The returning Franz Ferdinand have always given excellent quote!

Hot Press remembers the day we introduced Alex & Co. to Oscar Wilde...

LISTEN: New Franz Ferdinand album + Irish dates in February

The Always Ascending title-track is on 'repeat' in HP Towers!

Nick McCarthy to sit out new Franz Ferdinand album

Meanwhile, Alex Kapranos was at the Galway Film Fleadh screening of Lost In France

LISTEN: New Franz Ferdinand and Sparks track

Another knowing song from FFS.

New Franz Ferdinand & Sparks number

'Johnny Delusional' is our second taste of FFS.

LISTEN: New track from Sparks & Franz Ferdinand

We're not April Fooling...

Franz Ferdinand and Sparks form supergroup

The brilliantly-monikered FFS.

WATCH: Franz Ferdinand unveil new video

A black and white affair for 'Fresh Strawberries' today.

WATCH: New Franz Ferdinand video

Franz Ferdinand prove to be cunning linguists with new German language track ‘Erdbeer Mund’, which comes with a fabulously psychedelic video.

Franz Ferdinand announce the Olympia + take pop at Pharrell

Following on from their rabble rousing Electric Picnic appearance last year, Franz Ferdinand have confirmed a headlining March 23 show in the Dublin Olympia. Tickets are €28.40.

WATCH: New Franz Ferdinand video

They've gone all Grindhouse...

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions

Stirring Comeback From Indie Heroes...

Free Music Friday

Starring Franz Ferdinand, Bob Dylan, Volcano Choir, Halves and a great deal more...

WATCH: Franz Ferdinand album 'making of' film

Franz Ferdinand whet appetites for their new album with Come Home, Practically All, Is Nearly Forgiven, a 15-minute ‘Making Of’ short, which is worth watching for the glimpse of Alex Kapranos’ hairy legs alone.

LISTEN: New Franz Ferdinand album

Yep, all of it.

Franz Ferdinand gear up for Electric Picnic

Alex Kapranos has been talking to Hot Press ahead of Franz Ferdinand’s visit to Electric Picnic where he’s hoping to catch Giorgio Moroder.

WATCH: Full Franz Ferdinand set on Letterman

Just over three-quarters of an hour of art-pop goodness.

New Franz Ferdinand vid

Check out ‘Right Action’ here...

LISTEN: New Franz Ferdinand

The Scottish art-rockers have debuted two new tunes.

Franz Ferdinand announce new album

The Electric Picnic headliners have announced the release of their fourth studio album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action,.

Franz Ferdinand, Live At Dolan's Warehouse

Job well and truly done.

Franz Ferdinand announce Irish dates

A trio of shows on the horizon...

Franz Ferdinand covers EP to get full release

Check out LCD Soundsystem version of 'Live Alone'.

Blood

Franz Ferdinand attempt to put some dub in the music and end up with (re)mixed results

Franz Ferdinand live at the Mandela Hall, Belfast

Franz Ferdinand add Belfast date

Already set to play two Irish dates in the coming months, the Scottish rockers have now added a Belfast date to their upcoming tour.

UPDATE: Franz Ferdinand confirm Irish tour dates

Franz Ferdinand have just announced a full UK and Irish tour for 2009, including a date in Limerick in February and Dublin in March.

Can you hear the drums Fernand-o?

With that long awaited third album in the pipeline, and an imminent Electric Picnic slot, Franz Ferdinad's Alex Kapranos talks to us about utilizing the doppler effect.

Franz Ferdinand member to play Dublin DJ set

Which member of Franz Ferdinand is taking a break from band duties to play a DJ set in Dublin?

Franz Ferdinand throw pint over Colin Murray at secret show

In what turned out to be a pretty well-kept secret, Temple Bar’s Meeting House Square was the venue on Thursday August 31 for Franz Ferdinand’s free Channel 4 Vodafone TBA gig.

Coming up for Eire

As the masses prepare to descend on Punchestown, we dispatch Hannah Hamilton to assess the festival fitness of one of this year's Oxegen buzz bands, Franz Ferdinand.

World Cup predictions: Paul Thomson, Franz Ferdinand

In which prominent musicians fondle their crystal balls and deliver their World Cup predictions.

Walk Away

Sorry not to get swept up in it all, but is the second Franz album really that good? To be honest, I’m not convinced and ‘Walk Away’ is not the kind of song to change my mind. It is a fairly dull mid-pacer that sounds positively pedestrian next to Maximo Park, Bloc Party et al.

Franz Ferdinand live at The Point

With strikingly disciplined ferocity, better melodies than the Manics, near-Teutonic efficiency and positively ballistic energy levels, it was hardly a massive shock that Franz blew the Point to shards

Franz Ferdinand release DVD.

Franz Ferdinand gear up for release of their tour DVD.

