Kasabian

This article is about the music group. For other uses, see Kasabian (disambiguation).
Kasabian

Kasabian performing at Rock am Ring in 2014
Background information
Origin Leicester, England
Genres
Years active 1997–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website kasabian.co.uk
Members
Past members Chris Karloff

Kasabian (/kəˈseɪbiən/ kə-SAY-bee-ən) are an English rock band formed in Leicester[9] in 1997. The band's original members consisted of vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. The band's line-up was completed by drummer Ian Matthews in 2004 after a string of session drummers. Karloff left the band in 2006 and founded a new band called Black Onassis. Jay Mehler joined as touring lead guitarist in 2006. Mehler left the band for Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye in 2013. In 2010 and 2014, Kasabian won the Q Awards for 'Best Act in the World Today', while they were also named "Best Live Act" at the 2014 Q Awards and the 2007 NME Awards. The band's music is often described as "indie rock", but Pizzorno has said he "hates indie bands" and does not feel Kasabian fit into that category.[10]

Kasabian have released five studio albums – Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006), West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009), Velociraptor! (2011), and 48:13 (2014). The band's music has been described as a mix between The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis.[2] Their music has won them several awards and recognition in the media, including a Brit Award in 2010 for Best British Group,[11] and their live performances have received praise, the most notable of which was their appearance as headliners at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival.[12]

History

Early years (1997–2002)

The band was formerly called Saracuse and started recording at Bedrock Studios in Leicester where Chris Edwards worked as an engineer. The original band members all hailed from Countesthorpe and Blaby, and the band formed while Pizzorno, Meighan and Edwards were attending Countesthorpe Community College.[13][14][15] The influence of The Stone Roses can be heard in their first jams. The first demo EP was produced by Scott Gilbert and handed to the band late on 24 December 1998. Three songs were recorded live: "Whats Going On", "Life of Luxury" and "Shine On". Their first public appearance was at the Vipers Rugby Club to celebrate Edwards' 18th birthday with family and friends. The band was then signed to BMG by London DJ and producer Sam Young and changed their name to Kasabian, after Linda Kasabian, a member of the Charles Manson cult (aka the Manson "family") famous for serving as his getaway driver. In an interview with Ukula, bassist Chris Edwards explained how former guitarist Chris Karloff picked the name. Reading up on Charles Manson, the Kasabian name stuck with Karloff. "He just thought the word was cool, it literally took about a minute after the rest of us heard it... so it was decided," says Edwards.[16] Kasabian is a common Armenian surname, from the dialectal Armenian ղասաբ ġasab taken from Arabic (قصّاب or ḳaṣṣāb)[17] 'butcher' and the patronymic ending յան -yan. Sam Young had been working at small independent label Concept Music when the bands manager dropped the Saracuse demo on his desk. Concept were hesitant in signing the band and Sam took over managerial duties and got them signed instantly to BMG as Sam had an old friend Darren Dixon who had just started doing A&R at the label. EMI were interested in the band as well. The band and Sam Young fell out as they never thanked him or appreciated what he did to change their lives forever.

Kasabian (2003–05)

Main article: Kasabian (album)

Their eponymous debut album was released in the UK on 13 September 2004, receiving good sales and generally positive reviews. During the recording, the band lived in a farmhouse near Rutland Water to avoid being disturbed. Kasabian featured at Glastonbury Festival 2005 on the 'Other Stage'.[18]

Despite having two prior single releases with debut single "Processed Beats" and lead single "Reason Is Treason", it was their third single release "Club Foot" that finally gave Kasabian success in the UK Singles Chart. The song, which was written in the early years of Kasabian, went on to enjoy both critical and commercial success, becoming one of the band's most loved songs, and being performed at nearly every Kasabian live performance since its release.

