Page three:
The new album “Happenings” is like an explosion of colours! It was created with the intention of being a live performance, and I wanted to bring that to the sound of this album.
If you read Serge Pizzorno’s latest interview, you will immediately understand what Kasabian is right now. To put it simply, their latest album, Happenings, is an exceptionally upper and physical chest rock album. The previous album, The Alchemist’s Euphoria, was a trial and error album that forced the band to rebuild after Tom Meighan left the band. From rhythmic disco to innovative rectification and rave-style dance punk, their latest album, The Alchemist’s Euphoria, is a lively and unified sound. Serge, who is now not only a songwriter and producer but also a singer and frontman, says that his experience of standing in the center of the stage on tours has greatly contributed to his ability to shake off the pressure. As a long-time fan, I am very happy that the 20th anniversary of their debut album has become such an exciting one for the future.
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard a Kasabian album that is so full of excitement from every corner. Can we interpret this as a reflection of your current mood?
“Yes, yes, seriously, it’s not about that… How can I put it? It’s basically like a snapshot of my life. If I were to line up all the albums we’ve released so far, from our first album Kasabian to our second album Empire to now, I could see what I was thinking and what my spirit was at that time. And then we came to our last album The Alchemist’s Euphoria… We toured the world with that album, and even though we were in the middle of a period of hardship for the band, we were desperately trying to overcome it somehow, to deliver our music, and we were working with a hot enthusiasm so that we could reach new fans. Even after returning to the studio, the afterglow of the live performance still lingers. But yeah, I’m still excited… this time Happenings is like an explosion of colours. It was made with a completely live performance in mind. I wanted to bring that back to the sound of this album.”
It’s very physical. The physical and uptempo dance and elements of music seem to come through more than usual.
“Yes, my current performance is really good, but you know… it’s physical, and directly connected to my body – that’s something I’ve gained from the fact that I’ve become so active on stage that I can’t compete without songs that inspire me on stage, so I have to bring songs that I feel confident and impressive, and that get the audience excited naturally – so I have to try to become a real singer, and move like this, like this [swaying with microphone in hand], and really move like this, and maybe those movements have an effect on the way I sing on a physical level, which in turn influences the tone and attitude of the songs”
Page four:
Anyway, there’s no doubt that it’s an uplifting and joyful work. And in these strange, crazy times. How on earth could we possibly have stepped out of this crazy world and reached this incredible energy and supremacy?
“It’s a divine structure!” I even want to say to myself, but that’s what makes it so interesting.”
The gradual build-up to Call in the second half gives the song a very Kasabian-like dramatic quality. On the other hand, songs like Coming Back To Me Good, which has a powerful chorus and a light, soaring feel, felt really fresh. Were there any new approaches you tried on this album?
“The songwriting process has always been the same since I was making my first album. Every morning I wake up and it’s like, ‘Okay, I’m going on a journey to find inspiration again today,’ seriously. Sometimes inspiration comes from a sampler or loops, other times it comes from the more traditional guitar and piano, and I just look for the tiniest bit of inspiration no matter what. The differences between each album are just a difference in where my perspective was at a certain time. If I had to say, this time I was into 70’s Babe Ruth and Vanilla Fudge, but at the same time I was really into Electro, Daft Punk and that sort of French electro vibe. It’s just a matter of what I was listening to at the time, or where my eyes were directed at the time. I’m naturally a very curious person, and I quickly become interested in anything. When I listen to the album, I can immediately tell what I was listening to at that time.”
When did production on this album begin?
“I started working on it right away after the tour for the last album finished. I thought, “I have to make a new album right now,” so I went into the studio and the first thing I came up with was Call, but it determined the direction of the whole album. I guess you could say it set the tone… It’s concise and hits all the right spots. There are no intros or interludes, it’s all just a strong chorus, and each of those 8 beats is placed in a carefully calculated position, so it grabs the listener’s attention and doesn’t let it go. It doesn’t let the listener get bored, it doesn’t give them any gaps. This thorough attention to detail is great – I was convinced at the time that this is what I should aim for this time, that this is it. I think it’s the strongest melodies-wise too. It would be great if all the melodies that come out were choruses. It’s not just a crappy album, it’s full of hooks – if you’re doing something like this, you can’t ignore it, right? And I’m not saying that everyone has to like it. It’s okay if you don’t like it, but you certainly can’t ignore it.”
This time you’ve returned to self-producing, but did you have a clear blueprint from the beginning of production?
“The blueprint was to make a punk record, or rather, to base the songs on a punk sensibility, and to make them direct and concise… but even so, even though it’s tightly condensed, I still wanted it to be a grand listening experience, to let people experience the story… and I wanted to somehow squeeze it all into the limited time of an old-fashioned 45 rpm record in a nice way. I wanted to pack everything into the limited time of an EP, that’s the kind of tension I had.”
When you came to Japan for Sonic Mania in ’22, you stood on stage without a guitar, saying “Come on, come on, come on” and your imposing frontman side was impressive. Would you say that your experience from touring for your previous album is also put to good use in this album?
