Franz Ferdinand are a rock band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar), Bob Hardy (bass guitar), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals) and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion and backing vocals). The band first experienced chart success when their second single "Take Me Out" reached #3 in the UK Charts, followed by their debut album Franz Ferdinand which debuted on the UK album chart at #3. The band went on to win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and two BRIT Awards in 2005 for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act. NME named Franz Ferdinand as their Album of the Year. From the album, three top-ten singles were released, "Take Me Out", "The Dark of the Matinée" and "This Fire". The band have also received several Grammy Award nominations. The band is named after the Austrian Archduke of the same name, whose assassination was a major factor in the outbreak of World War I. The band chose the name after watching the racehorse Archduke Ferdinand win the 2001 Northumberland Plate. The members of Franz Ferdinand played in various bands during the 1990s including The Karelia, Yummy Fur, 10p Invaders and Embryo. Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson played together in Yummy Fur and subsequently teamed up to write songs. Around the same time, Kapranos taught his friend Bob Hardy how to play bass after buying a bass guitar from a friend. Kapranos met co-guitarist Nick McCarthy, who had returned to Scotland after studying jazz bass in Germany, in 2001. Franz Ferdinand's long time sound engineer is Michael Parker. In May 2003, the band signed to Laurence Bell's independent record label Domino Records. The band had recorded an EP which they intended to release themselves; however, it was instead released by Domino as Darts of Pleasure in the latter part of 2003. The cover art was designed by Thomson. It reached #43 in the UK chart.[citation needed] The band won the "Phillip Hall Radar Award" at the NME Awards of 2004, announced in November 2003. The band moved to Gula Studios in Malmö, Sweden with Cardigans producer Tore Johansson to record their debut album. In January 2004 the single "Take Me Out" ( sample (help·info)) reached #3 in the UK charts. The album, Franz Ferdinand, was released in early 2004, debuting at #3 in the UK Albums Chart in February 2004 and at #12 in the Australian album charts in April 2004. The album only reached the lowest levels of the Billboard 200 album charts in the US as of early 2004, but reached the top 5 of the indie rock chart and the Heatseeker chart for debut artists. After a couple of North American tours and heavy rotation of the "Take Me Out" video on MTV, the album eventually reached #32 on the Billboard 200 later in 2004 and sold over a million copies in the United States. Franz Ferdinand received a generally strong positive response from critics. NME rated with 9 out of 10 and said that the band was the latest in the line of art school rock bands featuring Duran Duran, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire, Travis and Blur. On 7 September 2004 the album was awarded the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. "Take Me Out" gained first place in the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004, winning more than twice the votes of the second-place entry, with This Fire and The Dark of the Matinee entering at #24 and #50 respectively. Franz Ferdinand proceeded to win an Ivor Novello Award in 2004 and two BRIT Awards in 2005. The avant-garde music video for "Take Me Out" earned them a Breakthrough Video MTV Award. NME named Franz Ferdinand the best album of 2004, and also placed it 38th on their 100 Best Albums of All Time list. The band performed at the Grammy Awards of 2005 where they performed "Take Me Out" as a live medley with Los Lonely Boys, Maroon 5, Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani. "Take Me Out" was also featured on the video game NHL 05, and the breakthrough game Guitar Hero. The album has sold around 3.6 million copies worldwide. The band spent much of 2005 in the studio in Scotland working on their follow-up album, You Could Have It So Much Better, which was released on 3 October 2005. The band initially intended to leave the album self-titled like their debut, but they changed it to You Could Have It So Much Better...With Franz Ferdinand before settling on the final title. The album's cover design was modelled on Alexander Rodchenko's 1924 portrait of Lilya Brik. The band attempted to broaden its musical range on the album; Hardy said, "There's more to life than disco-beat guitar music". After the critical acclaim of their debut, reviews of the new album were more polarised, with some complaints that the recording was rushed. However, it was generally well-received in the press and seen as an album equal to, or better than, their first by most critics.[citation needed] It entered the UK Album Charts at Number 1 and the US charts at Number 8. On the tour that followed the album release, Franz Ferdinand broke the record for the longest run at the Alexandra Palace, North London, by playing four sold out nights in November–December 2005.[citation needed] To support the album, four singles were released. Included in that set is a double A-side single that contained a video-clip only single as well (both the AA-side "L. Wells" and the video-clip "Jeremy Fraser" are not featured on the album, recorded in early 2006 during the band's tour of Australia in support of the album). Also included is another video-clip-only single called "Wine In the Afternoon" which is the B-side to "Eleanor Put Your Boots On", and was also not featured on the album, but recorded on tour in Michigan. "Do You Want To" made it to number 4 and was declared by Q to be the greatest single of 2005, while "Walk Away" and "The Fallen" / "L. Wells" entered the top 15 of the UK Singles Chart. The fourth and final single from the second album, "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" peaked at number 30. On 26 January 2009, the band released their third studio album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, which they had been recording in Glasgow since the summer of 2007. Alex Kapranos has stated that "The last record was...like a teenager having sex. This one's a bit more assured and a bit friendlier for the dance floor. "Tonight was mixed by Canadian Mix Engineer Mike Fraser The song "Ulysses" was chosen to be the first single and was released on 19 January 2009. It was first played by Zane Lowe on 17 November 2008. Shortly afterwards it hit YouTube. It did not see that much success in the UK Top 40, reaching only #20, but it fared better in Spain and Japan where it reached #2 and #3 respectively. It also entered the Top 20 of the US Modern Rock Chart. The album, Tonight was released 26 January, 2009 and debuted at #2 in the UK Album Chart and #9 in the U.S. Billboard 200. The second single, No You Girls saw success both in the charts and on the radio prior to release, eventually reaching #7 on the US Modern Rock Chart and was performed by Franz Ferdinand on Comic Relief 2009 Top of The Pops special. "Can't Stop Feeling" was released on the 6th July as the 3rd single from the album and on the 28th August, "What She Came For" was released as the 4th single in the form of a remix single. The band performed What She Came For on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on Wednesday, the 26th of August, 2009. The band appeared on Radio 1's live lounge performing their second single No You Girls, and did a cover of Britney Spears' comeback single Womanizer. In February 2009, Glastonbury Festival announced Franz Ferdinand as the first major band playing at that year's festival. The band also unveiled a 19-date tour of the USA during the spring, in support of the new album. The tour included a set at the Coachella Festival. The band were also one of the main stage acts performing at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Swindon in May. On 6 May 2009, it was announced that Franz Ferdinand would be the 3rd opening act for the Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown World Tour. They played from 8–26 August 2009. They followed Kaiser Chiefs and The Bravery. On 1 June 2009, the band released Blood, a compilation album that includes dub music versions of songs from Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. The release has been timed to coincide with Record Store Day.