During this period, various drummers played with Kasabian, including current keyboard player Ben Kealey, DJ Dan Ralph Martin, brothers Mitch and Ryan Glovers and some others. While recording in Bristol, the band met Ian Matthews, who plays on "Processed Beats", "Butcher Blues", "Beneficial Herbs" and possibly some other songs on the debut album and B-sides. He was asked to tour with them in 2004 and became a permanent member in April 2005. The album was produced by Jim Abbiss.

Empire and Karloff's departure (2006–07)

During the recording of Kasabian's second album, Empire, Christopher Karloff, one of the band's chief songwriters, had "artistic and creative differences" and was asked to leave the band, according to the band's website,[19] although there is evidence to suggest that he left due to personal circumstances. He had contributed to three of the songs on Empire.

The album, which was co-produced by Jim Abbiss, was released in the UK on 28 August 2006. "Empire" was released as the first single from the album, and reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart "Shoot the Runner" reached No. 17 in the same chart. A third single, "Me Plus One", was released on 2 January 2007.

Kasabian won the Best Live Act award at the 2007 NME Awards.[20]

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2008–10)

The band released an EP titled Fast Fuse in late 2007 which featured the songs "Fast Fuse" and "Thick as Thieves", however the EP was not given any promotion or advertisement. Both tracks are featured in their third album.

Kasabian started work on their third album in late 2007 with producer Dan the Automator. On 5 March 2009, it was revealed that the album title would be West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, with a release date of 8 June 2009. The song "Vlad the Impaler" was released as a free download for a period of 4 days, as a preview for the album. The promo video for "Vlad the Impaler" stars Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh.[21] Noel is a big fan of Kasabian, and later appeared in an NME cover with the band. The album's first official single was the track "Fire", which was released on 1 June 2009, used as the theme song for the English Premier League from the 2010–11 season onward, and the song "Where Did All the Love Go?" was released as the second official single. The third single "Underdog" was used in the movie Takers (2010).[22]

On 14 June 2009, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, spending two weeks there. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize, and was named 'Best Album' at the 2009 Q Awards. The band won "Best Group" at the 2010 Brit Awards. At the 2010 Q Awards the band won the "Best Act in the World Today".[23]

The first 3 albums were released as a box-set called The Albums in 2010.

Velociraptor! (2011–12)

Main article: Velociraptor!

Kasabian started work on their fourth album, Velociraptor!, in November 2010 with Dan the Automator as producer. It was revealed in a number of interviews that some songs were already written. One track, titled "Green Fairy", which featured on the London Boulevard soundtrack, is present on the record under the name "La Fée Verte", but the album version is different from the soundtrack version. In June 2011, Kasabian closed the Isle of Wight Festival. They also headlined Rockness festival and played at Rock Werchter in July 2011. The band confirmed that the album will be released on 19 September 2011.[24][25]

"Switchblade Smiles", the first song to be heard from Velociraptor!, was exclusively played on UK radio on 7 June 2011 during Zane Lowe's show on BBC Radio 1. The title and release date of the fourth album was also confirmed on the show. This first single from the album was available for visitors to listen to on the Kasabian website, and was available as a download for people who pre-order the album. Two tracks from the album ("Velociraptor" and "Switchblade Smiles") were premièred throughout the four-date warm-up tour including playing at the Leeds O2 Academy before the RockNess and Isle of Wight festivals in June 2011. A track from the album "Days Are Forgotten" was due for radio release on 22 July 2011. However, it surfaced online the night before. The album failed to crack the Billboard Top 200 chart upon its first week of release in the United States.

