More than 20 years ago, the cult band Kasabian https://znaki.fm/teams/kasabian/ burst onto the music scene with such energy that no one has been able to recover from it yet. They surprise us with crazy albums and daring videos, charging concert venues around the world with their unbridled energy, while remaining lyrical rockers of the new generation.
Responsible for creating Kasabian are vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist Sergio Pizzorno, and bassist Chris Edwards, who were 23 years old at the time of their debut album’s release in 2004. They attended the same school in Leicester and had known each other since childhood. With the exception of Megane, who had known since he was “about four” that he would devote his life to music, the others had not yet decided how they would earn a living by the time they graduated from school. Everything was decided just before graduation. It was 1997. Feeling gloomy, guitarist Sergio Pizzorno played his friends a song he had recently written. They loved it, and vocalist Meagan cautiously asked if his friend had any other songs. It turned out that he did. The guy just didn’t want to publicize them. Under pressure from Tom Meagan’s arguments, Sergio agreed that others write even worse, so it was still worth trying to start his own band.
Distribution of roles
The newly formed band had its own songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, and bassist, but no drummer. The band, which took the name Sun Ra, was primarily concerned with finding one. But instead of a drummer, they found another guitarist. That was Chris Karloff. The guys met Chris in a pub. Karloff fit into the group surprisingly easily and immediately set about editing and improving the songs that had already been written.
After recording their first demo, the musicians took it to various labels — and were rejected everywhere. Realizing that they would not be able to take the show business by storm, the guys locked themselves in the studio for several more months and completely rewrote all the material. The second trip to the record companies was more successful. At that time, one of the four was reading a book about Charles Manson. The proposed new name for the band, “Kasabian,” suited everyone and put an end to the dispute.
So, the boat had a name, a great crew, carefully drawn navigation charts, and sails flapping in the wind. All that remained was to fill the tanks — to turn the demo recordings into a studio album. The band rented a small studio to record it. The experienced producer managed to transform the eclectic tastes of his protégés into a relatively consistent style. This is “rockatronica” or, if you will, “high-tech rock” — rock music with a pronounced electronic background. Kasabian added a bit of psychedelia and acid blues, brought the guitars to the forefront, paid special attention to dance beats and futuristic effects — and got a real hit!
Kasabain album
On the eve of the release of the Kasabain album, the single “Club Foot” was released, which debuted at number 19 on the British charts. The video for the song was filmed on the streets of Budapest with a real tank. Kasabain, in their own words, are apolitical, but prefer their songs to have a “slightly revolutionary element.” “There is a certain message in our songs,” says guitarist Chris Karloff. “We are not politicians, we just say what we think.” Despite this admission, the British press immediately dubbed Kasabain “the Michael Murrays, only musical.”
The album, titled Kasabian, was released on September 9, 2004, and debuted at number 4 on the national chart. It remained in the Top 20 for five months, selling 250,000 copies across the country. The second single, a song with the mysterious title “L.S.F.,” rose to number 10 on the singles chart and allowed the band to appear on the show Top Of The Pops. “L.S.F.” stands for “lost souls forever.” According to the musicians, the song was originally named differently, but a studio employee who received the master copy misread one letter. The guys were not upset and immediately came up with an explanation for the new abbreviation.
Returning from their Christmas break, in early February 2005, the musicians embarked on a full-scale tour of the United States as the opening act for The Music. Kasabian is called the “main hope” of British rock and is predicted to have a bright future. In February 2005, the musicians received three Brit Awards nominations: in the categories “Best British Group,” “Best Rock Group,” and “Best Live Act.” The musicians themselves say they are very surprised by such close attention to their group, but admit that they are quite worthy of it. The guys from Kasabian call their music “ectoplasmic rock.” Incidentally, in Armenian, ‘kasabian’ means “butcher.” This suggests that the musicians did not choose the name for their band at random.