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Kaiser Chiefs Information
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'Kaiser Chiefs' are a British indie/britpop band from Leeds, formed early in 2003. The band's explosion onto the global music scene in early 2005 was epitomised when they opened the Philadelphia Live 8 concert.
Line-Up
The band consists of:-
*'Ricky Wilson' - vocals
*'Andrew' 'Whitey' 'White' - guitar
*'Simon Rix' - bass
*'Nick' 'Peanut' 'Baines' - keyboards, synthesizers
*'Nick Hodgson' - drums
History
Prior to 2003 the members of the band had been a garage rock band called 'Parva' (before that having been known as 'Runston Parva'). However, after being dropped by their label, the band went back to their roots and adopted a more britpop sound, helping the band reach their current popularity within the UK and beyond as a consequence.
Several members of the band are ardent fans of the English football team Leeds United. The band was named after the South African Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, the former team of long-serving former Leeds captain Lucas Radebe.
On 18 February, 2005 they were the opening act at the NME Awards show and won the Philip Hall Radar Award.
The band re-released the single 'Oh My God' on 21 February, which charted at #6. The debut album Employment was released on 7 March 2005 and entered the charts at #3 that week. Despite becoming favourite after being shortlisted, the album failed to win the 2005 Mercury Music Prize.
A DVD release, entitled Enjoyment, is due for release late November and will features all the promo videos, live performances and more.
An internet-only (so far) music video for their song "Sink that ship" has been released in September 2005. The video appears on Electronic Arts website as a promotional tool for their game Burnout Revenge but is completely unbranded.
Performances
Kaiser Chiefs' first big festival show was at the dual-site Reading and Leeds Festival on 27 August2004 and in the following year, on 16 May 2005, they appeared at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Holland. After that, things went fast. They were the opening act at the Philadelphia Live 8 concert on 2 July 2005, one of only two British acts in the lineup (Def Leppard being the other). They performed I Predict a Riot, Everyday I Love You Less and Less and Oh My God. June 2005 saw them headline at the May Ball at Queens' College, Cambridge, before an acclaimed appearance at a rainsoaked Glastonbury festival during the same month, whilst August's appearance at the V Festival featured a very enthusiastic set despite Ricky Wilson having his leg in plaster. Also more recently they embarked on their own headline UK Tour, supported by Maximo Park and The Cribs. The group also received a lot of attention by playing a few shows on the Foozer tour. This was followed up by opening for Foo Fighters during their Australian tour in December 2005.
Discography
Albums
*Employment (2005) #3 UK, #45 US
Worldwide Sales: Employment: estimated 2.8 million
Singles
'From Employment:'
*"Oh My God" (2004), #66 UK
*"I Predict a Riot" (2004), #22 UK
*"Oh My God" (re-release) (2005), #6 UK
*"Everyday I Love You Less and Less" (2005), #10 UK
*"I Predict a Riot" (re-release) (2005), #9 UK, #34 US (Modern Rock Tracks)
*"Modern Way" (2005), #11 UK
'Special singles releases:'
*The Cribs/Kaiser Chiefs split "7 (features "Modern Way") (2005)
*"Na Na Na Na Naa" (Japan and Australia only) (2005), Unreleased
*"You Can Have it All" (limited edition Christmas '7, available only on the Kaiser Chiefs website and restricted to only 2000 copies) (2005)
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