This afternoon Perfect Porridge had the chance to chat with Kaiser Chiefs’ bassist Simon Rix before their show in Canada tonight.

Regardless of the buzz from their new disc (Yours Truly Angry Mob), sold-out arena shows in Europe and a growing fan base, these guys suddenly found themselves playing a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis this week.

Perfect Porridge: Where are you right now? Canada?
Simon Rix: In Vancouver at my hotel, actually getting ready to head out for our show at the Commodore.

So your last show was here in Minneapolis Saturday night. We thought the set was unbelievably energetic and the crowd ate it up. What did you think?
Good, but it was a little weird. In England, we’re used to playing these huge arenas, and here we are playing in a restaurant. When we showed up we thought it was really going to be weird but it turned out all right. The crowd was singing along, and we were able to be really loud. Hopefully that means people are buying the new album.

Yes, Trocaderos is definitely a strange venue, and they’ve booked a lot of bands for the summer. Did you know they were taking away cameras and telling people to take their hats off?
Really? (silence) Well, there’s nothing we can do about stuff like that I guess. Again, it’s weird to play in a restaurant, but we’re not booking the tour.

Even though he’s being a little more restrained post-ankle injuries, what do you guys think when Ricky gets up on the bar and is going crazy?
It’s actually nice. We can’t be as impulsive in arena with a huge stage. It’s actually quite good to do what we used to in bars.

You guys are playing lots of new songs this tour. What’s the audience reception been like?
It’s been great. What happened is we got to the U.S. and we’re playing our set half-new and half-old. But we found the new songs were going better. We’re actually happier with the new ones and enjoy playing them, so it works out really well.

What’s touring with the Walkmen like?
They’re actually quite quiet. We haven’t really bonded yet, but I’m hoping at some point we’ll bond. The Little Ones, however, are very young and excited and seem very cool. I’d met them previously in London.

You guys have dates on the road through the end of August. Then what?
Actually, we’re on the road now until next year and then plan to come back to U.S. in fall come back to Minneapolis.

And hopefully play a larger venue, right?
Actually, maybe we’ll play Café Brenda.

Catch the Kaiser Chiefs remaining U.S. tour dates here.

(Thanks to Brody @ BritishRockisAlwaysTop for the photo. We forgot our camera for the show!)