Great songs can transcend time and place, while simultaneously taking you back to a specific memory at a point in time.
Some won't remember the first time they heard it, but they're sure to remember belting out the chorus of the easily addictive earworm that is 'Ruby' by Kaiser Chiefs. It's a song that begs for a grand stage and tens of thousands of lungs shouting it back at the band, but Kaiser Chiefs almost never wrote this classic.
Before they adopted their iconic moniker, the group were known as Runston Parva, a nod to a Yorkshire hamlet, dropping the Runston in time and securing a record deal that fizzled out unexpectedly.
It was at this point the band seriously considered going their separate ways. "What's interesting with Parva was, we were all in and we got dropped," bassist Simon Rix recalls.
"We tried to get resigned and we couldn't. We had a gig and we decided after we booked the gig that this was the last one. I remember, the next day, we went to rehearsal and asked, 'do we want to carry on?' Then we started Kaiser Chiefs.
"The ground zero was, we all just wanted to be in a band. If playing to 100 people in Leeds was the maximum success then fine, because we wanted to do it. We were pals and liked making music and writing songs.
"We were then free. Before we'd been copying The Strokes and Radiohead and Beck. Suddenly, we were free to sound like bands we all loved like The Beach Boys, Super Furry Animals, and The Specials.
"We wrote very quickly, 'Modern Way' was one of the first songs. 'Oh My God' was the first song where we went, 'this is cool', because it was weird but also commercial.
"It cemented what the band should sound like. Then we went from only wanting to be famous in Leeds to wanting to play Brixton Academy, our ambitions went out of control," Rix smiles.
Invigorated by their commitment, Kaiser Chiefs recorded their first album 'Employment', which exploded across the airwaves thanks to singles 'Oh My God', 'I Predict A Riot' and 'Everyday I Love You Less And Less’, going five times platinum.
'Employment' hit its 20th birthday this year, and the band are celebrating where it all started taking off in style, playing the album in full across the globe. "It feels good to celebrate it," Rix confirms.
"It feels quite recent in a way, then thinking about standing in a studio recording the bassline for 'Oh My God' seems like 100 years ago. It's a weird trick of time.
"We've been doing gigs playing the album in full and it's nice that everyone seems on board. Usually, Kaiser Chief's gigs are bang, bang, bang, hits, hits, hits, but 'Employment' has slower, laidback tunes on it, and it's great that everyone's still really into them. It's nice.
"It was a wild time," Rix recounts the album's construction. "We were really, really busy. Classic albums are usually six months in the studio and the whole thing is documented.
"Recording 'Employment' was fit in between gigs. We'd do our parts and then go do a gig. Because the night before we recorded, we would have definitely been doing a gig and the gear we'd use last night was what was recorded, the energy of the album was as close to a live album as you could get."
Replaying the songs has shown Rix his own journey of composition and style, and taught him some lessons along the way. "The Kaisers got more complex in time.
"One of my lessons from doing this album was some of those songs are really simple. Nowadays it's 200 keyboard parts, 500 lyrical ideas. One of my lessons for Kaiser Chiefs album nine is simplicity can be good.
"The other thing is suspense. We do it quite a lot. We'll do intro, then verse, then a fake pre-chorus and then we'll do another verse. We'd tease everybody.
"Whereas in 2025, because of Spotify, you have to do four choruses in the first minute, otherwise no one's gonna listen. It's nice to play some songs with suspense, not giving everything away straight away," Rix muses.
After 'Employment', the band hit legendary levels of fame with 'Yours Truly, Angry Mob', thanks in large part to the aforementioned 'Ruby', and a slew of brilliant records followed.
After hitting the highs as time flowed with relentless ebbing, the band again faced the question, do we want to continue? "In 2012, the drummer Nick [Hodgson] left, and there was another point of should we split up and come back and do it later or do the rest want to carry on?" Rix recounts seriously.
"That moment was really important and we made a really good album after that. It's like people renewing their wedding vows. Reconfirming my commitment clarified this is something I want, it's not something I'm doing because I have to."
Kaiser Chiefs have been performing 'Employment' and other hits across outdoor venues enjoying the best summer England can offer.
Rix comments his preferences when it comes to indoor versus outdoor venues. "I go to a venue near my house that's 400 capacity, because I like watching the band members and crew, and hearing songs for the first time. That's what I'm into.
"But when we played Glastonbury, there were 100,000 people in the field jumping around, waving their hands in the sunshine, singing the songs back. That is a major buzz from the stage. I love that.
"In the UK, a lot of festivals are old castles and country houses. We played in Nottingham at a place which was Wayne Manor in some of the 'Batman' films. The sun reflecting over Batman's house is a good thing to watch while you're watching a gig."
A professional with many years in the game, Rix cheekily shares what gear he deems essential before a performance. "Before we go onstage, we always have a mini disco. We play songs, '80s and '90s hits, and we've got disco lights that we put on and have a mini school disco."
Australia will receive the blessing of Kaiser Chief's presence for the first time since 2012 this November, with their once in lifetime show visiting Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.
Rix leaves by sharing the best part of coming down under. "The food is really good and the people. Some of the band have family in Australia and I have some friends, so I'm looking forward to coming early and seeing friends before the gigs."
Kaiser Chiefs 2025 Tour Dates
Sun 23 Nov - RAC Arena (Perth)Tue 25 Nov - Festival Hall (Melbourne)
Thu 27 Nov - Hordern Pavilion (Sydney)
Fri 28 Nov - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)
