02.15.10
How Kasabian Has Branded American Music Fans
Kasabian are a UK indie rock and roll band that formed in Countesthorpe, Leicestershire in 1999. Originally comprising vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and keyboardist Christopher Karloff, guitar strummer and back-up vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, bass guitar player Chris Edwards and drummer Ash Hannis, the band has released 3 studio albums Kasabian ( 2004 ), Empire ( 2006 ) and West Ryder Beggar Lunatic Asylum ( 2009 ). Kasabian took the English press by force in the early 2000s by mixing traces of the Stone Roses, Satisfied Mondays, and Primal Scream with Oasis-sized confidence and DJ Shadow-influenced electronics Tom Meighan, lead vocalist with Mercury music prize nominee Kasabian, has branded American music fans “deluded” and claimed they are thirty years behind the United Kingdom musically. He told UK radio station XFM that, “You need to be U2 or Coldplay to get radio play. You may wish to watch their last promo video here. Actually , USA citizens are misled, only some of them. They believe they are ahead, but musically they are not. In the recording of Kasabian’s 2nd album, Empire, Christopher Karloff, one of the band’s chief composers, had “artistic and creative differences” and was asked to leave the band, according to the band’s web site, though there’s proof to indicate that Christopher Karloff left due to private circumstances. Communal life and a stack of shared influences produced an electronic, rock-oriented sound that harked back to the Madchester days of saggy pants and druggy dancing.