Life in the Belfast lane

**View the corresponding photo gallery here**

A flyover near the old Harland & Wolff shipyard was the starting point for a remarkable three months that has seen Franz Ferdinand challenging U2 and Coldplay for the title of ‘Biggest Band In The World'. Daredevil photographic exploits completed, Hot Press jumped on their tour bus and got the lowdown on Snoop, Bono, Kanye West, Natasha Bedingfield and nights of debauchery with the Scissor Sisters.

Exclusive Franz photo gallery online!

There’s always added value with hotpress.com, and while this issue's cover story of Scotland’s biggest stars has plenty of visual treats, we’ve packed even more into our EXCLUSIVE Franz photo gallery.

Franz Ferdinand to release DVD

With their newly-released second album flying off the shelves this week, Franz Ferdinand fever will reach another peak on November 14, when their DVD becomes available.

You Could Have It So Much Better... With Franz Ferdinand

You Could Have It So Much Better is no radical body swerve, just the gratifying sound of a band gaining in confidence and prowess.

Do You Want To

Tackling the compelling subject matter of, er, oral pleasure, Franz are back with a vengeance and a single of the same standard as ‘Take Me Out’, but crucially, without the self-consciousness. Instead, they’re having bags of fun and it can’t help but rub off. Though there’s little more than an insanely bouncy and kitsch melody, the simplistic take guarantees it a place on the indie dancefloor for years to come. We’re so lucky.

Franz Ferdinand live at the Botanic Gardens

Give praise then for those Franz Ferdinand boys. Because it is their presence, and theirs alone, that makes this particular shindig worth attending.

Our Franz electric

As 40,000 very satisfied punters will know, Franz Ferdinand were gigging in Belfast and Dublin this week - and Hot Press was with them every step of the way.

Exclusive - Franz: Back in Ireland!

After winning over the crowd at Belfast's Botanic Gardens yesterday (23 August) and aiming to do the same at Lansdowne Road tonight, Scottish indie-popsters Franz Ferdinand have already made plans to return to the Emerald Isle.

Franz U-turn on album name

Having insisted that their new album would be colour coded rather than named, Franz Ferdinand have done a U-turn.

Franz artwork revealed

Here's a sneaky peek at the new Franz Ferdinand album artwork - the first Irish viewing no less. And what's it all about, you ask?

Calling all Franz fans!

Franz Ferdinand are asking their army of Irish admirers to help them assemble their first DVD.

Franz, Scissor Sisters + Maroon 5 for Belfast

The Lansdowne Road line-up will also appear at Belfast’s Botanic Gardens

Lansdowne Road + Marlay Park gigs confirmed

The Pixies, Franz Ferdinand, Chemical Brothers and Basement Jaxx have been announced today for the BudRising Summer Music Shows

John Walshe: League of Franz

2004 was a bad year in politics. Maybe that’s why the music just got better.

Critics Choice for 2004- Best Singles & Albums

Top 30 albums & singles of 2004, as voted by our HP writers...

Feeding the Franz Frenzy

Hotpress' exploitation of vulnerable musicians has reached new levels with us quite literally taking the shirt off Franz Ferdinand's back.

Franz Ferdinand live at the Olympia, Dublin

If their rapid ascent has left Alex Kapranos & Co. gasping for air it doesn’t show as Franz Ferdinand launch into their Olympia set with a breakneck ‘Michael’. All that having to grab American audiences by the scruff of the neck has toughened them up to the point where on occasions they’re bizarrely redolent of Live & Dangerous-era Thin Lizzy.

Michael

A kitschy-camp delight.

Franz Ferdinand are go

“Desperate to get back in the studio,” this year’s hottest band Franz Ferdinand are not about to rest on their laurels.

Franz Ferdinand for Dublin & Belfast in October

Franz Ferdinand have been confirmed for a series of dates in Ireland this coming October!

Franz Ferdinand @ Oxegen [video interview]

Born to be Wilde

A year ago they were being paid fifty quid a gig, now they’re one of the biggest rock ‘n’ roll bands on the planet and about to take the Oxegen main stage by storm. A pun loving Stuart Clark discovers how Franz Ferdinand have become Top of the Fops.

Franz Ferdinand + The Fiery Furnaces

Franz Ferdinand hit Irish soil!

As Franz fever spreads across town, the hotpress.com paparazzi found the band enjoying the Dublin sunshine earlier today

Franz Ferdinand

Eamon Sweeney rates the much hyped Franz Ferdinand debut.

Franz in high places

Never mind CD:UK, Top Of The Pops and Later With Jools – you really know you’ve made it when the phone rings and it’s Sparks telling you they love you. Stuart Clark hears about the irresistible rise of Glasgow hotshots Franz Ferdinand.

Franz Ferdinand to headline The Ambassador Theatre

April sees the anticipated return of Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand