Kasabian are surely the ultimate festival band, Leicester lads whose roaring big songs were designed to be delivered al fresco and who famously told the NME that if you cut their veins they would bleed rock’n’ roll. They grew up loving the singalong anthems of Oasis and are now best mates with them, compadres in the art of playing loud music in fields. This summer, Kasabian release their third album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, and they play Glastonbury festival right before Bruce Springsteen, which they’re pretty excited about, especially when they think about how far they’ve come since first playing there in 2005.

Sergio Pizzorno, the band’s guitarist and songwriter, explains: “We were first on, not expecting many people there, but when we walked out on to the stage at noon it was full! I remember thinking, things are gonna be okay for us, we’re not just gonna be in a band for two weeks and then have to go back to work.” The rest of that weekend is a bit of a blur, though — he saw it through until Sunday afternoon “and then finally collapsed in my tent in a real state. I’ve never been back into a tent since. I’d been up for two days just wandering round in the mud — never even got to the Stone Circle or any of the best bits. We’re staying around to watch Bruce this year and then we’ll do it properly.”

The partying continues when they tour with Oasis — the two bands spent five weeks together playing America on one trip. “Everybody’s really easy to get on with. Tom [Meighan, Kasabian’s frontman] breaks the ice really easily ’cos he just doesn’t care. He’s not affected by any of it, he’s just Tom, and that makes everyone feel at ease. One night in South America we took over this hotel and we were in this one really tiny room, about 50 of us. I remember being in the bathroom, and we sang She Loves You, with Noel stood in the bath with his guitar. It was carnage, a real South American carnival, only in a bathroom with the shower on.”

Pizzorno describes the new album as “a melting pot”, and says he feels blessed to have 50 years of incredible music to be influenced by: “All these things from 1960s psychedelia to soundtracks by Ennio Morricone, then maybe the Stones in their New York period, to Silver Apples. It’s 2009 and all this amazing music has already been made — back in the day they had maybe John Lee Hooker and a bit of rock’n’roll. I don’t think it’s a retro record, but you can see what kind of music we’re into.”

The Kasabian sound is one that that works best in a live setting. “It’s quite tribal,” says Pizzorno of their festival gigs. “Oh, I sound like Spinal Tap! But people pay a lot of money for those tickets, and a festival is your one weekend to be free and do what you want. It’s euphoric. We’ve never had an album out in the summer. We’ll have the single out when the sun’s out. I’m buzzing.”

— Top festivals

T In the Park in Glasgow
It’s always been incredible every time we’ve played there: the crowd has gone mental.

Summer Sonic in Japan
We’ve played there a few times, along with Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys. That’s one that always sticks out because you’re playing in a huge baseball stadium.

Lollapalooza in Chicago
Normally you think of a festival being near cows and fields but this was in a park in the centre of Chicago.

Big Day Out in Australia and New Zealand
We did five of those in three weeks! Nice pace. You do one and then get three days off.

Reading Festival
We played our last song and the crowd were still there about an hour later. It was amazing — one of those great moments when you’re in a band.

— Festival tips

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