Scottish Band Make Graves!

Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish rock band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland, UK in 2002. Named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, 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).

The band first experienced chart success when their second single "Take Me Out" reached #3 in the UK Charts, followed by their debut album Franz Ferdinand which debuted on the UK album chart at #3. The band went on to win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and two BRIT Awards in 2005 for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act. NME named Franz Ferdinand as their Album of the Year. From the album, three top-ten singles were released, "Take Me Out", "The Dark of the Matinée" and "This Fire".

Formation

The members of Franz Ferdinand played in various bands during the 1990s including The Karelia, Yummy Fur, 10p Invaders and Embryo. Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson played together in Yummy Fur and subsequently teamed up to write songs. Around the same time, Kapranos taught his friend Bob Hardy how to play bass. Kapranos met co-guitarist Nick McCarthy, who had returned to Scotland after studying jazz bass in Germany, in 2001.

In May 2003, the band signed to Laurence Bell's independent record label Domino Records. The band had recorded an EP which they intended to release themselves; however, it was instead released by Domino as Darts of Pleasure in the latter part of 2003. The cover art was designed by Thomson. It reached #43 in the UK chart.[citation needed] The band won the "Phillip Hall Radar Award" at the NME Awards of 2004, announced in November 2003.

Franz Ferdinand

The band moved to Gula Studios in Malmö, Sweden with Cardigans producer Tore Johansson to record their debut album. In January 2004 the single "Take Me Out" (Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out) reached #3 in the UK charts. The album, Franz Ferdinand, was released in early 2004, debuting at #3 in the UK Albums Chart in February 2004 and at #12 in the Australian album charts in April 2004. The album only reached the lowest levels of the Billboard 200 album charts in the US as of early 2004, but reached the top 5 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.Franz Ferdinand received a generally strong positive response from critics. NME rated with 9 out of 10 and said that the band was the latest in the line of art school rock bands featuring Duran Duran, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire, Travis and Blur.

On 7 September 2004 the album was awarded the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. "Take Me Out" gained first place in the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004, winning more than twice the votes of the second-place entry. Franz Ferdinand proceeded to win an Ivor Novello Award in 2004 and two BRIT Awards in 2005. The avant-garde music video for "Take Me Out" earned them a Breakthrough Video MTV Award. NME named Franz Ferdinand the best album of 2004, and also placed it 38th on their 100 Best Albums of All Time list. The band performed at the Grammy Awards of 2005 where they performed "Take Me Out" as a live medley with Los Lonely Boys, Maroon 5, Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani. "Take Me Out" was also featured on the video game NHL 05, and the breakthrough game Guitar Hero. "Take me Out" was "Franz Ferdinand"s first EP. The album has sold around 3.6 million copies worldwide.

You Could Have It So Much Better

The band spent much of 2005 in the studio in Scotland working on their follow-up album, You Could Have It So Much Better, which was released on 3 October 2005. The band initially intended to leave the album self-titled like their debut, but they changed it to You Could Have It So Much Better...With Franz Ferdinand before settling on the final title. The album's cover design was modelled on Alexander Rodchenko's 1924 portrait of Lilya Brik. The band attempted to broaden its musical range on the album; Hardy said, "There's more to life than disco-beat guitar music". After the critical acclaim of their debut, reviews of the new album were more polarised, with some complaints that the recording was rushed. However, it was generally well-received in the press and seen as an album equal to, or better than, their first by most critics. It entered the UK Album Charts at Number 1 and the US charts at Number 8.
Franz Ferdinand at the Roskilde Festival in 2006.

On the tour that followed the album release, Franz Ferdinand broke the record for the longest run at the Alexandra Palace, North London, by playing four sold out nights in November–December 2005. To support the album, four singles were released. Included in that set is a double A-side single that contained a video-clip only single as well (both the AA-side "L. Wells" and the video-clip "Jeremy Fraser" are not featured on the album, recorded in early 2006 during the band's tour of Australia in support of the album). Also included is another video-clip-only single called "Wine In the Afternoon" which is the B-side to "Eleanor Put Your Boots On", and was also not featured on the album, but recorded on tour in Michigan. "Do You Want To" made it to number 4, while "Walk Away" and "The Fallen" / "L. Wells" entered the top 15 of the UK Singles Chart. The fourth and final single from the second album, "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" peaked at number 30.

Franz Ferdinand

On 27 January 2009, the band released their third studio album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, which they had been recording in Glasgow since the summer of 2007.

Alex Kapranos has stated that "The last record was...like a teenager having sex. This one's a bit more assured and a bit friendlier for the dance floor." Tonight was mixed by Canadian Mix Engineer Mike Fraser.

