Kasabian's frontman Tom discusses new direction for fourth album
Tom Meighan and his band of merry men, commonly known as Kasabian, are currently touring the UK and warming-up for their Brits appearance, talks to me about his dream of studying sharks.
Kasabian burst onto the scene back in 2004 with the self-titled debut album and latter-day Britpop anthem Club Foot. The band picked up an army of fans with their electrifying shows that rival those of their heroes Oasis for atmosphere. Having seen them myself at epic live music venue Paradiso in Amsterdam, it was easy to see how Tom’s cocksure swagger and Sergio’s magnetism led them to three studio albums, scores of awards and kudos from fans and contemporaries.
Tom captured the imagination of ladies and gentlemen with his moody and uniformed performance in the Empire video, the title track taken from their second studio album. His biggest feat was by far managing to grab my attention over the drug-fuelled friend, commonly known as Juanita, who had me hysterics with her quite frankly bizarre visions! I needed to ask Tom what he does to limber up before going on stage to slaughter the crowd, “I have a couple of shots of vodka and couple of jelly babies.” Tom retorted.
Constantly being on the road since their humble beginnings of being Sony/BMG’s newest investment; four blokes, two touring band members and the entourage, has to be a strain on any relationship with any bad habits coming to the foreground, “they’re all coke heads” Tom joked, “they sometimes piss you off and have arguments over food. I hate people lying.”
Kasabian recently caused a lot controversy at a gig in Paris after unveiling the new England football kit to the audience during the encore of 2009 hit Fire, receiving an angry response from the French contingent of the Kasabian fan-club, “Umbro asked me to do it and I thought it would be hilarious. They ended up cheering and realised the spirit it was done in... I think it’s the most rock ‘n’ roll thing I’ve done, wearing an England shirt in front of a French audience.”
The band is headlining T In The Park in Scotland this year and no doubt will be performing at numerous festivals in the UK and Europe. They performed on the legendary Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury last year, “the worst gig we ever played was in Australia, it was 110 degrees, it was just too hot for anyone to do anything – it was still a good gig though.”
Last year saw the release of third studio album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum to critical acclaim and reaching number one in the UK album charts. The biggest accolade was the album being nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 2009, cementing the band’s career. After reaching these dizzy heights, I wondered what was left for Kasabian and if anything was in the pipeline, “Babies” proclaimed Tom… er; I didn’t mean that sort of pipeline! “We’re working on the fourth album, we don’t sit on ideas. Sergio has written some great stuff, we have the skeleton just need to get the rest of it down.”
Latest single Underdog was released in October last year and hit number 32 with pre-release downloads alone. Tom continued to talk about how he would like to collaborate with the likes of Jack White and Michael Jackson (little problem with the latter), also mentioning hip-hop heavyweights Wu-Tang Clan and KRS-One, did this mean a new direction for Kasabian’s new album and see Tom rivalling Method Man on the rapping “No” answered Tom. “The fourth album is grungy, there are a couple of Nirvana type riffs in it. Sergio is a genius.”
The band have always citied Oasis as an influence over their music; now Liam and Noel have wound up in the dole queue, who they be welcomed into the bosom of Kasabian to make tea or sweep up? I asked out of the two, who would Tom pick to be in the band, “We’re two different bands, they couldn’t be Kasabian and I couldn’t be in Oasis. I couldn’t choose between them, I don’t have a favourite. Liam’s doing his thing with his band and Noel is doing his. I couldn’t choose.”
After all that Tom has achieved with the band and experiences that most of us pauper lunatics (see what I did there?!) can only dream of, I asked what he would be doing if he wasn’t in a band, “I’d study sharks. Go out on a yacht and work for National Geographic... I just like sharks.” Tom enthused.
Finally, I confessed of my secret liking of Girls Aloud, Beyonce and the BeeGees (there go my rock ‘n’ roll credentials). I wanted to know if even the cool people have guilty pleasures “I like the Scorpions, that famous song of theirs [I assume he means Wind Of Change], everyone slates it but I like Stevie Wonder’s I just Call To Say I Love You - reminds me of growing up and I like a bit of Shakin’ Stevens.” Tom said. So, would Shaky be joining them on tour as a support act? “I don’t think so.”
