Kasabian: We are possibly one of the best live bands in England

Jul 18 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Kasabian have won plaudits from their army of fans and the musical press – but can they earn the respect of a Creamfields crowd?  Emma Johnson reports

ANYONE heading to Creamfields this year is in for an absolute treat. Especially if you are going on the Sunday, because the best live act in the UK are headlining the main stage.

That’s not my description, mind you, it’s their own.

"We are a great live act. We are possibly one of the best live bands in England. If not the best, apart from Muse," offers Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan.

In fairness, he is not alone in thinking so. An NME award last year said the same, a welcome bit of praise for a band who see themselves as outsiders in the current music melee.

Says Tom: "It was nice to be recognised for once, we are kind of the underdogs in all this and when you win anything it’s good."

Mind you, Kasabian are not the kind of band who need awards to know their worth. Since releasing their debut album in 2003, the five- piece from Leicester – Tom is joined by pals Sergio Pizzorno, Chris Edwards, Ian Matthews and Jay Mehler – have plugged away, letting the music speak for itself, while other guitar bands took the plaudits, even if sometimes Tom couldn’t resist giving his peers a kicking in the musical press.

Luckily, the music did speak for itself. The band’s eponymous first album (they take their name from Linda Kasabian, the pregnant girl who drove Charles Manson’s getaway car from Sharon Tate’s house) charted at number four in the UK, going double platinum, while the follow-up, Empire, went straight to the top of the charts.

This year’s Creamfields festival at Daresbury, near Warrington, will be Kasabian’s only outdoor date this year after they rocked Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight Festivals last summer. "We have left the festivals this year, we have done them for the last three or four years," explains 27-year-old Tom, who played for Nottingham Forrest as a teenager before ditching football for rock and roll.

"I don’t think there was any point going back doing the same festivals we did last year when there was nothing new or fresh to play.

"We are doing Creamfields because they have asked us to. It is a one-off and I think it is important for a rock band to do something like this and take it to another level."

This year’s Creamfields festival is all about taking it to another level, it seems. The brand’s 10th anniversary, it will be the first time the event has ever taken place over two days, and Kasabian are not the only non-electronic act on the bill as the Cream team push the musical boundaries beyond the dance genre.

Although DJ/producer extraordinaire Fatboy Slim tops the bill on the Saturday, Stone Roses star Ian Brown will also be putting in an appearance as will loud- mouthed American rockers Gossip.

In a recent interview, Tom said he thought Kasabian were one of the only bands that could carry playing a dance festival like Creamfields, but today he is taking a more laid- back approach to the responsibility of being the first rock band to take on what is traditionally one of the UK’s biggest dance music events.

"Not fussed," he laughs. "Not really bothered. We have been asked to play so we are playing it. I don’t think we are responsible for anything. We are responsible for making it a good show; if people don’t like it, they don’t like it. But I think that people do like our band. We are bigger than we think really, live wise."

The festival will also be the first chance for Kasabian fans to catch tracks from the band’s much anticipated third album. Due for release at the end of the year, Meighan says it is their best work yet.

"We are almost finished, about three more songs to do and then we have got to mix it. It is lovely. It’s like Wizard of Oz. It’s like a psychedelic play of Wizard of Oz."