Kasabian spill the beans ahead of Newcastle gig

THERE'S something about Kasabian guitarist Serge that makes you believe in what he says.
Serge Pizzorno is so passionate about his music it's hard not to warm to him, and when he says he loves Newcastle, I believe him."It sounds actually corny like I say it about everywhere we go, but when you drive into Newcastle there is something phenomenal about it - the bridges - I just actually buzz off it."We played here a few months ago and it was definitely the loudest crowd we have ever had, if we had a decibel reading it would have been off the scale."Following on from their current stint supporting Oasis on their massive stadium tour, Kasabian are calling in at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena tonight (Tuesday)."Doing the stadium tour was fantastic - we're sad that Oasis have split up, but it'll be amazing to see what they both do now, as they're geniuses."So are the rumours that Noel Gallagher is joining the band true?"It would be a great laugh, it would be amazing - but no, I don't think it's going to happen."But it seems these indie rockers don't need the help (or hinderance?) of the Oasis boys, as they scooped the Q award for best album for West Pauper Lunatic Asylum last week."It was great to win, because you never make an album to win an award so it's great, as well I think the best album award is the best one to win, as it means the most."The bizarre name for the album comes from a real asylum that existed in the 18th century. Although the album has nothing to do with the real asylum, Serge says there's a fine line between genius and madness, which is what prompted them to plump for the title."I think music is a form of madness, and it is escapism because people can listen to music and not be in this world."Reality can be kind of mundane and on a weekend it's nice to get out of your mind and numb yourself."We called it that because we wanted it to be like the music is coming from an asylum made by the patients who are going out of their minds.""It was the most challenging album we have made - the previous albums were more easy to get into, but this one was much more challenging but seems to have actually connected with people - which is great."The band are now promoting their award-winning album and are in the middle of a massive UK tour that promises to deliver the same awe-inspiring feeling as the stadium tour."For the tour, the asylum is really coming into town! I don't want to give too much away, but it is about bringing the album to life. People are going to have a really good time and that is what we want."You have to be built for touring - sometimes we bring friends along for a couple of days, and when they leave they're always like 'how do you do it?'"I think you get used to it, I enjoy going on a bus with my pals and playing rock and roll."And one of those pals is the Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding.The kooky celeb who is a firm fan of the band, currently appeared in their video for Vlad the Impaler - to rave reviews."I have known Noel a few years, and he was going to do the artwork for the Vlad the Impaler single, then one of his friends said wouldn't it be great if you did a video like you'd found an old tape in someone's garage of a horror film that no one had ever seen."He thought it would be amazing - and there's no better person to play Vlad than Noel - he loved it, and it's great to work with people you admire."Just working with Noel is an honour because he is a fantastic person - he's magical."We'd love to be in The Mighty Boosh, but it has to be written in, so we'll see."When the UK tour comes to an end, the band is off to Japan and Australia, before eventually settling down to write some more music."We have to play this album to all the people before we can put it to rest and start working on anything else, but I've got some ideas already."I already can't wait to see what those ideas are.

KASABIAN INTERVIEW: Talk in football

Kasabian TOP Brit band have spoken exclusively to the News of the World about their love of Leicester City, football and touring with Oasis.
Tom Meighan and Chris Edwards took time out ahead of their upcoming tour to discuss a number of topics including how football has influenced their music and the joys of following Leicester in The Championship.
They would love to play a gig at The Walkers Stadium and answer the burning question would they rather be a rock star or a Premier League footballer?
"The real glory and the real football," is at Championship level, according to Tom, even though he is delighted with the news of the possible signing of Edgar Davids and feels the Foxes are well capable of getting promotion.
The boys also discuss their feelings for other sports and the prowess of the band members at football.

Add an extra date to UK tour, Kasabian

Mercury Award nominees add one more date to their November tour.

