Franz Ferdinand

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Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish indie rock band, formed in Glasgow. Formed in 2001 and named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Franz Ferdinand consists of Alex Kapranos on lead vocals and guitar, Bob Hardy on bass guitar, Nick McCarthy on rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, and Paul Thomson on drums, percussion, and backing vocals.

Franz Ferdinand's debut self-titled album (released in 2004) debuted on the UK album charts at number three and won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize before their second album, You Could Have It So Much Better, charted at number 1. So far, Franz Ferdinand has released eight singles, a double single and two video-clip-only singles, of which Take Me Out, The Dark of the Matinée, This Fire (on the download chart) and Do You Want To were top 10 hits in the UK.

In late 2001, singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy began playing music together in Glasgow. After meeting Nick McCarthy at a party, they began 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 Thomson who had played drums with Yummy Fur. Thomson originally was going to play guitar because he wanted to try something other than drums. However, once Nick started playing the drums, Alex and Bob realized that Nick didn't actually know how to. Quote "...when he said he could play the drums what he meant was that he could hit them but in no coherent order". Thomson took over on drums, and McCarthy moved to lead guitar. Thomson was described by Kapranos as the best drummer in Glasgow, but refers to how Paul wanted to be seen by the audience, hence refusing to use rack toms. However, by late 2005 Paul was using rack toms.

Franz Ferdinand started playing at an abandoned warehouse in the Gorbals which they named "the Château." Franz Ferdinand also held rave-like "happenings" combining music and art; Hardy was studying painting at the Glasgow School of Art at the time. When the local police shut the events down, Franz Ferdinand found an abandoned Victorian courthouse and played there.

Franz Ferdinand have been quoted as saying they wanted to make "music that girls can dance to." This was combined with their art school background on their self-titled debut released in early 2004. It debuted at number 3 in the UK Albums Chart in February 2004 and at number 12 in the Australian album charts in April 2004. While the album had only reached the lowest levels of the Billboard 200 album charts in the US as of early 2004, it reached the top 5 of the indie rock chart and the Heatseeker chart for debut artists. After a couple of North American tours and heavy rotation of the "Take Me Out" video on MTV, the album eventually reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200 later in 2004 and has been certified platinum in the US for sales exceeding 1,000,000. Five singles were released from the album, namely:

"Darts of Pleasure" placed on the UK Singles Chart prior to being a particularly successful Franz Ferdinand; 
"Take Me Out" was the breakthrough single and reached the #3 on the UK charts, #66 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also made the top 10 of the Irish and Canadian charts and the top 40 in a composite European chart as well as being voted number one in the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004 (more than doubling the votes for the song which received second place). It is also a song option for the videogame "Guitar Hero". 
"The Dark of the Matinée" or "Matinée" reached #8 in the UK singles charts and the top 30 on the World Modern Rock Charts (a composite chart of US, German, UK, Swedish, Finnish, Canadian and Australian modern rock charts); and 
"Michael" reached the #17 on the UK singles charts. A large amount of the single's sales were not counted, as they were not released in the correct format. 
"This Fire" was released in North America in November 2004, and was a download-only single in the UK. It reached #17 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and reached #8 on the UK download chart. 
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 Duran Duran, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire, Travis 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."

Franz Ferdinand spent much of 2005 in the studio in Scotland working on their follow-up album, You Could Have It So Much Better, which was released on 3 October 2005. Throughout the recording process, Franz Ferdinand had intended to leave the album self-titled like their debut, but they changed it to You Could Have It So Much Better...With Franz Ferdinand before settling on the current title. The first live performance of their new music came as Franz Ferdinand  headlined at the V Festival in August 2005.

After the ecstatic reception of their debut, some reviews towards the new Franz Ferdinand album became more polarized, with some complaints that the recording was rushed. However, it generally was critically acclaimed and seen as an album equal to, or better than their first by most critics, including the NME. It entered the UK Album Charts at Number 1 and the US charts at Number 8.

The album is less associated with art music and dance, with Franz Ferdinand taking a more raw, indie-rock-style approach. This stylistic change was reflected in more lively live shows, featuring Franz Ferdinand members jumping off the drum kit, smashing guitars and rolling around on stage

from Wikipedia licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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