{"id":29971,"date":"2024-03-04T03:34:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T22:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/kaiser-chiefs-ricky-wilson-interview-that-boris-johnson-slur-and-not-being-a-nepo-bab-music-entertainment\/"},"modified":"2024-03-04T03:34:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T22:04:03","slug":"kaiser-chiefs-ricky-wilson-interview-that-boris-johnson-slur-and-not-being-a-nepo-bab-music-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/kaiser-chiefs-ricky-wilson-interview-that-boris-johnson-slur-and-not-being-a-nepo-bab-music-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaiser Chiefs Ricky Wilson interview \u2013 That Boris Johnson slur and not being a Nepo bab | Music | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"Kaiser<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson interview (Image: DX )<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

Don’t miss… <\/strong> Ricky Wilson details real reason behind The Voice exit [LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

When rock star Ricky Wilson wants to escape the pressures of fame, he heads up to the attic of his north London home. \u201cIt\u2019s like a museum up there, full of old Kaiser Chiefs stuff and boxes of awards,\u201d he tells me. \u201cI\u2019ve even still got the shirt I wore from my first gig at school band night, when I was 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my wife Grace goes up, she says \u2018Do you really need to keep all this crap?\u2019 But I know where everything is, it\u2019s like Sherlock Holmes\u2019s mind palace up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricky, 46, has had a career worth archiving. As well as notching up indie rock bangers like I Predict A Riot and the chart-topping Ruby, the Yorkshire-born singer was a judge for three series on Saturday night television talent show The Voice UK.<\/p>\n

He first appeared on our screens long before the Kaiser Chiefs \u2013 in the audience of The Mrs Merton Show in 1995. When guest Barbara Windsor said she liked her men young, schoolboy Ricky piped up, \u201cHow young would you go?\u201d<\/p>\n

His blue eyes retain a cheeky twinkle to this day. Even after the Kaiser Chiefs\u2019 nine hit singles and seven Top Ten albums, there is not a hint of jaded cynicism about him. Yet this decent, grounded chap has suffered digs about his weight, looks and motivation for years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"The<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

The Kaiser Chiefs in 2023 (Image: GETTY)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

Even former Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid into him, branding Ricky \u201can epic softie\u201d and the band \u201cthe weeds from Leeds\u201d in a 2006 article triggered by their second hit, I Predict A Riot.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said when he was a student, he didn\u2019t predict riots, he started them,\u201d says a bemused Wilson who still has \u2018Epic Softie\u2019 on his Twitter account.<\/p>\n

The put-down that hit hardest, however, came from his old English teacher at Leeds Grammar School. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Mr Wilson, enough of the cabaret\u2019. It\u2019s quite cutting and it shut me up. I\u2019ve used it myself more than I should\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabaret isn\u2019t in Ricky\u2019s blood, but television is. His father Geoff was a producer on hit Sixties series Jeux Sans Fronti\u00e8res, which pitched teams from European nations against each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite fun growing up travelling around Europe, watching the Belgians take on Luxembourg. I\u2019m not by any means a nepo-baby, but seeing the contests put smiles on people\u2019s faces must\u2019ve had a massive impact. It was like a travelling circus, making people happy \u2013 basically what I do now.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mum Glynne was a score girl \u2013 you can see her on old clips of the spin-off show It\u2019s A Knockout! Eddie Waring was my father\u2019s godfather.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Kaiser<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson in 2005 (Image: GETTY)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

\"Kaiser<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Kaiser Chiefs at the 2005 NME Awards (Image: GETTY)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

Wilson\u2019s first gigging band were the grungy Parva, formed in Leeds in 2000 from the ashes of Runston [CORR] Parva. They became the Kaiser Chiefs in 2003, taking their name from the south African football team Kaizer [CORR] Chiefs (the name of ex-Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe\u2019s first club).<\/p>\n

He never expected to have a career in music. \u201cI thought I\u2019d work in animation or advertising,\u201d says Ricky, who has an MA in graphic design and taught at Leeds College of Art & Design for a year \u2013 \u201cI was terrible at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kaiser Chiefs released their debut single Oh My God in 2004. It went Top Ten on re-release, chased by I Predict A Riot \u2013 \u201cthat bought me my first house\u201d \u2013 and their multi-platinum 2005 debut album Employment. More hits followed, including Every Day I Love You Less & Less and Never Miss A Beat.<\/p>\n

Ricky recalls headlining the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena in 2007 \u2013 \u201cIt was the first night of two, and when I came off stage, I thought it doesn\u2019t get any better than that. It felt like that was proper Kaiser Chiefs. I don\u2019t remember the worst gig, I was probably drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

