Franz Ferdinand Team Up with 1970's Glam Rockers Sparks to Form "Pissed Off" FFS Supergroup (Domino Records)

"We thought "Take Me Out" [2004] was very cool, and wouldn't it be nice to say hello when they came to Los Angeles," Sparks frontman Russell Mael recently lamented to Domino Records concerning his newly-minted band with younger brother Ron and the entirety of Scottish Dance-Punk band Franz Ferdinand. "We met and decided then it would be great to do something together. We put forward a couple demos, one was "Piss Off." But they got swept up by everything, and it didn't happen at the time," Mael continued. Legend has it that FFS didn't fully reconvene until Coachella 2013 when Ron & Russell Mael ended up bumping into a tooth-aching Alex Kapranos frantically in search of a local dentist that they unanimously decided a "10-year gestation period for this idea was long enough." FFS' self-titled Domino Records debut was recorded late last year during a marathon 15-day recording stint, wherein the 6-man band really strived to make something completely new; "not Franz [Ferdinand] featuring Russell Mael or Sparks with Franz Ferdinand backing them," as quasi-frontman Alex Kapranos rather frankly put it. Upon my first listen to "Piss Off" earlier this week, the first comparison that immediately came to mind was a loose Beatles or Paul McCartney & Wings reference, which is really about as far as one can get from Franz Ferdinand's brand of infectious Dance-Punk or Sparks' formative 1970's Glam Rock. FFS' 12-track self-titled "debut" will see a release this upcoming June 8-9th through Domino Records; available in 2LP limited coloured vinyl and multiple CD packages, tech-savvy fans able to get their grubby hands on pre-ordered deluxe copies will be treated to four additional bonus tracks.