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Sparks fly high with Franz Ferdinand

Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles’ Sparks combine as FFS.

A unique collaboration between Glasgow’s arch dudes Franz Ferdinand and LA pop provocateurs Sparks, FFS percolated for more than a decade before the release this week of their self-titled debut.

A kooky new wave outfit best known for 1974 hit This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us and keyboardist Ron Mael’s moustache (toothbrush in the 70s, pencil-thin today) and permanent scowl, Sparks influenced the younger Scots.

Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos recalls attempting to cover Sparks in their early days.

“A lot of bands find their sound by learning how to play other people’s songs,” he says in the notes accompanying FFS. “So Sparks were quite a formative influence on us.”

Sparks’ singer Russell Mael, the younger brother of Ron and only other permanent member since their 1971 formation, says hearing Franz Ferdinand’s debut single Take Me Out in 2004 was like a blast of fresh air.

“They’re something really special and still working within the confines of pop music,” Mael, 66, says from LA.

The Mael brothers met up with the young Scots soon after they released their Mercury Prize-winning self-titled debut album in 2004.

Despite coming from different countries and eras, the two bands share a taste for the theatrical, acerbic and absurd.

They agreed to work together, with Sparks offering a bombastic demo called Piss Off before Franz Ferdinand were swept away by success. “We had such love and respect for their music,” Kapranos says.

“Piss Off was a great song but we didn’t have the opportunity; it was an insanely busy time for us.”

The concept of making an album was rekindled in 2013, when both groups played California’s Coachella festival.

Ron Mael, who writes most of Sparks’ material, got the ball rolling again with a provocative ditty called Collaborations Don’t Work, which appears on the album alongside Piss Off.

“I think they saw the humour behind it and the adventurousness of the actual music, and took it as a real challenge,” Russell Mael says.

Kapranos and the elder Mael bounced song ideas between LA, London and Glasgow for more than a year before the bands finally united in London.

The new sextet, cheekily called FFS, rehearsed for a week before recording the 12-track album in 15 days at RAK Studios with producer John Congleton (St Vincent, David Byrne, Something for Kate).

Mael says the recording process was “incredibly fast” for Sparks but gave the freshly forged outfit a chance to play live together.

FFS went public last month on Later ... with Jools Holland playing current single Johnny Delusional, album track Police Encounters and a superb medley of Spark’s This Town ... and Franz’s Take Me Out.

The performance bodes well for their extensive tour of the UK and European tour, which kicks off in Franz Ferdinand’s home town on June 16 and includes an appearance at Glastonbury.

Mael hopes to come Down Under. While Franz are regular visitors, Sparks have only toured here once, playing Sydney and Melbourne in 2000.

The two halves of FFS were determined from the start to be more than a “casual affair”, according to the singer.

“We don’t know of too many precedents where two fully established bands with lengthy careers have wanted to join forces,” Mael says, “and then go to the effort to record a new album entirely of new material and tour it.

“We’re excited we got this far and have an album we’re all really proud of and that we’re going to be presenting it live to a good portion of the world.”

FFS is released June 5.