It's tempting to call FFS a "supergroup," but that terminology seems a bit too overwrought to describe the merging of two bands that are so like-minded in their pursuit of relentlessly clever pop music. On the surface, the pair seems very different: LA duo Sparks are elder statesmen of art-rock with a catalog that spans more than four decades, while Franz Ferdinand is a comparatively young act that traffics in dance floor-friendly post-punk. On the collaborative self-titled debut as FFS, the groups play on each other's strengths, creating challenging compositions imbued with a wry sense of humor. We spoke with Franz Ferdinand drummer Paul Thomson about his introduction to Sparks and the experience of working with his musical heroes.
When did you discover Sparks?
I used to go through my dad’s record collection as a kid and among them were the Sparks’ records Kimono My House and Propaganda. The record sleeves totally stood apart from everything else, even by ‘70s standards. The sleeve of Propaganda was a curious thing to look at—these two guys bound and gagged in the back of a speedboat. As a child I was thinking, “What does that mean?” and then I listened to the music and it didn’t sound like anything else I’d heard up to that point. I was fascinated by things I didn’t understand but wanted to understand, and Sparks fulfilled that for me. They’ve always been outsiders, they’re so at odds with everything—I guess Franz Ferdinand thinks ourselves like that as well.
How did Franz Ferdinand and Sparks meet?
We initially met [Ron and Russell Mael] in 2004, during our second time in the States. [Franz Ferdinand frontman] Alex [Kapranos] had written a piece for NME about one of his favorite records, and he chose Propaganda. They had heard “Take Me Out” on the radio and liked it, so we met them in a hotel. The next time we came to LA they said, “We’ve written a song for you,” and that was “Piss Off.” They came out of the dressing room with a boom box and played us the song. I remember [our guitarist] Nick [McCarthy]—who grew up in Germany, so he has a very odd, backwards grasp on the English language—was trying to remark on the pathos in the song and ended up telling them the song was pathetic.
Why did you decide to form a band together?
We didn’t hear from them for 10 years, and then Alex broke a tooth at a steakhouse in Uruguay. We were in San Francisco a couple of days later where we’d managed to get hooked up with Huey Lewis’s dentist. Alex was wandering about and he bumped into Ron and Russell. They were playing the following night, so we went along to the show, chatted with them afterward, and realized we never got around to recording “Piss Off.” When we got back from tour we sent them a song and then they sent us another one back and before long we’d been firing these songs at each other via e-mail and realized we had 16. We thought maybe we should make a record. And then afterward, maybe this should be a band.
What do you think drew the groups together as collaborators?
I guess Franz Ferdinand’s strength lies in the fact that the four of us are very distinct, different characters, and that’s the same with Sparks as well, almost to an extreme—there’s two of them and they’re related. We have the same sense of humor and we’re all very open about our obsession with art, film and popular culture. We’re never short of something to talk about.
If you had to choose an entry point to the music of Sparks, what album would you recommend?
They’re an odd one because they’ve had this long career and they’re known for different songs from different points of their career in different countries. They were most prominent in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s in the U.S., but they were huge in the UK during the ‘70s and huge in Germany in the ‘90s. By choosing an album, you hone in on a certain part of their evolution. No. 1 in Heaven is probably the one I would urge people to listen to. It was produced by Giorgio Moroder, who is having a bit of a resurgence at the moment. The production is good, the lyrics are great and it’s got an amazing sleeve.
FFS + The Information play at the Vic Theatre on October 8.