FRANZ Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos has dismissed rock legend Jim Morrison as pretentious in an outspoken attack on rival songwriters and the music industry.
Kapranos said he was suspicious of musicians who claim to be poets, citing The Doors maverick Morrison as an example of those aspiring towards literary greatness.
The lead singer, who himself turned to Bob Dylan for inspiration for the award-winn
ing band's second album, also criticised record labels and radio stations for trying too hard to manufacture hits.
Since they formed in 2002, the Glasgow-based four-piece have sold more than three million copies of their Mercury Prize-winning album, Franz Ferdinand. Kapranos and fellow band members - Paul Thomson, Bob Hardy and Nick McCarthy - have also toured the world, performing 300 gigs in 18 months, and making a bigger impact in America than Oasis and Robbie Williams combined.
But despite their success Kapranos is still highly critical of the industry and, in an interview published yesterday, he spoke of his disdain for artistic pretensions.
"I'm always a bit suspicious when lyricists call themselves poets," he said. "Jim Morrison always called himself a poet, and I think, 'I'm not a poet. I'm a lyricist.'
"You should embrace the fact you're a lyricist because in a way it's greater - you have that extra dimension of emotion to play with. It's easier to write a song and sing about intense personal emotions than to talk about them.
"I clam up. I wouldn't talk to these guys about it, I wouldn't talk to anyone about it. But I can sing a song about it."
Franz Ferdinand's new CD, You Could Have It So Much Better, is released tomorrow.
Earlier this year Scotland on Sunday revealed how the group had listened extensively to Bob Dylan during recording, seeking inspiration and new challenges.
Kapranos claimed that the "musical ideals" of the period had helped develop more ambitious lyrics, writing ballads packed with real characters from their daily lives.
The singer yesterday told how he believes "pop theory" was wrong in setting down rules for music. "They wouldn't play 'Take Me Out' on the radio at first, because according to pop theory, it isn't a hit.
"It starts with one song and changes into another. In theory, it's all wrong. The same with 'Do You Want To?'"
Meanwhile the singer has also revealed how the group's dress sense was inspired by Robert De Niro. He said their love of sharp suits and thin ties was taken from De Niro's gangster Johnny Boy Civello in the movie Mean Streets.
The full article contains 466 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
