Forming in 1996 in Leeds, England is the indie rock band known as Kaiser Chiefs. The band consists of Ricky Wilson (vocals), Andrew “Whitey” White (guitarist), Simon Rix (bassist), Nick “Peanut” Baines (keyboardist), and Vijay Mistry (drummer). Their original founding band member Nick Hodgson, who was co-songwriter and drummer left Kaiser Chiefs in 2012. The band was mainly based on late 1970s and 1980s new wave and punk rock inspiration, and named themselves after the South American soccer club known as Kaizer Chiefs. They were discovered by manager James Sandom, who learned about them through Sean Adams, the founder of record label Drowned in Sound who encouraged Sandom to check out the band live. Sandom watched the band and felt many of their songs could become potential hits, shortly after the band was signed to B-Unique Records and Sandom became their manager. In 2005 Kaiser Chiefs made their breakthrough onto the music scene when they attended the NME Awards Tour and received the Philip Hall Radar award. Soon after they released their debut album that March called Employment. The album reached number 2 on the UK Album Chart and was awarded 5 times Platinum. In 2007 their second album Yours Truly, Angry Mob released; the album had more of a Led Zeppelin and American rock inspiration and in the process of recording the album over 22 songs were recorded. The album reached number one on the UK Album Chart and number 45 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Yours Truly, Angry Mob became the band’s second album to sell a million copies, as well as received the UK and European number one Airplay Hit of 2007 for their song “Ruby.” In October of 2008 the band’s third album Off With Their Heads was released and the band went on a UK tour to promote the new album. They then went on a 2 year hiatus until their fourth album The Future Is Medieval was released in 2011 when they launched it from their website. The band created a pick-your-own album technique in which fans could choose 10 out of 20 songs to create “their own album.” Many celebrity fans including Radio One DJ Chris Moyles, The Guardian Newspaper, and even lead singer Rocky Wilson all participated in creating their own Kaiser Chief albums. In March of 2012 the album was re-released under the title of Start the Revolution Without Me for the United States market. The tracklisting on this version of the album was very different than the original UK album, in which it included the single “On the Run” exclusive to the US only. In 2012 the band played a UK and North America tour, as well as released their first compilation album called Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012 in the United Kingdom. Since then the band had spoke about releasing a followup album to The Future Is Medieval, yet their has been no word of when it will be released. Kaiser Chiefs are currently on tour in the United Kingdom.
You must be logged in to post a comment.