A U T U M N M U S I C P R E V I E W Easy Ryders
It’s taken a while, but Kasabian are finally as big as they always thought they deserved to be. Jonny Ensall chats to singer Tom Meighan and finds out that fame and critical validation have calmed one of the biggest egos in rock
L ast month, on 28 August, Oasis finally split up. Noel and Liam had seen enough of each other’s Mancunian mugs to decide they couldn’t share a stage together and so the curtain fell on Britpop’s greatest adventure. Likely as it is that the Gallagher brothers will eventually kiss and make up, their split has come at a critical moment for Kasabian, who have been biding their time as the support act and now are set to overtake their heroes as the stadium superstars. In the annals of rock history, autumn 2009 may not be marked out by the end of Oasis, but by the true beginning of Kasabian.
Or perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves. It wasn’t long ago that the music press were passing Kasabian off as loud ladrock, good for clubs, Channel 4 youth programming, football matches and little else. These criticisms still linger, but the slimming down of the band to the core talents of singer Tom Meighan and guitarist Serge Pizzorno, accompanied by
Chris Edwards and Ian Matthews on bass and drums respectively, and their decision as a band to just calm down a little bit, have resulted in a slight but noticeable shift in public opinion. Kasabian, believe it or not, are cool. Not just among twentysomething males in hatchbacks, but also among discerning music listeners, like the Mercury Prize panel who, by the time this goes to press, may have made Kasabian’s third effort, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, the record of the year. It is, as Tom Meighan agrees, their best album to date. ‘It’s so cinematic, man’, he exclaims excitedly over the phone, citing
Ennio Morricone as an influence. ‘Serge is influenced big time by that stuff, which is cool. There’s a bit of Tarantino in there as well, a bit of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a bit of Clint Eastwood.’
Overall, it is a more measured album, with sensitive orchestration courtesy of Serge and new producer Dan the Automator. The lyrics are pulled straight from the Easy Rider school of pseudo-philosophy and, although dubious, are delivered with impressive bravado by Tom, kicking the record along at an assured pace. And so I’m surprised when Meighan doesn’t come across with the surly self-confidence I
HEAR THIS! Nicola Paul runs down the finest gigs and albums the world has to offer this autumn
14 SEP ALBUM
14 SEP ALBUM
16 SEP
Jay-Z The Blueprint 3
After ‘retirement’, Glastonbury and gigs
converting Coldplay fans to the joys of
rap music, his masterful album
trilogy is now complete.
Muse The Resistance The band’s fifth album is tinged with a glam-rock disco feel with
lashings of
regulation guitar histrionics. Expect
much stadium- rocking to follow.
Coldplay and Jay-Z
Hampden Park, Glasgow A bit of a musical odd-
couple perhaps, but if your music taste is diverse then this gig could be the one for
you.
S E P T E M B E R
21 SEP ALBUM
Dizzee Rascal Tongue in Cheek He may sound unhinged but the UK’s king of grime remains at the top of his game as he unleashes album four.
21 SEP ALBUM
Nick Cave White Lunar
A compilation of the work he creates
when the Bad Seeds stay home: collaborations, film soundtracks and
more.
22 SEP
Florence and the
Machine ABC, Glasgow
Riding on the wave of her recent Mercury nomination, the red-headed vamp’s tour is one of the most hotly- anticipated for autumn.
22 THE LIST 10–24 Sep 2009