Location: St. Polten / Austria
Interview date: August 20, 2009
Kaiser Chiefs. One of Britain’s most talked-about indie rock bands, who hit global fame in 2007 with the smash Ruby from their second studio record Yours Truly, Angry Mob, released their third album Off With Their Heads last October and have been touring it successfully all year. Before the five-piece head off on a long break to recharge their batteries, we sat down with keyboardist Nick “Peanut” Baines.
RockLine: The band’s name is largely tied to a South African football club, where former Leeds captain Lucas Radefe used to play. Football aside, what are the key influences on your music?
Nick “Peanut” Baines: Influences? Probably songs from the eighties, the stuff that happens around us every day, girls. Our songs are like stories packed with loads of detail. You can picture the faces and the scenes, so you feel the meaning of the lyrics even more. Football isn’t really an influence, it’s just one of the things we enjoy as a band. It doesn’t affect our music, we all just like following it.
RockLine: It took you eight years before you put out your debut album Employment in March 2005. What was behind such a long wait for the first record?
Peanut: Kaiser Chiefs only came together a good six years ago, so it took us three years to get an album out. Before that we all played in different bands, and the music was a lot heavier. It’s like learning a language, say, you just get better and better with time. At the start you’re playing for five people …
RockLine: And then the crowd in front of the stage slowly starts to grow …
Peanut: Exactly. It’s the same with writing lyrics, you get better with every song. You also figure out what you can do as a band member and what you can’t. It might look like a long stretch, but it’s a process that keeps repeating. The third record is out, we’ve played hundreds of festivals, thousands of gigs, and that’s what makes us happy.
RockLine: Before recording and releasing your third studio record Off With Their Heads, you were planning a slightly longer break. What’s the band up to next? Can we expect a new album, or will you follow through on what you’ve announced?
Peanut: Once the festival season wraps up, we’re taking a year off to spend with our families and friends, away from music. After that comes the comeback, a new level of Kaiser Chiefs. Until then the calendar is empty. We’ll recharge and write new songs. We put out three albums in four years, which is a lot. We need a fresh push.
RockLine: How did the collaboration with Lily Allen come about? She provided backing vocals on your latest album, and the lady is known for being pretty temperamental. What was it like working with her?
Peanut: We wanted some female backing vocals, and since Mark (Ronson, producer; author’s note) knows Lily, he invited her along. We’d met a few times before, and I have to say she’s a really nice girl. Her voice was a real breath of fresh air for music made by a bunch of guys.
RockLine: Critics compare you (way too) often to other Britpop bands like Blur and Oasis. What’s your take on that musical triangle?
Peanut: I don’t agree that it’s Britpop, there are a lot of cultural things involved. England has changed massively since the early nineties. It’s mostly a lazy comparison people make because we come from Britain and play rock`n`roll. Of course we’re very honored to be compared to Blur, they’re a band with great lyrics and music, their albums are very different from each other and they’re full of associations about people and the world we live in. We like the comparison, but I think our music is a bit heavier than Blur’s.
RockLine: If a charity invited you to a football match to raise money for people in need, would you agree to play if your teammates were the Gallagher brothers, who’ve been talked about way too much lately (Noel and Liam from Oasis, who recently broke up; author’s note)?
Peanut (looks surprised, visibly caught off guard by the question, and answers after a few stammers): I don’t think I’d mind, Noel and Liam are alright lads, they just ought to rein in their tongues a bit. It’s the media that blow the whole thing way out of proportion.
Photos: Barbara Milharčič
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