The Next Big Thing?

March 22, 2004

Haven’t heard of Franz Ferdinand? You will. Franz Ferdinand is one of the most hyped bands to hit these shores in years, already labeled as “The British Strokes” or “The Scottish Interpol.” Those are a little off the mark, as Franz Ferdinand’s stock and trade isn’t that kind of detached cool, but the raw danceability of the other New New Wave bands like Hot Hot Heat and the Rapture. Of course, they’re not that similar to those bands either, as their vocals have an inviting smoothness that those bands don’t have. If you start to mix up all those It Bands in your head a little, you’ll start to get a sense of what’s going on. While they may not initiate another World War like their namesake, Franz Ferdinand is almost certain to start something, the least of which are their own personal fame and fortunes. Before they even finished the east coast leg of their tour, they’d signed a deal with Epic Records that was just short of $3 million.

I’m not sure how this happened, but the Campus Events group at UCLA managed to book one of the hottest groups in the world to play in the Cooperage at Ackerman Student Union. If any of you have been to the Coop, it’s a campus eatery with a tiny stage in the corner with a pizza place and Krispy Kreme on the other side. I can only guessimate the capacity, but I can’t imagine it being much over 200 people. It is almost certainly the smallest venue Ferdinand was booked at on this American tour, and given the size of their deal with Epic, probably the smallest place they’ll ever play from here on out.

The band itself did not disappoint. Despite writing most of the material, guitarists Nick McCarthy and Alex Kapranos don’t dominate the songs. Instead, the songs are driven by the melodic upfront bass work of Bob Hardy and the deliberate, insistent pounding of Paul Thomson. The music is absurdly catchy, and when McCarthy plays keyboards on material like “Auf Achse” and “Come On Home,” Ferdinand is practically disco. Kapranos handles all the singing and has a sly sexiness to his delivery, particularly on the flirtations of “Dark of the Matinee” and “Michael.”

There’s not an abundance of histrionics, mostly a little dancing in place and a litte bit of coordinated marching. Kapranos has a neat trick to get the audience clapping, where he just raises his arm and taps to the beat on some of the longer extended breaks. The audience catches the hint soon enough, and the band never looks like it’s so desperate for attention that it starts cheerleading. Kapranos also had a bit of stage banter, but his Glaswegian accent is pretty well nigh impenetrable.

The show reached capacity very early, and for the first time that I know of, people were made to wait outside the Cooperage for a show. It was a bizarre scene, but the intimacy of it all set the stage for an absolute barn-burner. I’d like to report that everyone went crazy and there was this outrageous amount of energy in a compressed space, but that didn’t really happen. There’s only the bare minimum of floor space in the joint and most of the crowd was standing on tops of tables and booths to get a look. Instead, it was mostly modest bouncing and head bobbing with pockets of all out dancing here and there. There were two or three people that were just about to vibrate themselves right out of their skin though, and as a whole I think the entire audience was very into it, despite not being overly familiar with the band.

Is Franz Ferdinand the next big thing? It’s horrible to try and predict these things, but they are a very marketable band, and there’s a little bit of everything for everyone. The music is ass shaking and fun but the lyrics are witty enough to let you know that it’s just not Dumb Dance Music. The girls seem to be taking a liking to these boys and their ultrafashionable forward swept hair, and the boys will almost certainly follow. Final verdict? SUPERFANTASTISCH!

Posted in From Blown Speakers