I learned a lot from Tom Jones

their catalogue when they tour in February, sees Kaiser Chiefs’ traditional guitar, bass and drums set-up augmented by synthesizers, to create an altogether more sophisticated sound.

It’s all part of Ricky and his bandmates Andrew White, Simon Rix, Nick Baines and Vijay Mistry’s commitment to moving forward with their music as they go on.

“A new record doesn’t have to be radically different to what you’ve done before, but at the same time, it’s boring to make a new record and it be too similar. Balancing that is the key, moving on without moving on too much. We’re a member down now, so with too new a sound, we might as well change the name.”

He is, of course, referring to former member Nick Hodgson, who left in 2012, prior to the release of their 2014 record Education, Education, Education & War. That album was something of a flag in the ground to say they could carry on without their main songwriter.

“It wasn’t make-or-break, but there was an element of jeopardy to our last album. We didn’t even know if we could do it. We were really fighting for it, and even then, we knew this new one was the record we were aiming for, but couldn’t get there in one leap.

“We did it, though, and we don’t feel like we have to prove ourselves any more.”

Thematically, Education... was different to other Kaiser Chiefs records. More political, as you can gather from the title, a take on Tony Blair’s mid-Nineties election pledge and war, one of the defining elements of his legacy. Stay Together, however, is more inward facing and personal.

“I don’t know if those bigger songs connect,” says Ricky. “Ironically, the smaller the subject, the more they connect on a bigger level. When you try to write something that encompasses big things that affect everyone, it rarely does hit home.”

If, however, Stay Together fails to connect in the way Ricky wants it to – although it did chart at No 4 in the UK upon release – he says the band will just make another album. That’s what they do, he says.

“The feeling I have at the moment is the same as when we started, when we were playing to rooms of people that didn’t know about our band, and we knew we had to win those people over.

“We’re in our 10th year, when lots of bands start relying on their heritage, but if you don’t force yourself, you won’t maintain a career. We don’t want to spend our lives thinking about riots and trying to pull girls in takeaways. We don’t write about that any more, because that’s not who we are any more.”

Talking of changes, Ricky, of course, used to be a judge on TV talent show The Voice, but decided to leave when it moved from BBC to ITV, and concentrate fully on Kaiser Chiefs.

“I suppose I did a Mel and Sue before they did it,” he says, referring to the former Bake Off presenters who stepped down after it was announced the BBC favourite was moving to Channel 4.

“It came up when we were in the thick of making the album, and I can’t really do two things at once. I really enjoyed it, but after two years, it’s time to get back to Kaiser Chiefs” he adds.

“If in the future something comes up and I can do it, then I will. Tom Jones is doing it, so why wouldn’t I?

“I learned a lot from him and from doing the show,” Ricky confesses, “and I know I’m going to be jealous of whoever is on it, but it’s not for me at this moment.”

Kaiser Chiefs new album, Stay Together, is out now. The UK tour starts on February 22. Visit kaiserchiefs.com