On 27 November 2011, Kasabian performed "Goodbye Kiss" during the BBC's Formula 1 2011 closing season montage. In the same month, the band went on a full tour of the UK, including two sold out gigs at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, supported at the shows by Miles Kane and Australian band, ME. On 31 December 2011, Kasabian played a New Year's Eve concert entitled 'NYE:Rewired' at the O2 Arena, London. The event was streamed live on YouTube.[26]

Following early 2012 dates in Japan, Australia, and Europe, Kasabian launched their North American leg in Dallas on 12 March, with 19 dates in U.S. and Canada until late April.[27] It was announced on 16 May on the Kasabian website that their show of 15 December 2011, that was filmed at the O2 in London, would be screened in over 60 cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 30 May 2012. The film, titled Kasabian Live! Live at the O2 is distributed by Altive Media and Eagle Vision. On 29 June 2012, Kasabian performed at the Main Square festival in Arras France. At the end of the set, Tom Meighan returned to the stage without the band and performed The Beatles "She Loves You" unaccompanied, something that he had also done three days earlier in Athens, Greece, and on 16 June in Denmark at the NorthSide Festival. On 8 July 2012, the band headlined the UK festival T in the Park.[28] Kasabian also headlined the Reading and Leeds Festivals on 24 and 25 August 2012.[29][30]

48:13 (2013–present)

Main article: 48:13

In March 2013, Sergio Pizzorno confirmed via Facebook that touring rhythm guitarist Jay Mehler had left Kasabian to join former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher's new band, Beady Eye as a touring bass guitarist.[31] Pizzorno stated, "Jay is our bro and the last six years have been mega. He's moving on and will be incredible in Beady Eye". Tim Carter joined Kasabian as a touring guitarist, first performing with the band on 6 March 2013 at Russell Brand's Give It Up for Comic Relief, comedy and music gig at Wembley Arena.[32] Carter is a music engineering producer and assistant to Dan the Automator, who co-produced West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum and Velociraptor!.[33]

Following a handful of gigs and festival performances throughout the year, Kasabian posted a teaser video in November 2013, announcing that they had been working on new material for the previous six months.[34] The new album is being produced by Sergio Pizzorno.[35] They also announced that they will be playing a homecoming gig in Victoria Park, Leicester to 60,000 people in June 2014, around the ten year anniversary of their debut album.[36][37] On 4 April 2014, Kasabian were confirmed to be headlining the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2014 on 29 June 2014.[38]

On 28 April 2014, the band revealed that the album would be titled 48:13, and released on 9 June 2014.[39][40] The lead single to promote the album, "Eez-eh", was released on 29 April 2014.[41] "eez-eh" was performed at Glastonbury 2014 alongside other tracks from 48:13 and previous albums. The show also featured two cover versions - "Crazy", originally recorded by Gnarls Barkley, and "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim, which for a while has been used as an intro to their song "L.S.F".

At NME Awards 2015 Kasabian were nominated for 9 awards, beating the 2009 Oasis record (7 nominations).[42][43]

