My interview with Franz Ferdinand in Musilac, July 2019

As a reporter for the french website Infoconcert, I had the opportunity to meet some artists and talk to them about their careers. This summer, I was at the Festival Musilac, in the East of France, and I could meet Franz Ferdinand.

You can find the interview published in french on the Infoconcert's website, but I wanted to share it to you on its original version, in English.

I really feel proud of that, and of course, I wanted to thank all the wonderful team working at Musilac, especially Aminata, Infoconcert, and Mélanie Favre that helped me making the translation better.

Photo @Louise Houdin

It’s a pleasure to have you back in Musilac ! We haven't seen you since 2012 !

2012 yeah, that wasn’t the first time we played. We played here in 2008, 2004 as well, 2004 or maybe 2005, I can’t remember… A few times. Some of us never played here yet, though this is all very familiar cause we were here last year. But it all went wrong because of the weather.

How do you feel about playing at Musilac ? I mean, for some of you, it's your first time, and the other part of the band already know the festival. What is your relation to this festival, to this place…?

We love this festival. We always feel welcomed. We’ve been here a few times and had days off in Aix-les-Bains as well, so we feel kind of at home here, cause it’s so, so familiar now, you know. We love the audience, the crowd is always brilliant, and what a beautiful place! When you play in many festivals around the world, there are backstages that are not always a nice place. Sometimes, it's just a parking lot next to the stage. Here, you have this beautiful place, you know you're going to have some good concerts, and besides, you have good food! And also, the team at this festival is really nice.

It was such a shame last year when it got called off because you’d just won the World Cup. And how often do you get to play in a country on the night that they win the World Cup, you know ? And then for it to be canceled ! It was just like “whaaat?”. But anyways, we’ll make up for it tonight. And you’ll win the World Cup all over again. (laughing)

Today the conditions are perfect.

It looks beautiful yeah.

And the entire audience will be here just for you and focusing on you, you won’t have to share their attention with the World Cup.

You’re saying that there were honestly people who were more interested in the World Cup than Franz Ferdinand last year ? (laughing)

How did you made your album Always Ascending ?

It was quite similar to how we made the first record. We wrote and rehearsed everything, and then went to the studio and made the record quite quickly. We haven’t done that for a while so, you know it was different to how we did the fourth album, or the third album. I think it’s the most productive way for us to work, so it was kind of nice returning to that.

You always have a strong energy on stage, and we can feel it on the albums. It's like a signature. How do you defend that ?

Well that’s the hard bit, isn’t it ? Just kind of like, trying to get all the excitement of a life performance onto a record. On the last record, you know, Philippe was a huge part of that, he was such a force of nature, you know, and he just made the studio so fun, and he was such a generous and kind of warm and excited about music kind of guy, that it was really infectious and it was such a great time working with him you know. I think every artist he’s ever worked with feels the same way, when you speak to Phoenix or you know, anyone, Cat Power or whatever, he had this kind of energy that kind of carries you along, so it was really great to be able to make a record with him. We were very lucky.

Do you have a lot of collaborations of this type, with other artists ?

Yeah we’ve worked with many artists over the years. In France we did a song with Jane Birkin. We did a song with her at Taratata. We did a bunch of stuff with various people and we’ve had a project with Sparks… But with Philippe Zdar, it’s very special cause we made a record with him, and it was just a great time. It was a really special moment.

The show is changing for this because Mike Evans came for this show. How did you meet him ?

We’ve known him a few years. He played in a band called Citizens! that we actually toured in France with, maybe in 2014, perhaps ? So yeah we’ve known him for a long time and he’s a very good drummer. At this point it feels like he’s part of Franz Ferdinand, isn’t it ? 

How do you manage to include the music of Always Ascending in the show to succeed in keeping this good energy ?

When we prepare the setlist for a festival, it's really different from a concert where we are alone to play. For some shows, we play Slow, don't kill me slow, The Academy Award or Brief Encounters. We would not put them in a festival show because we could lose the audience a bit, even if they are good songs. Not everyone is a great fan. We prefer songs like Always Ascending, Fade Together, for example.

Sébastien Martinez.

Photo @Louise Houdin