Thursday, February 25, 2010

Glasgow rockers Franz Ferdinand know how to sauce things up, writes Bernard Zuel.

Did Franz Ferdinand bring sex to the world in 2009?

''I think there was sex already in the world,'' singer and co-writer (with guitarist Nick McCarthy) of the Glasgow rock band, Alex Kapranos, laughs.

Ah, that may be true, but there is a strong suspicion that those who heard Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the third album from the group rounded out by bass player Bob Hardy and drummer Paul Thompson, may have been inspired to go on and put some of those salacious rhythms and saucy inferences to the test.

''I hope so, I hope so,'' Kapranos says. ''It would be good to bring joy to people's lives.''

Now, of course, if you think sex you may think sin. Or, to paraphrase Woody Allen, only if you're doing it right. But thoughts of sin bring up something that rarely gets a run in interviews with Kapranos - his stint at the School of Divinity at Aberdeen University. Doesn't that naturally flow from sex?

''Hmm, there wasn't a lot of that at divinity school,'' he says. ''When I was 17 I left school and wanted to go to university, wanted to do philosophy. I already had passed my Highers [equivalent of the HSC] but I'd failed maths so didn't get in. My insurance offer was divinity so I did that for a year instead.

''I kind of enjoyed it in some ways but it wasn't for me. I was a 17-year-old kid and most of the people there were middle-aged guys who decided they wanted to be ministers in the Church of Scotland.''

He pauses and then adds with exaggerated philosophical tone: ''I guess we had different things that we wanted from life.''

Kapranos's ''other things'' saw him go to university in Glasgow to study arts (and catering!), playing in bands and booking bands like Belle and Sebastian to play at the uni. It led eventually to teaching Belle and Sebastian fan Hardy to play bass and talking him into joining this new band. The group has since won the Mercury Prize for 2004's self-titled album and two Brit Awards, including best British rock act. But what a loss to the ministry!

That gets me wondering if Kapranos had encountered any members of the Wee Wee Frees, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland known for being a severely strict, austere branch of the protestant movement. It's fair to say you don't see many of them at a Franz Ferdinand gig.

All in all, it's a miserable world which could do with some disco rock, some sex and some Franz Ferdinand, a band that nearly broke up after their second album, even as they filled arenas globally. Internal misery saw the once-tight partners, Kapranos and McCarthy, barely speaking for a time.

But when the band was in Australia last year, Kapranos told the Herald that things had not just been patched up but were improved, helped by staying out of the spotlight and rebuilding relationships. The truth of that was in the freshness of Tonight, an album almost frisky in its energy.

They've already got a stock of songs for album No.4. So will we hear some of them on the upcoming shows? It seems not. ''With Tonight we were very open and public about the writing process and how everything evolved and changed. As soon as we had an idea for a song, we played it at a little gig, knowing that the fans would be there, filming it and put it up on YouTube. But this time … I want that to take place in secret, as it were, and for the world to see it when it completely appears.''

The result of the pre-Tonight policy was a flurry of stories that it would be full of Afrobeat or glossy pop, which amused, then annoyed, the band: ''I don't think I want people to see us working our way to that [finished] point any more.''

It's too late. From this story it will be obvious that the next album will draw heavily from Wee Wee Frees.

That means plainsong, no iconography and much less sex for the world.

FRANZ FERDINAND

Thursday, 1.30pm, Luna Park, $90.85. March 6, noon, Future Music Festival, Randwick Racecourse, from $144.85.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Owl City, Franz Ferdinand among 'Alice in Wonderland' artists

The soundtrack for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland will include tracks by Owl City, Robert Smith from The Cure, and Franz Ferdinand, announced Myspace's music blog. A full tracklist confirms that All Time Low, Avril Lavigne, Mark Hoppus, and Pete Wentz have also contributed tracks to the album, due out internationally March 2.

Called Almost Alice, the soundtrack album will feature artists' reinterpretations of the songs from Walt Disney's 1951 animated film. Among tracks are Robert Smith's cover of "Very Good Advice," All Time Low performing "Painting Flowers," and Kerli singing "Tea Party." A video for the soundtrack's first single, "Alice (Underground)" by Avril Lavigne," is due out in early February.


