts at number 3, and won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. So far, the band has released six singles of which "Take Me Out", "The Dark of the Matinée" and "Do You Want To" were top 10 hits in the UK. They are influenced by 1980s post-punk and garage rock.

The "Château" - early years

In late 2001, singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos and bassist Robert Hardy began playing together in Glasgow. After meeting Nicholas McCarthy they started to rehearse together at McCarthy's house. McCarthy was classically trained on the piano and double bass but initially played drums. The trio then met up with Paul Thomson who had played drums with Yummy Fur, leading him to swap instruments with McCarthy.

Related Topics:
2001 - Alex Kapranos - Robert Hardy - Glasgow - Nicholas McCarthy - Piano - Double bass - Drums - Paul Thomson - Yummy Fur

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The band started playing at an abandoned warehouse in the Gorbals which they named "the Château". Franz Ferdinand also held rave-like "happenings" combining music and art; Hardy was studying painting at the Glasgow School of Art at the time. When the local police shut the events down, the band found an abandoned Victorian courthouse and played there.

Related Topics:
Gorbals - Rave-like - Music - Art - Glasgow School of Art - Victorian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a 2004 interview with VH1, Alex Kapranos described the sound they were seeking. "On songs like 'Come on Home,' we wanted to sound like Donna Summer and Link Wray mixed together, but it doesn't sound like that at all! We thought we could sound like Prince, too, but what we were really trying to do was take on the attitudes of different bands and combine them in our own way."

Related Topics:
VH1 - Donna Summer - Link Wray - Prince

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The band had recorded an EP worth of material which they intended to release themselves. However, the band's reputation was spreading rapidly, and Domino offered them a contract to release an EP called Darts of Pleasure in the latter part of 2003. The band developed its reputation further by supporting Hot Hot Heat and Interpol as well as winning a "Phillip Hall Radar Award" at the NME Awards of 2004 (announced in late 2003). Epic Records signed the band to a contract in 2004 for the USA, although the band's primary label for the rest of the world is still Domino.

Related Topics:
Domino - 2003 - Hot Hot Heat - Interpol - NME Awards of 2004 - Epic Records

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~