Who is smeaton from kaiser chiefs

This made Leeds both an exciting and frightening place to be on a night out, depending on which side of the fence you were on But what about the notion that "the riot" wasn't just about the alcohol-charged streets, but also referenced something epic, such as a Black Wire gig witnessed at their club night?

They were going mad and so were the crowd. You could see the bouncers moving in and I said to the club's boss, "I predict a riot. While these two real-life events formed the basis of the track, there are a few more references in the song which would easily stump a non-Leeds native. Ricky name drops "Smeaton," in the first verse of the song, who he describes as "an old Leodensian". John Smeaton was a civil engineer, born in , who is known for his design of canals, harbours and lighthouses.

While he's often regarded as the "father of civil engineering," it might not be a fact known to everyone in West Yorkshire And as for Leodensian? While in part it can be seen as a word for someone who hails from Leeds, it's more of a mock-classical term reserved for local sports clubs.

One thing the word was definitely used for is to describe a former pupil of the Leeds Grammar School, which they both attended, and the name of its school magazine.

John Smeaton is now of course long gone, and part of the history books, just like some of the infamous Leeds hangouts the Kaiser Chiefs would have grown up around. Like many venues around the UK, The Cockpit closed its doors in while the Majestic building, which housed its oddly-spelled namesake, was gutted by fire in the same year. Sad to see! Danced to some shat in thee over the years. Someone's gonna benefit or go straight to jail. However, thanks to the Kaiser Chiefs' I Predict a Riot, the famous Leeds engineer and the stories behind some of the city's most memorable club nights have been immortalised.

Sam Fender. See more Kaiser Chiefs Latest. View this post on Instagram. The song title and chorus came from a club night that me and Ricky [Wilson, singer] used to run. One night, this band called Black Wire were playing, and it was getting really hectic. The band were taking their clothes off and the crowd were hanging from the ceiling pipes. I knew that if we could just get that lyric into the chorus, it would make people take notice. When Ricky and I wrote lyrics , we were always trying to make each other laugh.

John Smeaton was a lighthouse designer, and a Leodensian means someone from Leeds. We literally all cried when the song got to number I remember seeing it on an advert for Byker Grove. My favourite thing in the world is to start a new song. Every band has a best song — and that was ours.

The verse for I Predict a Riot had already been brought into rehearsals and gone round and round until we were sick of it.

I remember being frustrated, but after that Black Wire gig, we played it through with that new chorus. I was obsessed with the Clash at the time and wanted to emulate what their bass player, Paul Simonon, was doing. We were trying to do this spooky singalong.