Posted on Slacken_Ties by Valpuri 22/07/2005
Here is a translation of a Finnish article about Franz. This was published in the biggest [or at least the second biggest] music magazine of ours, and last night I decided to sit down and translate this. You see, some of Alex’s words are just too interesting not to spread. ;)
- Valpuri on slacken ties lj
Alex, I saw you on TV last night. it was an ordinary tall show, aimed at all ages, but unfortunately the host seemed to have absolutely no idea of who you really are.
You're right. That poor didn't have even the faintest idea of what this is all about... and that was actually kinda cute. It's doesn't that often, you know, usually the hosts are very aware of things. We've done this kind of stuff a lot already, we've been to David Letterman Show twice, and then there's this funny Australian, but I can't remember his name right now. Anyway, his a huge fan of ours, but personally I like Conan O'Brien the best.
You've been really busy with touring around the world for these past 18 months.
We've been to 23 countries!
So you've been keeping count of that...
Yeah. Last year it was 19. And there were Mexico, Greece and Russia.. Oh, I beg your pardon... My mistake: 22 countries only. You know, the gig in Estonia was cancelled.
For you it has taken less than two years to rise from a garage band to a mega class rock band. How can you handle a change like that?
It is quite a shock, actually. You just suddenly realize that you're hanging around in the recordings of Top of The Pops. But I guess the weirdest thing is, that nothing has changed inside the band. We're still the same blokes we used to be. We behave like we've always done. Sometimes it feels like the we four are the only sane ones.
So fame hasn't blown your heads?
Not in any measure. It's rather fun how all this effects on people you really don't know. Suddenly an old mate from school gives you a call and says: "Hi Alex, then years ago we went to same class - I guess you still remember?" But that's not as stupid as it sounds. There are so many old mates I'm pleased to meet, and now they're contacting me themselves.
Who are they, for example?
When we played in Edinburgh, three of my ex-girlfriends showed up.
What was that like?
They hate each other. Or at least they used to. Maybe there has been enough time in between, and they don't feel hatred anymore, but I must admit that I was not only nervous, but also curious at that moment. Moreover, one of those girls was my very first real girlfriend, and man she looked good! She had already divorced, however. So what do we learn from this? Never get married!
Is someone from Franz Ferdinand married?
Our drummer Paul married in April. And our guitarist Nick just celebrated his wedding in Germany. He lived in Munich for years and has known this girl for ages. A great party, I'm telling you!
How do feel about marriage yourself?
I'll just have to let time go and think about it. At least I've had a girlfriend. I guess it's foolish, that now when we have tasted success and could have all kinds of women with that, we won't get involved in that scene. None of us has ever had a one-night stand. We haven't done that before, so we would we do it now. Of course, that works brilliantly with the tour crew - they get all the ladies!
Your sexuality has been a topic ever since you released Michael as a single.
I found that tremendously funny. The truth is, I couldn't care less if people thought that I love boys or girls, boys and girls, or even animals. It is, however, fun in a tickling way to sing "come all over me, Michael" in the Top of The Pops. Young people come to us and froth: "This is unbelievable. Outrageous! I'm gonna get rid of this cd!" But on the other hand, others come to us to tell how much courage we had given to them to confess that they're gay.
Was that calculated?
When I wrote Michael in Glasgow for a couple of years ago, I wasn't thinking anything specific. For us it was just a song among all the other songs.
Will there be suchlike fuss about the songs on the forthcoming album?
The Fallen will cause problem. Now I have to be really careful with what I actually say about that song. You see, it's a fact that it's based on real people behaving badly. They are Glaswegian, our personal acquaintances. The song is about hypocrisy. I am no devotee of Christianity, but always liked Jesus 'cause he wasn't eager to judge people. That kind of approach is totally strange to this modern society where certain things are good and others dreadful. What I don't understand, are those criteria things are categorized by.
What's This Boy about?
It, too, is about an unpleasant person. The kind of a person who's ready to march over a pile of bodies to gain personal success. The kind of a person, who possess charisma, but who is fundamentally evil. There are people like that in British politics...