His \u2018pinch me\u2019 moment came during the soundcheck for Jools Holland\u2019s 2008 Hootenanny show. \u201cI remember standing in the door of the Tardis watching Paul McCartney play Get Back and thinking \u2018I wish I had a photograph of this\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not good at living in the moment. Even in the band. I don\u2019t get too concerned with the moment. It\u2019s a job, a fun job, I don\u2019t get carried away. It only sinks it later. Parva was our training ground. I realised that the best thing to do to get better is to watch other bands, see what you don\u2019t like, and do the opposite of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Kaiser<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson and his wife Grace Zito (Image: GETTY )<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

Ricky was a coach on The Voice UK from 2013 to 2016: \u201cI stopped at the right time. Any more than three series and people would\u2019ve got annoyed with me. I decided to leave, but I expected to be asked back\u2026 I never was\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Then a BBC series, the show changed his life in an unexpected way. It\u2019s where he met stylist Grace Zito in 2015. They were engaged three years later, married in June 2021 and are the parents of twin girls.<\/p>\n

Ricky, who is busy promoting the Kaiser Chiefs\u2019 new album, The Easy Eighth, has also hosted Virgin Radio UK\u2019s drivetime show for nearly fourteen months, performed as Phoenix on The Masked Singer and recently appeared on Michael McIntyre\u2019s Big Show as the \u201cunexpected star of the show\u201d.<\/p>\n

Is there anything he can\u2019t do? \u201cI\u2019ve written children\u2019s books but they\u2019ve not been published \u2013 I don\u2019t think they\u2019re good enough,\u201d he admits. \u201cGrace thinks they\u2019re the best thing I\u2019ve ever done. So it\u2019s a hobby instead. We\u2019ve got the twins now, so I\u2019ve got an audience of two; that\u2019s good enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricky thinks Grace would say his ambition is his best quality. \u201cShe admires that I can make dreams happen, either through dogged determination, luck or skill. She also complains that I don\u2019t cut my fingernails enough which I think is a plus.\u201d<\/p>\n

He relaxes playing one of his eight ukuleles \u2013 \u201cYou can\u2019t be unhappy when you\u2019re holding a ukulele\u201d \u2013 and Grace introduced him to the joys of Minorca, where they now own a sea-front apartment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"The<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

The Voice judges will.i.am, Paloma Faith, Boy George, and Ricky Wilson in 2016 (Image: GETTY)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

The band\u2019s unusual career has ranged from touring with the Foo Fighters to befriending Girls Aloud, who covered I Predict A Riot in their live shows, changing the lyric \u2018Borrow a pound for a condom\u2019 to the more family-friendly \u2018Borrow a pound for the bus home.\u2019<\/p>\n

When their chief songwriter, drummer Nick Hodgson, left in 2012 the hit singles dried up, but the Top Ten albums kept coming: \u201cWe\u2019re very lucky to have released eight albums; very few bands from when we started have got that far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of their new songs, Ricky rates The Lads \u2013 \u201cyou\u2019d be happy with it being the last song you ever made\u201d. And Beautiful Girl, \u201cWe don\u2019t often do love songs but when we do, we do them well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Job Centre Shuffle is \u201cWhat you\u2019d think we\u2019d sound like after 20 years,\u201d he says. Feeling Alright, their poppy collaboration with Chic\u2019s Nile Rodgers is more of a departure: “It was a lot of fun working with Nile \u2013 I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll appreciate how much of an important moment that was for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with being in a band is you set your hopes quite high and no matter what happens, you\u2019re never quite satisfied. If you\u2019re Number One for 12 weeks, you\u2019re disappointed that you didn\u2019t make 13 weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided the eighth album would be the easiest, and it was a piece of cake. I don\u2019t know what comes next. After having kids your priorities shift a little bit. But I know I\u2019ll still get up in the night to record a line or a melody I just thought of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that will stop. It keeps happening and it\u2019s a beautiful thing. As my mortgage advisor Brian says, the sooner you stop worrying about things you can\u2019t change, the better life gets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaiser Chiefs\u2019 Easy Eighth Album is out now.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[ad_1] Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson interview (Image: DX ) Don’t miss… Ricky Wilson details real reason behind The Voice exit [LATEST] When rock star Ricky Wilson wants to escape the pressures of fame, he heads up to the attic of his north London home. \u201cIt\u2019s like a museum up there, full of old Kaiser Chiefs …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[766],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}