NME caught up with Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos along with Doctor Who icon Peter Capaldi and rising indie rapper Master Peace after they stormed Glastonbury‘s Other Stage. Check out the full interview below, and watch some of the video above.
Taking to the sun-soaked stage in the late afternoon, the Scottish indie icons pulled a huge crowd despite going head-to-head with a secret set from Lewis Capaldi over on the Pyramid. Still, they used this to their advantage to make for one hell of a Glasto moment.
“One of the things I love about Glastonbury is the rumours,” said Kapranos towards the end of the set, when Capaldi’s neighbouring show had finished shortly before. “You know, all the gossip that goes around.
“Someone was telling me this morning that Pulp are going to play on some stage tomorrow. Maybe, I don’t know. Somebody was telling me that Haim are playing, that Lorde was playing this morning as well,” he continued.
“You may have heard a rumour that a fellow Glaswegian who goes by the name of Capaldi. Well, Glastonbury, it gives me great joy to say that these rumours are true. He is here with us tonight. The original Capaldi – Peter Capaldi!”
He then delivered a rousing guest vocal on the classic ‘Take Me Out’.
I had a @Franz_Ferdinand x Peter Capaldi collab in Glastonbury Bingo, so that’s nice pic.twitter.com/yu9I1B3Zza
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) June 27, 2025
As if that wasn’t enough, the band then swiftly followed by bringing out their tour buddy Master Peace – who performed their collab version of ‘Hooked’ from Franz’s acclaimed new album ‘The Human Fear’, which was released as a single last week alongside another live team-up with The Smiths’ icon Johnny Marr. Throw in some high kicks, a barrage of indie bangers and maximum crowd participation and you’ve got the making of one of the true highlights of Glastonbury 2025.
The trio then joined NME backstage for a quick natter about what went down. Check it out below.
Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos with Peter Capaldi and Master Peace at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
NME: Hello Alex Kapranos, Peter Capaldi and Master Peace
Peter Capaldi: “I’m amazed you got through all those names, it’s quite a challenge!”
Alex Kapranos: “It’s quite a mouthful”
How did all this come about then?
Capaldi: “Alex just got in touch with me. We had some mutual friends who are musicians. I had been praising Franz Ferdinand, and I think that got back to them. They decided, ‘That’s who we want to have around – someone who praises and loves us’, which is good because I’m a fan of theirs. Alex just got in touch and asked if I’d like to play with them at Glastonbury! Who’s going to turn that down? I didn’t know what he meant.
“I thought, ‘There must be a gimmick here. Is it some sort of Doctor Who-related song? There’s a song called ‘The Doctor’ on the new album, maybe he wanted me to do that? I didn’t want to do that. I said, ‘What do you want me to sing?’ ‘Take Me Out’. What? This fabulous song that everybody knows? Yes please!”
You can really sing, Peter. Alex, did you give Peter any tips on how to own the Glastonbury crowd?
Kapranos: “I didn’t need to give him any tips. He’s a complete natural. It was masterful.”
Capaldi: “It was just so great to be on stage with the band, because they are so brilliant. They’re such a brilliant live band and they are so secure in what they do. It’s really just surfing. You have that energy from them, their songs are like heat-seeking missiles – they just go out there and get the crowd.
“And Peace is absolutely fabulous, also. To go out there, to surf that crowd and to surf their energy is just a privilege.”
Master Peace: “I’m just shocked that I’m sat here with Alex Kapranos and Peter Capaldi! What the fuck? My street cred – everyone’s gotta talk to me nice after this. This is crazy.”
Franz Ferdinand perform at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
You’ve been a Franz fanboy for a while right, Peace?
Peace: “Big fan, from the get-go. Even when I first started making indie music, I was like, ‘I wanna get in the studio and make something with Franz Ferdinand’. I just begged my manager.”
And you’ve been on tour together and jumped on that live version of ‘Hooked’?
Peace: “Yeah, I have a song with Franz Ferdinand. Like, what?”
Kapranos: “We had a great time together on tour. It was amazing. Peace was coming up and singing with us every night, and I love what he’s doing. He’s got such a good energy and is an amazing frontman. It was Jamie Hornsmith from The Rakes who introduced us to each other; he’s an old friend of ours. Aye, and Peter – totally magic! What a treat it is for me to be on stage with these two incredible, charismatic characters. It really was a total joy.”
I was going to start a rumour that you’d be bringing out Johnny Mar…
Kapranos: “Well, we should have done, shouldn’t we? It should have been the four-piece boyband. Sorry Johnny, aye. He plays on the new version of ‘Build It Up’, and his guitar playing is amazing. He was a total inspiration for me. He made me want to play the guitar. He’s a genius and a brilliant guy.”
Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos with Peter Capaldi and Master Peace at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Alex, on stage you mentioned your first Glastonbury when you were 18. Do you remember anything about it?
Kapranos: “Yes, I remember it so well. I was 18, I was in Aberdeen, and about a week before Glastonbury my pal Nick gave us a shout and said, ‘Do you want to go to Glastonbury? There’s some tickets left in the record shop’. That’s crazy when you think about it now.
“I had a little Lada at the time. For those of you born after 1990, it was a car made in the Soviet Union, it was very unreliable. Mine had a broken alternator, which means the battery would run out every two hours and we’d have to stop in a service station. It took us four days to get down here, but we had an amazing time. It totally blew my mind.
“I was thinking earlier about today, if the me then at 18 in 1990 could see the me now, on stage with this character and this character, playing to all those people, they’d probably think to themselves, ‘Fuck me! That microdot I got from that crusty was stronger than I thought!’”
That was one hell of a crowd out there just now. Who said people were bored of bands?
Kapranos: “They were good, weren’t they?”
Capaldi: “It’s amazing to hear the band. It’s just so exciting to see a band that plays so well, with such energy and attack and don’t stop playing for the audience. The whole vibe is about making the audience have a good time, and taking their music and pushing it out there. It doesn’t happen by itself. It’s not without effort, and these guys do it so brilliantly. They really work the audience.
“I see that as a performer. My experience as a performer is mostly as an actor, which is slightly different, but you still have to be ‘on’. You still have to be doing the work. Often audiences don’t recognise the immense amount of commitment and passion that goes into just keeping them entertained.”
Franz Ferdinand perform at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Peter, you have your own music career. Peace, you’ve been killing it. What’s next for this supergroup?
Peace: “You heard it here first, on NME! I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I want to keep in contact with both of these guys. It’s just crazy to see – I’m watching my heroes. Doctor fucking Who, bro! Alex is a superhero too. For me, in the new era of indie music, I personally feel like I’m flying the flag. Then to get to co-sign from these guys us just crazy to me. It makes it far more worth it and real.”
So the Doctor Peace album is coming next year?
Capaldi: “Doctor Peace, that’s a great name!”
Kapranos: “We’ll run with that for the moment”
Come back soon for more of our video interview with the trio.
Franz Ferdinand recently announced details of a 2026 UK and European tour.
Glastonbury 2025 continues tonight’s with performances from the likes of Neil Young, Charli XCX, Deftones, Kneecap and Doechii, before Olivia Rodrigo, The Prodigy, Wolf Alice, The Maccabees and more close the festival tomorrow. Check out the full timetable and schedule here.
Yesterday saw headline performances from The 1975 closing the Pyramid Stage with Loyle Carner stunning on The Other, at the end of a day that saw a secret set from Lorde and another from Lewis Capaldi, alongside CMAT’s glorious main stage debut, Biffy Clyro paying tribute to Brian Wilson and much more.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2025.
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