Download Free Franz Ferdinand * Songs

Franz Ferdinand music biography continued...

in Glasgow, Scotland in 2002, the band is comprised of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar), Bob Hardy (bass guitar), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals), and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion and backing vocals). After hosting a series of rave-like events at a local warehouse they renamed the Chateau, Franz Ferdinand quickly earned great word-of-mouth buzz and with it a record contract with indie label Domino in the summer of 2003. There debut EP for Domino was Darts of Pleasure, which garnered the group the Phillip Hall Radar Award" at the NME Awards of 2004, announced in November 2003. In January 2004 they released the single "Take Me Out," which reached #3 in the UK charts. Their debut album, Franz Ferdinand, was released in early 2004, debuting at #3 in the UK Albums Chart in February 2004. Across the pond, the debut album reached the top five 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 #32 on the Billboard 200 later in 2004 and sold over a million copies in the United States. In September 2004 the album was awarded the Mercury Music Prize, and went on to win an Ivor Novello Award and two BRIT Awards, not to mention a Breakthrough Video MTV Award for "Take Me Out," making Franz Ferdinand a truly international phenomenon.



Franz Ferdinand released their second album, You Could Have It So Much Better, in fall 2005. The album demonstrated a broadening of the group's musical range and received mixed reviews, but nevertheless it entered the UK Album Charts at Number 1 and the US charts at Number 8. In January 2009, the band released their third studio album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, which they had been recording in Glasgow since the summer of 2007. It debuted at #2 in the UK Album Chart and #9 in the U.S. Billboard 200. Again, the album featured a blend of rock and roll, pop and punk, all mixed together to create the unique and infectious Franz Ferdinand's sound.