Kings of the wild frontier
ALL eyes turned to Kasabian when Oasis imploded in 2009. With their swaggering anthems, beery fanbase and penchant for hurling insults at rival bands, the lairy Leicester quartet seemed natural heirs to the brothers Gallagher. There’s just one flaw in that theory, says bassist Chris Edwards. Kasabian have never sounded anything like Oasis.
“Everyone was saying we’d be the next Oasis,” he says. “To be honest, I don’t think our music has much in common. Fair enough we share a lot of fans. We attract a similar crowd. I remember touring America with Oasis in 2005 and we stole a lot of their audience. To that extent, they passed the baton on to us. Just talking about music, though, I don’t see it. ”
Kasabian are a genuinely odd prospect. On their Mercury Music Prize-nominated 2009 album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, they referenced French philosopher Antonin Artaud and magic realist Jorge Luis Borges while coshing the listener over the head with a mixture of 1970s prog and Happy Mondays dance pop. The video to single Vlad the Impaler actually starred surrealist comedian Noel Fielding of the Mighty Boosh (he reprised the role with a surprise cameo at the O2 in Dublin). You can’t imagine Noel Gallagher sitting at home and musing, “Hmm, I wish I’d thought of that!”.
If anything, their new record, Velociraptor! is even more ambitious. Written as Edwards and guitarist Serge Pizzorno were adjusting to fatherhood, the LP is both a poignant rumination on the sacrifices we make as we grew older and a fond reflection on the crazy things Kasabian got up to in their wild youth.
Consider the Beatles-esque standout La Fee Verte, in which the band pay tribute to absinthe, the worm-wood spirit reputed to bring on madness. If the song sounds deeply heartfelt, it’s because Kasabian and absinthe have a long-term relationship.
“We drank a lot of that during the writing of our album Empire,” laughs Edwards. “We were at Rockfield Studios in Wales and there wasn’t a lot to do. While I never hallucinated on it, it’s extremely potent. I had half a bottle and got arrested for drink driving the next day. I was over the limit. When they got me to the station, I was back under. They had to let me go. It’s strong stuff — rocket fuel.”
After the boggle-eyed experimentation of West Ryder, the goal with Velociraptor! was to write a more inclusive LP, one that didn’t send the casual fan fleeing for the hills, he says. “It’s about reminiscing, looking back to when we were younger. We’re getting older. We wanted to do an album that was more open to people.We write a lot of weird tunes, stuff people aren’t going to connect with. There’s still some diversity there. Switchblade Smiles is classic Kasabian. However, there are also songs that will get audiences more involved.”
Kasabian’s upcoming arena tour will be their most audacious yet, promises the bassist. They’ve designed it so that the venues they play will look “a bit like the Hollywood bowl in Los Angeles” says Edwards. “It’s gonna be like a dome. We have screens all over the front and screens all the way at the back. There will be all sorts of things going on, noise activated lights and stuff like that. When you’re in Europe you can stand up there with no lights and just play. When you’re playing to your home crowd, it’s nice to put on a show.”
Music aside, surely the big difference between Oasis and Kasabian is that the latter are able to spend more than five minutes in a tour bus together without a punch-up breaking out, reckons Edwards. “We’re brothers — but we’re not brothers, if you know what I mean,” he says. “I’ve known the guys in the band since we were in school. We go back 20 years. It’s like family. We all get on. When you have actual family in the band, though, it’s different isn’t it? With Oasis, I don’t think they ever really got on. They were always having arguments and artistic differences. With your brother, I suppose you don’t hold back. Whereas in Kasabian we barely argue.”
That’s not to say Kasabian are all sweetness and light. They’ve a reputation for bad-mouthing other bands in the press. This has led to several awkward encounters. Having panned emo rockers My Chemical Romance as “clowns who make ventriloquist music”, they found themselves sitting alongside the Americans for a very awkward 10-hour flight to the United States.
Then there was their infamous feud with Kaiser Chiefs, reputed to have culminated in Kasabian singer Tom Meighan having a stand off with Kaiser Chief Ricky Wilson backstage at Oxegen a few years ago. Edwards pleads ignorance when this is brought up.
“We’ve not been best mates with Kaiser Chiefs,” he admits. “But we get on with them boys and have a drink when we see them. I don’t know those rumours about Tom nearly having a fight. You could put those rumours with Tom and practically anyone to be honest.”
Kasabian don’t regret any of the feuds. Still, they have calmed down lately, says Edwards. They’re no longer scrappy upstarts. Chucking insults at other acts doesn’t really befit their standing as one of Britain’s biggest bands.
“When we said those things we were kids, new on the scene and mouthy. It kind of worked to our advantage in terms of getting in the papers, although it was never a conscious plan. In our old age, we’ve calmed down a bit. You mature.
“On the other hand, if someone comes up to us and says something you’re going to get the full power of Kasabian raging back at them. We’re not starting fights any more. It’s up to the new bands to come and have a go.”
* Velociraptor! is out now. Kasabian play O2, Dublin on Saturday