UK arena tour to Kasabian are set to cap aff an unblievable year, and have this week added one extra date to next month’s jolly around the country a closing gig in Bournemouth.
This summer has seen the four piece from Leicester play to over a million fans this summer, featuring a 20 date sold out tour, 9 massive stadium dates with Oasis and a Glastonbury show as special guests to Bruce Springsteen.
Next month’s tour dates are as follows, with tickets to all shows priced at £25.00 plus fees.
Tue 10th November – NEWCASTLE, Metro Radio Arena
Wed 11th November – ABERDEEN, AECC [Sold Out]
Thu 12th November – GLASGOW, SECC [Sold Out]
Sat 14th November – LONDON, Wembley Arena [Sold Out]
Sun 15th November – LONDON, Wembley Arena
Mon 16th November – LIVERPOOL, Echo Arena
Wed 18th November – NOTTINGHAM, Trent FM Arena
Thu 19th November – BIRMINGHAM, NIA
Fri 20th November – MANCHESTER, MEN
Sun 22nd November – CARDIFF, International Arena [Sold Out]
Mon 23rd November – SHEFFIELD, Arena
Newly added date
Wed 25th November – BOURNEMOUTH, BIC

Bournemouth date added Kasabian Expand UK Arena

Kasabian have confirmed Leicester indie giants details of an extra date on their forthcoming UK arena tour.
With Oasis out of action, Kasabian are preparing to step into their role as the UK's most raucous group.
Manchester band of the long time friend, Kasabian Noel Gallagher invited currently to join them on their forthcoming tour. Whether or not the Oasis man accepts, the new dates feature some of the biggest headline shows in their career.
Date with a opening is Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena Kasabian are set to travel across the country, playing two nights in Wembley Arena. Relishing their status as one of the UK's biggest acts, they group have now added an extra tour date.
Kasabian will now finish their UK tour on November 25th in Bournemouth's BIC venue. Show tickets will go on sale on Wednesday (October 7th).
One of the biggest years the new tour complete in the career of Kasabian. The band released their latest album 'West Ryder Pauper Asylum' to widespread acclaim and supported Oasis on an enormous UK tour.
Growing used to playing enormous arenas Kasabian also performed a handful of festival dates, with the band entertaining thousands of fans throughout the summer.
Kasabian are set to play the following shows:
November

10 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena11 Aberdeen AECC12 Glasgow SECC14 London Wembley Arena15 London Wembley Arena18 Nottingham Trent FM Arena19 Birmingham NIA20 Manchester MEN22 Cardiff International Arena23 Sheffield Arena25 Bournemouth BIC

Liam Gallagher Buzzing About Saving The Honeybees

Now that his brother has quit Oasis and kasabian is off possibly working with and likely lining up all sorts of cool, non Oasis stuff, Liam Gallagher has tapped into his softer side by throwing his support to the campaign to save Britain’s honeybees, which are slowly dying out.
The singer had become more aware of the bees dire condition after the use of honey helped him cure a throat virus that forced Oasis to pull out of the V Festival in August. It’s now a particular cause for Gallagher who is also lending his support to the new film The Vanishing of the Bees, set for release in the UK next week.
The Brit rocker even teamed up with a man wearing a giant bee outfit to promote the film this week.
Said Gallagher: “I like honey. If it weren’t for honey, I’d have a rough voice.”
If you weren’t aware, the bees are responsible for pollinating around 1/3 of the UK’s food; a further drop in the bee population could be bad news for the country’s agriculture industry. The cause remains unclear for the falling honeybee numbers, but scientists are focusing on increased use of pesticides and climate change as possible factors.

Gallagher to join Kasabian on tour?

Noel Gallagher – who quit Oasis last month after a furious row with brother, and the pair’s frontman, Liam will appear with Kasabian on their forthcoming UK tour.Frontman Tom Meighan said: “We’ve got our arena tour in November. Noel will be calling us up nearer the time for sure saying, ‘Lads, I’m going to come perform with you on tour.’“He’s a performing machine, and loves playing live so he jumps at the chance whenever he can join us.”Tom also revealed the band may also record a track with Noel in the future.He said: “We’d love to do a track with him. Never say never. But at the moment he’s concentrating on his solo stuff and we’re busy as ever.”Kasabian supported Oasis on their current UK tour before the ‘Wonderwall’ rockers cancelled a number of gigs after rending in August. However, Tom admits he didn’t see any signs they were going to split.He said: “Oasis were at the pinnacle of the music world for 16 years and despite touring with them this year, we didn’t see any signs that they were falling apart.”

