Serge on Kasabian's new album: "When bands try to make music for other people or for an algorithm, it tends to get boring"

Serge Pizzorno has promised fans an "era-defining" setlist at Kasabian's Fairview Park show in Dublin this summer.

"Kasabian in a tent is one of the wonders of the world, man," he says. "It just keeps all that vibe in that condensed air. That's going to be something else, that show.

“[It’ll have] music from all the albums, and full-throttle high-energy rock and roll - a joyous, joyous occasion where everyone comes together and has an unbelievable night. We always try to make sure that everyone leaves having just been entertained to the maximum.”

The Leicester rockers are gearing up for a packed summer of outdoor dates. As well as their Dublin show on June 16, they’ve got their biggest London headliner yet at Finsbury Park to look forward to.

“Going to see a great band outdoors when you’re a kid, it's the kind of things that can change your life,” Serge reflects. “From that day on, your life can take a new path. So I look forward to those summers because you get those memories - those things that are just laser beamed onto your brain that you never forget. You never forget that show where the sun’s out, people on shoulders, the mosh pits. It’s the one.”

And the frontman points out that this sense of community is much-needed.

“Now more than ever because of the screen situation, the disconnect we have - gigs snap people out of that for an hour and a half. The more we can do that, the better.

"I hear people talking about music like content; you listen to it for 30 seconds and move on. It's so disrespectful. I'm not having that. A song, when you need it, can literally transform every cell in your body."

He’s taking that energy into Act III,  Kasabian's upcoming album, due July 17. Much like their setlist, the record draws on every stage of the band's career. Serge describes it in cinematic terms - a project which captures an at-times chaotic last 6 years following the abrupt departure of singer Tom Meighan 2020.

"I'm obsessed with film," Serge says. "Life is just one big story. This is the third act where everything comes together. I can hear Kasabian, the first record. I can hear Empire, West Ryder, 48:13. As a Kasabian fan, I think they'll enjoy the little Easter eggs. It's pure source Kasabian."

Still, Serge acknowledges the fine line between giving fans what they want and letting that pressure dictate what he does.

“I tend to follow instinct and not really worry about who it’s for, and make stuff that I really enjoy listening to,” he says. “There’s absolutely no point in sitting there trying to give people what you think they want, because more than likely they don’t want it. If you’re bouncing in the studio, that’s as good as it gets, and that’s how it should always remain. I feel like when bands or artists try to make music for other people or for an algorithm or to keep people happy, it tends to get boring.

“You always have to respect the fans, but you also have to make things that blow people’s minds. They’re the most exciting artists: the one that you have no idea what they’re going to do next.

Act III’s lead single 'Great Pretender' takes its central theme from Pizzorno's experiences with imposter syndrome. He cites a moment when he was tasked with presenting a film score to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, despite his self-described lack of theoretical expertise.

“I think everyone can relate to being in rooms where you can feel out of depth,” Serge says. “I had to explain to the London Philharmonic about this score I’d written. Bear in mind I got like an E in music. But I just had to go: 'No, I have got something to say and this is a feeling.’ Music somehow flows through me, I don’t understand how or why, but it does. Then I spoke to the conductor and all of a sudden, I just kicked in and was like, ‘Yeah, the violins are a bit slow and I need the cellos to be a bit more gnarly.’

“You hear yourself and you go, ‘Oh shit, now I do belong here.’ You know what I mean? It’s a super fucking positive thing to feel and to be around."

Elsewhere on the album, Pizzorno has set his sights on a specific type of modern grifter. Eagle-eyed fans will have noticed a crypto thread running through multiple tracks, including on the lyrics for psych-rock single 'Hippie Sunshine' and album cut 'The Guru and the Crypto Time Machine.'

"‘Hippie Sunshine’ is about these characters that keep popping up that are working in these high-end jobs, grifting online, and telling the world ‘This is the world you want to live in,’” Serge says. “And then deep down they’re just trying to sell you crypto on the side.

"It's that thing where people, just to escape everything, they get fucked up. And it's okay because 'I'm still earning loads of money and not dealing with any of the problems of the world or any of the problems that I face.' It's about not accepting reality and just getting lost in pleasure."

So the crypto bros are the rockstars of the modern age?

“Very different, but yeah. I mean in a way, Silicon Valley - they’ve taken on those kind of opulent rockstars of the 80s. The Silicon Valley people now are taking it into weird and… weird places.”

• Kasabian play Fairview Park on June 16. Click here for tickets. Act III is out July 17.