A Successful Beginning: An Interview With Kasabian
By: Brett Hickman |
Wednesday April 06, 2005 |
| We haven't had time for it (success) to effect us. It's like doing a painting right close to your face with little dots. All year you're doing these little dots and then at the end of the year you stand back and look at what you've created. We haven't had a chance to step back yet. |
| Live Photos Mat Von Thies
On record, Kasabian are a band pulsating with energy and verve. Their music boils over with charm and smarts. Live, they are in the top tier of acts performing today. Passionate, inventive, and funky, they compel those who do not typically dance to do so. Not since Ikara Colt made their first (and, it would seem, their last) appearance in Chicago at the very same venue (Metro), have I witnessed a band as ferocious in a live setting as this one. The band is due back to headline a tour of the states starting in May. Do yourself a favor and pick up tickets in advance. Static sat down with Kasabian bassist Chris Edwards on the band's recent stop in Chicago. Static: Have you toured the states before? Chris Edwards: No, it's the first tour. We came over in November and played the Bowery Ballroom in NY. This is our first proper live tour. What was the reason for the Bowery show? We were kind of half dipping our feet in the water testing it out and half just so that the record company could see us. RCA America. A lot of industry came out to watch us. It was more like a showcase really. There were a lot of fans there, too. It was about 50-50. 
The video for "Club Foot" is dedicated to Jan Palach. What's the deal
with that? You say you're not political, but there's this political leaning
message at the end of the video.
Exactly. We went to the screening of the video, we sat down there, and then it said 'dedicated to Jan Palach' or whatever his name is. And we're like, 'Who's that?' It was the director who put it in. A lot of people think we're a very political band, but we don't give a shit, mate. That's what I mean, you see. A lot of people have different views of the band. When we seen it, we were like, 'Who the fuck is that guy?' And then we realized that it was a Russian activist who had set himself on fire. I know that now, just because I found out, you know what I mean? Always the last to know... Yeah, exactly. That's how record companies work nowadays. Fucking hell. The British press has helped put forth this image of you all being uber-serious, mopey guys. We're not mopey at all. We are very deadly serious about what we do. There's no political agenda. We're not contrived. Nobody's got a plan. We just do what we do. Some press reference Oasis repeatedly when discussing you all, but I see it more as a combination of everything you've all listened to... That's it, mate. That over there is precisely it. Tom, when he was very young, was listening to Cypress Hill and Run DMC and people like that. We just listen to everything. Film soundtracks, classical music. There are people like DJ Shadow, The Stones, The Who, The Beatles. I could go on naming...There's not just one kind of genre we're interested in, or one kind of band, or one kind of time. We love everything. There are some things that are very reminiscent of Primal Scream's XTRMNTR, however. Particularly with regards to that dance-industrial crunch that just didn't catch on here back when that album was released. That's a great album. Its just cause, when we started out, we used to be a five piece band that just had two guitars, drums, bass, and vocals and that was it. And then, about four years ago, we started getting into computers and new technology. We used to be a very average indie band. But then we got the computer involved and started putting loops in and digital effects and weird shit. We were still keeping the analog core of the track. It was a mix between the new stuff and the old stuff. We sample like drum beats and stuff like that. We had some samples from a video called Killing of America. It was about the history of America. And we had some samples from that, but couldn't get sample clearance. We also had a sample from Revenge of the Nerds 2 and we weren't allowed to use that either. 
How have each of you, or you individually, or all of you as a band,
dealt with the fame and success you've encountered back home?
We haven't had any time. We had about three weeks off at Christmas. When you're in the bubble, you don't see what's going on outside. We sit on the bus, get to the venue, do our thing, and then go on to the next place. That's what we do. Everyone else around has changed, but we've stayed the same. We haven't had time for it to effect us. It's like doing a painting right close to your face with little dots. All year you're doing these little dots and then at the end of the year you stand back and look at what you've created. We haven't had a chance to step back yet. This is our eleventh country this year. We've just been going non-stop all year. At the Glastonbury festival last year, about 20,000 fans showed up...was that the first indication that things had changed? Exactly right, mate. We came off stage and I couldn't speak for probably fifteen minutes. I was fine before that. It was one of the easiest gigs I've ever played in my life. We played amazing. Got offstage and I was like, 'What the fuck just happened there?' And then it kinda hit me, I was like, 'Shit!' It was fucking crazy. That was our biggest show so far. Now that you've made it to the States, and the album is out, do you want to be as big of a success here as you are in England or bigger? Why not? We try to give as much as we can give. You try to be the best you can at everything you do. If you cut grass, you want to be the best at cutting grass. That's what you chose to do, that means you want to be the best. |
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