In 2000, Ariki and Mathas showed that the simple modules of the Ariki--Koike algebras $\mathcal{H}_{\mathbb{C},q;Q_1,\ldots, Q_m}\big(G(m, 1, n)\big)$ (when the parameters are roots of unity and $q\neq 1$) are labeled by the so-called Kleshchev multipartitions. This together with Ariki's categorification theorem enabled Ariki and Mathas to obtain the generating function for the number of Kleshchev multipartitions by making use of the Weyl--Kac character formula. In this paper, we revisit this generating function for the $q=-1$ case. This $q=-1$ case is particularly interesting, for the corresponding Kleshchev multipartitions have a very close connection to generalized Rogers--Ramanujan type partitions when $Q_1=\cdots=Q_a=-1$ and $Q_{a+1}=\cdots =Q_m =1$. Based on this connection, we provide an analytic proof of the result of Ariki and Mathas for $q=Q_1=\cdots Q_a=-1$ and $Q_{a+1}=\cdots =Q_m =1$. Our second objective is to investigate simple modules of the Ariki--Koike algebra in a fixed block. It is known that these simple modules in a fixed block are labeled by the Kleshchev multiparitions with a fixed partition residue statistic. This partition statistic is also studied in the works of Berkovich, Garvan, and Uncu. Employing their results, we provide two bivariate generating function identities when $m=2$.