Singer Ricky Wilson may be wooing the nation on The Voice but he’s no big shot in the Kaiser Chiefs dressing room.

Band mate Andrew White told News Shopper: “It doesn’t alter anything at all – we still pick on him. We’re a totally equal band in every decision.”

Andrew, usually known as simply ‘Whitey’, confessed he’d not even seen the BBC show.

He said: “It’s not my thing. I’m not going to diss it because I’m not really sure what it is but I know it’s not my bag at all.

“He’s just Ricky to me and he’ll always be just Ricky.”

While he may not be a fan of the show, the guitarist said it had helped the band’s following.

He said: “It definitely gave us the boost we needed to come back, which was the point of it as far as I know.

“I guess Ricky has more lady fans, and that’s about it.

“Ricky is more of a celebrity now.”

For all the attention the lead singer’s TV work is getting, the band is already back to their day job.

They are about to embark on a UK arena tour which includes Greenwich’s O2 on February 13 and Andrew spoke to News Shopper from a hotel room in Brazil where they are finishing a stadium tour with the Foo Fighters.

News Shopper:

Picture: Eoin McLoughlin

“It’s great,” he said of touring with Dave Grohl’s band. “Any opportunity to play in front of 50,000 to 80,000 people, we’re well up for it.

“We have been here for two weeks but there’s been six shows. At the beginning it was quite good, a day off in Rio and that kind of thing, but then it drags a little bit.

“We go straight into the UK tour so we have got our minds on that.”

The tour will see Kaiser Chiefs playing the old millennium dome for the first time since 2007, before it was officially opened.

Whitey, 40, said: “I think we were the first band to play it. It was great, really big.”

He said: “We are looking forward to it. It’s the first opportunity to play the album that came out last year.

“We can play some of the deeper cuts. We don’t just have to play Ruby.

“We can play some more stuff the fans might appreciate and some songs we have never played before off our album.
“We’re a bit nervous but it should be good. We’ve done it for a while so we kind of know how we’re doing.”

This year will mark a decade since Kaiser Chief’s breakthrough debut album Employment was released. Their fifth LP went to number one last year and Whitey credits being a strong live act as one of the reasons for their longevity in the face of a drastically changed music industry.

He said: “It was crazy, Employment. They were crazy times. I think we’re all just thankful we’re still here. A lot of our contemporaries, I wouldn’t say have fallen by the wayside, but aren’t as popular as before. It’s a sign of the times, I guess.”

The band’s albums have always charted and sold well but Whitey said the end of the 2000s and early 2010s were a bit of a ‘stumbling block’ for them.

With the release of their latest album – Education, Education, Education and War – the Kaiser Chiefs are certainly back on an upswing.

Kaiser Chiefs' new single Falling Awake

Critically well received, it also charted at number one. The title, of course, is a reference to Tony Blair though Whitey said he’s not as political as he used to be.

With an election just around the corner, he is jaded by the state of politics.

He said: “I guess I’m like the rest of the country at the moment, still disillusioned.

“I’m a Labour voter, I always will be. I will always vote left because I have got my head screwed on. At the moment, they just seem to be like headless chickens. No-one is taking it by the scruff of the neck.

“Politics in this country needs to be taken by the scruff of the neck and brought into this century. I’m just waiting for someone to lead.

“Maybe Ricky should do it, he’s on telly all the time.”

  • Kaiser Chiefs play The O2 Arena, Greenwich, on February 13. Go to axs.com