Kaiser Chiefs Set to Release Start The Revolution Without Me (Fiction/Cooperative Music/Downtown) on March 6th, 2012
Leeds' Kaiser Chiefs surprised the industry and fans this past summer when, without warning, they released their fourth studio album The Future Is Medieval via an innovative and original digital platform, allowing fans to create and sell their own versions of the album and choose from album art designed by lead singer Ricky Wilson.
Wall Street Journal called the idea the "fan plan," allowing fans to "rock out- on a sales commission."
Kaiser Chiefs 'The Future Is Medieval' album out now - fans create & sell!
Kaiser Chiefs are now planning their US return with forthcoming release, Start The Revolution Without Me (Fiction/Cooperative Music/Downtown), featuring five never-before released tracks.
Next year, the band will be hitting the road for a US tour in March and April. Full tour dates below!
After the release of 2008's Off With Their Heads, produced by Mark Ronson, the band took time out to take stock and work out their next move. Following a well-deserved break (and inspiration gained from a holiday frontman Ricky Wilson took with friends), they regrouped and started writing. They built their own studio in the basement of their management offices in London's Shoreditch and started work on the new record.
With countless songs in the bag, they worked with producers Tony Visconti (David Bowie, Iggy Pop, T. Rex), Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, Ray LaMontagne, Emmylou Harris) and Owen Morris (Oasis, The Verve) as well as trying their hand at producing their own tracks with drummer/songwriter, Nick Hodgson at the controls. Out of this came Kaiser Chiefs' most forward thinking output to date.
First track on the album and the band's 14th BBC Radio 1 playlist hit in 7 years, "Little Shocks" features a fantastically creepy keyboard riff, and sets the tone for the record's sonic electronic experimentations.
Kaiser Chiefs - Little Shocks video:
First US single "On The Run," (produced by Stephen Street, who also produced the band's debut album Employment) sees the band voicing out against the cruel opinions of modern society with an electrifying guitar line, while The Independent notes the "sinister sci-fi charm" of "Child of Jago."
"Kinda Girl You Are" is a fast paced, true to form Kaiser Chiefs song showing off one of the bands best traits- their witty songwriting.
Kaiser Chiefs - Kinda Girl You Are video:
The album's closing track, "If You Will Have Me," is a Lennonesque orchestral ballad, a son's message to his estranged parents.
Start The Revolution Without Me shows a much more sinister side to the band's songwriting. The lyrics and melodies are a bit darker this time around, and it's an utterly successful shift in direction.
The band has released three albums Stateside including Employment, Your's Truly, Angry Mob and Off With Their Heads. Kaiser Chiefs have sold over six million albums worldwide, won countless awards including three Brit Awards and toured the world non-stop.
Rolling Stone called Kaiser Chiefs music, "great British pop in the dynamic lethal-irony tradition of the mid-Sixties Kinks, the early Jam and, with that vintage-New Wave tone of Nick Baines' keyboards, XTC's 1979 album, Drums and Wires."
Full track listing for Start The Revolution Without Me:
1. Little Shocks
2. On The Run
3. Heard It Break
4. Kinda Girl You Are
5. Starts With Nothing
6. When All Is Quiet
7. Cousin In The Bronx
8. Things Change
9. Man On Mars
10. Problem Solved
11. Can't Mind My Own Business
12. Child Of The Jago
13. If You Will Have Me
Kaiser Chiefs 2012 US Tour Dates:
(Dates and information subject to change.)
March 2012
March 6 Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
March 8 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
March 9 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
March 10 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
March 12 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
March 14 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
March 20 San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
March 22 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
March 23 Seattle, WA @ Showbox Theatre
March 24 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
April 2012
April 17 Toronto, ONT @ Phoenix Theatre
April 19 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
"…they've upped their creative ante…coming across as more measured and mature…Lead single "Little Shocks" goes some way to showcasing this murkier atmosphere - where before there was shiny hooks, here the chorus doesn't leap from the speakers and the whole piece swells with unexpected drama." - BBC
Photo credit: Danny North
For the latest tour dates and more, go to:
Kaiser Chiefs Official Website
Kaiser Chiefs Twitter
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