Just 18 months after their second album, the Kaiser Chiefs are back with a new record - Off With Their Heads - and tales to tell. We spoke to keyboard player Nick ‘Peanut’ Baines the day after they’d just won Best Live Act at the Q Awards and he was chuffed to bits: “This one’s voted for by the fans, so it makes it very special.” Festival favourites and one of the biggest acts in Britain and the world, Peanut chatted to us about coming from Leeds, meeting Meatloaf, working with Mark Ronson and being the half-time entertainment at a Kaiser Chiefs game…
Hi Peanut - how are you?
“Well, thanks! We’ve just got back from London after the Q Awards and I’ve been playing my piano - we’ve been away and I’ve missed it.”
First up - why are you called Peanut?
“It’s my school nickname, so when I joined the band we kept it as it’s always good to have a someone in a band with a nickname isn’t it? My family call me Nick, but to the music world I’m Peanut!”
You’re just back from the Q Awards - did you win something?
“We did - we got Best Live Act which we were really pleased about - it’s voted for by the fans so it’s special to win it.”
Did you have a good night?
“It was great! I met Meatloaf and David Gilmour. Meatloaf was very complimentary about us - he’d seen us on TV the night before and he thought we were great live.”
That must be so cool but also surreal…
“Absolutely! And I was worried about going up to David Gilmour, but it turns out that some of the people in his band were big Kaiser Chiefs fans, so that made it better.”
Let’s talk about your new single Never Miss A Beat - it’s all about the kidz…
“Yeah - it’s about the kids on the street and how they’re so sharp - far more than in my day. We think that people pay attention to kids a lot more these days, which is cool - they’re the generation of tomorrow after all.”
Even if they want crisps for their tea as your lyrics suggest?
“Yes! We ate in Fifteen last night when we were in London, and that line ‘What do you want for tea? I want crisps’ came from Jamie’s School Dinners programme - that’s what the kids wanted. I think Jamie Oliver’s amazing with how he’s changing people’s eating habits.”
He is. Did you enjoy Fifteen?
“We had a great meal!”
Your two previous albums have mixed poppy melodies and dark lyrics - does your third album Off With Their Heads do the same?
“We’re always full of ideas for pop melodies and hooks which is great - some bands can’t write a hook to save their lives! It’s great when you go to a gig, hear a song for the first time and then you’re on the bus on the way home and the song’s stuck in your head - we’ve always had that appeal from day one. As for the lyrics - we’re not intentionally becoming a social commentary band, we just write about what we see. It’s quite easy to see a dark side of Britain though isn’t it?” (Laughs)
You scrapped your US tour to write this album - is that right?
“We cancelled some US dates in October last year as we thought we were too caught up in touring and wanted to stop and write some new tracks for our arena tour. The fans deserve new songs and we didn’t want to let them down and just give them the same concert as the year before. So we stopped, recorded five or six songs, intended to record them as an EP but it went so well that we decided to hold it back for a bit and record an album instead.”
It was produced by Mark Ronson - can we expect lots of horns and Brit School winners?
“(Laughs) Mark came to see us at Earls Court and he was blown away and wanted to work with us. So we brought him in for the early tracks in February, and then we brought him back along with Eliott James to co-produce the album and finished it over the summer.”
Pleased with the results?
“Really pleased - I can’t wait for other people to hear it. We’ve had a copy for a while, now I just want our fans and our non-fans to hear it!”
You’ve been immortalised on Mark Ronson’s Version album - what did you all think of Lily Allen’s version of Oh My God?
“That’s how we met Mark in the first place - Lily did a video for Oh My God and wanted us to do a cameo. We like her version - it shows it’s a really good pop song I reckon.”
As a band you always seem like you’re having a great time - is that true? Nobody’s heading for rehab?
“No, we’re all good! We’re long-time friends - some of us have known each other for 20 years - so it would take a lot to fall out. We really appreciate what we’ve got and we don’t take it for granted.”
You’re from Leeds - do you spend much time there now?
“If we’re not touring, then yes - we all still live here, it’s home and we love having a Leeds identity, just like Oasis are Manchester.”
And what do you think of the current Leeds Utd situation?
“It’s pretty good. Last season we played a huge gig at Elland Road which was great, then the next day was the play-off final to go up to the Championship, but we got done one-nil against Doncaster. That’s the highs and lows of life!”
You’re named after South African football team the Kaiser Chiefs - have you played there?
“We have and we trained with the football club and Lucas Radabe was there too. One particular time, we’d played a gig in Johannesburg but the ground where they play is half an hour away. So we thought we could do the gig and make the second half of the football - but what we didn’t realise was that they were holding the second half for us and it was live on TV! We got a police escort to the ground and ran out onto the pitch at half-time and they were playing Ruby. Our crew were watching the football in a bar and saw us - it was all quite surreal.”
We imagine! Finally, what’s the most played song on your MP3 player right now?
“I’ve got my laptop here so let me look - it could be embarrassing. (Bit of a pause) It’s Fatboy Slim’s Late Night Tales compilation - I listen to it when I go to sleep.”
Not embarrassing at all!
“Phew - I thought it might be Girls Aloud or something…”
Listen to Kaiser Chiefs Radio on RealMusic
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Watch the Kaiser Chief’s new single Never Miss A Beat here…
Kaiser Chief’s album Off With Their Heads is out on October 20th.
(Clare Lydon)
