What a difference a year makes. After being "spotted" last summer, a little-known bunch of Glaswegians called Franz Ferdinand were booked for a low-key gig downstairs at the Zodiac.

Twelve months on, the band who share their name with an Austro-Hungarian archduke are the hottest name in rock. Their single Take Me Out stormed the charts and the four-piece found themselves a fixture in every music mag and Sunday supplement.

It's hardly surprising that their return to the Zodiac sold out in no time, and the gig was moved to Oxford Brookes University Student Union due to heavy demand for tickets.

If you did manage to buy, beg or blag yourself a ticket for tomorrow's show, you are in for a treat.

Bob, Alex, Nick and Paul's first gig was part of a student exhibition. Girl Art took place in a neon-lit bedroom, crammed with 80 people.

The boys decided they needed somewhere bigger to play music in, and discovered a huge abandoned art-deco warehouse in the Gorbals, Glasgow, overlooking the Clyde. They tracked down the landlord and persuaded him to give them the keys to the sixth floor.

After evicting the pigeons and fixing the windows, "The Chateau", as they called their new rehearsal space, proved to be a wonderful home.

For one event, Ferdinand featured sets by Uncle John and Whitelock, Park Attack and Scatter. Lighting came from banks of abandoned sunbeds.

The night was a great success - but also attracted the local constabulary, who turned up in vans and raided the venue.

Charges of running an illegal bar and contravening various health and safety, fire hazard and noise abatement legislation were dropped, but The Chateau was forced to fold.

Franz Ferdinand moved on. Lucy McKenzie, a Glasgow artist, held nights in her Flourish Studios and the band also became a fixture at the city's Stereo bar.

But it wasn't long before a replacement was found for The Chateau.

In the city's run-down Tobago Street, they discovered a Victorian courtroom and gaol which had been abandoned for 30 years. On its big launch night, the cells were filled with artists, while Franz Ferdinand presided over the courtroom.

Braziers burned in the courtyard and the bands burned in the courtroom. Wine flowed, and everyone danced until the police arrived and shut the power down.

Franz Ferdinand headed for London, and were signed by Laurence Bell, who runs the indie Domino Record Company. The band still live in the courtroom of The Chateau, where they write and record.

The four-piece were already active on the Glasgow music scene before teaming up.

Adele Bethel (guitar and vocals) and David Gow (drums and percussion) recorded and toured as members of Arab Strap, and were involved with Sophia, The Zephyrs and David Kitt; Scott Paterson (guitar and vocals) is the man behind March Of Dimes; while Ailidh Lennon (bass, piano, mandolin) studied classical at college.

They are worth catching for their breakneck guitars, and tense, slow build-ups.