Kasabian to play Plymouth Pavilions

ONE of the biggest names in British music, Kasabian will be preparing for their eagerly anticipated Teenage Cancer Trust performance at the Royal Albert Hall on March 22, with a warm up show at Plymouth Pavilions on Wednesday.

The gig, which sold out instantly, offers local fans a rare chance to witness one of the top bands of the moment on their doorstep in a relatively intimate venue.

Fans lucky enough to have secured a ticket will doubtless be able to see Serge Pizzorno, Tom Meighan, Chris Edwards and Ian Matthews perform a selection of tracks from their four mega selling albums, Empire, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum and latest offering Velociraptor!

"It would have been easy to make a weird follow up to West Ryder," says Serge, guitarist/keys/programmer, in an interview about the album at the time, "but we thought it would be far more of a challenge to make an album where every song was a killer tune.

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"We wanted to make a modern classic, one that people can sing along to."

This they undoubtedly did with Switchblade Smiles leading the way, followed by the release of the title track as a single.

Often hailed as Leicestershire's answer to Oasis, the fact is that Kasabian's music is far more interesting and eclectic than that of the Manchester rockers.

In fact, whether Kasabian are a rock band is debatable.

Instead of churning out laddish bluesy rock anthems, they incorporated club beats and electronica from the start and certainly aren't afraid to experiment as in opening track on the latest long player, Let's Roll Just Like We Used To.

Unlike the banging crowd-pleasers that have opened their previous three offerings, this begins dreamily with Eastern promise, followed by crashing dance beats and continues to veer from blissed-out space rock to club stomper.

The rest of the album returns to more familiar territory ranging from sophisto-pop and growling garage to neo psychedelia.

But there's plenty of diversity in the mix.

Of course the production helps. Both this album and the previous one were recorded with hip-hop producer Dan the Automator with much recourse to looping and sampling.

Like Oasis they take inspiration from classic bands of the past, but unlike them, they want reinvent a sound more relevant for this millennium.

"I don't want to sound retro," says Serge, "I love the rock bands of the Sixties and Seventies, but I want to learn from them not be them.

"We all love the tribal element of dance music, but when you've got a frontman like Tom you've got to give him something to sing.

"Take away all the madness, there's always a song you can play on the guitar or piano.

"What makes us a rock band is the attitude more than the music."