Kasabian
By Will Seeley

And basically, they were right. We don’t. The clubs may still be ruled by extended remixes, but the rock and pop world has turned it’s back on electronic knob twiddling. Even Radiohead picked up their guitars again. And that may have been the end of the story. But it isn’t.

You see, things like looping and sampling as tools have become part of the groundwater, along with lead and asbestos and radioactive isotopes, and they affect the very way new musicians think. “It doesn’t sound like anything but a big rock band. But really, it’s produced just like a hip hop album,” says Sergio Pizzorno, one of the prime movers behind the new British Invaders called Kasabian. “Just a series of loops, the same parts going over, you know, little snippets of sound.”

Now, I’m no techno geek, and the first time I put on Kasabian’s self-titled debut, it sounded like a rock band, just like Sergio says. Sure, I could hear the keyboards and the ambient beginnings and endings to the single “Club Foot”. But mostly I heard songs and grooves and big guitars and melodic singing in the mold of umpteen Madchester or Beatles-derived bands. But closer scrutiny reveals little touches that only come at the mixing board or the computer. Read the liner notes and you discover that Pizzorno, Chris Karloff, Tom Meighan, Ryan Glover, and Chris Edwards (and others!) trade off who plays what on every song. Although the press kit calls Sergio the “lead guitarist”, others play that role and he plays other roles.

“Whoever was nearest, with whatever was lying around,” is how Pizzorno describes the recording process. “The rules are, there are no rules! Yeah, we did it in a farm in the middle of the English countryside, in a small room no bigger than a Ford truck. On a computer. It was really basic, no distractions, just getting on with making music.“ Listen to Kasabian and try to imagine a couple of guys in the middle of nowhere inventing this. No! It can’t be! It sounds too much like a huge night on the stage.

And Kasabian easily translates their sound to the live arena, whipping up the audience into a frenzy on a regular basis. In my mind’s eye, I imagine a crazed climax to a concert where Pizzorno smashes his guitar and amp, Townshend style. “No! If I smashed it, what am I gonna play with?” he laughs. Well, that’s not very rock and roll of you, Sergio. “It comes close, it comes close,” he replies. “I’m sure that one day, it’ll have to happen. By the time we finish, everyone’s riled up, it would just take a little bit to spark it!”

But Kasabian’s more about inclusion. Their philosophy pervades their music and everything they do. Go to their web site, www.kasabian.co.uk, and you’ll read the Kasabian Manifesto, which insists you do things your own way, and you can become part of the Kasabian army. “When we play, there’s no difference between us and the crowd,” Pizzorno says. “There’s nothing better about me playing guitar than someone else building a house. You’re all given a gift. It doesn’t make you any better or worse than anyone else.”

So Kasabian has managed to do what everyone else didn’t manage: to make an organic, humanized, version of electronica-meets-rock and roll. Much earthier and feel good than most of the coldly computerized earlier experiments. Much more a part of who they are instead of an established musician trying to stay current. But such big thoughts aren’t really on Pizzorno’s mind. Sergio and his mates are just about making good music. “You play your music, and whoever likes it, no matter where they’re from, you go and play it again.,” he says. “The thing that’s important is making good albums and playing good shows, and no matter where in the world, we’ll do it.”