ROCKERS FEAR ANOTHER WASHOUT

Franz Ferdinand did manage to perform a show that night 15 years ago, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Bob said: “It would have been a terrible anti- climax because, not only was it New Year’s Eve but it was the biggest gig we had ever come close to playing.

“We managed to play somewhere in the end because Alex’s sister was studying at Edinburgh University and she had some friends who were having a house party.”

The Hogmanay gig will give Scots a chance to see the chart-topping band’s new line-up.

Bob, frontman Alex Kapranos and drummer Paul Thomson have added synth pop musician Julian Corrie and guitarist Dino Bardot to the band after Nick McCarthy quit.

Bob said: “He has two young kids and making a Franz record does take over your life. You go away for 18 months of touring, plus being away to make the record in the first place.

“Being away from his kids wasn’t making him happy and I don’t think he could have faced going away for such a long time from his kids again.”

Having picked up two Brit Awards since 2004 hits Take Me Out and Dark Of The Matinee, Bob revealed Franz almost called it a day after the loss of their original guitarist.

He said: “We knew for a

Sunday Mail

while that Nick was going to leave. It was never going to be easy with a founding member leaving, someone that you have been touring with for so long and who is a close friend.

“Paul, Alex and I met up and asked what we should do.

“We decided we still wanted to make music so we started working on tunes but, even when the three of us started writing, we weren’t sure if the songs would ever see the light of day as a Franz record.

“It was only as we slowly started getting things together and songs started taking shape that we became more confident.”

Franz have just returned from their first tour of China.

Bob said: “After touring for 20 months, to come back and be able to cap this year off with a Hogmanay show feels appropriate.

“When we were offered the show, there was no hesitation.”