It might be ten years since Britpop first bounced its way on to the music scene but it's not about to disappear into a haze of has been just yet.

Quirky Leeds quintet Kaiser Chiefs seem more than happy to take up the cause first championed by the likes of Pulp and Blur back in 1995 and more recently represented by chart toppers Franz Ferdinand.

Fronted by the nattily dressed Ricky Wilson, the Chiefs have just appeared alongside Damon Albarn at this year's annual South By South West Shindig in Texas, where their intelligent and quintessentially English lyrics fused with purring bass lines, synths and poptastic guitars went down a treat.

But the five piece haven't always found themselves so well received. They started off in the late Nineties as Parva but despite getting signed to Beggars' Banquet failed to make any impression on the charts.

"There were people laughing at me in the street," says Ricky, recalling the shame of being dropped by Beggars. "Everyone told us to give it up. Even my parents said, 'you're getting too old for this, Rick'."

A lesser man, faced with the humiliation of having to set up equipment for other bands to make ends meet, might have slunk away to a life of pulling pints behind a bar. But Ricky, it seems, is made of stronger stuff.

"The world's full of people working in petrol stations saying they used to be in a band," he says. "I didn't want to be one of them."

They quickly went about changing everything. This meant a new name (taken from the South African football club of Leeds United footballer Lucas Radebe) and ditching their old songs.

"We had about five years' worth of songs in the Parva set but nobody could grasp what we were," explains Ricky. "Whereas with Kaiser Chiefs are Kaiser Chiefs. Fans know exactly what it is, we know exactly what it is."

Eighteen months down the line under their new moniker, the band have ploughed their way into the UK singles charts, played to sell-out audiences across the globe and taken the pole position of opening band - an honour previously bestowed on the likes of Coldplay and Franz Ferdinand- on the 2005 NME Awards tour.

Their debut album, Employment, is punctuated with witty observations of loutfilled city streets at kicking-out time, romantic fumblings and working-class living. Try as you might there's no getting away from the similarities to Blur's Parklife: It uses the same producer, Stephen Street, pulls from similar influences like XTC and The Jam, and features a guest appearance from Graham Coxon's motorbike.

What's patently obvious is this bunch of Yorkshire lads are having a ball.

"I'm just enjoying myself,"

Ricky says. "That's what I feel like I'm doing at the moment."

Starts 7.30pm, tickets cost £9 (SOLD OUT). Call 01273 673311.