Ricky Wilson: Interview With The Voice Of The Kaiser Chiefs

Frontman Ricky Wilson has left his red chair on The Voice and traded it in for the stage. With a number one album and an arena tour under their belts and, with a new, much anticipated album set to be released soon, Kaiser Chiefs are in for a fantastic year of live performances including one this August at Haydock Park. VIVA sat down with them to discuss Nick leaving the band, song-writing, The Voice, the new album and more. 

With a number one album and the Arena tour that you’ve just finished does it seem like the band is now in a better place after all the doubt that surrounded you guys when Nick left?

Yes. It’s funny because, although it’s brilliant and we understand that it’s brilliant and we’re all very excited and every show we do is getting bigger and bigger, it’s weird because everyone around us is celebrating and you know, clinking glasses. But, when you’re in a band, it’s the realisation that it’s all about the next thing. You never really stop and enjoy the moment and have that kind of like ‘we did it guys’ because you always go ‘Yeah, we’ve turned the ship around, now we have to set sail.’

With the whole situation with Nick leaving and because he was widely credited as being one of the main songwriters, has your confidence come back as a band with the success of your number one album Education, Education, Education & War?

It was a new kind of confidence because we never – individually and together as the four remaining members and then when Vijay joined – we never had that kind of confidence that we could do it. In fact, when we had our first rehearsal without Vijay, we didn’t know we could do it. It was ‘let’s see if it’s possible’ and it was. So it’s not like we got our confidence back, it was like we grew it from scratch really, I think.

So how well was the new material received on these tours? Are there any fan favourites that are sticking out whenever you play them live?

From the fans, the only criticism we really got was not playing some of the new ones. It was like ‘Why aren’t you playing One More Last Song, why aren’t you playing Bows and Arrows?’ and it’s like, ‘Woah.’

We have to ask you about your experience on The Voice.

I’m telling these kids, don’t forget to enjoy it and don’t forget to appreciate every single moment. If you want it, you can have a career in music. The level at which you’re at, you might not be U2 but you can do it. You might have to have another job to sustain your career in music but you can do it. I reminded myself of that, I might have to get another job one day to keep the band. I’m lucky that I love being in something that I still do and I think about every day and then I did get another job on the TV show.

As a result of you being on The Voice, has this opened the band up to a lot more of a mainstream kind of audience?

Well no, because when we first started we were allowed to go on other TV shows because there was a lot more TV to go on. So when we went on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and played, it opened us up to a bigger fan base and when we were on SM TV every other week and when we were on Top of the Pops every other week, it was the same thing but nowadays, there isn’t as much that boys with beards and guitars are allowed to go on.

Your fellow judge Tom Jones is also doing a few of the racecourse shows as well this summer. Has it ever come up in a conversation recently at all?

No. It’s funny because we talk about everything and nothing. Like, I’m not one of those people that will ask Will.i.am to remix a record or Rita to appear on ‘Falling Awake.’ Essentially, we’re still the band we always were and we’re a band, we’re pretty normal. You know all these collaborations and all these things that go on, it’s not really us. I don’t think we’re that into that kind of thing. We like the unit we’ve got, it’s worked for a long time and even though we might have had a hiccough when Nick left, I think we kind of pulled it back together. Saying that, you can whip that out of the archives when we decide to do a collaboration.

So, moving on to the racecourse shows. You’ve obviously done some racecourse shows before. Do they differ much from your normal kind of tours you do or like the festival performances?

People are very drunk. It’s kind of like a wedding because you’ve got guys with their ties around their heads going mental. I really enjoy it. It’s a different vibe to anything else we’ve done but we’re coming back to do more so we must enjoy it. It’s like a festival with good toilet facilities and a dress code but it’s got the same vibe. I really like it, it’s good.

Have you got any rituals or anything before you go the stage or during the day? There are hundreds of them. Yeah we’re all very superstitious but we’re all musicians so we’re all weirdos anyway. As rituals go, we usually have a disco before we go on. It is funny though, I mean it’s a room full of thirty somethings, late-thirty somethings, all dancing like it’s a kid’s disco.

So, you’re coming to play at Haydock in the summer, have you got any good memories or stories from when you have played in the past in the North-West?

Oh, some of my favourite gigs of all time have been in the North-West. One in particular, the second night at Manchester MEN was the best gig, I don’t know why, I still say it but it was my favourite gig ever. I came off and it was like ‘that was a moment’ and so yeah. It’s funny, over the Pennines you expect there to be a rivalry because we’re from Leeds obviously but we find that, you know, because Leeds people are quite, you know, we belong to them. So they don’t show their emotions as much to us as they do on the other side of the Pennines because we go down and, like, invade and we have a good time.

Don’t miss out on seeing this five-piece band rock the racecourse on August 7th at Haydock Park.

Words: Warren Higgins