Tonight: Supermarket Sweep!
The last time SUPERSWEET interviewed Franz Ferdinand, we lost our press-conference virginity in Thailand, 2006! Now we've been summoned back for a second round with the boys, we're all hot and sweaty as the band discuss latest record TONIGHT: FRANZ FERDINAND, what it all means, grave robbing skeletons and dance floor sex analogies. Oh and a strangely paralell end scene to Notting Hill played out in which Alex admits he's in love with an English dude. Rather!
You took three years making the record. Time well spent?
Alex Kapranos (vocals, guitar): It didn’t take us three years! We spent about a year and a half to make it, so that’s a year and a bit in the studio plus doing some smaller gigs as well trying to get together a new sound.
The new album incorporates a lot of the old dance floor beats – was this deliberate?
Alex: Yeah, we like the dance floor, but this time we wanted to do it in a different way. When we first incorporated those elements, our first and second records were original and fresh, then later became a little ubiquitous after they were released. (Pauses) Anyone else want to answer this? I don’t want to hog the microphone.
Paul Thomson (drums): Do I like the dance floor? Yeah absolutely! I DJ so I clear dance floors – that’s my speciality. I think its just one big sex metaphor, isn’t it? The dance floor. (The boys snigger)
Alex: Would you like to elaborate?
Paul: I don’t think we’re supposed to…
What do you think this album’s ‘Take Me Out’ or equivalent hits will be?
Alex: We never think of them in those terms. You don’t think, "Right – let's write the big single now! This is really turning me on." ‘No You Girls' seems to be the poppiest song, if that’s what you mean.
Do you want to elaborate on how you write songs?
Alex: It’s mainly Nick (McCarthy - guitar, vocals) and me. We used to sit down and write the conventional way with an acoustic guitar. This time we tried writing a bit more modular – like you’ll have a collection of melodies and construct songs from them by thinking: "Well, that part sounds really good with that song, but it’d sound better if we lost the rest of the original and mixed it up with that other one." You have to lose all preciousness you have for writing because you’re disposing of anything that doesn’t make the cut.
When you look at recent bands like Glasvegas and that, being from Glasgow seems to be quite an important element to their music. Is it the same for you?
Alex: I love Glasvegas. I think they’re a great band and what they’re doing is continuing a tradition of bands coming from Glasgow that sound nothing like each other. Contrariness seems to be the sound of Glasgow for me.
The songs on Tonight seem to be less furnished by cultural references than your former records. Is there a reason for that?
Alex: Isn’t there? I mean, we definitely wanted to change the visual aesthetic of it. 'Ulysses' has a dirtier, night-time vibe to it which accounts for the cover we’ve chosen.
Paul: Er, there was that quote about Charlton Heston. And Ulysses.
Alex: Oh yeah.
I wanted to ask about that title and its theme of epic tradition with references to James Joyce and the idea of coming home.
Alex: I suppose ‘Lucid Dreams’ is a reference to Ithaca. Ulysses or Odysseus is just a great tale. You can read it two and a half thousand years later and still empathise with this character who thinks he’s lost and is never going home – there’s always times in your life when you feel that way and certainly when you’re in a band you feel like that – god, when am I going home to the life I used to know? Or you can consider it a great adventure; it’s up to you. I think with the actual song its about how you can consider yourself to be a hero but realise you’re not.
How would you say you’ve manifested African influences in the music?
Alex: That’s something that’s been exaggerated. We did a show at African Express last year and did an interview with this guy from The Independent and he asked us if we liked African music we said, “Yeah of course we do! We’ve just been playing with a bunch of African guys,” and then through a series of Chinese whispers…
Paul: …Aka ‘The Internet’ …
Alex: …it then became [headline] "Franz Ferdinand – The African Band". You often get influences foisted upon you.
Paul: We tend not to dwell on genres or the geography of songs as much – might be something to do with getting older and feeling less like you belong to a peer group or scene.
Bob Hardy (bass): I think the way you listen to music now has changed drastically with MP3 players. You’ll have Daft Punk next to Dolly Parton and not think twice. They’re just songs.
I’ve got the lyrics of ‘What She Came For’ in mind when I ask this – but are you still excited about being Franz Ferdinand?
Alex: I love being in Franz Ferdinand! I’m glad you picked up on those lyrics though because I spoke to an NME journalist two days ago and he thought it was just one big come on. Questions can get repetitive but you can’t be a prick about it – people are asking because they wanna know.
What’s the story with ‘Katherine Kiss Me’ and ‘No You Girls?’ Because they seem really similar.
Alex: Both are about kissing somebody for the first time. They’re about how we recall big emotional events in our life in different ways depending on the circumstances in which we recall them. ‘No You Girls’ is sung how you’d tell an anecdote to your friends down the pub and exaggerate it. ‘Katherine...’ is the same event but remembering how emotionally fragile and vulnerable you felt.
Paul: I think people from Glasgow are guilty of embellishing.
Bob: Maybe in colder climates because you’ve got nothing else to do but sit in a pub and talk about shit.
You originally had sessions for the album with Brian Higgins amongst others. What did you take from those?
Alex: Some crockery, some silver ware; the girls aloud master tape.
Paul: We took something from each of those different pre-album sessions. Erol Alkan and LCD Soundsystem have totally different working methods - quite an eye-opener for us.
Bob: And James Ford’s work ethic was, “It’ll sound better after a couple of pints.”
