The famous British rock band named after a South African sports team

After being dropped by their record label and labelled as damaged goods by the industry, British indie rock band Parva decided to start fresh and change their name, again. 

The band’s new name was Kaiser Chiefs, inspired by South African football player and former Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe, who had played for AmaKhosi.

This time, they would go on to release eight studio albums, most notably “Employment”, “Yours Truly, Angry Mob”, and “Education, Education, Education and War”, and win several awards.

Nick Hodgson, Andrew White, and Ricky Wilson founded the band in 1996 after meeting in the Leeds area. They initially titled it Runston Parva, a deliberate misspelling of the small town Ruston Parva.

However, the band failed to secure a record deal and later renamed themselves to Parva, after two of Hodgson’s childhood friends, Simon Rix and Nick Baines, joined after returning from their studies.

The name change and the addition of two new members breathed some wind into their sails, as they secured a record and publishing deal with the Mantra record label.

Just as things were looking up for Parva, Beggars Banquet, which owned the Mantra, closed it down, resulting in the band’s removal from the label.

They had also just released their first album, which included three singles: Heavy, Good Bad Right Wrong, and Hessles.

James Sandon, who would later go on to manage the band, said in an interview that “no one would touch them” because their previous label had dropped them. “A lot of people used their history against them.”

The group then decided to start afresh and choose a new name. This is when a few of the members turned to their favourite football team for inspiration.

At the time, South African football player Lucas Radebe was the captain of Leeds United. However, the Parva crew was drawn to the name of his former club, Kaiser Chiefs.

“Not all of us are fans of football. I’m quite a big fan of Leeds United and a couple of us are, but it’s just because we liked the name as well,” bassist Simon Rix said in a 2005 interview.

The Kaiser Chiefs recruited Radebe in 1989, where he began his career in central midfield.

In 1994, Kaiser Chiefs sold Radebe and Philemon Masinga to Leeds United for a reported ₤250,000. However, Radebe was only included in the deal to “keep Masinga happy.”

While his transfer was for the benefit of his teammate, this would work in Radebe’s favour as he became a far more valuable player than Masinga.

After taking some time to adapt to English football, Radebe was eventually appointed club captain in the 1998/99 season. Leeds finished fourth that season.

Radebe’s importance to the team reached a point where head coach David O’Leary was quoted as saying, “Lucas should be set in stone and never allowed to leave.”

Full time Employment

After the group rebranded and came out with new songs, Sandom caught word of the band and was immediately hooked and helped the Kaiser Chiefs sign to B-Unique records.

“I went to see a couple of shows and you were just bombarded by a series of potential hit singles,” he said.

Kaiser Chiefs’ new label helped them secure performances outside the UK, including opening at a festival in Moscow headlined by Goldblade and the 2005 NME Awards Tour.

This helped the group gain a following before they released their debut album, Employment, under their new name, which would reach number two on the UK album charts.

The release was shortlisted for the best British or Irish album of the previous year in 2006, known as the Mercury Prize, and would eventually be certified five times platinum.

The album’s singles included “Oh My God,” “I Predict a Riot,” “Everyday I Love You Less and Less,” and “Modern Way.”

In early 2007, the group released their second album titled Yours Truly, Angry Mob, which reached number 45 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Following the release, Kaiser Chiefs sold out tickets to two shows, with 30,000 people attending each.

In 2008, they released their second album, Off With Their Heads. The release was followed by a sold-out show at Leeds United’s Elland Road stadium, attended by 40,000 people.

After releasing The Future is Medievil in 2010 and their first compilation album, Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012, in 2012, Kaiser Chiefs announced that drummer Nick Hodgson had left the band.

He was later replaced by Vijay Mistry, who joined from another Leeds-based indie group called Club Smith.

Over the next decade, the group would release four more albums: Education, Education, Education War (2014), Stay Together (2016), Duck (2018), and Kaiser Chiefs’ Eighth Easy Album (2022).

In June 2025, the group announced the two-decade anniversary tour of Employment scheduled to take place in November.