Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band formed in 2002 and based in Glasgow. The band was originally 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). Following McCarthy’s departure in 2016 after four albums and a full-length collaboration with Sparks using the name FFS, the band brought in Julian Corrie (keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals) before working on their fifth album, Always Ascending. After the album’s recording, they added Dino Bardot (guitar and backing vocals) to the line-up.