Almost Alice tracklist:

1. "Alice (Underground)" - Avril Lavigne
2. "The Poison" - The All-American Rejects
3. "The Technicolor Phase" - Owl City
4. "Her Name Is Alice" - Shinedown
5. "Painting Flowers" - All Time Low
6. "Where's My Angel" - Metro Station
7. "Strange" - Tokio Hotel and Kerli
8. "Follow Me Down" - 3OH!3 featuring Neon Hitch
9. "Very Good Advice" - Robert Smith
10. "In Transit" - Mark Hoppus with Pete Wentz
11. "Welcome to Mystery" - Plain White T's
12. "Tea Party" - Kerli
13. "The Lobster Quadrille" - Franz Ferdinand
14. "Running Out of Time" - Motion City Soundtrack
15. "Fell Down a Hole" - Wolfmother
16. "White Rabbit" - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Tim Burton's live-action adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, and Anne Hathaway, will begin making its way to theaters March 5.

Video with music:


Sunday, February 21, 2010

Poet Laureate Gives Arctic Monkeys the Thumbs Up

Alex Turner, someone high up likes you. The UK's Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has come out as a fan of Sheffield's finest, Arctic Monkeys, as she prepared to host a charity event to raise money for earthquake relief in Haiti.

During the speech, she likened the frontman's lyrics to those of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

"Leonard Cohen's songs are poems, I saw him twice when he was touring here last year, Bob Dylan writes poems and the Arctic Monkeys write poems," she told the press agency the Press Association. "They (the Arctic Monkeys) are great lyric writers."

Duffy is hosting Poetry Live for Haiti, an event which will feature well-known poets including Andrew Motion, Roger McGough, John Agard, Dannie Abse, Gillian Clarke and Christopher Reid. Reid recently won the 2009 Costa Book of the Year.

Arctic Monkeys donated the white electric guitar Fender Stratocaster played by frontman Alex Turner in the band's first video for an to an online auction run by Oxfam and Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis to raise money for relief in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean state. Some 150,000 people are feared to have been killed by this month's quake.

Arctic Monkeys also favoured the Oxfam charity as the only store to stock the vinyl release of the first single, 'Crying Lightning,' from third album 'Humbug' released last year.

Franz Ferdinand in Sony, McDonalds row

THERE will be no post-show McDonald's visits for Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand when they tour Australia in March.

Frontman Alex Kapranos (pictured, far right) has lambasted his US label, Epic, and its owner, Sony, for allowing the band's music to be used on a McDonald's website.

Kapranos took to Twitter when he found out, using angry expletives and calling the label arrogant.

The music was later withdrawn but Kapranos was still fuming when chatting to Insider on the phone from the UK during the week.

"I don't really want our music being associated with them," he said. "A lot of fans don't realise how often your music gets asked to be used in adverts. Every day we turn down things."

Franz Ferdinand have previously allowed their music to be used to endorse a beer in Scotland, an MP3 player in Japan, iPods, and mobile phones in Italy.

"Twenty years ago, there's no way we would have let anything we do anywhere near an advert," he said. "But because people don't buy records any more you have to think of different ways for people to hear your music."

Franz Ferdinand headline the Future Music Festival at Randwick Racecourse on March 6, with a side show two days earlier at Luna Park.

Arctic Monkeys – Joining The Dots (RTP Session)


I have been slacking on getting my posts out lately, so don’t hate me that I am a little bit late on this one. I have been sitting on it for a while, and decided that enough was enough. Time to get it out! I have not been going too Arctic Monkey crazy with you either, because they have been doing their thing on tour. Aside from their announcement of My Propeller as the third single off of Humbug, they have been pretty quiet. Well actually, they recently played a huge gig in Valencia for MTV. I have the audio on my desktop, but have not gotten around to it yet! If you want it, you know how to ask!

In the meantime, I realized I never got around to sharing the newer, better quality, acoustic take of “Joining The Dots” that the Monkeys did earlier this month. This wonderful live acoustic take of “Joining The Dots” needs to be heard. It is stunning. The only version I shared with you previously was the so-so sound quality one from that youtube video from the RXP NYC Session. This new performance was for the Portuguese radio station RTP. Alex’s vocals are flawless as usual, and he puts his all into this excellent take of the soon to be fan favorite b-side. The man cannot write a bad song. He won’t allow it!

Check it out: