Can Franz Ferdinand save pop?

By MARK HOOPER

Funny thing, fame. One minute you're playing your first gig to 80 close friends in a mate's bedroom, the next you're getting emails from David Bowie.

Says Alex Kapranos, lead singer with Franz Ferdinand, "All of a sudden you get to meet all your heroes: Bowie, Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker ... "

To be fair, they've only met Jarvis Cocker so far. Bowie's email was an invite to meet up when they are next in New York. ("I don't even know what I call him," says Kapranos. "David? Mr Bowie?")

In the meantime, Morrissey asked them along to a little party he had at the end of June - opening for him at Manchester's MEN Arena, his first hometown concert in 12 years.

There hasn't been much sinking-in time for the members of Franz Ferdinand. The band's website charts their rise in typically deadpan style. Their first show is recorded for posterity thus: "22 May, 2002: Celia Hempton's bedroom, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow".

This, the so-called Girl Art show, was the first time the line-up of Kapranos (vocals), Nick McCarthy (guitar), Bob Hardy (bass) and Paul Thompson (drums) put their in-front-of-the-bedroom-mirror dreams into action. Albeit still in a bedroom. Unbeknown to them at the time, their four-song set already included a future No 2 single. But more of that later.

As a unit, Franz Ferdinand are commonly referred to as "art school". Which, literally speaking, is at least half right. "It was just Bob and Paul that studied art," explains Kapranos. "Bob did painting and Paul did environmental art. I did English and Nick studied music.

"But Nick studied double bass and ended up playing guitar. He hadn't played the guitar before he joined the band. There was a lot of perverse swapping round of instruments, almost wilfully not doing the thing you're meant to do, just to give it an edge. And Bob had never played bass before too ... "

Hardy: "Or any instrument."

Kapranos: "And Paul would only play drums if he could be seen on stage, so he didn't have any toms."

That first bedroom event (swiftly followed a month later by a performance in "Nick McCarthy's front room in Glasgow") pretty much set the template for every gig to follow. There were girls dancing. All of whom had an unencumbered view of the drummer. There was a sense of inclusiveness - not to mention the ridiculous. There was an understanding that any ideas of "cool" would be checked in at the door. There were people feeling like they were 16 again, even though they plainly weren't. Everywhere they've played in the two years since, be they liberated Glaswegian warehouses, derelict Victorian jails, HMV flagship stores or NME sponsored showcases, there's been the same reaction. This band are a bit special.

We are, of course, talking about the world of pop, where hyperbole comes in huge overwritten dollops. But Franz Ferdinand attract a different class of hyperbole. Instead of the music press they have Morrissey and Bowie to sing their praises. Time and Le Monde want to interview them. While their peers are busy telling Smash Hits what's in their pockets, they get to edit supplements of national broadsheets. Chanel used their music to soundtrack their last collection, while Dior want the band to wear their clothes on tour.

Where did it all go so right? There's an easy answer to that. It's Take Me Out, the single first aired in the bedroom of their friend Celia Hempton. An infectious, stop-start epic, it was released at the start of the year during the traditional post-Christmas lull, and already sits happily atop the "Best of 2004" polls, cockily swinging its legs, waiting for someone to try and knock it off.

Take Me Out is the perfect example of what Kapranos means when he talks of "wilfully not doing the thing you're meant to do, just to give it an edge". It's in the way they tease you with a faintly familiar intro - a summation of all the cool, spotty, New York punk reference points that have dominated the indie scene over the past few years - and then abandon it for something different, something angular, British. And much better.

Alongside the countless, achingly cool comparisons thrown up by critics in describing the band - Orange Juice, Josef K, Talking Heads ... there's one crucial group missing: Queen. They may not seem to have much in common, but Kapranos is adamant.

"Freddie Mercury is a huge inspiration, just for his attitude. My favourite performers on stage are the ones that get up and don't give a damn about making a fool of themselves. There's nothing worse than a self-conscious idiot onstage, worrying if his pals will think he's cool. You shouldn't be onstage at all. You've got to be totally prepared for people to turn on you, and if you fall on your arse and everyone laughs at you, not care. Enjoy it. Laugh as well. Because it's funny, you're on the stage."

Which isn't to say this art of uncool, this air of effortless nonchalance, is something they don't work on or worry about. You need only contrast the shuffling, ill-coiffured guitar bands barely enjoying their 15 minutes on TV music show cd:uk with Franz Ferdinand's tight, sharp unit to see that.

"Oh definitely," agrees Kapranos. "I see so much laziness in bands. They couldn't care less about so many important things. Maybe it's because we're so passionate about the bands we like - and we like every element about them, whether it's their record sleeves, or their videos, or the way that they're dressed, or seeing them perform."

Much is made of Franz Ferdinand being an "educated" band. There is a perceived cleverness, an artiness, to their music. You can hear it in their lyrics - Take Me Out, for instance, takes the standard eyes-across-the-dancefloor moment and turns it into a Sartrian conflict, using the metaphor of snipers zeroing their crosshairs for the kill. Again, it's that wilful contrariness, not least in the joyous, singalong chorus of "I know I won't be leaving here with you".

There's no denying the intelligence the band bring to the indie wastelands. Not so long ago, Noel Gallagher was proudly announcing he'd only read one book in his life. Not only have Franz Ferdinand clearly read a fair few between them, they even started their own book club while they were on tour.

Performance

* Who: Franz Ferdinand

* Where and when: St James, Monday

- INDEPENDENT