A new song entitled "Lucid Dreams" was included in the Madden NFL 09 video game. The song was released on 19 August 2008 through iTunes, it was once again released on the album, Tonight, however it was re-recorded and differs drastically to the single edit.

On 7 October 2008, reporter Michael Hogan from Vanity Fair interviewed Alex and Paul, who confirmed the title of their third album to be Tonight. The band also confirmed the Tonight: Franz Ferdinand title at a "secret" Brooklyn show on 8 October 2008.

The song "Ulysses" was chosen to be the first single and was released on 19 January 2009. It was first played by Zane Lowe on 17 November 2008. Shortly afterwards it hit YouTube. It did not see that much success in the UK Top 40 reaching only #20, it saw greater success in Spain and Japan where it reached #3 in both countries. The album, Tonight was released 26 January, 2009 and debuted at #2 in the UK Album Chart and #9 in the U.S. Billboard 200. The second single, No You Girls, has already seen chart success despite not being released.

In February 2009, Glastonbury Festival announced Franz Ferdinand as the first major band playing at that year's festival. The band also unveiled a 19-date tour of the USA during the spring, in support of the new album. The tour includes a confirmed set at the Coachella Festival.

Collaborations and covers

Franz Ferdinand covered the LCD Soundsystem song "All My Friends" which appeared as a B-side on the single, and is also working on an album of Sparks covers, collaborating with the group on the recordings. They have also covered "Sexy Boy" by Air and "It Won't Be Long" by The Beatles, Pulp's popular single "Mis-Shapes", Gwen Stefani's top 5 hit "What You Waiting For?" and David Bowie's song "Sound and Vision", featuring Girls Aloud on backing vocals, for a compilation disc marking the 40th anniversary of BBC Radio One along with other leading artists. Additionally, Franz Ferdinand recorded a cover of The Fire Engines' song "Get Up and Use Me". In return, the Fire Engines recorded a cover of "Jacqueline". The band has had remixes by major electronic artists Daft Punk, Hot Chip, Justice, and Erol Alkan.

Kapranos announced that on 22 April 2008 he would begin collaborating with an unknown Canadian artist, as well as implying that the band was working with Xenomania on the new album, as Alex is a fan of their work with Girls Aloud. The band also performed, played, and recorded with Jane Birkin, covering the Serge Gainsbourg song "Sorry Angel" for the 2005 album Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited. In addition, Franz re-recorded the track "Brown Onions" for David Shrigley's compilation album Worried Noodles. The band kept instrumentation identical but used lyrics written by Shrigley which include the consistent repetition of the word "No" and occasionally "No brains, no teeth, no legs, no eyes...". Hot Chip, a band who are reported to be a favourite of Franz Ferdinand, also performed their own version of "No" on the same album.

The band 'met' Gorillaz in December 2005, and interviewed each other for a feature in Observer Music Monthly.

On 11 October 2008 at Diesel's Rock and Roll Circus, the band performed with rapper T.I on his hit "Live Your Life".

At the 2009 NME Awards ceremony they performed a cover of Blondie's "Call Me" with Elly Jackson of La Roux on guest vocals.

When Franz appeared on Radio 1's Live Lounge on April 6th 2009 to promote No You Girls they covered Womanizer by Britney Spears. For their version they added in the interlude from 2004 B-Side "Shopping For Blood".

I swapped my innocence for pride
Crushed the end within my stride
Said 'I'm strong now I know that I'm a leaver"
I love the sound of you walking away
Mascara bleeds a blackened tear
And I am cold
Yes I'm cold
But not as cold as you are
I love the sound of you walking away

Why don't you walk away?
No buildings will fall down
Why don't you walk away?
No quake will split the ground
Why don't you walk away?
The sun won't swallow the sky
Why don't you walk away?
Statues will not cry

I cannot turn to see those eyes
As apologies may rise
I must be strong and stay an unbeliever
And love the sound of you walking away
Mascara bleeds into my eye
I'm not cold
I am old
At least as old as you are
As you walk away

And as you walk away
My headstone crumbles down
As you walk away
The Hollywood wind's a howl
As you walk away
The Kremlin's falling
As you walk away
Radio 4 is static
As you walk away

The stab of stiletto
On a silent night
Stalin smiles
Hitler laughs
Churchill claps
Mao Tse-Tung
On the back

Surat Langsi

Korang pernah tak rasa tak puas hati ke nak luah perasaan ke pasal apa-apa yang tak cukup dalam job korang? Bagi korang yang dah ada job confirm pernah nyer. Especially pasal gaji dan facilities la. Dan korang pun mesti akan terasa nak memberontak dengan korang nyer tauke, majikan ataupun bos korang kan. Maka bermulalah al-kisah surat-menyurat, adu-mengadu, complaint-mengomplaint dan sebagainya...standard. Tapi aku yakin korang akan wat semua tu dengan penuh peradaban dan keformalan. Maklumlah, nak ayat bos. Tak macam member aku sorang ni...langsi tak ingat ngan bos (Din...Din...tau la ko tu ada nama dalam GDex). Kok ye pun nak protes biar la formal. Tak pasal-pasal satu rumah aku tergelak baca surat protes ko ni...hahaha. Meh tengok apa yang member aku ni tulis...original punya. Check this out!

