Meet the Members of Franz Ferdinand Band

Study Notes

Franz Ferdinand's members played in various bands during the 1990s, including The Karelia, Yummy Fur, 10p Invaders, and Embryo.
Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson met at a party and began a close friendship, playing together in Yummy Fur.
Kapranos taught Bob Hardy how to play bass after being given a bass guitar by Mick Cooke of Belle & Sebastian.
Kapranos met rhythm guitarist Nick McCarthy in 2001, who had returned to Scotland after studying jazz bass in Germany.

The band was named Franz Ferdinand after a racehorse called Archduke Ferdinand.
The name was chosen because of the alliteration and the implications of the Archduke's death, which led to World War I.

In May 2003, the band signed to Laurence Bell's independent record label, Domino Recording Company.
They recorded their debut album in Malmö, Sweden, with Cardigans producer Tore Johansson.
The band released their debut single, "Darts of Pleasure", in late 2003.
In January 2004, the single "Take Me Out" reached No. 3 in the UK charts.

The album, Franz Ferdinand, was released in early 2004, debuting at No. 3 in the UK Albums Chart.
The album reached No. 12 in the Australian album charts in April 2004.
It eventually reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200 in the US, selling over a million copies.
The album received a generally strong positive response from critics, including a 9 out of 10 rating from NME.

The album was awarded the 2004 Mercury Music Prize on 7 September 2004.
"Take Me Out" won first place in the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004.
Franz Ferdinand won an Ivor Novello Award in 2004 and two Brit Awards in 2005.
The band's music video for "Take Me Out" earned them a Breakthrough Video MTV Award.
NME named Franz Ferdinand the best album of 2004 and placed it 38th on their 100 Best Albums of All Time list.