Kasabian live to perform
The British band will perform at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre tomorrow, but before that Sergio Pizzorno talks to tabloid! about playing live and what they’re going to do in Dubai
After being together for more than ten years, putting out five albums and playing innumerable live shows around the world together, Kasabian guitarist Sergio Pizzorno reckons that his band can do whatever they please, whenever they please, from here on.
“We’ve afforded the right to do whatever we want now,” he told tabloid! on the phone last week. He sounded affable and suitably relaxed, without the try-hard energy of a novice, as he talked about the sunny day they were having in the UK. They’ve earned their keep, after all.
“We’ve pretty much done everything we wanted to, so now it’s just a matter of, when we feel like we’ve got something to say, we feel like we’ve got some good music, we’ll put it out. That could be soon, that could be in a few years, I don’t know.”
The band performs at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre tomorrow as part of Blended festival, their second time in the city.
Pizzorno and band mates Tom Meighan, Chris Edwards and Ian Matthews played a solo show at Dubai’s Seven Stadium, one of the biggest venues in the city, in 2012. (“It’s a crazy town. I’ve never seen anywhere quite like it,” said Pizzorno, laughing. This time around, he’s planning to visit the hip Al Quoz restaurant Tom & Serg, perhaps with Meighan in tow. “We have to visit that — I’m going try and go there.”)
Blended, however, will be a slightly different experience, being that it’s a festival. (Other acts billed for the two-day event include Robin Thicke, Kool & the Gang, Jessie Ware and Nico & Vinz.)
“There might be a number of people that have never seen you. I prefer that atmosphere. I think we’ll come over and give it all we’ve got,” he said.
A festival that the band are no strangers to is Coachella, known as a somewhat hippie festival and celebrity hotspot deep in the Californian desert, where Kasabian performed earlier this month. They previously played the festival in 2012, and before that in 2005.
“There’s something quite spiritual about that place, the site. We rented a villa, me and my friends, and we just sort of just got lost for a week. We were anonymous,” Pizzorno said.
Playing in different regions, he added, meant that the culture and cities varied, but the people, energy and shows were always consistent.
“[The shows are] kind of this amazing thing that binds all these countries and all these people together, it shows up how ridiculous it is that there’s any kind of violence in the world. It’s sort of incredible. Music has a way of bringing people together. I suppose that’s what you see — a show in Paraguay can be exactly the same as a show in Venice and Scotland and the same vibe, the same
feelings,” he said. As for playing to people who don’t know who they are? “I’m so used to that feeling. That’s how this band was built, you know? From day one.”
But don’t mistake the statement for self-deprecation. If anything, Pizzorno seems chuffed with what Kasabian has managed to accomplish so far, award snubs and critics be damned. From the late ‘90s, when they called themselves Saracuse, to the moment they changed their name to Kasabian courtesy of Linda Kasabian, a member of the Charles Manson cult, whose surname they thought sounded cool, the band has always focused on crafting a sound they were proud of.
“You sort of live and die by the music you have. That’s why we’re still going. That’s why it works, live. I also think... there’s less baggage live. People’s perceptions of you... they see you in a different light,” said Pizzorno.
Does he think a lot of people have misconceptions about who Kasabian are and what kind of music they make?
“I’m not the first artist to say that about what art they make. You’re always fighting against that, and you continue to carry on. I think history will look back on us with a huge smile, though. I think the music we put out there, the live shows we’ve done — it’s undeniable. Not to be a [expletive], but it’s true,” he said.
That being said, he’s in no rush to release more tunes at the moment. The last album the band released was 48:13, produced by Pizzorno himself, which came out around this time last year. It followed the band’s pattern of leaving no more than three years between their album releases. Does he think they’ll take a longer break soon?
“Not yet. Not yet. There’s still more to say,” he mused.
Asked whether there’s any use in just sitting around, he added, “God, no.”
But when it came down to it, Kasabian is dealing with the uncertainty of the music industry just like everyone else. From Spotify to iTunes to Tidal, it’s become anyone’s guess how people will access music next. Asked what he made of the current moment in music history, Pizzorno said he had “no idea”.
“I’ve talked to a few people about this, and no one really knows what the hell’s going on. I mean, I talk about a next record, but I don’t even know if that’s a format that will even be worth putting it out there. It’s a way of releasing something, but I don’t know. No one has a clue. Which is very exciting. The change from our first album to now, it’s unbelievable, the difference,” he said.
Are there any records that have caught his attention lately? “I really like Kendrick Lamar’s new album [To Pimp a Butterfly], I’ve been listening to that a lot. I love his lyrics, I think he’s an incredible lyricist.” Anything he’s disliked? “Oh, no. I don’t really care about [that] — there’s a bad energy. [If] things are not great, they’re not great.”
“I suppose the one constant and the one thing that is true that will never change is if you put out good music, then you’ll be okay. You’ll live and die by the tunes, and that’s it.”
And as for Kasabian, the future is bright, and Pizzorno seems to think they’re very much in the ‘living’ phase of their careers.
“It’s taken us this long to get to where we’ve always wanted to be, just to take that time to achieve that. Wherever we go next, it’s really exciting. Because if this is the starting point, then God knows where we’re going to end up,” he said.
“Music has a way of bringing people together. I suppose that’s what you see — a show in Paraguay can be exactly the same as a show in Venice and Scotland and the same vibe, the same feelings.”
SERGIO PIZZORNO
| Guitarist