Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 2002. Their original line-up was composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Nick McCarthy (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Bob Hardy (bass) and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Julian Corrie (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals) and Dino Bardot (guitar, backing vocals) joined the band in 2017 after McCarthy left during the previous year, and Audrey Tait (drums, percussion) joined the band after Thomson left in 2021. The band were categorised as a post-punk revival band, and garnered multiple UK top 20 hits in the 2000s. They have been nominated for several Grammy Awards and have received two Brit Awards—winning one for Best British Group—as well as one NME Award.

The band's 2003 debut single, "Darts of Pleasure", narrowly missed the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 44, but their second single that same year, "Take Me Out", yielded their commercial breakthrough, peaking at number three. "Take Me Out" charted in several other countries and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; it became the band's signature song. Their debut album Franz Ferdinand won the 2004 Mercury Prize and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album.

In 2005, the band released their second studio album, You Could Have It So Much Better, produced by Rich Costey. It peaked within the top-ten in multiple countries and earned Grammy-nominations for Best Alternative Album and for one of the singles, "Do You Want To". The band's third studio album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, was released in January 2009; by then the band had shifted from a post-punk-focused sound to a more dance-oriented sound. A remix album of Tonight, titled Blood, was released in July 2009.

Four years after the release of Tonight, the band released their fourth studio album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, in August 2013. In 2015, Franz Ferdinand and American rock band Sparks formed the supergroup FFS and released a one-off album, FFS, in June 2015. The band underwent multiple line-up changes following FFS, beginning with McCarthy's departure in 2016. After acquiring Corrie and Bardot, the band released their fifth studio album Always Ascending in February 2018. Thomson departed in 2021 and was replaced by Tait. The band's sixth studio album, The Human Fear, was released in January 2025 to commercial success.