Kaiser Chiefs

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This article is about the band. For the South African football club, see Kaizer Chiefs FC.
Image:KaiserChiefs2007Logo.png
Image:Kaiser Chiefs in Concert.JPG
Background information
Origin Leeds, England
Genre(s) Indie rock
Post-punk revival
Years active 2003 – present
Label(s) MCA Music, Inc.
B-Unique
Polydor
Drowned In Sound (first single)
Website www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk
Members
Ricky Wilson
Andrew 'Whitey' White
Simon Rix
Nick 'Peanut' Baines
Nick Hodgson

Kaiser Chiefs are an English rock band from Leeds. The group was founded in 1997 and consists of Ricky Wilson (vocals), Andrew 'Whitey' White (guitar), Simon Rix (bass), Nick 'Peanut' Baines (keyboards), and Nick Hodgson (drums). They were named after the South African football club Kaizer Chiefs, a team which former Leeds United defender Lucas Radebe played for.[1] The band are well known fans of United, regularly sponsor players on matchday, and on 5 December 2007 it was revealed by NME that the band would play a homecoming show at Elland Road stadium on 24 May 2008.[2]

The group's debut album Employment was released in 2004. The album was primarily inspired by new wave and punk rock music of late 1970's,[3] and enjoyed international success with sales of over three million.[4] In 2005, the album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.[5] Kaiser Chiefs' second album Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2007) yielded "Ruby", a number one single in the United Kingdom.[6] They are now confirmed to headline the Friday night of Isle Of Wight Festival in 2008.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Kaisers are Born (1996 - 1999)

The band members met in the same class at school at around the age of eleven, and it was in 1996 that the band seriously considered formation. Whitey said he was better at the guitar than John Squire and that he had a van, the latter turning out to be false. Runston Parva was the original name of the band. Runston Parva failed to receive a record deal, so the band changed their name to Parva hoping to make a difference. The band got a deal in 2001, but at the time failed to see any success. The band scrapped the sets and started over again, something Ricky admitted was a good decision in the long run.

A new start also meant a new name; because of their love of boxing films, they named the band Rocky Four after the picture of the same title. They then decided to change their name to Kaiser Chiefs and, because "nobody said no", they kept it. The roots of the name lay with former Leeds United player Lucas Radebe who once played for South African football club Kaizer Chiefs.[7]

[edit] Employment (1999 - 2006)

The group's debut album Employment was released in March 2005, and was primarily inspired by new wave and punk rock music of late 1970s.[3] The album was well received by music critics, and it was described as "thrilling from beginning to end" and "quintessentially British, without pretension and most importantly, a whole lot of fun".[8]

It reached number two on the UK albums chart,[9] and was certified five times platinum.[10] In 2005, Employment was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best British or Irish album from the previous year.[5]

The first single released from the album was "Oh My God", which reached number six on the UK singles chart when it was reissued in February 2005. In 2007, the song was covered by Mark Ronson and Lily Allen for Ronson's album Version. "I Predict a Riot" was released as the album's second single. In 2007, the song was ranked number thirty-six on the NME "Greatest Indie Anthems Ever" countdown.[11] The top twenty singles "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" and "Modern Way" followed in late 2005. The band are influenced by alternative rock mainstream acts such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains.[citation needed] The band opened and performed several of their singles at the Philadelphia Live Eight concert in 2005.

[edit] Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2007)

Kaiser Chiefs' second album Yours Truly, Angry Mob was released in February 2007. The group recorded the album throughout 2006 at Hook End Studio in Oxfordshire, England. The group took inspiration from Led Zeppelin and American rock music, and recorded over twenty-two songs.[12]

Unlike Employment, the album received mixed reviews from critics who found it to be "an album full of jukebox hits" and "predictable".[13] Yours Truly, Angry Mob reached number one on the UK albums chart and number forty-five on the Billboard 200 albums chart.[14]

Ruby, the album's lead single, became Kaiser Chiefs' first UK number one single.[6] The song lyrics discuss an unbelievable relationship, and its musical style has been compared to Oasis' 2005 song "Lyla".[15] Ruby was featured on the 2007 video game Guitar Hero III.

Everything Is Average Nowadays was released as the album's second single, and reached number nineteen in the UK.[16]The album's third single The Angry Mob, described by the The Sun as a "clever, accessible pop" song, peaked at number twenty-two in the UK.[17][18] The fourth single is Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning), released November 1.

[edit] Third studio album (2007 - present)

Image:Ellandrd.jpg
Elland Road stadium where the Kaisers are set to play in 2008
Kaiser Chiefs recently scrapped most of their autumn US tour saying they were too anxious to begin recording their third full length album: "We are just really desperate to write some new stuff," drummer Nick Hodgson told Billboard.com. "We don't know exactly what we're going to put out, but it will be next year [...] We're very keen on breaking the cycle of what normal bands do, which is album every two years and tour for a year-and-a-half and take six months to write," he continued. "Not only does it get predictable, it gets boring. A lot of our contemporaries do the same thing." In their concert at the Aintree Pavilion as part of Liverpool Music Week on December 7, they debuted three new songs. These may or may not be for their third album. New songs include 'Never Missed A Beat' and 'You Want History'.