I think Nick, you’ve been a bit quiet. Would you like to contribute something?
Nick: Errrrm. No.
Was there any added pressure to produce hits?
Bob: Yes. They said, “We want hits”. (Raucous laughter)
Nick?
Nick: I’m a bit quiet today.
Alex: You cannot believe what the pressure is like everyday with Bart and Lawrence on the phone going, “Where’s the hits boys?” Nah, we’re quite lucky to be with Domino – they’re pretty cool about it all.
Can you talk a little about the production side of things? There’s a lot of fading in and fading out and then on other tracks you seem to cut right in.
Alex: Yeah that’s an important aspect. Its great to explore textures like 'Dream Again' with its rich set of sonics but then its good to go super lo-fi, like how we recorded half a song in a cellar at full pelt with only one microphone. Sometimes the best way to experience a band is like that but we didn’t want a 2-D album.
What’s Jonathan Ross like?
Paul: He’s alright. He’s good on the radio.
Alex: We’re curious as to what he’ll do on the upcoming show. The last time he did a warm up with us first and he’s was REALLY dirty.
Paul: He’s probably gonna have the thought police on this back all day. And Tom Cruise.
Nick: He’ll have Tom Cruise on this back all day?
Paul: Down behind the sofa.
What was it like working with Girls Aloud?
Alex: Er, yeah they were all right, weren’t they? They just sang on one of the songs.
Paul: I had a chat with Cheryl Tweedy about neck tattoos. She thinks they’re really sexy. Wants her husband to get one.
Bob: I think you’ll find she’s called Cheryl Cole.
The Scotsman said your gig last Wednesday didn’t go down well with the audience.
Alex: I think that’s unfair – the audience were really receptive at that gig. Technically it was our worst gig in years. My guitar blew up. A cable snapped…
Nick: My keyboard played five octaves higher than usual.
Paul: Knowing your whole family is watching I think that spooked us a bit. But using the football analogy, we conceded a goal quite early on but pulled it back in the second half.
I read this album is a revolt against what everyone else is doing. Are you not generally impressed with your peer’s ambition?
Alex: I think one of the ways of creating your band’s character is looking around you and realising what you don’t want to be. That’s how we formed. When we first appeared there wasn’t a lot of guitar bands and tons of formulaic pop in the charts. Now there’s formulaic guitar bands kicking around and we want to rebel against that.
Is it true that a skeleton was involved in making the record?
Alex: In a very small way. Just a bit of percussion, really.
How did you get it?
Alex: Erm… we found it in a box at an auction.
Paul: Well. That’s the story we’re telling everyone.
Alex: We did an interview in Paris recently and the journalist was saying, "Oh yeah! You were using a skeleton in one of your songs! Did you go to the graveyard and dig it up?” And we were like, er, no.
Bob: Yeah. Because me and my friend used to do that when we were young, they said. We wouldn’t take it or anything, just knock the coffin open but not touch it. We’re not sick or anything.
What bands do you think are going against the grain right now?
Paul: Late of the Pier. MGMT. Glasvegas.
Robert, you were once quoted as being an artist, not a musician. What other forms of art are you into?
Bob: Ooh, I’m not really an artist.
Why don’t you just say that you are?
Bob: Alright. I am then. I might drawer sometimes. With Sharpies.
Is there any one band supporting your upcoming tour?
Alex: Metronomy. They’re one of the more interesting bands to appear recently.
You used the football analogy earlier and I wanted to ask…which is the best Ferdinand: Rio, Anton or Les?
Paul: Well, Les took part in the destruction of the Blue Peter garden so probably him. I think some fish might have died in that actually – maybe they took it too far. That wasn’t so good.
Alex, you said the last album was like a teenager having sex. How would you describe this album?
Alex: No disrespect to teenagers – teenage sex is absolutely magic, it’s just quite frantic and over quickly. As for this one I haven’t come up with a trite letter-four yet.
Bob: Give it six months of touring and we’ll see.
Would you consider releasing a compilation of B-sides?
Alex: Yeah we had been talking about that. I like the B-sides cause they feel so urgent. You kinda run into the studio and get it out quick and think, “Aye, that’ll do.” So that’s what we’re thinking of calling the next compilation album, That’ll do.
Now we know we can hassle you at press conferences in the future for you to do it.
Alex: Haha. Aye, you could. Well…times up now. Thanks everyone, for some refreshingly interesting questions.
One last question. Alex, how much longer will you be staying in the U.K then?*
Alex: Er. No time at all, I leave tonight.
The last time you were here, there were some fairly graphic photos taken of you with a young English guy. So, er...what happened there?*
Alex: He was just a friend. We're still friends, I think.
Are there any circumstances in which the two of you might be more than just good friends?*
Alex: I hoped there would be, but no. I'm assured there aren't.
I was just wondering if Mr Thacker realised he was being a daft prick, got down on his knees and begged you to reconsider, whether you would or not?*
Alex: I believe I would. [Hushed mumbling]
Press officer: Right, er...Dominic. If you'd like to ask your question again.*
Alex...How long do you intend on staying in the UK? [Suspensful pause]
Alex: Indefinately.
[Cue music] She may be the one...la la la da etc etc.
*Totally ripped off from 'Notting Hill'. Clearly it didn't happen.
Words: Tiffany Tondut
Photo Frame: Sarah Palisi