Music, Style & Culture

Kaiser Chiefs

We caught up with keyboardist and 'man with the hat' Peanut to ask him some questions...

It's been somewhat of a whirlwind couple of years for (very) long-time DIY favourites Kaiser Chiefs, what with the release of million-selling debut album 'Employment', taking 2005's festival season by storm, and the triple triumph at this year's Brit Awards, so we caught up with keyboardist and 'man with the hat' Peanut to ask him some questions...

3 Brits isn't bad going for an indie pop band from Leeds. Has it sunk in yet?
Not at all. Like most of the things we have done over the last 18 months, it takes at least 6 to realise what we have achieved. We'll freak out in the summer.

How's work on the second album coming on? Can we expect anything radically different?
Well, define 'radical'...

Last time we interviewed the band, Nick managed to predict Stephen Street producing the album before you'd even had a single in the shops. Any more Mystic Meg like premonitions?
There is definitely going to be a second album. That's a good prediction, right?

You've got your biggest tour to date coming up. Anything special planned? Will there be new songs?
At the moment, we are in rehearsals writing new stuff and getting a shortlist together a few songs we are going to play on the dates. I'm not sure if Kanye [West] has returned the golden girls yet. Hope he gets them back in time to be re-sprayed and out on the tour, otherwise we'll have to think of something else special to do.

Graham Coxon has done pretty much everything you can as a musician. What's it like knowing you'll have to follow a proper legend every night?
Weird. I am listening to his new album as I write this. Anyway, it's just exciting that he's on the tour. It's great being able to have bands you like as support. We'll try not to let him put us off. Hopefully he won't run on stage in the middle of our set and upstage us!

Bon Jovi recently credited you with "saving rock music". Is there anything else you're planning to save?
A bit of money for a rainy day?

Every move any of you makes these days becomes news. What's the most ludicrous thing you've seen written about you over the last twelve months?
That (once again) we are doing the World Cup song. We're not. It's not that ludicrous - most things are just exaggerations of something that might have happened.

Can you go anywhere in Leeds anymore without being mobbed?
Debenhams seem to be quite safe, and Greggs too.

You've been all over the world now. Which country has the most mental fans? What's the oddest thing you've been given?
I think T in the Park and Oxegen last year showed the Scottish and Irish fans to be the most 'enthusiastic', the gigs were totally ace. It always amuses me when shoes are 'given' to us by being thrown on stage during a gig. Who throws a shoe?!

You've played hundreds of shows for 'Employment'. Which one was your favourite to date?
For me personally, it was Glasgow Barrowlands in April 2005. This was the first 'Employment' tour and walking out on stage to 2,000 fans felt great. I remember thinking that these were 'our' fans. No more trying to win over Franz or Killers fans. It felt great.

You've spent most of the last year on tour with The Cribs as support, it seems. Given Ryan Jarman's unique stand of philosophy, what's the best pearl of wisdom you've heard a Jarman brother deliver?
Well, I think a lot of people will have heard his Live8 story on Never Mind The Buzzcocks recently, but it was hilarious when he told it in a dressing room last year. It's toss up between that and pretty much everything else they say. They're our favourite support band.

Kaiser Chiefs head out on tour towards the end of April, supported by Graham Coxon, Polysics, Duels, The Automatic and Wolfmother. For full details, visit their official site.