Kaiser Chiefs planned to head to a studio in Leeds, England, before the end of 2007 to do some initial groundwork. The band's lone remaining American tour date was September 29 at New York's Beacon Theatre which took place as scheduled. Their most recent European tour began in London on 23 October.[19]

On December 5 news outlets revealed the Kaisers would be playing a massive homecoming show at Leeds United's Elland Road stadium on May 24 2008. Following in the footsteps of music giants such as Queen, support acts will include The Enemy and Kate Nash. Tickets are scheduled for sale on Saturday December 8, more than six months in advance of the gig.[citation needed]

[edit] Criticism

Liam Gallagher labeled Kaiser Chiefs "a bad Blur."[20] Ricky Wilson, however, claimed he "was chuffed to bits" to be on the end of one of Gallagher's famous insults. Appropriately enough the album Yours Truly, Angry Mob was criticised by Blur frontman Damon Albarn, who likened it to his own album The Great Escape.[21]

"I've made two bad records. The first record, which is awful, and 'The Great Escape', which was messy. Kaisers' new record sounds a bit like The Great Escape in that it sounds a bit empty. Sometimes records are like that if you try too hard to repeat your success."[22]

It should be noted that the band's producer of their first two albums is Blur's longtime producer Stephen Street, who is also producing Graham Coxon and at one point of the sessions brought him to Kaisers' recording studio.

[edit] Discography

For a complete list of releases, see Kaiser Chiefs discography.

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] from Employment

"Oh My God" (2004) - #66 UK, #41 EU
"I Predict a Riot" (2004) - #22 UK, #36 EU
"Oh My God" (re-issue) (2004) - #6 UK, #27 IRL
"Everyday I Love You Less and Less" (2005) - #10 UK, #57 EU
"I Predict a Riot" (re-issue) (2005) - #9 UK, #25 IRL, #34 US Modern Rock
"Sink That Ship" (2005) - #59 UK
"Modern Way" (2005) - #11 UK, #47 IRL, #69 EU

[edit] from Yours Truly, Angry Mob

"Ruby" (2007) - #1 UK, #5 IRL, #8 EU, #14 US Modern Rock
"Everything Is Average Nowadays" (2007) - #19 UK, #78 EU
"The Angry Mob" (2007) - #22 UK, #86 EU
"Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning) (2007) - #112 UK

[edit] Awards

Year Award Category
2006 BRIT Awards[23] British Rock Act
British Live Act
British Group
NME Awards[24] Best Album
Best Dressed (awarded to Ricky Wilson)

[edit] BOOTLEG DVD – KAISER CHIEFS BEHIND THE MUSIC

04 January 2008 We felt we should warn fans about this. There’s an unofficial DVD being sold at the moment and it’s poor, so don’t buy it and encourage the bootleggers. The quality of this DVD is really bad and not worth your money. The DVD is called “The Kaiser Chiefs Behind The Music” and released by Edgehill Publishing. We bought one to check it out, it’s unbelievably poor. The standard is mildly amusing it’s so bad, but photo-shopped still photos flying across the screen aren’t funny when it’s our fans getting ripped off. For those curious the real content is some critics (none of which we’ve ever met or heard of) commenting on our rise to fame, a load of still photos and a covers band called The Chiefs playing bad versions of our songs. We guess there’s an element of humour to it as its so bad, but we’d really advise you don’t buy it. Our good friend Tim has been on the road filming with us solidly for 18 months now and at some point we’ll document what we’ve been up to and do a real behind the scenes look at our world, presented in a way we’re proud of. This isn’t it and it has nothing to do with us.

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC South Yorkshire, Kaiser Chiefs Interview
  2. ^ Kaiser Chiefs to play huge Leeds gig
  3. ^ a b Heather Phares. "Employment > Review". All Music Guide. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  4. ^ "Kaiser Chiefs 2007 Biography". KaiserChiefs.co.uk. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  5. ^ a b "Antony and Johnsons win Mercury". BBC. September 7, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  6. ^ a b "Ruby Music Charts: Kaiser Chiefs". aCharts.us. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  7. ^ BBC South Yorkshire, Kaiser Chiefs Interview
  8. ^ "Employment by Kaiser Chiefs". MetaCritic.com. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  9. ^ "Employment Music Charts: Kaiser Chiefs". aCharts.us. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  10. ^ British platinum certification for Employment. British Phonographic Industry. February 17, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  11. ^ "The Greatest Indie Anthems Ever - countdown continues". NME. May 1, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  12. ^ "The Kaiser Chiefs discuss new album". NME. October 20, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  13. ^ "Yours Truly, Angry Mob by Kaiser Chiefs". MetaCritic.com. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  14. ^ "Yours Truly, Angry Mob Music Charts: Kaiser Chiefs". aCharts.us. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  15. ^ "Red Rags to Riches". NME. February 3, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  16. ^ "Everything Is Average Nowadays Music Charts: Kaiser Chiefs". aCharts.us. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  17. ^ "Single Review". The Sun. August 17, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  18. ^ "The Angry Mob Music Charts: Kaiser Chiefs". aCharts.us. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  19. ^ Billboard.com
  20. ^ 2005 interview with NME
  21. ^ http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=31582
  22. ^ http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/05/modern-chiefs-is-rubbish.html
  23. ^ "Brit Awards 2006: The winners". BBC. February 15, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  24. ^ "Monkeys, Kaisers Clean Up at NME Awards". Spin Magazine. February 24, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2007.

[edit] External links

Image:Commons-logo.svg
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Kaiser Chiefs
v • d • e
Kaiser Chiefs
Nick Hodgson  · Ricky Wilson  · Simon Rix  · Andrew "Whitey" White  · Nick "Peanut" Baines
Studio albumsEmployment  · Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Singles"Oh My God"  · "I Predict a Riot"  · "Everyday I Love You Less and Less"  · "Modern Way"  · "Ruby"  · "Everything Is Average Nowadays"  · "The Angry Mob"  · "Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)"
Other releasesLap of Honour  · "You Can Have It All"  · "Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)"
Related articlesDiscography  · Kaizer Chiefs Football Club  · B-Unique Records  · Polydor Records  · Stephen Street
ca:Kaiser Chiefs

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