#FRANZ FERDINAND BAND PROFESSIONAL#
#FRANZ FERDINAND BAND FREE#

“We’ve been in situations where the band you’re supporting can’t be arsed to say ‘hello’ to you, but they were really cool and looked after us,” Alex recalls. “That was in 2004, so hopefully time’s run out for Gaga to sue us!”Īs well as becoming stadium headliners in their own right – hands up who remembers their stonking 2005 gig in Lansdowne Road with Scissor Sisters? – Franz also accompanied U2 on the South American leg of their $389 million-grossing Vertigo tour. “She said in an interview that she’d broken her nose diving from the Roseland stage into the mosh-pit,” Alex grins evilly. I’d been obsessing over David Bowie all my life, and there he suddenly was in our dressing-room doing a really bad impersonation of an American guy! He was lovely, though.”Īlso in the crowd that night was a pre-Lady Gaga Stefani Germanotta who went home with an unwanted souvenir. “David came to quite a few of our New York gigs, including the first one in the Roseland Ballroom, which is sadly no longer there in Manhattan. Tracey Emin and David Bowie join Kanye West, Nile Rodgers, Daft Punk, Sparks, Debbie Harry, Johnny Marr, Snoop and Lady Gaga as one of the legendary figures who weave their way into the Franz history Alex has penned to accompany Hits To The Head, and which can be found on . “I’d been to Martin Creed’s retrospective in the Armory in New York and Tracey’s in the South Bank in London, both of which were wonderful in terms of the work on display, but left me thinking, ‘What’s next for them?’ So I’ve tried to give the album the same curated feel you get from an exhibition.” “The idea is for it to be an artistic statement rather than just a straightforward run through of our singles,” Alex explains.

#FRANZ FERDINAND BAND PROFESSIONAL#

Hits To The Head also takes cues from professional bed messer-upper Tracey Emin. “As well as making them go, ‘I remember jumping around to that in Whelan’s or the Olympia’, I hope Hits To The Head leaves people hungry for the next chapter.” “ Greatest hits albums are often a ‘That’s all, folks!’ whereas we wanted ours to be a ‘Here’s what we’ve done in the past and here’s where we might be heading in the future…’, like ChangesOneBowie was when it came out in 1976 in-between Station To Station and Low,” Alex cheerily reflects. While my waistline has expanded as quickly as my hairline has receded, Alex is still whippet thin, folically unchallenged and proud part-owner of Franz Ferdinand: Hits To The Head, which underlines just how comprehensively his band has delivered on its promise to make music for girls (and boys) to dance to.įrom angular art-pop start (‘Darts Of Pleasure’) to rousing terrace-chant finish (‘Billy Goodbye’), it’s proof of a rock ‘n’ roll life extremely well-spent and not in any danger of ending yet. The more powerful the nation, the greater the threat to the entire planet.It has to be said that the past 20 years have been far kinder to Alex Kapranos than they have to yours truly. Unstable.Ī demagogue is a threat to their own nation.

#FRANZ FERDINAND BAND FREE#

The free press is an early target: a demagogue undermines the credibility of the press during their rise to power, and then censors the press once they have seized power.Ī demagogue is consumed by ambition, insatiable like the thirst of a rabid dog.Ī demagogue is ultimately insecure, with serious psychological issues. They are to be derided, rather than cared for.Ī demagogue is hot tempered and irrational, prone to capricious violent outbursts triggered by the slightest puncture of their gossamer-thin skin.Ī demagogue uses any means to suppress their opponents, threatening to lock them up, and then, once in power, making them physically disappear.Ī demagogue suppresses any voice that dare speak out against them. To solve everyone’s problems.Ī demagogue offers no evidence to support the promises they make.Ī demagogue is not interested in the future and prosperity of the nation they wish to command, only in their own power.Ī demagogue questions and undermines the validity of the democratic process, claiming it to be rigged against them.Ī demagogue is a narcissist, prone to comically exaggerated acts of vanity.Ī demagogue is often a sexual predator, abusing their power to satisfy their lust.Ī demagogue has no interest in facts or truth, lying easily and freely to meet their desires.Ī demagogue preys upon divisiveness: they declare some ethnic or social group to be the enemy, and insist we rise together against them.Ī demagogue has no regard for the vulnerable in society. To return a nation to a fantasy state of greatness that never existed. A demagogue is motivated by ego and self-interest.Ī demagogue amplifies prejudices and fears, whipping up a fury of hatred to distract from their lack of reasoned argument or considered thought.Ī demagogue makes hollow promises.

Franz ferdinand band