Franz Ferdinand is a British rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. This surname came to them by watching a horse race, one of whose competitors bore the name of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (Franz Ferdinand in German). This name inspired them because it implied a notion of brutal change (in a political context already very tense, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand had precipitated the First World War).
Their debut album, released in 2004, reached the third-best-selling album in the UK, and won a Mercury Music Prize, propelling them into the international arena, including the single Take Me Out. In 2005, they released a second album, You Could Have It So Much Better, which contains titles such as The Fallen, Do You Want to and Walk Away. Their third album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, was released on January 26, 2009. It contains singles Ulysses and Lucid Dreams. It is completed by the compilation of remixes Blood, which moves away from the original style of the band to go for more techno influences, even dance. In 2013, the group released its fourth album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action.
In March 2015, the group formed a supergroup with Sparks under the name of FFS, for an album called FFS. After Nick McCarthy's departure, the group announces, on May 19, 2017, to now consist of five members with Dino Bardot on guitar, and Julian Corrie on keyboards and guitar.
Robert Hardy left Yorkshire and moved to Glasgow in 2000 to study at the Glasgow School of Art. Originally he does not intend to become a musician, although the choice of the university is partly inspired by the aura of the musicians of the city, especially Belle and Sebastian. Alex Kapranos, former singer of The Karelia, whom he meets at 13th Note Cafe, persuades him to learn bass and form a band. Together they recruit the other members of what will become Franz Ferdinand, first Nicholas McCarthy, at whom their first rehearsals take place. He is initially the drummer, although the keyboards are his instrument of choice, until they meet the only Scottish group, Paul Thomson, former drummer Yummy Fur.
