— by Jennifer Vineyard
The Kaiser Chiefs predict a riot — everyone else predicts a hit. Influential Los Angeles alt-rock station KROQ lists their first U.S. single "I Predict a Riot" as both one of their most played and most requested songs. They've made Rolling Stone's "Hot List." And British music bible NME just last week gave them the mag's coveted "Radar" award, for best band to watch (a prize taken by Franz Ferdinand the year prior, if that's any indication). So who are these Kaiser Chiefs, and are they really the next big thing?
Not according to the French media, whose reports of singer Ricky Wilson's death are greatly exaggerated ("It made me sad, but I pinch myself, and I'm all right now," he says). But other than those pesky French rumormongers, quite a lot of people have been coming in droves to the Leeds, England, band's shows, from older fans who claim the band has renewed their faith in music ("We're the first band they've liked since the Clash," bassist Simon Rix said), to young hipsters, to "people I ring up and beg," Rix joked.
The Clash comparison is inevitable, but the Kaiser Chiefs actually draw upon a wealth of influences for their upcoming debut album, Employment, breaking from the new post-punk wave of Brit bands borrowing from the '80s (think Libertines, Zutons, Futureheads and Bloc Party) by their injections of the unexpected, such as American soul and Beach Boys-ish harmonies. Their song "Caroline, Yes," for instance, is so named as a play on the Beach Boys classic "Caroline, No."
But there's nothing surf-y about their big Brit hit, "I Predict a Riot" — the rock club anthem is pure anarchy in the U.K. It starts off with an ominous riff, as Wilson sings verses about getting attacked for a taxicab, women running around with no clothes on, friends being beaten for no reason by policemen — and then explodes with a chorus almost too joyous, too upbeat, too damn catchy, for its subject matter. Though drummer/vocalist Nick Hodgson admits the song makes it sound as if Leeds is the new Sodom and Gomorrah, the band insists its hometown is anything but — the guys are just capturing a bit of (nearly) innocent night-out-on-the-town antics.
"If you can't get laid, you get into a fight instead," Wilson explained. "So outside, at two in the morning, when everyone's chucked out together, there's just people running around, just fists in the air wanting to hit anything. Lamp posts, people, police dogs, whatever. And it's quite scary, you know, if you're someone like us, and they come out in the middle of the road and say, 'Stop your car! I want to get in!' And you're like, 'No, I'm an indie kid. Leave me alone!' So that's what it's about. It came from a club night, when things got a bit rowdy one night, and Nick said, 'I predict a riot.' "
Making a video for "I Predict a Riot" could have been all too simple — stage riot, insert Kaiser Chiefs. But since that's not really what the song is about — it's about being drunk and stupid, they say — what won out was actually something far more silly: a pillow fight. Tons of fans grab pillows, take them to the club, clobber each other at the song's climax, sending feathers flying everywhere. One problem — Wilson's eyes reacted badly to the feathers as he discovered he was allergic.
"So if you watch the video, there are some scenes of my eyes popping out of my head, and it's not because I'm really into the song, even though I am," he said. "I must have swallowed about a ton of feathers that day. For weeks, I was sh---ing feathers."
"I'm also allergic to dairy products," Wilson continued. "Yeah, laugh it up! In America, it's hard! Everything is covered in cheese. Inappropriate amounts of cheese."
"I love the cheese," Hodgson interjected. "Tuna melts covered in cheese. I've covered my drums in cheese. I think we have a little soft spot for cheesy music."
That's why some of their catchiest moments on "Employment" are those times when the band isn't trying to sound serious or arty or part of a lineage of anything, but when they break down the lyrics into pure wordless sounds — their song "Na Na Na Na Naa" being the best example, just by virtue of its title.
"For a while, it was like a dirty word to be a pop band," Rix said. "But now it's cool again to have a melody and things that people can get, and still be quirky and interesting at the same time."
"We're certainly not afraid of pop," Hodgson said. "You show us pop, and we'll fight it to the bitter end!"
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