Serge Pizzorno on the meaning of Kasabian's album title, Knebworth and annoying blink-182

Ahead of Kasabian’s eagerly awaited headline slot at cinch presents Isle of Wight Festival on Saturday night (18th June), band leader Serge Pizzorno called by Absolute Radio this morning for a chat on The Dave Berry Breakfast Show.

The bill-topping performance at Isle of Wight Festival comes during exciting summer for Kasabian, which will see them unleash their seventh studio album ‘The Alchemist’s Euphoria’ to the world on Friday 5th August.

The first Kasabian record since the departure of Tom Meighan, ‘The Alchemist’s Euphoria’ boasts the Absolute Radio playlisted anthems ‘Alygatyr’ and ‘Scriptvre’ plus new single ‘Chemicals.’

For a band that have already released albums with bizarre titles including ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ and ‘Velociraptor!’, Serge says of the new record: “We’re proud of the name, there’s been good lineage so far.”

He continued: “The Alchemist was this idea of this chemist in his studio connecting dots, bringing different genres together, searching for that euphoric moment - that moment where you come up with maybe a verse or a chorus or a riff, and it's that 20-minute/30-minute period of complete ecstasy.

“And then after that, it's just pain and headache. Horrendous! So, I thought it was nice to just give that (euphoric) moment its props.”

Elsewhere during the chat, Serge hailed Kasabian’s recent special guest spots at Knebworth with Liam Gallagher as a pivotal moment for the Leicester band.

“Knebworth a few weeks ago, that was just beyond anything,” Serge said. “The gig was like you know when you’re a kid and you get to a final or something and you just go ‘please, please be good today. Please everything go well!’ It was one of them, man. It was the Gareth Bale overhead kick in the Champion’s League final.

“It was just one mad moment to happen, and it was that good. And it was just the energy to see that many people. That made me more inspired, and I wanted to write an album that night. That's what it's all about for me.”

Later on, Serge revealed how Kasabian’s antics annoyed blink-182’s crew at a festival a while back.

“We've always travelled with… we sort of made this huge sound system,” Serge said. “Like Notting Hill Carnival kind of big. Insane bass bins.

“When we first made it, I'll be honest with you, I'll level with you, we made it to sort of when we arrive at a festival to make a mark - just to basically do everyone's head in. We made so loud that when we turned up, we turned it as loud as we could just to let people know we were there.

“We'd put rainforest sounds on, we'd mess with people. One time blink-182’s security knocked and the door and goes ‘guys, will you turn the music down?’ We go ‘as if mate! Just get out! Move out the way!”

You can watch Serge’s full chat with Dave below where he also highlights the importance of respecting other artists nowadays, the making of ‘The Alchemist’s Euphora’, how he couldn’t get tickets for Oasis at Knebworth in the 90s and why Dave couldn’t quite get away with his fashion sense.

Kasabian embark on a UK arena tour this autumn calling in at Manchester, London, Cardiff and Birmingham. Tickets are on sale from Absolute Radio Tickets now.

Absolute Radio at Isle of Wight Festival:

Don’t forget, Absolute Radio will be returning to cinch presents Isle of Wight Festival 2022 this weekend where we’ll be broadcasting live shows and live music – including highlights of Kasabian’s headline set.

You can find out more about our coverage RIGHT HERE.

Isle of Wight Festival 2021 in photos:

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• Kasabian
• Isle of Wight Festival