First published 12/02/2010
Kasabian burst onto the scene back in 2004 with the self-titled debut album and latter-day Britpop anthem Club Foot. The band picked up an army of fans with their electrifying shows that rival those of their heroes Oasis for atmosphere. Having seen them myself at epic live music venue Paradiso in Amsterdam, it was easy to see how Tom’s cocksure swagger and Sergio’s magnetism led them to three studio albums, scores of awards and kudos from fans and contemporaries.
Tom captured the imagination of ladies and gentlemen with his moody and uniformed performance in the Empire video, the title track taken from their second studio album. His biggest feat was by far managing to grab my attention over the drug-fuelled friend, commonly known as Juanita, who had me hysterics with her quite frankly bizarre visions! I needed to ask Tom what he does to limber up before going on stage to slaughter the crowd, “I have a couple of shots of vodka and couple of jelly babies.” Tom retorted.
Constantly being on the road since their humble beginnings of being Sony/BMG’s newest investment; four blokes, two touring band members and the entourage, has to be a strain on any relationship with any bad habits coming to the foreground, “they’re all coke heads” Tom joked, “they sometimes piss you off and have arguments over food. I hate people lying.”
Kasabian recently caused a lot controversy at a gig in Paris after unveiling the new England football kit to the audience during the encore of 2009 hit Fire, receiving an angry response from the French contingent of the Kasabian fan-club, “Umbro asked me to do it and I thought it would be hilarious. They ended up cheering and realised the spirit it was done in... I think it’s the most rock ‘n’ roll thing I’ve done, wearing an England shirt in front of a French audience.”
The band is headlining T In The Park in Scotland this year and no doubt will be performing at numerous festivals in the UK and Europe. They performed on the legendary Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury last year, “the worst gig we ever played was in Australia, it was 110 degrees, it was just too hot for anyone to do anything – it was still a good gig though.”
Last year saw the release of third studio album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum to critical acclaim and reaching number one in the UK album charts. The biggest accolade was the album being nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 2009, cementing the band’s career. After reaching these dizzy heights, I wondered what was left for Kasabian and if anything was in the pipeline, “Babies” proclaimed Tom… er; I didn’t mean that sort of pipeline! “We’re working on the fourth album, we don’t sit on ideas. Sergio has written some great stuff, we have the skeleton just need to get the rest of it down.”
Latest single Underdog was released in October last year and hit number 32 with pre-release downloads alone. Tom continued to talk about how he would like to collaborate with the likes of Jack White and Michael Jackson (little problem with the latter), also mentioning hip-hop heavyweights Wu-Tang Clan and KRS-One, did this mean a new direction for Kasabian’s new album and see Tom rivalling Method Man on the rapping “No” answered Tom. “The fourth album is grungy, there are a couple of Nirvana type riffs in it. Sergio is a genius.”
The band have always citied Oasis as an influence over their music; now Liam and Noel have wound up in the dole queue, who they be welcomed into the bosom of Kasabian to make tea or sweep up? I asked out of the two, who would Tom pick to be in the band, “We’re two different bands, they couldn’t be Kasabian and I couldn’t be in Oasis. I couldn’t choose between them, I don’t have a favourite. Liam’s doing his thing with his band and Noel is doing his. I couldn’t choose.”
After all that Tom has achieved with the band and experiences that most of us pauper lunatics (see what I did there?!) can only dream of, I asked what he would be doing if he wasn’t in a band, “I’d study sharks. Go out on a yacht and work for National Geographic... I just like sharks.” Tom enthused.
Finally, I confessed of my secret liking of Girls Aloud, Beyonce and the BeeGees (there go my rock ‘n’ roll credentials). I wanted to know if even the cool people have guilty pleasures “I like the Scorpions, that famous song of theirs [I assume he means Wind Of Change], everyone slates it but I like Stevie Wonder’s I just Call To Say I Love You - reminds me of growing up and I like a bit of Shakin’ Stevens.” Tom said. So, would Shaky be joining them on tour as a support act? “I don’t think so.”
First published 12/02/2010
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