'piss-up in a brewery' Kasabian, Dizzee Rascal play Guinness'

Bands celebrate 250th anniversary of Irish beer in Dublin.

Kasabian, Estelle, Tom Jones and Dizzee Rascal played a show in Guinness' Dublin brewery this evening (September 24).The acts came together at the St James's Gate Brewery for the main Arthur's Day show, part of a series of shows being held across the Irish capital to mark 250 years of the stout. With the drinks flowing, creating the preverbial 'piss up in a brewery', the bands performed on a makeshift stage in Hop Store 12 at the west Dublin complex, marking the 250th anniversary of Arthur Guinness signing a 9,000 year lease on the site.Jones opened the event after a toast to the Guinness founder at precisely 17:59 (reflecting the year the brewery opened), followed by Estelle, who had the crowd jumping around to the likes of 'American Boy'. A shirtless Dizzee Rascal followed, playing a hit heavy set including the likes of 'Holiday' and closer 'Bonkers', ahead of headliners Kasabian.Opening with 'Underdog', the Leicester band played a sharp 35 minute set which featured 'Empire', 'Club Foot', 'Fire' and closer 'LSF'.Kasabian played:'Underdog''Where Did All The Love Go?''Shoot The Runner''Club Foot''Empire''Fire''LSF'At the same time as the main gig, a series of shows were staged across the Irish capital, featuring over 60 artists playing in 33 venues, ranging from concert halls to tiny pubs.Among those playing were The Enemy, Razorlight, Fionn Regan, Natalie Imbruglia, Richard Hawley, Roots Manuva and Supergrass offshoot The Hot Rats.Events to mark the anniversary were also taking place across the globe, with Sean Paul playing in Lagos, while Black Eyed Peas were in Kuala Lumpur. A Guinness show was also held in New York.
Kasabian tickets:
Nov 16, 2009 19:00 at Liverpool Echo Arena, Liverpool - Buy from Seetickets
Nov 18, 2009 19:30 at Trent Fm Arena, Nottingham - Buy from Seetickets
Nov 19, 2009 19:00 at National Indoor Arena, Birmingham - Buy from Seetickets
More Kasabian tickets

Guy wants Kasabian

The "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" director has earmarked them as possible collaborators on a new project.
Madonna's former husband says he is a big fan of the band's new album, which was amongst the nominees for last week's Mercury Prize.
"The Kasabian album 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' is the best thing I have heard this year. I've have been playing it non stop", he told a UK tabloid.
Ritchie said, "I'd love to meet up with the band. The music on the latest album is like a film soundtrack. He's a talented bloke, Serge (Pizzorno)"

Ritchie needs to work with Kasabian

British film director Guy Ritchie needs to work with guitarist Serge Pizzorno of Kasabian for his next film.
"The Kasabian album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the good thing I have heard this year. I've have been playing it non-stop. I'd love to meet up with the band. The music on the latest album is like a film soundtrack. He's a talented bloke, Serge," thesun.co.uk quoted Ritchie as saying.
Serge is a movie fan and is obesessed with late director Stanley Kubrick. He lookes old movies while the band is on tour.
He needs to work on movie scores and has revealed that the latest album is based on a national movie. Serga said, "I definitely would like to sit down and organise a movie. Anything from an arthouse film, a really small budget film, to a huge James Bond theme,"

Calif. AG to rejection of medical claims

LOS ANGELES — California Attorney General Jerry Brown is looking into claims that the state's top health insurers reject about 20 percent of medical claims.
In a statement, Brown says substitute in his office are launching an independent research because a high denial rate advises the system itself is nonadaptive.
AG spokesman Scott Gerber says the research comes on the heels of a Los Angeles Times report that the state's largest health insurers reject up to 39.6 percent of claims.
California Association of Health Plans spokeswoman Nicole Kasabian Evans told the Times that health plans stay by contracts and there are logical reasons to deny claims.

the Civic, Kasabian swagger

“So did you miss us at the V Festival?” Tom Meighan asked the sold out Civic, prompting the city’s longest composite ‘Yesss’ since Wolves won promotion.
And for anyone who suffered Oasis’ grudging and soulless set at Weston Park, this was the perfect antidote.
From the minute Meighan blustered on stage newly trimmed and looking like a slicked up Russell Crowe he grouped any doubts that a current swine flu scare had dimmed his innate likeability and raucous stage presence. “Yes, I’m alive,” he beamed.
Epic opener Underdog set the standard and, having acquired the ‘difficult third album’ syndrome with ease, Kasabian were able to cherry pick a catalogue now incomparable by any band since The Stone Roses.

