Saw Franz Ferdinand - does the lead singer always do the stare-down thing?

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I mean, I quite like it. Just wondering whether UK peeps who've seen them can confirm whether the singer's intense-Bowie-stare and other guitarist's McCartney-headshake is their regular schtick.

Saw em at Maxweel's in New Jersey on Saturday and thought they were really good. Not great, but really good. According to amazon, their album is coming out in the US on March 9. Do any other non-UK people care? And do they have more or less chance of breaking the US than the Bluetones?

― paulhw (paulhw), Monday, 23 February 2004 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I care.

― dean! (deangulberry), Monday, 23 February 2004 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, well, who are you?

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm seeing 'em March 19. The album has grown on me.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I hope they don't "break" the US. I mean, there's enough retrogressive music around here to begin with, isn't there?. Can't rock just move forward for a change? Listening to this album is a lot like having to still hear that f'ing Smells Like Teen Spirit riff thirteen years after the fact.

― maypang (maypang), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:12 (twenty-two years ago)

But it's so "2004"!

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

So is RJG.

― dean! (deangulberry), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Aren't they the Strokes? Except better looking?

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

so is RJG.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:29 (twenty-two years ago)

They're the Strokes + 4/4 backbeat + Britishness + "postpunk" stylings. Unfortunately, it means that in spots they sound like Hot Hot Heat.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 23 February 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Morris - how'd you get the album? Where are they playing? Troubador?
And the Hot Hot Heat comparison is a selling point to this dude. Thought I might run into you at Weird War this weekend. Then again, I met you once 10 years ago, so I don't know why I thought I would recognize you.

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I'm actually kinda through with Weird War for now. Franz Ferdinand will indeed be at the Troubadour. (I just have low-quality MP3's at present; I'm hoping they'll be selling the CD at the show.)

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Weird War's singer is funny live. His banter makes the songs seem better somehow.

― dean! (deangulberry), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Is that the dude from the make up?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, Ian Svenonius; and this was the sole choice tidbit from last week's LA Weekly article:

When über-producer Rick Rubin (or, as Svenonius tenderly puts it, “a bearded representative of odious corporate malefactors”) asked him to front leaderless political behemoths Rage Against the Machine from a lucrative perch, “Saying yes was not even a choice,” Svenonius says. “If what you’re being asked to do completely subverts the point...”

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Svenonious is always good for a nice soundbite. Weird War opened for the Walkmen (who Svenonious welcomed to the stage with: "Just in time for the Fall season -- the wiggly world of: The Walkmen."). Walkmen were excellent, incidentally...
Weird War... same as it ever was, really. Yelping, jumping, fun, etc.

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

The album is out to most college radio stations.

― Steev (Steev), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, then allow me to play tipsheet: Choice cuts include "This Fire," "Dark of the Matinee," "Tell Her Tonight," "Take Me Out," and "Come on Home."

It's actually all really nice.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah Ben, that Walkmen Fonda show was much better than the last show they played there, imo.

I am also v. surprised that Svenonious was in Nation of Ulysses.

― dean! (deangulberry), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I like "Michael"

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, how you could have a recommended tracks and not include "Michael" is beyond me. That's a good one. I like "40ft" a lot too.

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

It is beyond you.

― dean! (deangulberry), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)

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