THE driving pop of Franz Ferdinand seems an almost effortless glide at times, as songs steer themselves toward unforgettable hooks with instinctive ease. So it comes as a surprise, when discussing how the songs on the band’s new CD, “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand,” out Tuesday, were largely crafted in front of club audiences, and to learn that the band’s first big hit, “Take Me Out,” almost didn’t make it out of development.

“The first time we played ‘Take Me Out,’ it didn’t work,” says the Scottish band’s singer, Alex Kapranos. “The audience was really baffled, thinking, what are you trying to do here? It took a bit of trial and error to get it right.”

But in playing live, the band learned what worked, what didn’t and how to make the necessary fixes, including placing the verses at the beginning of the song and the choruses at the end, and altering the tempo on all. The result led to two Grammy nominations, as well as UK honors including the Mercury Music Prize and two Brit Awards.

So in writing the songs for this, their third CD – their sophomore effort, “You Could Have It So Much Better,” also received Grammy nominations – they took the same approach in testing the material in clubs and letting both audience reaction and the songs’ visceral feel determine their ultimate form.

“For us as a band, a song doesn’t properly exist until you’ve played it live,” says Kapranos. “There’s something about playing in front of an audience . . . not just the audience reaction, but the way you play as well. There’s a lot more adrenaline that goes into it. You feel like you’re putting your blood into the songs as they become alive.”