Band members

Current members
  • Tom Meighan – lead vocals (1997–present)
  • Sergio Pizzorno – guitar, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals, keyboards, percussion, electronic programming (1997–present)
  • Chris Edwards – bass (1997–present)
  • Ian Matthews – drums (2005–present)
Former members
  • Christopher Karloff – lead guitar, bass, keyboards, electronic programming (1997–2006)
Touring members
  • Ben Kealey – keyboard (2006–present)
  • Gary Alesbrook – trumpet (2006–present)
  • Tim Carter – guitar (2013–present)
Former session musicians/Touring members
  • Jay Mehler – guitar (2006-2012)
  • Ryan Glover – drums (2004)
  • Mitch Glover – drums (2004)
  • Daniel Ralph Martin – drums (2004)
  • Martin Hall-Adams – drums (2004)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑ Derbyshire, James (2 June 2014). "Album Review: Kasabian - 48:13". Fortitude Magazine. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 Jeffries, David. "Kasabian - Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  3. ↑ Rock and Pop Reviews. "Kasabian, Shepherd's Bush Empire, review: 'pulsating'". Telegraph. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Kasabian - Velociraptor!". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "NME News Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno and comedian Noel Fielding tease 'Wu-Tang Clan' live shows - NME.COM". NME.COM. 23 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "NME News Noel Fielding joins Kasabian onstage for Glastonbury headline set – full report - NME.COM". NME.COM. 30 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Jason Gregory. "Kasabian Excited To Be Supporting Oasis On Stadium Tour". gigwise.com.
  8. ↑ "NME News Kasabian joined onstage by Oasis star during Hogmanay show - NME.COM". NME.COM. 1 January 2008.
  9. ↑ "Gallagher 'is not joining Kasabian'". Leicester Mercury. thisisleicestershire.co.uk. 3 November 2009.
  10. ↑ "Kasabian's Serge: I'm no indie boy". Belfast Telegraph. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "THE BRITS 2010". Brit Awards. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  12. ↑ Empire, Kitty (18 December 2011). "Kasabian – review". The Observer. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  13. ↑ Lamont, Tom (4 September 2011). "Kasabian: from Leicester squares to rock heavyweights". The Observer. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  14. ↑ "Kasabian on tour with Oasis". Leicester Mercury. 17 October 2008
  15. ↑ Turnell, Cat (2005). "We're grafters, not lazy gits". Leicester Mercury. 2005
  16. ↑ Maclean, Graeme. "Ukula Music :: speaking with Kasabian on their first trip to America". Ukula. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  17. ↑ https://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=kasap&x=0&y=0
  18. ↑ "Glastonbury Archive - 2005". BBC. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Kasabian Announce the Departure of Chris Karloff". 17 July 2006. Archived from the original on 3 March 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2006.
  20. ↑ "Kasabian win Best Live Band at Shockwaves NME Awards". NME. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  21. ↑ "Watch 'The Mighty Booshs Noel Fielding teaming up with Kasabian now". NME. 1 April 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  22. ↑ "Takers (2010) - Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  23. ↑ Masters, Tim (25 October 2010). "Florence and the Machine wins two Q Awards". BBC News (BBC).
  24. ↑ "Kasabian "Velociraptor!" @ Kasabian Store". Myplaydirect.com. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  25. ↑ "Kasabian To Release 'Epic' New Album In October". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  26. ↑ "NYE: Re-Wired - Kasabian, Chase & Status Live and Zane Lowe play The O2 arena". The O2. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  27. ↑ Coplan, Chris (2 December 2011). "Kasabian announces 2012 North American tour". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  28. ↑ "T In The Park 2012 lineup". T in the Park. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  29. ↑ "Leeds Festival 2012 headline acts". Leedsfestival.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  30. ↑ "Kasabian cover Fatboy Slim and The Beatles at their Reading Festival headline debut". NME. 25 August 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  31. ↑ "Kasabian guitarist joins Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye". BBC Newsbeat. BBC. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  32. ↑ "Kasabian - Fire (Live at Give It Up 2013)". Youtube.com. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  33. ↑ "Kasabian Empire - Tim Carter, Jay's replacement for the time being...". Tumblr. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  34. ↑ "KASABIAN: THE SERGERY ...". YouTube. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  35. ↑ "Kasabian Interview". Qromag.com. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  36. ↑ Mercury, Leicester (28 November 2013). "Kasabian announce huge homecoming gig at Leicester's Victoria Park". Leicestermercury.co.uk. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  37. ↑ Schaff, Olivia (9 December 2013). "Kasabian's Victoria Park show sells out". Music.thedigitalfix.com. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  38. ↑ "Glastonbury's line-up topped by Kasabian". BBC News (BBC). 4 April 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  39. ↑ "Announcing the new album 48:13". kasabian.co.uk. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  40. ↑ "Kasabian announce 'stripped back' new album, '48:13' – full details". NME. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  41. ↑ "eez-eh - Single by Kasabian". iTunes (BE). Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  42. ↑ "Kasabian, Royal Blood, Jamie T lead nominations for NME Awards 2015 with Austin, Texas - voting open". NME. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  43. ↑ "The full winners list at NME Awards 2015 with Austin, Texas revealed". NME. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.

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