Suara hati budak-budak SDD

Masalah team SDD

Punca pasal minyak naik. Bila minyak naik, satu badan bole naik angin.

Macam mana, kite orang nak buat keje. Projek banyak masuk, urgent sana,urgent sini, masuk sana, masuk sini. Tapi perasaan kite orang bos tahu ke...

1. Bulan ni kite orang semua terpaksa kuar duit sendiri. Untuk cover duit minyak. Kalau minyak tak isi macam mana nak jalan projek. Time tu baru la.

LU PIKIR LA SENDIRI...

2. SDD maksudnya same day deliver. Bahasa melayu, hantar barang pada hari yang sama. Area kite orang pulak besar. Pendek kata, memang susah keje macam kami. Tu pendek yang kata. Panjang kata, rasa malas je nak hantar hari ni. Sebab apa, hari-hari kuar duit sendiri. Nak isi minyak.

LU PIKIR LA SENDIRI...

3. Baru-baru ni, ada berita baik untuk kite orang. Minyak bos naik kan lagi sebanyak RM2.00 jumlah semua RM 7.00, 7 ringgit baru setengah jalan. Lagi setengah nak campak mana. Kite orang semua terpaksa kuar duit poket sendiri. Sehari perbelanjaan untuk isi minyak kite orang bole sampai RM 20.00 sehari. Macam ni, bila nak kaya...

LU PIKIR LA SENDIRI...

Surat ni bukan nak sakitkan hati dan perasaan tuan. Ni semua untuk memberitahu pada tuan. Masalah yang kami hadapi. Suara hati kami... betapa sakitnye kite orang berkerja.Kami harap tuan pikir masalah kami.

Kami ingin meminta jasa baik tuan. Beri la tambahan wang untuk kami. Dulu tuan ada bagi elauan ODA. Sebanyak RM 5.00 jadi total duit minyak sehari ialah RM12.00

RM12.00 x cukup. Sekarang harga spareparts pun dah naik.

Kami semua nak tuan naikkan elauan ODA kami, daripada RM5.00 kepada RM10.00

bila di total semuanye sekali ialah RM 17.00 sehari. Kami minta tuan timbangkan masalah kami.

Tuan kami berharap tuan, bole dapatkan kami punye special elauan kami balik. Dengan cara ni jugak bole mengurangkan beban masalah SDD. Kami mintak duit lebih sebab nak cover masalah moto kami.

Masalah barang moto naik, pun menjadi masalah kepada kami.

Harga spareparts naik. Macam kami team SDD, tayar kami bole tahan 3 bulan je. Ni sebab area kami yang besar. Kami mintak tuan mempertimbangkan masalah kami ni.

Lagi satu tuan, Kami mencadangkan supaya pertukaran uniform baru dibuat setahun sekali bagi memajukan team SDD. Kenapa...???

Takkan nak pegi deliver pakai baju yang lusuh. Kalau customer tengok. Apa la diaorang kata. Tuan kami mencadangkan supaya ada uniform khas untuk SDD team.

Tuan patut berbangga dengan kami. Sebab kami semua menjalankan operasi ni dengan baik dan lancar. Buat masa ni, team SDD menjalankan operasi dengan baik.

...TEAM WORK...

Mari la kite pikir kan...

Ni la suara hati kite orang semua... team SDD

Saya meminta maaf kalau terkasar bahasa. Saya berharap tuan dapat menyeselesaikan masalah kami. Kami mahu perubahan dalam team kami. Supaya lagi senang kami melakukan operasi dengan baik dan lancar. Ni semua untuk memajukan team SAME DAY DELIVER.

(”,)peace+lov+harmony...

B/up 02

Amacam, langsi tak member aku? Din...Din...selamber ko jer pakai bahasa pasar. Dah la format surat ntah apa-apa...protes lak satu hal, lepas tu minta lak macam-macam...nak baju baru, uniform khas la. Hahaha...itulah Din, seorang despatch kat company GDex. Tapi korang jangan pandang despatch ni sebelah mata, income bulanan dia mengalahkan sebahagian besar kakitangan awam. Tak heran la ko tiptop Din...wa caya sama lu!

