West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the third studio album by British alternative rock band Kasabian, which was released on 5 June 2009.

The album was nominated for the 2009 Mercury Prize. In October 2009, it was voted the best album of the year by Q Magazine.

History

"Vlad the Impaler" was made available as a free download from the official website from 31 March to 3 April 2009. The first proper, physical release from the album was "Fire", which was released on the 1st of June.http Sergio Pizzorno has called the 52-minute album "the soundtrack to an imaginary movie."http The album includes a duet, on the track "West Ryder Silver Bullet", with the actress Rosario Dawson. The album entered the UK Album Chart at #1, giving the band their second #1 album. The album was knocked off the number 1 spot – and somewhat overshadowed – by the death of Michael Jackson a short time after releasehttp.

"Underdog" has been used by Sony in a commercial for their BRAVIA Televisions.

Theme

The West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum was a group of mental institutions built in West Yorkshire, England in the 1880s. Sergio Pizzorno further explained the choice of album title: "The album isn't about the place, I just first heard about it on a TV documentary, and the words just struck me. I love the way it looked and the feeling it evokes. Apparently, it was one of the first loony bins for the poor, before that it was mainly rich people who got treatment." The album cover depicts the band "getting dressed up for a party at the asylum, looking in the mirror at the costumes". Inspiration for such cover originated from the artwork of Amon Düül II's album Made in Germany. In an interview with T4, the band said that each track is meant to represent an inmate within the asylum.

Chart performance

Singles and videos

* "Fast Fuse" – Released on the 2nd of October 2007 as a bootleg single. Although not being the first official single from the album it was the first material released from it, receiving airplay on Xfm, Absolute Radio and being posted on YouTube. Members of Kasabian's fan club at the time could buy the song on a one sided 10". Despite receiving some airplay and a limited release it never had a video. It was also used on the video game FIFA 09.

* "Vlad the Impaler" – Released as a free single on the 31st of March 2009 to the 3rd of April 2009. The song only got minor airplay. The song was released with a video featuring Noel Fielding. Later released on 14 February 2010 with a second music video to accompany it.

* "Fire" – Released as the first official single on June 1.

* "Underdog" – Released on October 26, 2009 and reached #32 in the UK Singles Chart.

* "Where Did All the Love Go?" – Released on 17 August 2009, the song was the second official single charting at 30 in the UK charts. A music video has been released to support the single.

References

Artist/Band Information

Kasabian are a British Indie Rock band that formed in Countesthorpe, Leicestershire in 1999."Gallagher 'is not joining Kasabian'", Leicester Mercury, 3 November 2009 Originally comprising vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and keyboardist Christopher Karloff, guitarist and backing vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, bassist Chris Edwards and drummer Ash Hannis, the band have released three studio albums – Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006) and West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009). The band currently features Meighan, Pizzorno, Edwards and drummer Ian Matthews, who replaced Hannis in 2004.

History

Early years (1999–2002)

The band was formerly called Saracuse and started recording at Bedrock Studios in Leicester where Chris Edwards worked as an engineer. The original band members all hailed from Countesthorpe and Blaby, and the band formed while Pizzorno and Meighan were attending Countesthorpe Community College."Kasabian on tour with Oasis", Leicester Mercury, 17 October 2008Turnell, Cat (2005) "We're grafters, not lazy gits", Leicester Mercury, 2005 The influence of The Stone Roses can be heard in their first jams. The first demo EP was produced by Scott Gilbert and handed to the band late on 24 December 1999. Their first public appearance was at the Vipers Rugby Club to celebrate Chris' 18th birthday with family and friends. The band were soon spotted and changed their name to Kasabian, after Linda Kasabian, a member of the Charles Manson cult (aka the Manson "family") famous for serving as his getaway driver. In an interview with Ukula, bassist Chris Edwards explained how the former guitarist Chris Karloff picked the name. Reading up on Charles Manson, the Kasabian name stuck with Karloff. "He just thought the word was cool, it literally took about a minute after the rest of us heard it... so it was decided,” says Edwards.

Debut album (2003–05)

Their eponymous debut album was released in the UK on 13 September 2004 receiving good sales and generally positive reviews. During the recording, the band lived in a farmhouse near Rutland Water to avoid being disturbed. Kasabian featured at Glastonbury Festival 2005 on the 'Other Stage' – Glastonbury 2004.

Despite having two prior single releases with debut single "Processed Beats" and lead single "Reason Is Treason", it was their third single release "Club Foot" that finally gave Kasabian success in the singles charts. The song, which was written in the early years of Kasabian, went on to enjoy both critical and commercial success, becoming one of the band's best loved songs, and being performed at nearly every Kasabian live performance since its release. The song was the theme for the skate game Tony Hawk's Project 8, Pro Evolution Soccer 5 and WRC: Rally Evolved, as well as being featured in the movies The Guardian and Goal!.

"Reason Is Treason" was featured in the games Gran Turismo 4 on the PlayStation 2 and Shaun White Snowboarding on the Xbox 360.

"L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)" was featured in the game FIFA 2004 also on the PlayStation 2.

Empire (2006–2007)

During the recording of Kasabian's second album, Empire, Christopher Karloff, one of the band's chief songwriters, had "artistic and creative differences" and was asked to leave the band, according to the band's website, although there is evidence to suggest that Christopher Karloff left due to personal circumstances. He had contributed to three of the songs on Empire.

The album itself was released in the UK on 28 August 2006. The band recruited once temporary drummer, Ian Matthews, as a permanent member of the band. "Empire" was released as the first single from the album, and reached Number 9 on the UK charts. "Shoot the Runner" reached Number 17 in the British charts. A third single, "Me Plus One", was released on 2 January 2007.

Kasabian won the Best Live Act award at the 2007 NME Awards.

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2008–2010)

The band released an EP titled Fast Fuse in late 2007 which featured the songs "Fast Fuse" and "Thick As Thieves", however the EP was not given any promotion or advertisement. Both tracks are featured in their third album.

Kasabian started work on their third album in late 2007 with producer Dan the Automator. On 5 March 2009, it revealed that the album title would be West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, with a release date of 8 June 2009. The song "Vlad the Impaler" was released as a free download for a period of 4 days, as a preview for the album. The promo video for "Vlad the Impaler" stars Noel Fielding of The Mighty Booshhttp The album's first official single was the track Fire, which was released on 1 June 2009, and the song Where Did All the Love Go? was released as the second official single, and Underdog being the third.

On 14 June 2009, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum reached number one in the UK top 40 charts, spending two weeks there. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize, and was named 'Best Album' at the 2009 Q Awards. The band won "Best Group" at the 2010 Brit Awards.

Future (2010–present)

On May 10, 2010 it was revealed that Kasabian were completing works on their fourth album in a San Francisco studio.

Band members

;Current members

*Tom Meighan – lead vocals (1999–present)

*Sergio Pizzorno – guitar, backing vocals (1999–present)

*Chris Edwards – bass (1999–present)

*Ian Matthews – drums (2004–present)

;Former members

*Christopher Karloff – guitar, keyboards (1999–2006)

*Ash Hannis – drums (1999–2004)

;Touring members

*Jay Mehler – guitar (2006–present)

*Ben Kealey – keyboard (2006–present)

Awards and nominations

Kasabian has found success in the UK primarily at the NME Awards, winning three awards: Best Live Band (2007) for the band, and Best Album and Best Album Artwork (2010) for the album "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum." After the release of Empire, the band received several nominations. The band won 5 awards out of 18 nominations.

Brit Awards

The Brit Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1977. Kasabian received one award.

Discography

*Kasabian (2004)

*Empire (2006)

*West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009)

References