It was a funny year for music in Britain in 2005. Coldplay officially became Britain's biggest band, while a number of indie hopefuls broke through to the pages of the NME to varying degrees of critical acclaim. It was the sound of northern English realism. Maximo Park from Newcastle, The Futureheads from Sunderland and Kaiser Chiefs from Leeds. The critics called it a Britpop renaissance and Kaiser Chiefs led the merry dance with the pogo-inducing single 'I Predict a Riot' - a song about chip-shop violence on the streets of Lancashire.

Ricky Wilson, Andrew 'Whitey' White, the two Nicks and Simon Rix had struck gold. They followed up with 'Oh My God', 'Every Day I Love You Less and Less' and 'Modern Way', songs that mirrored the bouncy joy of 'Riot' and were equally ridiculous. On stage, the Kaisers were a breath of fresh air, effusive enough to help you forget the hilarity and vacuity of their songs.

After sweeping all before them on the festival circuit the accolades followed. Three Brits and two NME awards saw Kaiser Chiefs at the top of the tree. Their debut album, Employment, went on to sell more than three million units. They were shortlisted for the Mercury music prize. They came second to the little known Antony & the Johnsons.

For most of last year, the band basked in their success, originally taking the year off but finding themselves eager to record a second album. They began rehearsing, played a few festivals and in the autumn recorded Yours Truly, Angry Mob. In the meantime, music moved on and Sheffield band the Arctic Monkeys stole their crown while they weren't looking. They're not my words - they're Whitey's, who over the course of our interview refers constantly to this figurative measure of success.

"Obviously we wanted to make a better record, " says the guitarist when asked what vision the band had for the new album. "We're better musicians now. We liked the success that the first album had so we wanted to at least maintain that. We really wanted to top Employment."

Not out until the end of the month, Irish journalists are among the first to hear Yours Truly, Angry Mob and the band, having lived with it for so long, are eager to get some feedback. It's not that easy.

First things first, Yours Truly, Angry Mob has 13 songs, is close to 50 minutes long and contains very little of the punch of, say, 'I Predict A Riot'. Thankfully, it's not an album written about the TV in US motels or tour-bus loneliness but is, lyrically at least, very much an accompaniment to Employment.

"When we are on the road, we are foreigners, " says Whitey. "We like being at home. We do embrace countries, but we are always thinking of home. When I arrive home, as soon as I walk through my front door, I have to do the washing up.

It's not like we're big rock 'n' roll stars - we have to pay the gas bill.

We all come from pretty level ground and all had lives before this took off."

Being in their company for half an hour or so, a certain theme develops: 'We are grown men in our 30s and we want to be taken seriously.' Whitey explains what it was like watching the Arctic Monkeys last year steal all their column inches. "When we were writing the songs a lot of new bands were coming out. The Arctic Monkeys came out and we got quite jealous - not jealous because obviously it's a great album, but we were the kings for about three months and we kind of want that crown back now."

It won't be easy. The Arctic Monkeys, who will release their own second album shortly, have something the Kaisers don't: critical acclaim. Whitey talks about a bunch of Dundee kids called The View. Then there's the danger that fashion is moving towards the abstract with bands such as the The Klaxons or Enter Shikari.

British music fashion waits for no man.

The Kaisers' comeback single 'Ruby', which they played at last week's Meteor awards, was the last song recorded for the album. It doesn't have a 'la la la' but is still catchy enough. It was chosen, according to Whitey, because "it has more of an international feel to it. "It could be an international hit but I think we'll follow it up with a more Kaiser Chiefsy song - bouncy, you know?"

One track, 'Thank You Very Much', is as close to 'Riot' as anything on the album, but elsewhere the songs are more structured and better produced. The short 'Boxing Champ' was written on piano and sung by the drummer and creative force of the band Nick Hodgson. Bizarrely, it sounds a bit like The Housemartins and it's the first Kaiser Chiefs song sung by anyone but Ricky. "That one is about Simon the bass player getting beaten up at the youth club when they were kids."

Whitey is the outsider of the band, having met the others about 10 years ago at a soul club in Leeds. They had grown up together and been to the same school. "I remember Nick came up to me and I thought he was a twat. He asked me to be in a band, but I'd only been playing guitar for six months. I lied and said I'd been playing for years."

He was introduced to Ricky who even then was wearing tight trousers, a big baggy golfing jumper and cowboy boots on. He was "the perfect lead singer", says Whitey.

The most easily identifiable of the band, frontman Wilson is a born extrovert. "He's definitely got a couple of faces, " says Whitey.

"He'll talk to anyone, charm anyone, flirt with anyone - in a good way. When he's on his own, it's the Ricky we've always known. He's quite shy. He's also the least selfish person I know."

Has celebrity gone to his or anyone else's head? "No, Ricky and Nick were always showing off, trying to outdo each other all the time. They are still the same, they just do it in front of more people."

And Whitey? "I'm a pessimist."

So how is this album gonna do?

"Shit, " he laughs.

How did you think the first album would do? "I thought it would sell 20,000." It made you international stars. "But that was two years ago and the public forget very quickly. We still feel like the underdogs. The Arctic Monkeys are the kings now - they could fart and it would go to No 1.

Even though we have been more successful than them, we are still underdogs. It's a critical thing - we've never had the critical acclaim. Writers have loved us, but never thought of us as a deep band. I think the second album is a lot more mature and a lot deeper."

And there it is. You can sell millions, win all the industry awards in the world and have kids scream and hound you for your autograph, but if you don't have the respect of your peers, it matters not a whit. "We're a band, " says Whitey, almost incredulous.

"We're not five Ant & Decs. We're five Jimmy Pages."

'Yours Truly, Angry Mob' is released on 23 February