Your bandmate Ricky Wilson said in an interview that the band has gotten fat and lazy. 
It’s a bit mean, but kinda right. When we started out in the band, we had some ambitions to sell out local venues in Leeds. Then, we wanted to sell out Brixton Academy in London. I went to Brixton Academy as an audience member, and we saw Franz Ferdinand and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could play here?” Two years later, we had played there 13 times and had to ask our manager, “Please, can we play anywhere else?” It was sort of ungrateful.

So then what changed?
By the third album, we were resting on our laurels and needed a bit of a challenge. A couple years ago, our drummer [Nick Hodgson] decided to leave. It could have easily been the end of the band but for us it was a wake-up call. We made a new record [Education, Education, Education & War] and found a new drummer [Vijay Mistry]. In England our first hit was in 2007, and our second was in 2014. Not many bands do that. They fade away, or they build up slowly.

What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done?
When you’re small, you know them all by name because there are so few. When you get big, they have some ownership over you. You’d be backstage, and there would be a fan behind the door. It’s sort of understandable. Then there’s a girl came to her 150th Kaiser Chiefs last night. I hope she comes to 150 more. You need your fans. We did have a stage where we were ungrateful for our fans. We didn’t give them the respect they deserved. 

Is your fan base aging as well?
We don’t have an age group. Even people in their 50s who like jam music like us. We played in Paris, and there was an 18 year old kid. He didn’t look like one of our fans. Then we noticed 16 year old boys at our gigs. Employment  [2005] was the first album they bought so they were 8 or 10 at the time. Now they were old enough to come see us. It’s important to try and make new fans.

Isn't it weird that Ricky Wilson went on a show as mainstream as The Voice?
You’ve got to do new things to get new fans. People don’t like those shows because they think they’re anti-music. For me, it’s entertainment, isn’t it? Those shows have always existed. There’s always been pop music and mainstream music to have alternative music. It’s good Rick is on there, representing the guitar bands. 

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