Kasabian
Background information
Origin	Leicester, England
Genres	Indie rock, psychedelic rock, neo-psychedelia, space rock, electronic rock
Years active	1997–present
Labels	RCA, Columbia
Website	www.kasabian.co.uk
Members	Tom Meighan Sergio Pizzorno Chris Edwards Ian Matthews
Past members	Christopher Karloff Jay Mehler

Kasabian are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997.^[1] The band's original members consisted of vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and backing vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Christopher Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. The band's line-up was completed by touring guitarist Jay Mehler in 2006, replacing Karloff, and drummer Ian Matthews in 2004 after a string of session drummers. Kasabian have released four studio albums – Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006), West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009), and Velociraptor! (2011). Mehler left the band for Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye in 2013.

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, and their live performances are generally lauded.^[3][4]

History [edit]

Early years (1997–2002) [edit]

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.^[5][6] 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 soon spotted 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 the 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.^[7] Kasabian is a common Armenian surname, originated from the Arabic/Persian word, قصاب Qasab, meaning a butcher or slaughterer, and Armenian suffix (ending) -ian.

Kasabian (2003–05) [edit]

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.^{[citation needed]} Kasabian featured at Glastonbury Festival 2005 on the 'Other Stage'.^[8]

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 best 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) [edit]

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, although there is evidence to suggest that he left due to personal circumstances.^[9] He had contributed to three of the songs on Empire. The album was co-produced by Jim Abbiss.

The album 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.^[10]

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2008–10) [edit]

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.^[11] 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, 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).^[12]

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".^[13]

Velociraptor! (2011–present) [edit]

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 to 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.^[14][15]

"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.^[16]

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.^[17] The band headlined at the UK festivals T In The Park^[18] and the Reading and Leeds Festivals,^[19] in July and August respectively. It was announced on 16 May on the Kasabian website that their 15 December 2011 show, 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, Kasabian performed at the T in the Park Festival. On 24 August 2012, Kasabian headlined the Reading festival on the Saturday night.^[20] In March 2013, Sergio Pizzorno confirmed via Facebook that rhythm guitarist Jay Mehler had left Kasabian to join former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher's new band, Beady Eye as a touring bass guitarist.^[21] 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'. Mehler himself said he moved as Beady Eye seemed an exciting prospect and he left as Kasabian were not doing much. Tim Carter took over the rhythm guitar as Kasabian performed 'Fire' at Russell Brand's Give It Up for Comic Relief comedy and music gig at Wembley Arena. Carter is a music engineering producer and assistant to Dan the Automator, who produced 'Velociraptor!'.

Band members [edit]

Discography [edit]

• Kasabian (2004)
• Empire (2006)
• West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009)
• Velociraptor! (2011)

Awards and nominations [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

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