Salam Perkenalan

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.
Oklah, sebelum aku pergi lebih jauh biarlah aku mengintroducekan diri aku terlebih dahulu. Nama aku Mohd Zharif bin Mohd Thani. Korang boleh panggil aku Zarif jer. Ada gak yang panggil aku Dam. Kenapa Dam? Tu nama cover line aku yang diberikan oleh teman-teman seperjuangan aku dalam ROTS Malaysia. Ada la asal-usul cerita macam mana aku boleh dapat nama Dam tu. Biarlah diorang jer yang tau sebab diorang jer yang panggil aku ngan nama tu. Birth date aku? Hmmm…takperlah, korang takyah la tau. Tapi aku lahir dalam bulan Januari tahun 1987, berbintang capricorn. Ok, cukuplah tu. Aku pun bukan percaya sangat ngan korang. Lebih-lebih kang boleh jadi point lak nanti...hahaha!

Aku still lagi bergelar student dalam bidang teknologi multimedia kat TM Multimedia College Kuala Lumpur, belum ada job untuk aku highlightkan kat korang. Job-job sampingan tu biasa la, untuk survive hidup kat KL. So, kepada cewek-cewek yang udah pasang niat nak kikis duit aku tu simpan jelah niat murni korang tu. Aku tak diberi peruntukan pun untuk labur kat korang. So tak payah nak semak-semakkan hidup aku ngan cinta palsu korang tu okeh...cewah!

Dengan perasaan bangganya aku ingin nyatakan di sini yang aku berasal dari Pasir Puteh, negeri Cik Siti Wan Kembang...Kelantan Darul Naim. Gomo Kelate Gomo...huhuhu. Aku anak bongsu daripada 6 orang adik-beradik. Kalau ikut turutannya macam ni la...Kak Long, Kak Ti, Abang Mie, Kak Za, Abang Kie, dan last sekali aku la. However, aku tak la manja seperti yang orang warwarkan tentang anak bongsu tu. Aku ready steady go jer...hehehe. Adik-beradik aku semuanya berada di bawah naungan Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia atau dengan kata lainnya mempunyai kerjaya sebagai warga pendidik ataupun cikgu. Mungkin semua nak ikut jejak ayah aku kot jadi cikgu...kecuali Abang Kie sorang jer yang dah terjun ke bidang enngineering. Abang-abang dan akak-akak aku semuanya dah berkerjaya, dah berumah tangga, dan juga dah pun ada anak masing-masing. Dah complete rumah tangga. Korang faham tak apa maksudnya? Maksudnya skang ni tinggal aku sorang jer yang tercicir dan mak ayah aku tu tengah tunggu masa jer nak wat kenduri kawin last kat rumah aku tu...huh! Rasa cuak lak bila fikir. Tapi takper, mak ayah takyah risau okeh...coming soon insyaallah. Yang last ni kita kasi gegar habis ye mak...huhuhu. Kepada si pengarang jantung hati, teruskan perjuanganmu...iringilah istiqamah dengan doa. Kejarlah cita-citamu. Akan sampai masanya untuk kita.

Ok, skang ni aku nak bercerita pasal kawan-kawan aku lak. Kalau nak dikira kawan-kawan aku ni memang la ramai yang amat sangat. First sekali aku nak cerita pasal kawan-kawan lama yang sehidup semati ngan aku ni...Mi-g, Pok Loh (balik la Loh...aku rindu ko mu), Ise, Pije, Apiq. Diorang kawan aku sejak zaman sekolah lagi. Skang semuanya tengah survive di rantauan mencari ilmu. Tapi yang pantangnya, bila ada di antara kami yang holiday dan balik kampung, tungu dan lihat jelah. Yang lainnya confirm tak senang duduk dan akan cari ruang gak untuk balik. Tapi yang sedihnya Pok Loh la, dah 2 tahun tak jumpa dia sebab dia yang paling jauh...kat London. Yang lain-lainnya Yan, Amar, Jede, Bhoo...semua ni kawan-kawan dari zaman sekolah lagi. Ramai lagi lah kalau nak dikira. Then budak-budak rumah aku kat KL...An, Boy, Mal, Nasrul, Fit...semua ada perangai tersendiri yang tak pernah habis wat aku gelak. Teman-teman seperjuangan dalam ROTS, Team Shell WGMJ, incharge-incharge, Aie dan anak-anak buah (part ni yang paling sakit kalau nak listkan sorang-sorang). Yang paling kamcing ngan aku Ulat la...bereh boh! Bersatu Demi Persahabatan.

KEEP ON ROCKIN' FOLKS!