Our Franz Eclectic: Hot Press meets Alex Kapranos

“I see it as a success when my Twitter followers drop by a couple of hundred,” laughs Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos. “You feel the people following are more in tune and actually ‘get’ you. It’s like, ‘you guys are on my side because I made that obnoxious comment and you got it’.”

Kapranos is referring to the controversy that erupted when he accused Pharrell Williams of ‘borrowing’ a riff from a Franz song for the Paloma Faith album Williams was producing. However, Kapranos later backtracked, apologising ‘for all the press BS’ in a second Tweet.

“That’s an example of people not getting it,” says Kapranos. “It’s very easy to take a few words and turn them into a story.”

Our conversation turns to the latest Franz opus. Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is going down a treat on the road.

“It’s surprising, seeing the public’s reactions to the songs,” says bassist Bob Hardy. “They’re dancing, singing along. It’s like, ‘wow, okay, people have been listening to the album!’”

As gents of discerning sensibilities what did they make of Lady Gaga’s SXSW performance during which artist Millie Brown vomited paint on the Queen Of Pop?

“That sounds like Nick’s pal from San Francisco,” says Alex. “Nick’s got a friend who paints with his bum. He puts paint in and squirts it on the canvas. Maybe they’re related?”

Rather than hook-up with a solitary producer for the new(ish) LP, Franz worked with a number of people.

“We produced the album, then collaborated with people we liked,” smiles Alex. “It was almost a friendly thing, ‘Let’s hang out with Alexis and Joe from Hot Chip! What’s Todd Terje doing?’”

Speaking of inspiring collaborations, is it true Franz got together with prank-pop brothers Sparks?

“We me,” Alex nods. “Like many, we’ve been fans for a long time. We want to get together with them again and see what happens. We did a little thing together. There was a good chemistry. So we’ll see!”Is there anyone else the Franz boys would like to work with?

“Actually, someone very interesting is Dave Fridmann,” notes Mr. Kapranos. “He did a couple of mixes for us on the last album. I really love his sound. I was listening to Mercury Rev’s Deserters Songs the other day, it’s such a great record. It might be nice to go into the studio with Dave sometime.”

There was a surplus of tracks for the current album, he reveals.

“The songs that we chose for the record were ones we felt sat together the best,” he says. “There were some left over. ‘Erdbeer Mund’, the b-side to the current single, is a good example. It’s as accomplished as any of the songs on the album. However, it didn’t fit the mood.”

Unbelievably 10 years have whizzed by since the guys nabbed the Mercury for their stellar debut. If they had a time machine at their disposal what would they go back and tell their 2004 selves?

“What is it? ‘Buy high, sell low’?” laughs Alex. “No, no! It’s the other way round! Also, I would tell myself to never listen to anything our American record label says.”

"Buy stocks in Facebook,” deadpans Bob. “Drink slightly less. Enjoy it more. I can’t really remember much to be honest!”

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is out now