NEWS: Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos Gives Songwriting Lecture

Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos gave schoolchildren a lecture on songwriting yesterday (July 8), giving them tips on how he dealt with his own songwriting including 'Take Me Out' and 'Walk Away'. He spoke at the British Music Experience at the London O2 Arena as part of the museum's new partnership with The Co-Operative. Not only did he just share his advice, but he also played acoustic versions of these songs as well as 'Jacqueline'.

Sharing his own songwriting experiences with Nick McCarthy in Franz Ferdinand, Kapranos said: "'Take Me Out' was written with Nick, with both of us sitting in a room chopping things about and saying things like, 'I saw this on TV the other night, let's try and get it in the lyrics!'. "But 'Walk Away' was written in a much more traditional way – I was in a dressing room in Hamburg and I'd just split up with my girlfriend and it came out naturally."

The British Music Experience regularly holds masterclasses with musicians and it is hoped that the new scheme which sees 15,000 free tickets to the venue released to schoolchildren across the country will encourage more young people to start writing music for themselves and forming bands of their own.