Kaiser Chiefs bassist Simon Rix on Temple Newsam show, 20 years of Employment and Leeds United promotion hopes

The group have today (Thursday) announced a huge homecoming show at Temple Newsam Park for Saturday, May 31, next year to mark 20 years since the release of their landmark debut album Employment.

The album featured seminal singles ‘Oh My God’, ‘I Predict A Riot’ and ‘Everyday I Love You Less And Less’ and catapulted the band from local Leeds darlings to national acclaim; earning them three Brit Awards and becoming the best selling album ever from a Leeds act in the process.

The Temple Newsam show will also feature support slots for fellow mid-noughties indie heavyweights The Cribs, Razorlight, The Coral and We Are Scientists.

Bassist Simon Rix, who is also renowned among the Leeds United faithful for his role as president of the supporters’ trust and his frequent analysis, told the YEP that the show would be an opportunity take stock and celebrate the record’s legacy.

He said that at the time of the album’s release the group - which also features singer Ricky Wilson, guitarist Andrew White, keyboardist Nick Baines and drummer Vijay Mistry - were working a non-stop schedule of touring and performing that made it virtually impossible to embrace the seismic shift that had happened.

“For us it was the most exciting time of our lives”, he said. “We’d been gigging around Leeds for a few years. It was just a case of working hard and trying our best to get anyone we could to listen. And then suddenly, around the end of 2004, it all kicked off.”

An opening slot on the NME Awards Tour and the release of Employment in March 2005 was followed by an “amazing” summer of festival shows at Glastonbury and the like as the group’s star continued to rise.

Simon said: “Each time we came back to Leeds we’d play a bigger venue; so started off at the likes of The Cockpit and then it was the Town Hall and then the Millennium Square.”

But with the newfound fame came all of the pressure and excess that comes with it, as Simon reflects: “When we were going through all of that I don’t think we enjoyed it or appreciated as much as we could have done because we were so busy. Every day was a flight or a gig or whatever so we never really got time to take it in.”

The decision to mark 20 years of the album is a chance to acknowledge the record and the hit songs’ influence on British culture.

“I think over time those songs have gone from being things that we wrote in a rehearsal room in Leeds to proper anthems. They play ‘I Predict A Riot’ at Elland Road quite a lot and some of those songs have become part of British society.”

He summarised: “Writing the songs for Employment was the biggest thing that happened in my life really. It changed everything. So the fact that 20 years has now passed seems worth celebrating.”

The support acts for the event are also old friends and touring partners of the group from the time of Employment’s release; which - spearheaded by Arctic Monkeys the following year - saw the last eruption of British guitar bands on the mainstream.

Simon said: “I think we’re very lucky to have been a part of that era because it was a bit of a moment in music history and not everyone gets to be the right age at the right time.”

The choice to headline Temple Newsam will also prove to be a full-circle moment for the band, who performed on the old estate as Parva in 2002 when it used to host Leeds Festival.

Simon said: “We were first on at the Carling Stage and it was as a favour to a mate. So it’s taken us a while to rise up the bill but we’ll be headlining finally!

“When we were 18 years old we used to go to Temple Newsam to see Blur, Beck, The Prodigy and whoever else was playing. We’ve had lots of good times up there and unifying memories of our early days in the band so going back will be special.”

In recent years Simon has become closely associated with his beloved Leeds United; becoming president of the Leeds United Supporters’ Trust and co-hosting the BBC podcast Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet.

He said: “It’s telling that the first question most of my mates have asked when I’ve told them about the gig is whether it’s on the same day as the play-off final.”

On his thoughts for the season so far and Daniel Farke’s tenure he said: “I think it’s early days. We were all very excited last season and disappointed by the end result.

“I feel Elland Road’s a little bit quiet even though the team’s doing well. But I think a lot of that is down to people needing to be excited again.

“We’ve been very efficient and in a way it feels a bit undramatic; which is contrary to what we’re used to as Leeds United fans over the last 20 years.”

He said he’s happy to see the owners “quietly” getting on with significant plans for Elland Road and is mutedly optimistic.

“I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s all going to plan and that by the end of the season we will be celebrating not only 20 years of Employment but Leeds United going up as well! It’ll be one hell of a party if we do.”

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