DC Q&A With Franz Ferdinand
The Glaswegian quartet Franz Ferdinand played to a sold out(and dancing) crowd at the Gypsy Tea Room Sept. 14. Ourentertainment editor Alix McAlpine had the opportunity to sit downwith lead singer Alexander Kapranos for a few questions before theshow, here’s what was said.
Daily Campus: First off, just to make sure I don’t askthese, which is the worst question you’ve ever been asked byan interviewer?
Alexander Kapranos: Well, there are a few questions we just getasked again and again. Like “Where did you get your namefrom?” or “Did you really start playing music to makegirls dance?” we kind of all go “here we goagain” when that one comes up…
DC: Speaking of that – what other names did you toy aroundwith before settling with that?
AK: “We thought of being 1933 for a while – I reallyliked that one. We were the Party Styx too…P.a.r.t.yS.t.y.x.”
DC: The Party Styx?
AK: “The Party Styx, and Franz Ferdinand…we used tobe Franz Ferdinand 2000. We came up with the name in 2002, and wethought putting 2000 at the end of the name would be great since itwas about the least fashionable thing at the time. We dropped the2000 when we got our deal, but Bob [Hardy, Bass Guitar] stillreferes to us as Franz Ferdinand 2000 most of the time.”
DC: Do you think having the name of a person as the name of theentire band causes some confusion? I still meet people who refer toFranz Ferdinand as “him”.
AK: I guess it is a bit confusing, I think by now most peopleunderstand that its all of us…Actually, we did a TV show inFrance not long ago, and they had a dressing room for “FranzFerdinand” and one for “Franz Ferdinand’sband,” that was a bit amusing.
DC: You seem to have been touring a lot this year, is thereanytime you just go “AHH!! TAKE ME HOME!!”
AK: Of course! We all miss friends and family, but we get to seethe world and have fun doing what we like, so we can’t reallycomplain.
DC: So you’ve been pretty much everywhere in the countryby now, what do you think of Texas women?
AK: They seem very charming! My girlfriend actually studied inTexas, in Austin, at the University of Texas, maybe that explainsthing.
DC: I just heard the German version of “Tell HerTonight” this morning, whose idea was that?
AK: I’m not quite sure how that came along. We’vedone a lot of German in our songs and we thought we’d go allout. Plus we wanted Paul [Thomson, drummer] to sing lead on a song,since he only sings backup vocals once in a while. We thought itwould be really funny, none of us really speak a lick of German,but it was fun to make.
DC: You’ve been doing a lot of DJ sets at after parties,did any of you spin records before the band, or is this somethingthat’s kind of fallen into your lap?
AK: Oh yes, of course, some of us used to spin; I did for awhile before the band. It’s strange doing parties while onthe road though. We hate doing it with iPods, it just seems soboring, but we have – what? – 13 people on this bus, soa record collection would be hard to fit in.
DC: There are already rumors circulating that you’reworking on your new album, are you sticking to the basics orventuring out a little further now that have established a strongfan base?
AK: We’ve been writing songs for a bit, but we’renot officially working on it just yet. I actually wrote a songduring sound check today, it’s not much so far; it’llprobably take four or five more sound checks to shape it up. And asfor the sound, we still want to make music that is fun. We kind ofhave an agreement to stick to our basic instruments, nothing tooextravagant.
DC: Finally, where do you think modern pop music is heading, andwhere do you feel you fit in regards to the where its going?
AK: I think things are finally moving towards real music, musicto entertain. For years everyone seemed so angry, so unhappy, andthey weren’t making real music, just noise. I think that theage of new metal is dying out, finally. Fabricated pop stars arefading away too, I think people had enough, too much realitytelevision, too many fabricated careers. (…) The funny thingis, we’ve gotten to play with some of those angry bands, andthey’re always so cheerful, they’ll come up to mesaying, “Hi! I’m Jeremy!!!” and I just want toask them “Why are you so angry?” (…) We justwant people to enjoy themselves when they listen to us,that’s all.
