Franz Ferdinand |
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Thu. April 01.2004 12:00 AM EST |
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The Rise and Rise of Franz FerdinandHot indie group explain chefs playing the Stooges, their desire to blend Donna Summer and Gang of Four, and why it's so fun to dance. by C. Bottomley |
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(Courtesy of Domino Records) |
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Okay, so it's only April, but trust us on this: Franz Ferdinand is one of the best new bands of 2004. What makes us think so? Take them on ambition alone. The Glasgow foursome flirted with the top of the British charts with their second single, "Take
They also have a nifty sense of style, offstage and on. The band -- guitarist/singer Alex Kapranos, guitarist Nick McCarthy, bassist Bob Hardy and drummer Paul Thomson -- have the haircuts, clothes, and cheekbone departments covered. Live, they won't give up until everyone in the place is moving to their non-stop party music. Their self-titled debut is a killer, blending all sorts of elements. Franz Ferdinand plays with the intent of a rock unit, but the guitars sneak in clipped riffs that could have come from Chic's funky arsenal. The catchy melodies draw on show tunes ("Matinee") and spy movie themes ("Darts of Pleasure"), but the band's real focus is making people dance. Formed while its members were studying and working at the Glasgow School of Art, Franz Ferdinand took their name from an Austrian archduke. They built a following by claiming an abandoned factory and converting it into their own club called The Chateau. Ideas might be secondary to the groove, but this self-described "pop group" still subverts Top 40 conventions. "Michael" is a gay love song to rank with "Careless Whisper," and "Take Me Out's" stop/start stunt deliberately recalls the Smiths' "This Charming Man." Kapranos explained why they owe as much to clotheshorses like Duran Duran as indie heroes like the Fall, shared some secrets from work in Glasgow's kitchens, and explained why anybody can be a rock 'n' roll star. VH1: After years of trying to make it, did you wake up a changed man when "Take Me Out" went to No. 3 in the U.K.? Alex Kapranos: No. We were in New York at the time and nobody knew who the hell we were! It was like hearing about all this stuff that's happening to another band. VH1: How does it feel to be playing to 2000 people in Britain one week and 200 in the U.S. next? AK: Brilliant. The fun thing about playing live is that indefinable energy that comes back from a group of people responding to something that you do. We recently played the Rough Trade shop in London and that place is tiny! You can only get about 60 people downstairs, so they were crammed up the staircase. It's crazy when you've got people six inches away from your face. I love it. VH1: Who inspired you to pick up a guitar? AK: Probably my dad. There was always an acoustic guitar lying around my house when I was growing up. My dad used to play Buddy Holly and Everly Brothers songs and sing along. He used to make up songs as well, so I knew it was easy for human beings to make music and songs come out of this funny object. All kids should realize it, too: It's very easy to pick up a guitar and make music. VH1: What is the worst job you've ever had? AK: Probably something in a kitchen. Bob and I both worked as chefs. Actually, the worst job was at this haunted house thing in Glasgow. It was full of all these unemployed actors who had to dress up like mad monks and ghosts. People were led around in the dark and we'd jump out and scare them. I was the last person on this trail, dressed up in this Hannibal Lecter mask with a chainsaw. I'd get it going and chase all the people out. It was amazing fun, but after a week it got so boring and so repetitive. VH1: When you're working in a kitchen, does "well-done" really mean "burnt"? AK: It depends on where you are. We were in Paris, and there medium rare is basically blue. In the U.K., if you ask for something rare, you'd be lucky if there were any pink in it at all. VH1: Was there any spitting in the soup at your restaurant? AK: I've never known a chef to spit in the soup. It's usually waiters who do that sort of thing. There's always a great rivalry between the wait staff and kitchen staff. The place where we worked was no different. We were lucky because the head chef was a very cool Australian guy. He'd put on the Stooges or the Velvet Underground in the middle of a Saturday night service. There'd be stuff flying around all over the place, knives flashing, and this fantastic heavy music going on at the same time. The wait staff would hate it because the front would be really quiet. I don't think they liked the chaos. VH1: When you started, what did Franz Ferdinand hope to sound like? AK: 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. VH1: Who's the bigger influence: Gang of Four or Duran Duran? AK: Duran Duran, definitely. I'd say Duran Duran and The Fall were equally influential on the band. We were asked to guest DJ on Radio One recently, and we played "Prole Art Threat" by The Fall and then "Planet Earth." At the time they were released, if you were a fan of one song you would have hated the other. But from a distance, you can see they're both amazing songs -- with amazing bass lines! VH1: And yet The Fall is considered far more abrasive than Duran Duran. AK: To me The Fall is pop music as much as Duran Duran is pop music. If you listened to what The Fall actually listened to themselves, it was all Motown and Northern Soul. Their leader Mark E. Smith would get the musicians in a room and say, "Play something that sounds like the Beatles." In their heads they're playing something like it's pop music. That's the way we feel about it as well. It's pop music. VH1: What music ends up making you dance? AK: Ska makes me dance, but some ska makes me sit down. There's good ska like the Skatalites, the Studio One stuff, Madness and the Specials. Then there's really rotten ska, like the stuff that was kicking out a few years ago from the West Coast. I love heavy-handed early techno tracks, as well, like Altern 8 and 808 State. They're like the techno equivalent of a garage band. It's really primal, heavy riffs played on a synthesizer with an 808 rather than a crappy guitar going through an amplifier. VH1: You started out playing bedrooms in Glasgow. Is there sort of a dream venue for you guys? AK: I prefer unusual places that have been taken over by people, and you feel that the whole thing is going to collapse at any minute. The Catacombs in Paris sound like an amazing place to play. The walls and ceilings are supported by skeletons and skulls. That sounds incredible. I'd like to play a show there. VH1: Would you describe yourself as an ambitious person? AK: As a band we are. Alternative music sometimes suffers from an artificial modesty. It's like, "Oh, please forgive me for my errors and my abilities, I'm really not trying that hard," when in reality, anybody who's in a band is ambitious. We wanted to play pop music. It's that simple. Pop music is any music that appeals to people directly. To me, Nirvana played pop music. So did the Sex Pistols and the Velvet Underground. These are the best pop bands because they're direct, but come from the left field as well. VH1: You can enjoy your album without thinking of the art behind it. AK: People think because of our artist background that we're going to be some strange, experimental band, but we're not at all. If you look at the other bands that have come from that background, you see the same thing. Talking Heads, the Who, even the Beatles were all art school bands, but it doesn't mean they're going to be sitting there with some contrived situation. VH1: Now that you are a viable pop institution, how do you plan on wielding your power? AK: We don't see ourselves taking over the world or anything. I like the idea that people might see us [on TV] and say, "I could do something like that." I like the Sniffing Glue [fanzine] attitude: "Here are three chords, go and form your own band." It's almost ludicrous for us to be in a domain completely taken over by manufactured pop bands and [British TV show] Fame Academy. I hope people will see us and go, "Yeah!" VH1: So what music has excited you lately? AK: I've been listening to [Jamaican DJ] Dr. Alimantado recently. The newest thing I've gotten into? I really enjoyed the OutKast record. The Sons and Daughters album Love the Cup was great. Another Glasgow band, Uncle John & Whitelock, made me very excited about music when I saw them live. It reminds me of a dirty version of Howlin' Wolf, but with a definite groove going on -- danceability. They're terrific performers with real charisma, and they're unafraid to take over the stage. They're rude to the audience, and dare you to look them in the eye and stare them out. I like to see that sort of a thing in a band. |
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