Leicester indie giants Kasabian have hit out at their critics, telling of their disgust at being labelled a ‘lad rock band’.
Kasabian can hardly be accused of lacking confidence. The natural heirs to Oasis’ mantle as the cockiest band in Britain, the group’s machine gun wit has seen them take aim at contemporaries.
In a recent chat with the press guitarist Serge Pizzorno stuck his oar in on the MPs expenses scandal, mocking a politician who charged the cleaning of his moat to the public’s purse. Although at one point the musician did admit “to be honest, I quite like the idea that he finds it impossible to do any work unless he’s got a clean moat.”
However it seems that some criticism does get under their skin. Together with the likes of Oasis and The Enemy, Kasabian are continually disparaged as being ‘lad rock’. A style of music that evolved out of Britpop, ‘lad rock’ is meat and potatoes indie, guitar music without any airs or graces.
As one of the best selling guitar bands in Britain, Kasabian have been labelled as a ‘lad rock’ act time and time again. However with their new record ‘West Rider Pauper Asylum’ being a concept album, no less, it seems the indie group are keen to stress just how deep their music can be.
In a new interview with the NME guitarist Serge Pizzorno denies that the group are lad rock claiming “if you put our records on and press play, there’s no pub rock in that, man. It’s really British rock’n’roll. It is what it is. It kind of makes me laugh when people say that – you ain’t got no idea.”
‘West Rider Pauper Asylum’ is one of the band’s strongest efforts to date. Buoyed by lead singer ‘Vlad The Impaler’ and its Richard Ayoade directed video, the album could well be seen Kasabian’s finest moment.
Speaking of the new album, singer Tom Meighan is unequivocal in his praise. “I think the album shows how beautiful we are as a band,” he explained. “How beautiful we’ve become. It was an ugly duckling, but now it’s grown up. It’s kind of flowered, blossomed. I think we’ve matured in every way.”
Kasabian debuted tracks from their debut album at Brighton’s Great Escape event last week. Receiving rapturous applause from fans, the set kicks off which promises to be a busy summer for the group.
In addition to a festival appearance at the Eden Sessions Kasabian are set to support Oasis on their upcoming UK tour. Performing alongside the likes of The Enemy and Twisted Wheel, this could well be the biggest assembly of lad rock ClashMusic has ever seen.
Kasabian are set to release their new single ‘Fire’ on June 1st. The band’s new album ‘West Rider Pauper Asylum’ is due to be released on June 8th.
