Rear View ANSWER MACHINE
Next issue out
Wednesday 23 August
INDIAN SUMMER
There's a new gig on the green, green grass of Glasgow's Victoria Park. With acts like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Antony and the Johnsons and Gang of Four set to appear. this looks like a welcome return to the grand old days of outdoor music events in the city. We talk to a handful of the bands.
PLUS
Guitarist Bert Jansch on being a living legend Scottish charities helping the relief effort in the Lebanon And the best from the final days of the Edinburgh Festival
YOU'VE GOT 15 DAYS TO LIVE
They started in the music industry so they could make music that girls could dance to. This year they were on the Main Stage at T in the Park and will appear at the Book Festival to talk to kids about writing songs. But what, exactly, is it about the Napoleonic Wars that Franz Ferdinand like so much?
What's the most rock'n’roll thing you've done today?
Alex Kapranos Plugged my guitar through an amplifier I'm afraid.
Bob Hardy I had sweets before my dinner and nobody could tell me off!
Which time in history would you love to have lived? And why?
AK Early 2 1 st century. Wermar Germany would be good. Or late 50s early (30s New York.
BH Early 1900s. Also during the Mary Poppins era, or the Napoleonic Wars. Mainly Just for the uniforms. The (30s would be fun for hanging about wrth The Beatles.
What was the first gig that you went to?
AK It was my thirteenth birthday and my friend thought. because I was such a huge Back to the Future fan, the perfect thing was to get tickets for Huey Lewrs and the News at the SECC. And they were crap. It was a shame sitting on the tram on the way home gorng, ‘It wasn't as good as I expected it to be'. It wasn't until l was in my late teens that I started going to gigs in earnest. It’s all a bit like losing your vrrginity, your first gig, because you don't know what to expect and aren't sure rf it's supposed to be better or worse than you experienced. It was like losing your virginity to a big fat lady who wasn't very interested in you.
BH Davie Deviant and his Spirit Wife. I didn't know
what to expect ana the. had TV St‘nwls and shawng them and chopping .rt‘ ca'rotx art stage didn't knaw what to expe‘t and I thought all may. were going to be like that
Who would play you in the film of your life?
AK I'd like a young Richard Attettbourgh
BH A young Alec Guinness
Who would actually play you?
AK Probably McCaulax Culkrn
BH Tim Roth'.‘ Yeah. actually. I mrgh’ want him tr r do rt. He's an amanng actor
What do you miss most when you‘re not at home?
BH Staying in. lust bumbling about my flat doing nothing, being distracted by irrelevant things I should get out more
What's your favourite biscuit?
AK Bob's mother "s flapiacks
BH I'd go wrth chocolate wholemeal
Have you ever exploited your position to get something?
BH If there's a gig at the last minute someone Will give you a ticket. It's not laziness it's lust you've been out of town and someone says to you ‘yr >u know who's on tomorrow nrglrt’;" And yr lu're like 'r )h no!’ That happens a lot.
What do you think you would be doing if you weren't in Franz Ferdinand?
AK I'd still be playing in a band as l have itrrt'll «ll )lllt] it for years now. I would probably be doing something else too. Before I started (I()II‘(_) the band full time l was working at Annresland College (is a lecturer teaching asylum seekers Lnglish wrthrn the context of other subitxns.
8H I'd probably have an artist's studio and a It lb to pay the bills. It would all depend on how it wa‘. gerng. There are also some pretty great pL tf,‘:f. to work in Glasgow. I wouldn't mind working at thw CCA or something.
I Franz Ferd/nand's A/ex Kapranos and NA gl. McCarthy appear at the Edinburgh Inky/rational Book Festrva/ at a spec/a/ songwriting event on lw ' 2 Aug. The event rs now so/d out.
PAOLO NUTINI
Nine months ago Paolo (right) was just another — admittedly handsome — face in the crowd. Now everyone wants a piece of the Scottish singer. We follow him from a park in Paisley to a TV show in Holland via a stage in Miami. Whatever you do. don't mention James Blunt . . .
48 THE LIST ‘rT——_‘-1 Aug 3006