Bringing Sexy Back

Dance-floor heathens best prepare themselves: This month, the stylish Scots of Franz Ferdinand unleash their flirty new disc, Tonight. Smarty-pants lead singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos dishes on what to expect.

MC: How did you come up with this album's sound?

AK: We played Paris in this wonderful old theater, and it was punk-rock chaos-- kids jumping off balconies. So the music is about losing all self-awareness and control. That's at the heart of it, and that's what you do on the dance floor, isn't it?

MC: The song "No You Girls Never Know" says, "Girls, you never know how you make a boy feel." How do they make you feel?

AK: Although they might not admit it, I think girls are very aware of the impact that they're having. But they never feel it themselves, and it's impossible to explain. It's like trying to tell a blind person what yellow is. Men behave very oddly in the company of attractive women.

MC: But doesn't being a rock star have the same kind of impact?

AK: Gosh, that makes me feel weird. Just because you can leap off a drum kit doing a scissors kick while hitting a chord, people expect you to be an extrovert socially. But I'm not always comfortable with the idea of small talk at a party.

MC: Given what you do, are people surprised that you're smart?

AK: Yes. There are expectations for my occupation.

MC: Do you worry about going out of style?

AK: Of course. People's musical tastes are fickle, and music can be a fashion. So it's really touching to see crowds at shows in Paris or Brooklyn. You think back to the shows you used to go to and say, "I still remember! I still feel it!" We're making this music because, goddamn, it's the most exciting thing we can do with our lives.