From left to right: Nick, Paul, Bob and Alex
As bands dropped by last February for a quick festival showcase in Bangkok, UK's leaders of the pack Franz Ferdinand won their fans over and still managed to find time to do a quick round table interview with journalists from south east Asia including a round table virgin SUPERSWEET.
How are you guys feeling this morning?
Alex Kapranos (vocals, guitar): Very happy to be here. It’s all been very exciting. We were feeding elephants last night, which is something we’ve been intending to do since we got the band together.
Did you decide to come to the Festival here because other bands are here, or is it that you wanted to come here to Thailand?
Alex: No, no, no... Thailand is somewhere we wanted to come to anyway. I think we were quite lucky to be able to come in the context of a rock festival. We get to see other bands as well like Ian Brown which should be fun. We felt that we need to come here for a long time we wanted to come when we released our first record but we didn’t quite manage it. We feel our visit is a little overdue but we’re finally here.
What were you guys like when you were seventeen years old?
Alex: I think I was like most teenagers, a bit rebellious but also a bit nervous about the whole world.
Paul Thomson (drums): I just really wanted to be eighteen so I could drink legally.
Nick McCarthy (guitar, vocals): Very quiet. I turned seventeen and learned to drive and just drove around Yorkshire doing funny stuff.
You just released a live DVD set last November with karaoke bonus. This is something that not many international artists are doing that, so why did you?
Alex: The thing is we all enjoy karaoke, it’s a good fun. Also all bands have to do this weird thing where you go on TV and do a half live performance. You have the backing track and you sing. I sing and everyone else pretends to play their instruments. And we always joke about how it's like karaoke. So that’s why we did it so everybody else can enjoy the same thing.
What song do you usually sing at karaoke?
Alex: We all have different ones. I like ‘Be Bop A Lula’ by Gene Vincent.
Nick: ‘Take Me Out’.
Bob Hardy (bass): I’ve got two: ‘Tubthumping’ by Chumbawumba and ‘The Logical Song’ by Supertramp which is not so easy.
Paul: ‘Yellow Submarine’.
What’s your favourite Scottish dish? Haggis or deep fried Mars bar?
Alex: I’ve only had Mars bar cold, from my flatmate the night before. Haggis is alright, a wonderful dish definitely.
Are you guys hungry?
Alex: All this talk of haggis makes me want some. Are there any haggis shops nearby here?
If you could be any movie characters, who would you be and why?
Alex: I think I’d be Superman because I can save the world.
Bob: Sylvester the Cat, 'cos he’s cool.
Nick: I’d be Die Hard from the film Die Hard.
Paul: Johnny Boy from Mean Streets.
Everyone tries to imitate your dance moves, do you name them?
Alex: We haven’t thought of naming them. I think our fans name them we just do them.
Who are your musical influences?
Alex: Lots of different ones, for me - everybody from Joseph Kay to Freddie Mercury. Freddie Mercury is one of the greatest performers that ever lived, Joseph Kay one of the greatest unsung bands that ever existed.
Paul: David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Can - I’m a big fan of, Talking Heads, The Cramps, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, The Beatles.
Bob: Belle and Sebastian, Joy Division, Pulp, New Order, James Brown.
Do you have any regrets about being famous?
Alex: Erm….. nope.
Any new rock bands to recommend?
Alex: A couple of good bands from Glasgow. There’s a band called The 1990s. They’re great. We all know about the Arctic Monkeys. They’re doing well in the UK right now.
What about the music scene in Glasgow right now?
Alex: Its always pretty good. After we had a couple of hit records, people looked to Glasgow and said there’d be an eruption of new bands like the Merseybeat in the 60s. The thing is with Glasgow it didn’t suddenly start producing good bands, its always had good bands. Whether the press is looking or not, there’ll always be good bands.
You have two records out, how do you compare them? Do you still like the first record?
Alex: We wouldn’t have recorded them if we didn’t like them. But you do come back and see certain songs on the setlist and think “oh great”, it's still good fun. The thing that keeps the song exciting is the way the audience responds to it and as long you get this energy coming back then the song is still alive.
So you’ll never get bored of playing ‘Take Me Out’?
Alex: I don’t think so, no. good tune.
What is your favourite song to perform live?
Alex: It changes… I go through periods of different songs.
Bob: I'm really enjoying 'Outsiders' which is the last song on our second album. We have lots of drummers invade the stage for that one.
Alex: I think if you ask any band what their favourite song is they’ll say the new one…
Do you feel like you’ve changed?
Alex: (Pointing at the rest of the band) These guys just aren’t the same, I barely recognize them. No…. we’re still the same people it’s just that more people know what our names are….
Paul: I think I can still be the same person if I try really hard.
Do you do your own laundry?
Alex: When we can. Because we’re on tour we have to take it to a launderette sometimes but sometimes to keep it real we wash our underwear in the sink.
What's the best thing about being in Franz Ferdinand?
Alex: Hanging out with these guys…. No, but you get to go onstage in front of thousands of people and play music that makes you feel alive and it’s so thrilling. And travelling around the world. How else would I have ever gone to Thailand?
What’s your inspiration every day to go to work?
Alex: When you’re doing something you enjoy, you don’t notice it. It’s only difficult to get up in the morning when you know the things you’ve got to do are a bit of a drag. I’ve had certain jobs that I just didn’t want to be doing or times when I had to go to school and I didn’t want to get up and go but getting up and playing in a rock n roll band isn’t that difficult.
I saw you play with U2 last year. Did you pick up any tips from Bono and the guys?
Alex: We did yeah. They were the kind of gigs that we’d never done before, those huge sports stadiums and massive crowds. And I remember first time we went on it thinking this place is so huge, and I felt really small standing on that stage but after a couple of minutes you get into it and learn how to perform in a different way, so we can appreciate those guys for that.
Paul: We’re gonna play with them again.
You liked them?
Alex: Yeah they were alright, no snobbishness about them, they were good.
What's the worst job you’ve had?
Alex: The worst started up as the best. It was like a ghost train without the train, a ghost house that you went round, ghouls would come out and scare them. My job was to be the chainsaw wielding maniac in a mask and I’d chase them out of the house. For the first couple of weeks it was great fun but after a month it was so boring.
Bob: I was doing laundry in a retirement home.
Nick: I had to sort old bottles of wine and beer and the smell was incredible. The worst smell in my life.
Paul: I used to dig holes.