by LORRAINE CARPENTER

With a singer recruited from a Rolling Stones cover band, an album (Employment) produced by Stephen Street (the Smiths, Blur), a sound that takes the Kinks and the Jam for a modern spin, and a public slagging courtesy of the Gallagher brothers (who called them "a bad Blur"), Kaiser Chiefs have achieved British rock quintessence.

Singer Ricky Wilson, guitarist Andrew White, bassist Simon Rix, keyboardist Nick "Peanut" Baines and drummer Nick Hodgson also named themselves after a South African football team, and while the rock 'n' roll lifestyle may impede their sportsmanship, it doesn't stop them from indulging in pre-game rituals.

"Typically, we get to the dressing room far too early," explains Baines, "so we've always got about a half an hour to wind each other up and make each other nervous.

"Then, about five minutes before we go on stage, we all stand in a circle and shout, ‘In!' So we put our hands in the middle, one at a time, and start chanting, jumping up and down and generally being daft. Then someone shouts, ‘Eye contact!' and we have to look each other in the eye, and it builds up to ‘One! Two! Three! Four!,' then we throw our hands in the air."

Psyching up, calming down and getting happy, the band performs this mockery of a sports ritual before every gig, both to shed their jitters and satisfy their superstitions.

"I dread to think what would happen if we didn't do the warm-up - the sky would turn black, all our hair would fall out and the world would end," suggests Baines. "I think we've convinced ourselves that something would happen, so it probably would."

Superstitions are rife within the band but Baines is wary of letting them rule his life. As for Ricky Wilson's brand new beard, Baines reassures the Mirror that it's not a lucky charm for the band's impending North American tour.

"It's just a beard, isn't it?" says Baines, laughing at the idea of facial hair as hockey's secret weapon. "It's just self-reassurance, when it's really about whether you've got the talent or not."

With guests at Club Soda on Friday,
May 27, 9 p.m., $15.50, all ages

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