Ronson & Kaisers

Ronson finds 'employment' on band's third album

05 May 2008 - Mark Ronson has confirmed that he is the producer of the Kaiser Chiefs forthcoming third album.

He’s been beavering away to help the band create a new sound and he told 6music it’s been a pretty hectic process:

“It is a challenge anytime you go in with a band. It’s not like working alone behind a drum machine making beats. You are controlling five people, five different egos and five different creative talents in a band. But so far it has been cool.”

Ronson is famous for the heavy horn sound and funky rhythms which characterise Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, but he said he was wary of giving the Kaiser’s album the usual ‘Ronson’ treatment:

“There was no chance. I said, ‘do you know what would be good on this song? Horns!’ And Nick and Ricky were just like, ‘no, you’re not putting your Ronson mits all over our thing.'"

“It is a challenge anytime you go in with a band. It's not like working alone behind a drum machine making beats. You are controlling five people, five different egos and five different creative talents in a band. But so far it has been cool.”

Ronson is a big fan of the Kaiser Chiefs this was demonstrated through his cover of their hit, Oh My God... which was sung by Lily Allen and featured on his 2007 Version album. He said he loves both records by the Leeds indie rockers so it gives him lots to work with:

“They’ve got these brilliant songs. I’ve been looking back at the urgency of the first album with tracks like I Predict a Riot and Every Day I Love You Less and Less. I thought the second record was brilliant as well but it was a bit more mature and paced. It’s just about capturing that energy.”

Not only has Ronson covered one of their tracks he also frequents their gigs. He said his aim was to capture the magic of their live shows:

“I’ve seen them live so many times and the guitar parts are great - I don’t think that energy has come through on a Kaiser Chiefs album so far.”

Luckily, the chemistry between band and producer is all right too. As well as being a fan of the Kaisers, Ronson admitted he also finds the lads a good laugh:

“Each of them in any other band would be the funniest member of that band. It’s almost like the Beatles when you see those early press conferences where there was that razor sharp wit. Sometimes when we’re recording I feel like I won some contest to become the 6 ^th Kaiser Chief.”


Elizabeth Alker