KASABIAN’S STRING THEORY

Kasabian promised they would blow our minds this time round, but nobody could have expected this.

Here’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes shot of the boys in rehearsal with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for Saturday’s special Electric Proms performance at London’s new Roundhouse venue.

“The Proms thing always reminds me of old dears flapping British flags, but the BBC said, ‘You can do what you want,”’ guitarist Serge Pizzorno told NME. “So we said, ‘Can we get an orchestra?’”

And rather than do what Serge describes as “one of those shit CDs you get from Woolworths like ‘String Quartet Plays The Hits Of Radiohead’,” the bizarre meeting of minds realised ‘Empire’, ‘Me Plus One’, ‘The Doberman’, ‘By My Side’, ‘LSF’ and ‘Club Foot’.

“We’ve always regarded the people that come and see us as our orchestra,” Serge added, “so on Saturday not only will we have our fans but loads of strings!”

The BBC’s Electric Proms, timed to coincide with John Peel Day, also featured exclusive performances from Damon Albarn’s new project, Paul Weller, Guillemots and Klaxons.