Franz Ferdinand

0:06Hello, I'm Bob. I'm Alex. We're Franz Ferdinand and you're watching MSN exclusive So right action why was that the first thing everyone had to hear from this record? I don't know I guess it sums up the whole mood of the record that song. It's a pretty positive song Yeah, let's see up talk about the video a little bit Video yeah a lot of it. We improvised on the day of the video shoot didn't we yeah? Yeah, well the other make those our actions in it. Yeah Yeah, is that different from most video that you told what to do for us? No, it's a lot of them are planned in advance

0:51You know some of them we've had lived before like the Ulysses video we sort of Improvised a lot of that But often you'll sit down you have a very definite script that you're going to work through and but this one Well the bit that we were involved in was just us in a studio Mucking around and then all of their govesty colors and the animations would done afterwards So yeah, yeah the messing around did you know what it was gonna look like kind of just from like artist renderings? Yeah, yeah, well we had a good idea like we we sort of gave Jonas a director a lot of references that we wanted to sort of see in the video a lot of us hiding with a kind of Time of books he'd get in Britain in the 1950s and 60s But which had very strong graphics and a really strong graphic look and I said yeah

1:39Make it kind of look like that and he's very good at getting that sort of cool How come lovingly it's interesting that you guys release both songs at the same time. Yeah, it's like singles basically In this day and age are on a single is anymore really I don't really know It's something you put out first. Yeah. Yeah, I think of it like a double a side You know like an is a good way way back where you'd have a seven inch single Yeah, yeah, that's sort of thing, you know Yeah, yeah, yeah, cuz I remember the bus cock used to do that when I was a kid I found a bus cock single in a second hand shop that had the a side and side one and I loved that idea Like so the both songs are equal to each other Speaking of the ace I think so bullet really like changes the tone of the record right and I'm thinking like if I had the vinyl The record that would it would be like side B starting is that is that kind of the intention of that cuz it feels like that listening to the record

2:27Yeah, we still think of it as to find it out like when we were arranging the track order, you know We thought about it as two sides Okay, yeah, yeah, it makes it easier gives you like a Strictive yeah, and like for us It was like there's a definite mood on side one It's quite upbeat and it kind of builds up and builds up and then side two you turn it over and then bullets throw the most intense song on the record and it makes you think you're going off in another direction But it's actually what do you call it non sequitur takes you off in another direction after it's like that And it gets yeah, it gets a little darker after that. It's a the record How does it fit in the set now now and now and now I mean you guys keep putting up records obviously like the set Some songs will probably never get played against some songs Gonna be played every night like how do you choose what songs? It's funny It's quite surprising the songs that that kind of really work live and the ones that don't work so well live

3:13And some of the ones that I didn't think would work at all live are actually the most powerful So I like why I goodbye lovers and friends the last song in the record. I thought maybe that might just be an album only Track, but it's in a way. It's the most powerful song live. I really really love playing it It's not a space it to mess around and yeah Variations from night to night Also with a subject matter, I think it's quite there's a song with a lot of extreme for expression Yeah, a lot of dynamic as well, but bullet we've been opening the set with bullet a lot recently because you know It's so intense like it's the most probably the most intense song we've read Everyone gets going very yeah, yeah before of us get to go get going. Yeah, yeah Because sometimes we try and do it We've tried doing sets where you start gently and sort of work your way into it

3:59And maybe that works for some bands remember seeing the arcade fire and they do their sets like that They could have really gradually build up and gradually build up It doesn't really work for us and we haven't got personalities like that. We're working like one again You know when I get the energy going straight away from the beginning. I found it interesting you sound check take me out All right, okay, yeah So how could why is that the sound check tune right? Yeah, we've changed the arrangements slightly. Yeah sounded. Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know like we're doing that thing that the DJs do You know like they're sort of like doing a sort of slight breakdown like a bill Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did so yeah It just had a bit of fun with it because like the songs, you know the arrangements fine You don't really need to mess with it But we've been doing it a little bit recently like changing a little bit so I think the goal is to

