Siren Music the
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College Tribune | september 30th 2008
Blazers of g Heather Landy caught up with drummer nick Hodgson recently to discuss their new album, the excitement of festival season and sharing the bill with the legend that is Sir Paul Mc Cartney They exploded onto the music scene like an influx of fresh air. Their debut album, Employment sent pulses racing with its excitable beats and catchy lyrics and now The Kaiser Chiefs are back to impress with their third album, Off With Their Heads, their follow up to Yours Truly, Angry Mob. Who would have thought that it has been three years since The Kaiser Chiefs first rocketed up the charts and formed a mass ensemble of loyal fans. Twelve years ago The Kaiser Chiefs were conceived, in the middle of the Brit-pop era. Bands like Suede, Blur and Pulp were already making waves in the charts. The music scene was one where British music took on a new leash of life and began to shed the skin of its 80’s past, re-emerging as something interesting, vibrant and different. It was all about being cool and setting a new scene PostThatcher. However, for the Kaiser Chiefs it took a good while until they achieved the recognition they deserved. Nine years to be precise. “Me, Simon and Peanut, we met at the same class at school about nineteen years ago. Me and Simon were always into bands, but Peanut and I weren’t exactly the best of pals. His dad was really influential though, because he had a guitar and he allowed Simon to have a drum kit. A friend of mine knew Ricky and he was our front man. He was just a front man. A singer, an extrovert. “Then we met Whitey, the opposite of Ricky but very cool in clubs. We would go to the same clubs in Leeds, doing the Britpop thing, he was always there and looking supercool. I used to always ask him, ‘Will you be in my band?’ and he used to say ‘Yeah, yeah,’ and it just meant ‘No’. I asked him, ‘Can you actually play guitar?’ and he said ‘Yeah, I am fucking brilliant.’ He wasn’t. His friends would go ‘Yeah he’s fucking brilliant, he’s better than John Sayer.’ One day he brought a guitar down the club and he went ‘Oh, I’m lefthanded.’ I thought it was another lie but he is actually left-
handed.” Twelve years later, on the cusp of the release of ‘Off With Their Heads ‘and already there is definite buzz surrounding this, their third album in three years. But are we to expect definite change this time around? A more obvious transition from their second album and a complete detachment from the first? “I think it’s a return in attitude and approach, but not a return in music. In that sense it’s more like the first album, but in another sense it’s not like either.” Off With Their Heads definitely shows The Kaiser Chiefs drifting away from their Ruby days and with the addition of the likes of Mark Ronson, Lily Allen and rapper Sway, The Chiefs seem to want to hone a more mature and refreshing sound. Nonetheless, the old influences are still there, lurking amidst all the new
We just feel more free, and it sounds more groovy. But we didn’t go, ‘This is what we’re gonna do’. It just grew.”
musical output which should keep fans happy and not dishearten those already loyal to the Kaiser set. “No. There’s definitely a direction, there’s definitely a lot of factors that have influenced it. We just feel more free, and it sounds more groovy. But we didn’t go, ‘This is what we’re gonna do’. It just grew.” Along with Mark Ronson, the lesser-known Eliot James also stepped in to give a hand at the production process, with Andy Wallace helping with some of the mixing process. Wallace has worked previously on Nirvana’s global smash, Nevermind and with LCD Soundsystem, and those experiences would definitely explain the darker edge to this album. A very grunge, hard rock feel reminiscent of Nirvana and Soundgarden, which just about compliments the electro vibes that pulsate throughout most of the album. This is definitely an album of contrasts with Half The Truth featuring rapper Sway, but the album all ends in a wave of ambience and there is no dramatic ending. It seems that The Kinks have sprinkled some fairy dust on the final track to the album Remember You’re A Girl. Strangely enough, David Arnold, who is best known for his string arrangements for the Bond Theme, makes an appearance on the track Like It Too Much, which in some ways shakes up the musical balance. Arnold’s presence inevitably raises the burning question; would the Kaiser Chiefs ever be inclined to to submit a Bond theme themselves or be a part of the process? “We suggested it. We’ve got the perfect songs, but they won’t have us. We’re not crap or boring enough. I don’t understand Jack White and Alicia Keys doing it. We’re