The majority of bands from the UK have a pretty similar sound. However, ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ stands out. How were you able to compose such an album even without leaving Great Britain, Leicester in particular?

Meighan: Take lots of morphine, it´s a nice drug. It relaxes your body. Yeah, he likes it (to Pizzorno) and I like it.

Meighan: Yea, very (ironic).

Meighan: The record is very simple really. We made lots of cups of tea. We went to San Francisco and ate lots of cakes … It wasn´t drug influence whatsoever, I am just cracking jokes, you know. I´m messing about. The samples were pretty simple, weren´t they mate?

Pizzorno: Yea.

However, most of the time you were in Leicester recording this stuff, weren´t you?

Meighan: Yea.

Pizzorno: To search inside your own head, it´s were all the ideas come from.

Meighan: You have to search for the hero inside yourself, ya know?

You listened a lot to the music of the ‘60s, didn´t you?

Pizzorno: Yes, and also we watched films, went out for food, for a few beers, wait for the transmission, put your antenna out and wait for the transmission.

Meighan: If you pick something up, maybe a UFO or an RAF plane but you´re gonna pick something up.

Pizzorno: You sit there, close your eyes and eventually it comes into your head like “bang, wow there it is, got it”. That´s the idea.

Former guitarist Christopher Karloff was one of Kasabian´s chief songwriters. In 2006, he left the band during the recording for your second album ‘Empire’. How did you experience the songwriting process for ‘West Ryder’ without his contribution?

Pizzorno: Nothing really changed. There was no like “Oh, what are we gonna do now?”. We just carried on.

Meighan: We had a very nice time but we got on with it.

Pizzorno: If you get caught in a trap, snared by a rabbit, then you just quit it off and carry on walking.

Meighan: That´s the way we deal with it really.

You decided to seek a second opinion on your new album and hired the American Hip Hop and Electronica producer Dan The Automateur. What made you choose him?

Meighan: He´s got a good pair of ears, you know. He brought along a new dimension we´ve never had before. He produced it like a hip hop record. With Jim Abbiss, it was just quite mushy and loads of sounds going on. I think this record was more to the point: more punchier, the vocals really stand out. We just got a new look on how we make music, man. It was cool.

How did you find out about him, through your record label?

Pizzorno: We don´t listen to our record label for anything. We’ve been aware of him since about 1995.

Your new album cover is inspired by The Rolling Stones´ album cover of ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’. Also, you did this Alice in Wonderland shooting for NME. Where does the British tendency for fancy dress actually come from?

Pizzorno: Boredom and a sense of humour. We don´t take ourselves too seriously.

Your latest single ‘Where Did All The Love Go?’ is about social chaos that vents itself in violence. In this song, do you refer to the current situation in Great Britain, or do you consider this to be a world-wide problem?

Pizzorno: More Britain, more Britain, just from where we live.

Where do you see the reasons for this behaviour?

Pizzorno: I don´t solely blame the internet but I think that it has changed things more dramatically. Out of all the good things it has brought I do really think it has brought a lot of bad. Maybe things we won´t realize at first but then in the future we will. It´s no Christmas Day anymore, if know what I´m saying? Like everyone seems to get their presents before the day. There´s no built-up, you lose that magic. I think that magic is lost and along with that, so is the love.

Would you also name alcohol as one of the reasons?

Pizzorno: Alcohol is since the day it was invented the sole reason for most people´s chaos.

The song ‘Take Aim’ describes a society which class differences get worse through TV shows. Can this development be applied to Great Britain as well?

Pizzorno: Yes, absolutely. However, it is also a song about standing up for yourself and becoming a zombie.

A zombie?

Pizzorno: More to do with being aware of what´s actually going on rather than not giving a fuck.

The music business in the UK is of a very fast-moving nature. Do you think the more successful a band is the more it is confronted with pressure in its environment? Or do you think it is tougher for newcomer act?

Meighan: A bit of both.

Pizzorno: I´d hate it to be in a new band now. It´s hard.

What´s different now?

Meighan: Unless you are a female and you do pop music you are gonna be alright, at the minute anyway. And you might do it for five minutes or it might last for five years. But if you are in a band like us you´re fucked, you´re screwed because no one gives a shit anymore.

Pizzorno: I think if you don´t produce pop singles then you are pretty fucked.

Why is it easier for women?

Meighan: Well, at the minute, there are just a lot of female pop artists everywhere. If you are in a band right now it´s really hard work, unless you have a really big pop single. It’s very difficult.

Your single ‘Underdog’ is used in the Sony Bravia commercials. Where do you see the advantages and disadvantages of getting a song played in an advertisement on TV?

Meighan: The advantages are that it gets played worldwide and you get some nice money. There are no disadvantages really. If the advert showed a fucking guy in a wheelchair, or just some kind of mortifying advert, then it would be horrible. But the advert has Kaka doing kick-ups with a football in this kind of cartoon flickery, cage thing. So it´s cool. There are no disadvantages.

I mean some people claim that bands sell out by doing so.

Meighan: If you want to get it world-wide what are you gonna do? If radio stations don´t give a shit in Europe, what are you gonna do?

Pizzorno: You listen to the radios these days. We ain’t getting played for shit. You gotta do what you can to get your music to as many people as possible. There are no fucking TV stations anymore playing music, there are no radio stations playing decent music that gets you to a wide audience. So someone comes along and goes: “You are gonna get this played in 120 countries.” Fucking yea, thanks. Too right. Television can use your music, whatever the weather. They can put it on fucking ‘Eastenders’ if they want. You´ve got no control over that. Everyone`s full of shit, because everyone has fucking done it. So I don`t care what anyone says. Not what some fucking knob-head band says that no one has ever heard of. From fucking Radiohead to Oasis to the Beatles, they´ve all been on adverts.

Meighan: The thing is we didn´t do the iTunes advert, did we? We did Sony Bravia.

Was it offered to you?

Meighan: No, we got offered the McDonalds advert. “I`m loving it.” (he does not stop whistling the jingle and humming the slogan)

Pizzorno: I wouldn`t do that.

Meighan: I would.

‘West Ryder’ has been listed as one of the albums of the year in the Mercury Prize nominations. Do you regard this nomination as a blessing or a curse?

Meighan: It is very nice to be recommended and nominated in a category. It`s really sweet and I think it`s nice, you know.

Pizzorno: It´s great, really. Really good.

What has been the most moving or touching moment for you with the band?

Pizzorno: When we got signed I reckon. The biggest leap from scratching around trying to fucking get somewhere, then hearing someone say “We´re gonna make an album”, that was pretty special. I liked that.

Meighan: Probably for me when we made number 1 with ‘Empire’, that was very beautiful.