Since blowing up big in 2004 with a catchy little tune called Take Me Out, Franz Ferdinand has had no trouble filling all manner of venues. Still, Glasgow's purveyors of post-punk aren't opposed to taking the odd opening gig, recently warming up for Green Day for 13 dates on its current U.S. tour.

"I'm really glad we did this tour - it's really pushed us out of our comfort zone," says drummer Paul Thomson, 32, on the line from a stop in San Diego. "We've been trying to bring them the hits because they might not have heard of us before."

The quartet - which is filled out by vocalist/guitarist Alex Kapranos, guitarist/keyboardist Nick McCarthy and bassist Bob Hardy - will kick off its headlining Canadian jaunt on Saturday at Toronto's Virgin Festival. After that, the band will hit up Seattle's Bumbershoot festival before spending the fall playing dates in Europe and Japan.

The high demand is understandable. In January, Franz Ferdinand released its long-awaited third album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - the product of a much-needed break from the road.

"(2005's You Could Have It So Much Better) was kind of a bombastic rock record because we'd just come off from touring for 18 months," Thomson says. "For this one, we wanted to pull back - and production wise, we wanted it to be dry and heavy."

Produced by Dan Carey (Lily Allen, Hot Chip) and mixed by Canadian engineer Mike Fraser (Elvis Costello), Tonight is every bit as arty and angular as its predecessors, but the band trades in the frenetic guitars of You Could Have It... and 2004's Franz Ferdinand for swaggering, slow-burning synths. The end result is much more dance floor-friendly and much less "teenager having sex," as frontman Kapranos has described FF's first two albums.

It's also a grittier, darker Franz Ferdinand outing, which can be attributed to the band's recording digs. Tonight was recorded in a DIY studio the foursome set up in the old town hall of Govan, Scotland.

"We would use different rooms to get different sounds," Thomson explains. "We'd use the auditorium for the big acoustics, then we'd use the basement for a dirtier, garagey sound. I think the atmosphere comes across on the record." (Adding to the inherent spookiness of the album is the human skeleton the band used as percussion on some of the tracks. McCarthy and Kapranos had bought it at a doctor's estate auction for £46.)

In June, the band released Blood, a compilation of dub versions of songs from Tonight.

"We've always done dub versions just for fun, so we thought, 'Why not put them out?' It seemed like a logical extension. It's a different way to listen to the record," Thompson says.

Both Blood and its source material speak to the fact that Franz Ferdinand isn't content to ride on the sound that made it famous in 2004. Take Me Out became a massive radio success in both the band's native U.K. and across the pond, and it wasn't long before Google searches yielded more results for the band than the real Franz Ferdinand, the Austo-Hungarian Archduke whose assassination sparked the First World War.

"It was kind of like we were in a whirlwind with Take Me Out - we weren't expecting that at all," Thompson recalls. "We were in a bubble when all the crazy shit happened. We went into the next record so fast, then we toured that, so it wasn't until after that that we could let it all sink in.

"My life's so different now - and not just because of a successful record. I'm getting older. I have two kids now. But we've always been thankful for this opportunity, and to be able to have large, captive audiences as well."

FRANZ FERDINAND
Sept. 2, Burton Cummings Theatre