Is the Prime Minister Tony Blair one of those people?
Umm... Blair has gotten himself into a peculiar position. He's like a juggler: trying to please the Usa on one hand, but on the other work for a united Europe. That kind of balancing is doomed to fail.
You let the Green Party use This fire as a propaganda song during the election. Why?
The Green Party is an important political force. Especially here in Britain. And they asked for the song. We're no environmentalists, but we support their definitions of policy, and were therefore happy to let them use the song.
You haven't had any holiday for two years. Aren't you guys already getting stressed with working all the time?
You're right there, but after all; it's only cool to be able to see new countries and chatter with people. We've had worse jobs, believe me.
Such as?
Bob and I used to work as chefs in a modern Scotch-French restaurant. It wasn't really that awful, but Nick and Paul guarded customer's coats and served them drinks in a really gloomy club. You don't actually feel sorry for quitting a job like that, when you're given the chance to drink coffee in luxury hotels. Life has been kind to us.
It seems to me, you've remained fairly modest, or how can I tell, you might be putting on a role here now.
Oh c'mon, think of it yourself, how it would be like, if a person who's worked damn hard for years to gain success for his band, just turned into a spoiled asshole the second the fame hit him. He would whine about everything and at everyone.
You introduced your new album to me in the bus. There was the typical Franz Ferdinand sound, but also some surprises. The acoustic ballad, for instance.
That's how it is with a new album. We didn't want to get stuck, but neither wanted we to force ourselves into desperately searching for something new. Most of everything we've done has gained inspiration from our favourite bands. Let's think of The Beatles, the greatest band ever. It is our great aim, too, to be able to remain our own thing and still move forwards. It takes courage. Because when you do something and afterwards realize that it worked, the temptation to repeat yourself grows huge. But if you did the same thing again, you would go so terribly wrong, because the audience who found the first album exciting, would just simply get bored with hearing everything again. People are not stupid, you know.
Was it hard to find the balance?
Naturally it was. We want to create songs we like ourselves, and it would be really horrible, if some song sounded flat.
You recorded some parts of the second album in New York, whereas the debut was recorded completely in some hellhole in Glasgow.
Wait a minute now! It was under no circumstances a hellhole! It was an excellent studio. Actually the equipment there were better than in this venue in New York. So we didn't go to some highly expensive studio. Those are so antiseptic and kill all creativity. It's much better just to chill at leisure and construct new songs. After all, that's what this band is all about - mates playing music together.
And the only subtlety is that nowadays everyone likes to follow your moves.
Who cares? When we sit in Nick's kitchen and write music, we're no way thinking of the Medias response to this and this song. This band wasn't formed for the media. We formed it for fun. And there is no greater pleasure than finishing a brand new song you like yourself.
Coldplay told that they felt massive pressure on their new album.
You're damn right, and I heard EMI nearly went bankrupt because of that band! I had to laugh out loud as I was reading that article. Monstrous exaggeration. It's such a great thing that Domino Records is a small label. So small, that there would be no problems if we just finished with playing music.
Have you considered quitting?
Sort of. We have talked about how it would be like to make completely different kind of stuff. I guess we could be satisfied with braking this band down, because we have succeeded to make an album we all four like. This band could still split up. The album has not been released yet. But then you would be to blame, you know, since you persuaded us to chuck in the towel.
How will the new album be called?
It won't. It has no name.
So simply Franz Ferdinand... as the first one.
If that's what you wish for. We don't really care about the names of albums. We haven't found anything to match with the feeling of the songs.
But how will the public be able to separate the albums from each other, then?
The appearances will be colored differently. The colors of the first album were orange, cream and dark brown. Now there are some completely now colours coming up.
So we'll be able to see influences from your old artistic studies.
It's fantastic to play with colours even if you have never been to an art school.
Nowadays they say about hundreds of bands that they sound like Franz Ferdinand. How does that make you feel?
I think it's stupid. It is not fair for us nor those bands. Although I must admit that sometimes a certain hairdo or clothing reminds me of us. I only hope that the members of these bands used to look like that before they saw us, and that they haven't copied our style.