Franz Ferdinand (band)

Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish rock and roll band, who take their name after Franz Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, whose assassination triggered World War I. 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 had three singles "Take Me Out" and "The Dark Of The Matinée", which have reached the top 10 in the UK, and "Michael".

The "Chateau" - early years

In late 2001, singer/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 Thompson who had played drums with Yummy Fur, leading him to swap instruments with McCarthy.

The band started playing at an abandoned warehouse in the Gorbals which they named "the Chateau". Franz Ferdinand also held rave-like "happenings" combining music and art; Hardy was studying 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.

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."

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 The 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). Sony Music signed the band to a contract in 2003.

Critical and chart success

Franz Ferdinand have been quoted as saying they wanted to make "records that girls can dance to." This influence was combined with their art school background on their self-titled debut released in early 2004. It debuted at number 3 in the UK album charts in February 2004 and at number 12 in the Australian album charts in April 2004. While the album had only reached the bottom reaches of the Billboard 200 album charts in the US as of April 26 2004, it reached the top 5 of the indie rock and Heatseeker charts for debut charts. As of April 2004, there have been two singles released from the album namely:

"Take Me Out" reached the top 5 of the UK charts, top 10 of the Irish charts and top 40 in a composite European chart; and

"The Dark Of The Matinee" or "The Matinee" reached the top 10 of the UK singles charts and top 30 on the World Modern Rock Charts (a composite chart of US, German, UK, Swedish, Finnish, Canadian and Australian modern rock charts).

The Franz Ferdinand album received a generally strong positive response from critics. The New Musical Express said that the band was the latest in the line of art school rock bands featuring The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire and Blur. It rated the album as 9 out of 10 and said: "This album is the latest and most intoxicating example of the wonderful pushing its way up between the ugly slabs of Pop Idol, nu metal and Britons aping American bands. What these blossoming bands have in common is the absolute conviction that rock ‘n’ roll is more than a career option."

The BBC's review of the album said: "At only 38 minutes long Franz Ferdinand may not be a particularly long album, but it is a masterpiece of funky, punky, suave cool from the first track to the last." The All Music Guide rated the album as four out of five stars and said "Franz Ferdinand ends up being rewarding in different ways than the band's previous work was, but it's apparent that they're still one of the more exciting groups to come out of the garage-rock / post-punk revival.

On September 7, 2004 the album was awarded the 2004 Mercury Music Prize.