Kaiser Cheifs
Leed’s golden boys are back and keyboardist Peanut talks to us about the new album, staying fresh and how it feels to have an album shortlisted in NME’s best albums of the last 15 years...
“You have to stick to your guns and do what you want to do. That’s the most important bit, you have to believe in yourself.”
I saw that you released the new single Little Shocks through your website and the free download website RCRD LBL and I loved seeing an established band use that outlet. Why did you decide to do that?
We put out Little Shocks on our website and then we partnered with RCRD LBL. Nowadays all the labels are becoming so joined up together and someone ends up owning the whole lot really so we have these other ventures. It’s cool, when you’re a band whose sold a lot of records, to give back. That side of the industry and that side of the art form is important. Vinyl might not sell much anymore but you should still do it for fans who want to buy it. We’re doing a special edition vinyl of all the songs made for The Future Is Medieval which you can only get at our gigs. I enjoy things like that than just having a CD on the shelf. If you can do fun little projects like that, help support smaller things... why not?
Talking about Little Shocks, you can hear that it has that classic Kaiser Chief sound yet at the same time it feels a little different. Were you trying to go in a different direction with the single?
Definitely yeah. I think whenever we play music it will always sound like us, especially with Nick and Ricky’s vocals, the guitar, me on the keys. When we started out in 2003-2004 it was a sound that wasn’t recognisable, no one really sounded like us. Even now, you can hear people copying little bits. But when it’s just five of us in a room making that sound, it’s not unique but the combination is. We chose Little Shocks as the first single, as that whole intro is just bonkers little sounds. The guitar sounds really cool and direct and I’m mimicking it on the keys as well and there’s the bell noises, reverse guitars and things like that. It all came together in Nick’s studio and we used that first version as the main version because quite often you capture those interesting things and you try and recreate it and it’s gone. So I think it’s definitely a good indicator for the album and how we’ve progressed since the last three.
I read that you guys are worried about the guitar genre and that you need to adapt to survive. How do you think you’re adapting?
I think one way you do have to stick to your guns and do what you want to do. That’s the most important bit, you have to believe in yourself. When we had no record deal in 2004 and we were supporting Franz Ferdinand, Ordinary Boys and little gigs like that, we were making our sound. It was connecting with people and you have to stick to that. At the same time, you have to be aware of the industry around you and what the tastes are, whether it’s American rock at the moment or English dubstep, whatever it is you still have to be aware of that. It probably does come into your music, often subconsciously from the radio or MTV. Guitars will always be the cool instrument to play, it will always be rock ‘n’ roll so it won’t go anywhere.
Your first album Employment has been shortlisted for NME’s best albums of the last 15 years. How did that make you feel?
That’s great yeah. There’s been quite a few polls recently where we’ve had best festival anthem with Ruby and I Predict A Riot and little things like that or best live act which is important to us. That’s raw element, there’s no studio trickery, it’s just us. When you get nominated for the best album of the last 15 years, that’s quite a long time, and just to be considered means that you’ve had an effect on a broad range of people and not just a specific genre and reached a lot of people.
What would be in your best albums of the last 15 years?
That takes up to ‘96? You couldn’t have Definitely Maybe which is a shame. To be honest, I’d have Chemical Brothers’s Dig Your Own Hole as it was, and still is, one of their best albums. It’s dirty and sounds like a band jamming with electronic music rather than programming it. Fifteen years is a long time, I quite like Bloc Party’s first album Silent Alarm but I’d want to have something like Pink Floyd in there and Led Zeppelin. You can’t have Nirvana either.
Are you planning on coming out with a new album in the UK soon?
We’re still focusing on The Future Is Medieval, we’ve got the rest of the world to go to with that. We’re going to America, Australia and then a summer of festivals next year and South America too. So that’s the immediate focus at the moment.
What’s been your biggest ‘wow’ moment so far? One of those moments when you can’t believe you’re getting to do this or that you’re there?
I don’t know, there’s always a few. When we did Glastonbury for the first time, we were playing at half three in the afternoon on the main stage as we were booked before Employment came out. After, Michael Eavis came up to us and said that’s the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at that time. Then a week later, we were in Philadelphia playing to a million and a half people for Live Aid, things like that make you realise that you’ve really done stuff. Then you get to meet people like Brian May and Paul McCartney when you have all their records. Or go on tour with Dave Grohl and be mates with him and you’re a massive Nirvana fan. Things like that make you humble and remember where you came from and the records you listen to. I think if I met Brian Wilson I’d die. We look up to him, production-wise the stuff on Pet Sounds is incredible, to do that in the 60s was more an art form, you had one chance, one take. When you get to be in the environment to meet people like that, that’s special.
Keep up to date with Kaiser Chiefs at www.kaiserchiefs.com
