Morrison and Vanian married and had a daughter, Emily, born on 9 February 2004. Around this time, Morrison retired from performing with the band, although she remained involved with the Damned as their manager. Her replacement on bass was Stu West.
debuting at No. 3 in the UK Albums Chart in February 2004
Throughout 2001, 2002 and 2003, the band worked on writing new material, initially renting a house in Saint-Tropez where audio engineer Mark Tinley built a recording studio for their first serious writing session. They then returned to London to do some self-financed work with various producers (including old friend Nile…
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The album only reached the lowest levels of the Billboard 200 album charts in the US as of early 2004, but reached the top 5 of the indie rock chart and the Heatseeker chart for debut artists.
Mascis regained the master rights to the band’s first three albums from SST in 2004 and arranged for their reissue on Merge in early 2005. Later that year, he and Barlow shared the stage at a benefit show for autism at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts organized by Barlow’s mother,…
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Franz Ferdinand won an Ivor Novello Award in 2004
NME named Franz Ferdinand the best album of 2004
He won the seat of Kingsford Smith at the 2004 General Election for the Australian Labor Party and was selected as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Heritage and the Arts.
A new remix compilation album, Remixes 81–04 , was released in 2004, featuring new and unreleased promo mixes of the band’s singles from 1981 to 2004. A new version of “Enjoy the Silence”, remixed by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park , ” Enjoy the Silence 04 “, was released as…
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In 2004, a book entitled The Swing of Things was published, which also included a CD of early demo material titled The Demo Tapes .