How Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson had to change after twin children

Being a rock star has never quite been the same for Ricky Wilson since having twin children.

The lead singer for the Kaiser Chiefs, whose hits include Ruby and I Predict A Riot, often gets his songwriting inspiration as he wakes from a dream. Since the arrival of their twins in 2022, Ricky’s wife, the stylist Grace Zito, “gets very annoyed” with Ricky if he disturbs her at night. Instead, he has to sneak to the bathroom before sending a “quite echoey” voice note to his band mates.

The night before our interview, Ricky jotted down a lyric that came to him in a dream and which seemed, in the darkness of his bedroom, to be “the most brilliant thing in the world”. As soon as he woke, he turned excitedly to what he had written: “If I was A, then I’d rather B.” His sense of disappointment is palpable. 

Ricky, 48, reveals that the Kaiser Chiefs began recording their ninth studio album at the beginning of August. Will he use the line?

“I don’t think it’s going to be the first line of the first song.”

He is also quick to debunk the myth that another of his hits, Ruby, is a reference to the band’s former drummer’s labrador.

“It was based on one of the band member’s mum’s weimaraners. It walked in at exactly the time the chorus was being written. Nick [Hodgson], in his truth, has said that he went [to the dog]: ‘Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby!’ I thought: That’ll do.”

Twins’ influence

Having children not only reshaped his understanding of sleeplessness but also transformed his creative process, he says.

“I can’t remember what it was like beforehand,” he says. “The only thing I do know is that when anyone that hasn’t got kids even mentions that they’re tired, it’s one of the most annoying things in the world. [I think]: You’ve no idea.

“You get a lot less time to [be creative], but it makes it a lot easier because it’s not the be-all-and-end-all. I do find that when I’m on, I’m really on.”

Life as a rock star has led to several meetings with the Duke of Sussex, who visited the band earlier in their career when they were backstage in a portable cabin.

“I’ve met him a few times, and I’ve always really liked him,” Ricky says of Prince Harry. “I don’t know whether he’s pretending to be down to earth, or he is down to earth. 

“I’m pretending to be a rock star. God knows in this household I’m not.”

The singer says that he finds that extremely famous people like Sir Paul McCartney know what their fans want and how to give it to them. “They’re very good at being exactly what you want them to be. [Harry] was very good at that, and he made me feel like I was his friend,” he says.

A former coach on the TV talent contest The Voice, Ricky has also branched out into acting, with a cameo as the Teen Angel in the Secret Cinema production of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical this summer.

© PA Images via Getty Images

Now, Ricky is excited about reaching his touring milestone of 1,500 live gigs and promoting Scenic Route Finder, a free mapping tool created by the insurer Tempcover that locates beauty spots along a journey.

“I’m a sucker for a lighthouse, and if there’s a lighthouse on my journey, I will make the kids get out.”

Ricky suggests that it was his love of lighthouses that has led to Kaiser Chief fans regularly shouting the name of an 18th century civil engineer while singing along to I Predict a Riot. In one verse, Ricky refers to John Smeaton, whose buildings include Smeaton’s Tower lighthouse in Plymouth. Little did Ricky realise when he wrote the lyric that it would bring Smeaton’s name into the mainstream.

“When you’ve got no one interested in your band, and you’re writing a song, you’re not thinking about the fact that mentioning John Smeaton in a song is a bit jarring.”

To help British holidaymakers this summer, Ricky Wilson has teamed up with Tempcover to launch the Scenic Route Finder, a free tool to enable drivers to find scenic alternative routes bespoke to their journey.

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