“It was seriously the best show ever. For me it was right in the middle of the most trying time of my life. I’d always been like, ‘Alright, I’m Keith Richards,’ and then it was like, ‘Now I’m Mick Jagger?’ [laughs] – I’d been doing that all my life and now I’m being asked to change roles? [laughs] But still, the experience was absolutely amazing. I mean, I was there as the moderator of a collective experience with the audience in front of me. Whether it’s on a physical level or an emotional level… It’s like I’m drawing the audience in front of me into my bosom [by spreading my arms and surrounding them], and it’s impossible not to get excited. I learn something new every time I go on stage, and it’s just really exciting. I’m still learning what it means to be on stage as a frontman. But the stage in Japan left a really strong impression on me. I’ve been with them for 20 years now, since the first album, and it’s a place where I feel understood more as a writer than anywhere else in the world… it was really exciting.”
Page five:
“Every time I’m interviewed by a hot-head, I feel like, ‘Wow, they really can’t understand me.’ I know that there are things that can’t be translated, but I wonder if they’re really being understood in some countries or regions… But in Japan, I really feel like it’s not just flattery, but that it’s getting through to them, and anyway, it’s a place that I have a lot of feelings for, so I feel a certain affinity. Japanese culture, fashion and all that… is really different, but I can relate to it and it feels familiar to me… I’m from Leicester, far away in the countryside in England. That’s why I’ll never forget the experience of performing on a Japanese stage for the first time as a frontman at the last show in Sonic. I can’t wait to go to Japan again.”
I think that the skills you use and the scenery you see must be completely different between performing on stage as a guitarist and vocalist and standing in the middle of the stage as the main vocalist. During the previous tour, which was your first time performing as the main vocalist, which song do you remember as a particularly strong experience? There were several moments that were “seriously awesome, or rather, absolutely the best.
“When I played L.S.F. with Liam Gallagher in front of 80,000 people at Knebworth – L.S.F. was a song I wrote in my bedroom when I was 20 years old – And when I saw all these 20-year-olds singing along to that song, I could vividly picture my bedroom back then in my head. I felt like I was standing on the stage singing this song in front of the audience, experiencing this song from this side of the view, and I just… I can’t put it into words, just imagine it. It’s crazy. I just felt so grateful that it never stopped.
Page six:
In an interview about your previous album, you said that The Alchemist’s Euphoria was a “process of reconstructing Kasabian.” Through this reconstruction process, did you realize what the core of Kasabian was, what the essence of this band was?
“It’s strange, even though everything that happened, in the end it’s the songs…there’s always a weird melody that feels right. I realized that the structure of my brain, which is searching for something, combining it with various influences from within myself, and cannot help but come up with something strange, is what makes Kasabian Kasabian. So it’s like there was no reconstruction or anything like that in front of me from the beginning. I just remembered that it was already perfectly completed without the need for reconstruction, and that it was just a simple and basic thing like going to the studio and writing songs… There is definitely an absolute and special structure for me to write Kasabian songs, and I want to reach a new and exciting scene beyond the genre. So rather than as a band, it was a process of growing and being reborn as an individual after overcoming a deep dark period in my life. It was more than about the essence of the band Kasabian, its music, or its way of being. It was more of a process of personal growth.”
Algorithms is a fitting finale for this album, with its elegant chorus and orchestra. Please tell us the message you put into this song.
“That song was written about a time when communication by AI was accelerating, and I was searching for hints about how humans and AI will interact in the future. Even at this stage, AI has already become fully immersed in our lives, and even writes songs and poems for us. Even though we are at this current stage in the history of humans, we throw in that chorus line, “They’ll never feel love like this” At that moment, the whole audience was like, “That’s so true, I have to turn off my smartphone and savor this moment, I have to experience what I can experience with the person in front of me.” AI has become so ingrained in the lives of modern people that we have to choose the best choice for ourselves every time. Depending on how you look at it, it might be called a utopia, but, you know… I can’t help but think about people who live a life chosen by something other than themselves, and the theme of the song is, “We live to enjoy this moment in our limited time.” You have to live a real life while you’re alive. I know, I know. The world of the internet is just so attractive and fascinating. On the other hand, if you look at the real world, you’ll be shown the miserable and painful reality. But that’s also the beauty of life. If you put a plastic flower next to a real flower, it’s so perfect that you can’t tell it apart from the real thing. The real flower will gradually wither, but the main thing is that it’s still there. That’s the point… It can only be enjoyed for a moment during that limited time.”
If the history of Kasabian were a long novel that is still being serialized, what chapters of your story would you say the past two decades were? Also, what do you think the new chapter starting in 2024 will be like?
“The first chapter was about innocence and carefreeness, about jumping out into the world and indulging in the world of alcohol, psychedelia, and partying to the max. It was kind of dark… There were dark times, but there were also beautiful moments… It was like, ‘Oh, so that’s how it is.’ Life really is both light and dark. And now, in the third chapter, I’m really just grateful for the path I’ve taken so far… And it’s about art and curiosity, and I’m burning with the determination to move people’s hearts with this music, to excite them more than ever before. It really is like that.”