Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos on watching Paul McCartney: "My teenage self exploded with joy"

11 January 2025, 18:00

Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and Beatles legend Paul McCartney. Picture: Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns/Getty, Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images

By Jenny Mensah

The Scottish rocker told Radio X's John Kennedy that he went to see the legendary Beatle in Paris and was blown away by his performance of Helter Skelter.

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Alex Kapranos has opened up about his obsession with Paul McCartney.

The Franz Ferdinand frontman talked about his experience seeing the Beatles legend on his recent Got Back tour and praised his versatility as an artist.

"I went to see McCartney recently," he told Radio X's John Kennedy during a special track by track playback of the band's new album. "I went to see him in Paris, which is where I'm sort of living now... and when he played Helter Skelter, it was blowing my mind. Like, my teenage self was exploding with joy."

He went on: "I think it's amazing looking at someone like McCartney, who can write something like Mull of Kintyre and a song like Helter Skelter. That's two very different worlds there!"

Guitarist and keyboardist Julian Corrie added: "And The Frog Chorus," before Kapranos interjected: "Although The Frog Chorus is not the name of the song, the song is called All Things Together.

"I know that because my wife has a copy of it. My wife is even more of a McCartney obsessive than I am!"

Listen to Franz Ferdinand - The Human Fear - X-Posure track by track album playback with John Kennedy this Saturday 11th January from 11pm on Global Player, The official Radio X app.

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Franz Ferdinand's The Human Fear is their sixth studio album, following on from their 2004 self-titled debut, plus You Could Have It So Much Better (2005), Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (2009), Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (2013) and Always Ascending (2018),

The record - which includes previously released singles Audacious, Night Or Day and the band's most recent toe-tapper, Hooked - is available to stream now: