Ricky Wilson is a bit out of sorts. “It’s half nine,” he grumbles in his endearing Leeds accent. “Which is pretty early in the morning for me.”
As it turns out, Ricky’s just trying to make sense of where waking up before midday was in his rock star contract. “It doesn’t make any sense! We do these wonderful things; we make an album, we go on tour, we work really hard…and you know what our reward is? Getting up really early, and talking on the telephone to someone.”
Wilson and I brainstorm some other interviewing options. Facebook? “I kind of like that, because you have to do everything in bullet points.” Skype? “Yeah, see, that’s good. But then I guess we both have to be awake still, don’t we?” Really, Ricky would prefer to have every journalist in the room with him. Slight problem, we’re about a 22 hour plane ride away from one another. There’s only one solution, isn’t there? The Kaiser Chiefs have to come to Australia again.
Ricky’s got no problem talking about his upcoming touring schedule. “I’m never meant to say anything,” he laughs. “But I always do.” As it turns out, the Kaisers will be here as early as next year. In January, perhaps? “I really want to play the Big Day Out,” Ricky confesses. “But I don’t think they want us.” Lees and West turning down one of the UK’s most solid live acts? Preposterous!
In any case, Wilson isn’t that sold on the prospect of gallivanting around on the beach in between shows. “I’m not that big a fan of the beach, yeah. But I’m a big fan of days off.” And with previous touring partners Arctic Monkeys already signed on, it seems like fate. Ricky’s as clueless as we are. Apparently that’s what the second announcement is for.
On their latest album, Off With Their Heads, The Kaiser Chiefs worked with producer to the stars, Mark Ronson – also famous for catapulting shambolic songbirds Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse to international stardom. For Ricky, however, it wasn’t really a matter of producer-baiting, rather that “we just really wanted to work with someone who really wanted to work with us.”
As it turns out, Mark was backstage at the Kaisers’ Earls Court gig and proposed doing an album with his favourite band. Which would work, if they hadn’t just put the lid on another one a few months earlier. “We had absolutely no intention of making another record [this soon],” confesses Wilson of their year-and-a-bit between drinks. “But we just got in the studio and didn’t stop recording!”
So what’s the secret to the Mark Ronson touch, and why is he in such hot demand in the UK at the moment? “He just makes everything feel effortless,” gushes Ricky, “and gives you the confidence to do what you want to do.” It also helps that Ronson, as a huge fan of the band “really didn’t want to be known as the guy who fucked up the Kaiser Chiefs.”
One thing that Ronson does have in spades, it seems, is personality. “Everybody who meets him instantly wants to be his best friend.” It’s not always the same with Ricky, however, who concedes that most people are “pretty much ‘alright’, but you get the occasional wanker.”
This obviously doesn’t include Lily Allen, the girls of New Young Pony Club and the bevy of ladies who dropped by to listen in on the sessions and offer their singing talents. “I could probably make more money off telling the stories than I will off the album!” he laughs. “Kate Moss was in one night…” Ricky lets slip. “Which was just the giddiest thrill ever.” Turns out she just came over for a bite, as the Kaisers had their own in-studio chef.
“Do you mind,” asked Ronson. “If my friend Jade comes over?” Ricky, the smart-ass: “Oh, you mean like Jade Jagger?” Mark: “Yes, her. And Kate Moss.”
“I just thought it was the funniest thing ever,” admits Ricky, signing off. “I’m still kind of getting used to the rock star lifestyle. So they’re in there listening to my tracks and I’m just sitting in the corner.” With friends like these, who needs guillotines, eh?
Off With Their Heads is out 18 October through Liberator.
