Robert Hardy

Bob Hardy (born Robert Byron Hardy, 16 August 1980, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England) is the bassist for the Glasgow based band, Franz Ferdinand. Hardy grew up in Bradford, and attended Bradford Grammar School and gained a place in Bradford College's BTec foundation course of art and design in 1998 after representing his synaesthesia (through which he can hear smells) in paint on canvas. He earned a place in the Glasgow School of Art in order to... more

Bob Hardy (born Robert Byron Hardy, 16 August 1980, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England) is the bassist for the Glasgow based band, Franz Ferdinand. Hardy grew up in Bradford, and attended Bradford Grammar School and gained a place in Bradford College's BTec foundation course of art and design in 1998 after representing his synaesthesia (through which he can hear smells) in paint on canvas. He earned a place in the Glasgow School of Art in order to study painting. He completed his first year in 2000. Keen to sample all that Glasgow had to offer he visited the 13th Note where he met Alex Kapranos, now the frontman of Franz Ferdinand. There, he told a few vulgar "dead baby" jokes. Kapranos, insulted by the jokes, ended up talking to Hardy and learning that he needed a job and money. Kapranos then got Hardy a job with himself as a dessert chef. Hardy was an artist interested in music while Kapranos was a musician interested in art; this helped the two become firm friends. Through Hardy's... less