Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 09.02.2004
“I don’t dance, I don’t dance when I’m sad. I don’t dance, I don’t dance when I’m sad,” sings Arkadi Duchin to lyrics by Micha Shitrit and Alon Olearchik.
So how is it possible to be sad, especially with rock songs that make you want to tear up the dance floor? Yes, yes, songs like those of “Franz Ferdinand”, whose debut album was released on 09.02.2004.
People always claim that Scots are serious and gloomy, and that even when guitars are slicing through the night in their hands, melancholy still coats the overall picture. But that could not be further from the case with Alex Kapranos, Nicholas McCarthy, Bob Hardy, and Paul Thomson.
The beginning of this war was ridiculous to the point of absurdity, with tragic consequences, and that is exactly the story. A ridiculous, illogical, tragic, and deadly war. It all began on a beautiful day with six members of a Serbian underground group who decided to assassinate the Austro Hungarian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand. Or more accurately, they were chosen because they suffered from tuberculosis, a terminal disease at the time, which made this suicide mission seem almost trivial to them.
Franz Ferdinand’s motorcade passed through the streets of Sarajevo. The first assassin who was supposed to shoot him did not do so because he could not find a good position. The second threw a stick of dynamite at the convoy, jumped into the river, and swallowed a cyanide pill. The pill did not work. He was pulled from the water and beaten severely. Franz Ferdinand emerged completely unharmed from the explosion and continued to his destination. On the way back, his driver made a wrong turn and entered a dead end street. As the driver attempted to reverse, Gavrilo Princip pulled out a pistol and shot the heir to the throne and his wife at close range. The bullet that struck Franz Ferdinand was the opening shot of an event that would change the face of the world, World War I. Ninety years later, a friendly Scottish quartet from Glasgow decided that the story of the heir to the throne was important enough to name their band after him.
“One of the things that brought us together was a shared hatred of elitism,” says singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos. “I loathe elitism in music. It’s one of the ugliest things. Even thirteen-year-old girls deserve to hear decent music.”
“I love subversion and I love pop music. Put them together and you get moments of magic.”
“We’re basically just four guys making music and having a laugh,” Kapranos says, proving that life can have a positive vibe even for rock stars of his kind.
“Franz Ferdinand” arrived with plenty of harmonies and humor inspired by Britpop, slightly reminiscent of 1990s Blur, along with fun, funky guitars and a lot of groove tailor made for the dance floor.
The album is bursting with potential and packed with lyrics that carry surprising satire, sharp wit, and shameless romance.
None of these tricks were new in 2004 when they released their debut album on "Domino Records". Still, few used these devices better than Kapranos, Thomson, the only Scot in the band, Bob Hardy, and Nick McCarthy.
Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson met at a party, struck up a close friendship, and played together in “Yummy Fur”, later beginning to write songs together.
Around the same time, Kapranos taught his friend Bob Hardy how to play bass after Hardy received a bass guitar from Mick Cooke of the band “Belle and Sebastian”. Kapranos met rhythm guitarist Nick McCarthy, who had returned to Scotland after studying bass guitar and playing in a fusion and ethnic world music band in Munich, Germany. He also played double bass, cello, and the Arabic oud.
After the members came together, they settled on the name “Franz Ferdinand” for the band. The name was originally inspired by a racehorse called Archduke Ferdinand. After seeing the horse win at Northumberland Plate in 2001, the band began discussing Archduke Franz Ferdinand and thought it would make a good band name because of the sharp sound of the name and the implications of the Archduke’s death.
By mid 2002, “Franz Ferdinand” had recorded material for an EP they intended to release themselves, but word of mouth about the band spread quickly and they signed with Domino in May 2003. Shortly afterward, the band headed to Malmö, Sweden to work with Swedish producer Tore Johansson, who had successfully produced all the albums by the Swedish rock band “The Cardigans”.
After a restrained start with the debut single "Darts of Pleasure", the second single "Take Me Out" arrived and changed everything. It opens like a fairly standard post-Strokes indie rock track, then suddenly shifts gears. The tempo drops unexpectedly, a funky rhythm takes over, and the song locks into a fantastic chorus and an unforgettable guitar riff that makes your body move side to side almost automatically.
Songwriter Alex Kapranos explained that the idea for the song’s theme came from watching a sniper duel in Enemy at the Gates, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and that “it felt like a really good metaphor for the kind of romantic situations we sometimes find ourselves in.” The call-and-response guitar riff and the vocal melody were inspired by blues musician Howlin' Wolf.
“That image of the two snipers really stayed with me,” Kapranos said. “It felt like a really good metaphor for the kind of romantic situations we sometimes find ourselves in. You know, where you both know you’re into each other, but neither of you wants to reveal your vulnerability and make the first move, to let the other one know how you feel.”
With the third single, "The Dark Of The Matinee", they delivered a massive radio hit centered on the “utopian environment” of an afternoon theater performance.
Meanwhile, "Michael" is a love song directed explicitly at a man. Frontman Alex Kapranos stated in an interview with the British magazine "Boyz" that the song was written about two of his friends. “It was one night when the band and I went out with friends from Glasgow, and we went to a warehouse dance party called Disco X. And those two friends really connected in a very sexy way.” The song contains a hidden message between 1:35 and 1:39 that says (if played backwards), “She worries about you, call your mother,” as a nod to bassist Bob Hardy’s concern, after he insisted he urgently needed to call his mom.
The album’s opening track "Jacqueline" was inspired by a story told to Kapranos by a friend about an encounter with an older man. He recalled, “When she described it, I could see the embarrassment and rejection he experienced when he realized how she actually saw him, as opposed to how he thought she saw him.”
Although the album is made up largely of upbeat music, it closes ironically with a reflective look toward the future. The ominous references to blood and forty feet in "40'" have often been interpreted as transparent allusions to suicide. The band has stated, however, that the song is more about throwing yourself into a difficult situation than jumping from a railway bridge.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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