4:46Keep the song intact but to sort of like give it something You know something new so that there's a little surprise when you come in to see it So like it's something so familiar yet you can go all right This is how and the way that a DJ will play a track and then kind of like piss about with it to make it sound more exciting When you don't really need to I was gonna start ripping on DJs, but I'm not gonna do that. Yeah, yeah I could do that quite a bit too I do want to ask something because you said something interesting about this record or about the last record actually You said you could have done it so much better was like a teenager having sex tonight is more self-assured and friendlier for the dance floor Right, okay boys. Where does this one sit? Oh? I don't want to use any glib sexual metaphors for this one. Yeah, I think I'm way beyond that now It's so what is it and I? Know it was the most enjoyable record to make I think of all of our records

5:35And I think you can probably hear that in the record When you put in a record you can definitely sense the mood of the musicians or the mood that the musicians were in when they made the record and Yeah, it was a pretty good one for us and the tour. I know who and of the two I'm kind of never talking to you. I know so I was saying he's a little tired That's been a little last night. Right. Oh, yeah, I think that Montreal. Yeah, it was good. I'm much always great last night Oh, yeah, yeah, but chocolate is great great great theater and the crowd They were the best crowd of the tour, you know well Toronto's gonna bring it tonight, right? Okay, okay I've got very good memories of Toronto as well Yeah, like what's the name of the place that we played the first time horseshoe horseshoe in Toronto? Yeah, yeah, the stones have played there, too. I heard that. Yeah, I was out there tonight

6:23Look at that the channel strip from like that night that they played. Yeah, that's nice So what are some of the highlights low light to the tour? How's it been? I guess one of the most disappointing things on the tour was the morning of the second week of Austin City Limit so we heard that it'd been flooded but it ended up being the highlight of the tour or our highlight of the tour as well because We called around different venues and ask different people I managed to get a gig together in another venue that night and so it went from total Dispondency to another really intense very exciting gig It was cool. I played this kind of punk rock venue called infest Yeah, it was great. Cuge round the block. It was nuts all word of mouth. It was very cool Oh, it's awesome. So I said I was talking to you guys today on Twitter got a few questions You guys want to take a Twitter question sure, okay

7:09And I like this one because of the phones on my favorite tunes. What do you mean by the following being the virtuous among us? alright, okay, um It's something about a guy is known Glasgow and He was always seen as a villain by a lot of people in our social circle because he used to do naughty things like Rob from supermarkets and take drugs But in a way he he would have his own very distinct set of moral standards that were probably more extreme Than the people who criticized him. So that's what I was talking about cool on this record I hear there's a chest cavity kick drum thing What is the craziest thing you guys have put on a record like that? Like I love hearing that Ringo used to put like cereal box on the snare in this kind of yeah Yeah, it was a fag packet he used to use wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, he'd have a packet of

7:55Not Benson and hedges something like that John player special Maybe number six I Yeah, you do all sorts of things like that in the studio that you know the chest cavity who's scratching the stubble To get the sound where are those things? I was I was listening to trying to find the chest Expanded so we replaced the end of verses the sound of the drums are replaced by these concerns And you know like if you put it mic really close It's a bit like a stethoscope, you know when you hear that the third of the heartbeat on the stethoscope It's like that you wanted it to sound very intimate But kind of alien at the same time. You're not quite sure what these noises are where they're coming from But that's one of the fun things about recording you can do all these things that you couldn't really do live I think if you try to do that a gig People would be Could be interesting yeah, yeah, yeah, so we do something called five questions five quick questions one more dancers rotor studio

8:45I'm sorry road or studio both, please And at the moment I feel rude Yeah, I was like studio McCartney me I got my colony when you hear a song what usually hits you first lyrics melody or rhythm lyrics I I Probably melody if someone's never heard friends for a nun before what song do they start with? Shopping for blood you know Stand on the horizon in one word friends for an end Actually be Franz for an end wouldn't it be I feel very North American thing Yeah, no that's good. I'm one word in one. Yeah, yeah class cool

9:32hometown thanks guys. All right. I appreciate it. Thanks cool