Cue big stomping anthems, almost all of which turned into sing along, clap along fan fests with the whole venue joining in, except the security staff, who bottled their big moment, to pantomime boos from everyone else.
The set was faultless, with ‘Where did all the love go’ and ‘Fire’ raising the bar ever higher. Time, unhappily , flew past. So much so that when Club Foot kicked in, it still felt like the center order.
In fact it was the set closer, giving way to a storming repeat of Stuntman, followed by a reprise of their Glastonbury showpiece as Candi Staton’s ‘You got the love’ bled seamlessly into a memorably rousing LSF.
As the band left a sea of smiling faces in their wake, Meighan shouted above the cheers: “We need you to make us the most important band in Britain.”

Oasis tag, "Lad rock" kings Kasabian reject

TOKYO (Reuters) - British band Kasabian have the local bomb squad's number on speed dial, but the new kings of "lad rock" insist their hell raising days are behind them.
Short listed for the prestigious Mercury Prize after their third album, "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum," recently greatest he charts, the psychedelic rockers flatly reject comparisons to another, globally conquering all mail Bitish band that also has its fair share of awards: Oasis.
"People say we're going to be the new Oasis but we're not," Kasabian vocalist Tom Meighan told Reuters during a recent trip to Tokyo.
"There is no new Oasis. We can't be Oasis because they've done it. Oasis were giants in the '90s. It's nice when people say it, but they're kind of missing the point."
Kasabian approvaled Oasis in a series of stadium shows in Britain over the summer before flying to Japan to acomplish at the summer Sonic music festival, but Meighan said this was for the band's own good.
"We played in front of almost a million people in three weeks," said the 28 year old "The record was just out, so it's the best promotion you can get. You do it, don't you?"
Meighan accepted kasabian used to be "terrors" on tour and trouble has sought them out in unusual ways: guitarist Sergio Pizzorno found a live World War Two shell in his garden.
But now Meighan believes the band has grown up, with the critically acclaimed "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum" marking a proveing point for the musicians who hail from Leicester, England.

Arctic Monkeys: Make Kasabian sick

The Arctic Monkeys' favorite karaoke songs make Kasabian guitar player Serge Pizzorno vomit.The "Crying Lightning" rockers often sing along to Craig David tracks in karaoke bars, and during one impromptu gig Pizzorno had to rush to the toilet to be physically sick because it sounded so dangerous.Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner said: "It either goes one way or the other doesn't it, the Craig David songs. I think me and Matt Helders did a set of Craig's "Seven Days" and it really made Serge from Kasabian sick. He really threw up. He left to be sick."But the stomach churning incident didn't stop the band which is embraced of Alex, drummer Matt, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley from taking the microphone again during a night out at the Joshua Tree Saloon bar, in California.Matt who along with his bandmates recorded their latest LP "Humbug" at a nearby studio said: "I sang Craig David on karaoke recently just to lighten the mood a bit. But it was a very dangerous move. It was near an army base and there weren't many people there happily, but it was the kind of place where 'Seven Days' worked. I didn't same look at the screen once, I knew all the words!"Meanwhile, Matt has revealed he is a massive fan of Britney Spears.He explained: "I went to see Britney Spears at The O2. It was excellant. I'd never been to anything like that before, it blew my mind. I went with music producer James Ford, we were in the front row and she was eyeing him up. There was this one act where this big footage frame gets erected in front of us. We were thinking, 'Ooh, I good if she's going to come out of there!' She comes and stood on this footage frame and well blinked at Ford! I were miffed.'

Kasabian given swine flu

Kasabian have been given the all clear by doctors after bridal members fell ill during their tour and it was feared they had swine flu.
Frontman Tom Meighan was taken to hospital in Sydney, Australia, earlier this week, according to The Sun.
The band members were showing symptoms similar to swine flu but their spokeswoman confirmed that they did not in argument have the bug.