Kaiser Chiefs inspired by Led Zep… record sales

Kaiser Chiefs

have finished recording a long-list of 22 tracks in Hook End Studios, Oxford for their second album, the follow up to 2005´s über-successful Employment.

Talking to Billboard.com, Nick Hodgson - the band´s drummer and songwriter - promises the band won´t be retracing their steps this time round. "We are full of inspiration. It's a big world out there. There's a lot of things to draw upon. Just like that album was written about what was happening then, this one's written about what's happening now."

The Kaisers are also planning a return to the US in 2007, and have been taking inspiration from one of the UK´s greatest trans-Atlantic rock exports in the meantime.

“We were looking at some sales figures of Led Zeppelin," he told Biillboard. "The first one did eight million in the U.S. alone. The fourth? 23 million! So we're like, Yeah! It'd be great to do that, wouldn't it? It'd be great to play massive gigs in America. Hold on a minute! We've got to sell a hundred million records. If we keep making 'em and you keep buying 'em then we'll get there."

Do the Kaisers have what it takes to shift Zep-like units? And were Led Zeppelin even aware of their monstrous 100-million-plus Stateside album sales? Or were they too wasted / too rock 'n' roll to care?