Kasabian have spoken to NME about their huge 2024 homecoming show in Leicester and the “psychedelic” inspiration behind their upcoming new album, ‘Happenings’.
The band, who are now fronted by chief songwriter Serge Pizzorno, are set to return to Victoria Park on July 6 after previously playing an outdoor gig there back in 2014. A second takeover of the park was planned for 2020, but the event was shelved due to COVID-19. The announcement came with a teaser of the release of their eighth album ‘Happenings’.
“What’s exciting about it is the next generation of fans and kids getting to see it, because we had that history,” Pizzono told NME, after announcing the show during a conference at De Montfort Hall – a stone’s throw from where Kasabian will be taking to the stage next summer.
“The people that came the first time [will be there], but then there’ll be kids that were 10/11, and now 20. They’re getting to go and see something in their hometown that’s massive, and the opportunity to hear the classics, [the] new record, new tunes, and be a part of this day.”
He continued: “It was about creating memories – that’s the thing you look back on. Those are the moments, those memories. This kind of thing ingrains forever. That’s why I think this one’s gonna be insane. Because of the energy of that new generation.”
Bassist Chris Edwards added that the “buzz” and “folklore” of the show in Leicester 10 years ago “will fuel the next one”.
Check out our interview with the band below, as they tell us what to expect from the shows, the vibe of ‘Happenings’, what they have in common with The Killers, and the chances of headlining Glasto again
NME: Hello Kasabian. The poster for the gig features a new take on the artwork from your debut album. Do you plan on celebrating its 20th anniversary in Victoria Park, or in any other way?
Pizzorno: “Our way of sort of celebrating that is putting a new album out. It’s about artistry and making new things and new music. We’re definitely going to do something – but it’s also the reason why you stay in the game. It’s about the next record; it’s about what we’re doing next. It’s about taking what we did, and then reimagining it. The reason why we’re still around is because we haven’t just gone, ‘Remember this?’, ‘Remember that?’ It’s like, ‘This is the new thing. This is where we’re going’.”
Looking forward, what can you tell us about your new record ‘Happenings’?
Pizzorno: “In the late ’60s they would have happenings. So Hawkwind… there’d be a happening in the Roundhouse [in London]. They were sort of psychedelic… I suppose they were the first raves, you know? They got the name from the late ’50s. There was an art movement where they would stage happenings. So for instance, they would advertise that there would be an art show at a venue, and then everyone would turn up but there’d be no art show. And that was the art. The photos taken there would be of people being confused and then you go, ‘Shit – this is the show’.
“So we want to stage our own Kasabian happenings all over the world.”
Edwards: “Which we will turn up to!”
Pizzorno: “They will be shows. More like the sort of psychedelic late ’60s happenings. So the live thing and being out playing has informed the album. We wanted to have that feed into each other. But essentially it’s huge, big, big tunes to be played in front of lots of people.”
You told NME at the start of the year that you felt like “a student of the game” in your new role as frontman. Do you feel like you’ve graduated now? What have you learned along the way?
Edwards: “He’s definitely graduated. Serge was put solely up front two years ago, and felt like he needed to kind of hone his craft. We’ve just finished a tour of North America and Mexico – places where we’ve never really had that much crowd involvement. It just felt like the UK, and I believe Serge was a massive part of that. He has them in the palm of his hand now. He knows how to whip the crowd up. Anywhere that we go, he’ll read the audience and he’ll do it perfectly.
“That’s going to be a big attribute for us going forward with the new album, and over the new demographic of people that we’ve got coming to the gigs, you know?”
Pizzorno: “The point is you have to continue to be the student. It’s like martial arts, man. You’d be crazy to stop. Every show teaches you something different. It’s exciting times, you know? It’s really exciting times. The new album and the live show… it’s just rockin’. It’s really something.”
Did you have any concerns about the fan response to the line-up change?
Pizzorno: “I mean, obviously we knew it was a risk. I’m the songwriter – Tom [Meighan] didn’t write – so where this band is going musically is where it was always going. And then the live thing… there was no other way of doing it, we’ve worked out. So it was down to whether I could step up to the plate. I knew that I would fucking give everything I’ve got. Every fucking part of me. Now whether it works or not, who knows? People are always gonna decide; it’s their choice.
“So we knew it was a risk. But we also knew that nothing had changed in terms of the band was the band. And so it was just like, ‘Well, we’ll just see what happens’.”
How exactly did your recent experiences on the road filter into the new material?
Pizzorno: “We were getting home from these huge shows, and then being surrounded by musical instruments. All that energy is still [there], you know? In films where you see that someone gets zapped with electricity, it comes around the body and shit. I mean, it’s still in there. There’s like the essence of the show. So when you pick up a guitar, piano or whatever, or banging around some loops, you’re sort of in that mood. We just need music that soundtracks that.”
So we can expect some new live anthems?
Pizzorno: “Yeah, definitely. We were talking about the seven or eight songs that could easily get in a set, which is frightening because we’ve got to figure that out. The setlist will be the ‘best-of’, and the new things that get in will have to be at a certain level to get anywhere near.”
Edwards: “These songs on this album are much more… you get them quick. It’s not like you’re going to need to live with them for four or five months before you go, ‘This is my favourite tune’. You listen to them and you go, ‘This is great’. The fans will be ready for these. It will be the heavy hitters that are going to knock some [old] big heavyweights out of the set.”
The Killers released their debut in the same year as you did, at a time when guitar music was mainstream. You’re two of the big ‘indie’ bands to have survived from that period – why do you think that is?
Pizzorno: “I mean, what we do have in common is big songs. Let’s say there’s 10 big, big songs that you can play in any festival or any room in the world, and people know what they are. And I think you sort of live and die off that, really. The tunes have stood the test of time.
“Just in terms of how powerful a song can make you feel… you get up, you feel like shit, you put a tune on and you transform. Your mind can be spiralling, and then you hear something and then all of a sudden you feel better. It can do something neurologically to you. We see it at festivals, man. And that’s going nowhere, that connection.”
Are there any crazy production plans to make Victoria Park extra special?
Pizzorno: “We’d like to give people something special, but we’ll see. It’s always a funny one, because sometimes you just need the vibe. The vibe is it. But one thing’s for sure: it’ll be pure celebration, and it’ll be pure joy. And it will be a chance for people to just leave their troubles at the gate. Get in there, get in that field and just go. From the moment that first tune hits – go! Go with everything, go with every piece of energy, every last breath you’ve got, and sing your heart out. And that’s what it’s going to be.”
Next year will be a decade since you headlined Glastonbury, and 12 years since your first time topping Reading & Leeds. Are you hoping to return with this new iteration of the band? What are your plans for Kasabian 2.0?
Pizzorno: “It sounds sort of cliché, I suppose. But genuinely, there isn’t any kind of [plan]. There was before – ‘We want this, this, this and this’, you know what I mean? Now there’s none. Now there’s like: great record, and then go and play. The American shows… seeing one kid on the shoulders, direct eye contact, singing every word, having that moment. You realise after it all – that’s as good as it gets. So we’re just going to see where it goes, but have no plan.”
Kasabian’s ‘Summer Solstice II’ show is due to take place in Victoria Park, Leicester on Saturday, July 6, 2024. Support will come from Kaiser Chiefs, with more acts to be announced in the coming months. Tickets go on general sale at 9.30am this Friday (December 8) – you’ll be able to buy yours here.
The band’s eighth studio album ‘Happenings’ is scheduled to arrive next summer, but an exact release date has not yet been confirmed. It’ll follow on from 2022’s ‘The Alchemist’s Euphoria’.
