Kaiser Chiefs Making No More Albums? | Following Radiohead With New Formats
In a move which may annoy loyal fans and make anyone else shrug their shoulders, and then get on with their lives, British indie rockers The Kaiser Chiefs have informally announced their decision to stop making albums in favour of new formats.
The Leeds band, who have been one of the most instrumental groups in getting indie back on the map, say they have become bored with traditional cycle within the music industry of releasing an album every two years, and so have decided to break with that.
Drummer Nick Hodgson told the NME recently:
“We mentioned mini-albums and double EPs, but we’ve got no fixed plans yet. We want to break the routine of having to make an album every two years. It’s totally boring.”
“In the charts there are tons of indie bands playing chords and singing songs about the weekend. We’re going to be doing the opposite and being the best.”
I can see their point, and in this day and age of digital downloads, and multiple format choices, bands certainly have more option when it comes to deciding how to release their material on to the public.
But, and it’s a big but, an album is what the fans want, and every year or two is just about right. People, particularly fans, don’t want to buy EPs all the time, or have to scour the web for their favourite group’s new songs. That’s okay from time to time, and can add massively to a band’s fan base, but people will soon get sick if it happens all the time.
Despite the technological and industry innovations which meant Radiohead could release their album over the Internet, and do okay out of it, and get a ton of press out of the whole shebang, the vast majority of music lovers still want to be able to walk in to a record store and buy something solid, and hold it in their hands.
Radiohead still released an album length set of tracks, and the fact that they then set up a deal to get the album out their physically, just goes to show what a mad idea this is.
The Kaiser Chiefs are a great band, with obviously big ideas, but I fully expect to see a new album follow up to last year’s Yours Truly, Angry Mob hit the stores at some point. Their record label, and more importantly fans, will demand nothing less.
Tags: Albums, Brit, British, digital, Downloads, Indie, Radiohead, UK, Yours-TrulyRelated Stories
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