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Some splits you can see coming several tours off. The sibling squabbles, the snipes in the press, the cancelled shows and ‘nervous exhaustion’. When Kasabian announced the departure of Tom Meighan, however, it came as an electro-rock bolt from the blue. Kasabian were as firm a gang as any at the top level of rock – with Tom and bandmate Serge Pizzorno virtually blood brothers, the anti-Liam’n’Noel, barely a bad word passed between them during the 15 years or so of intense press attention that often read like the most cosmically-aligned mutual love-in since John and Yoko.
Just last month, Meighan was describing the band as “still solid”, despite both Tom and Serge working on solo material, and talking positively about the seventh album in the works. “We need a seventh baby,” he said, confirming what we’d all known since their inception: Kasabian are a family, as tight as a blaze-rock Waltons.
There were warning signs, though. In 2017 Meighan told Q Magazine about his traumatic 2016, in which he split from his partner at the time. “Basically my life changed,” he said. “I’m by myself. Because I lost myself…I had to sort my head out. My attitude. Stuff I was doing. People I was associating with. Not bad people. I was the one that was bad, I was in the haze. I was very unhappy, just down. You block it out by just carrying on.” In NME he claimed that making sixth album ‘For Crying Out Loud’ had saved his life and, the following year, Serge told us that Tom was in “a better place” thanks to the distraction of touring with the band.
So Tom’s personal issues were simmering, but Kasabian seemed to be acting as a welcome release, a balm, a refuge. And we hope that, as this resignation announcement declared, he can “concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track”, because we need rock figureheads like Meighan more than ever.
Charming, upbeat, amenable and welcoming – on all of this writer’s encounters with him, at least – Meighan is both a riveting and utterly relatable rock star everyman. Know that 15 years on the road and in the spotlight hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for music or his belief in the cathartic, unifying power of rock’n’roll. When he steps onstage there’s no hint of ladrock cynicism or sneer, no sign of motions being tediously churned, no underlying sense of resentment or disdain for the audience who put him there, none of the surly arrogance which too often accompanies his genre. He’s the eternal celebrant, capable of making an entire arena feel part of the Kasabian family and embracing a Pyramid Stage multitude in 2014 as warmly as he had a rabid midlands club crowd in 2004.
That his personal issues have rarely crept into Kasabian’s music only served to enhance the impression of the band as one big, 20-year open top bus parade. While emotional moments like ‘Goodbye Kiss’ hinted at a vulnerability behind the bravado of Kasabian’s Empire, they were mere counterpoint to a brash, colourful canon. As Meighan himself attested, “We normally sing about raptors that are going to eat you, or ‘John was a scientist, he was hooked on LSD’, or ‘Ooosh, tell me I want you’,” so, to a large degree, Meighan became a much-needed figure of escapism in a genre dominated by pained, earnest soul searching and, more recently, political righteousness.
Even when the title of ‘For Crying Out Loud’ suggested behind-the-scenes anguish and the album tackled more personal themes. “It’s very emotional and autobiographical,” Meighan said, “We normally don’t let people into that side of us… we don’t talk about our feelings, but this one is all about us. It’s a window into our personal lives” – they came hidden behind artwork of comedy tears, within songs referencing acid house and endless tequila parties, or stream-of-consciousness lyrical passages involving Bukowski, Axel F, chips and macaroni. Even at his lowest, Meighan delivered a masterclass in bright-siding through the bad times. He’s doing it still: “I am doing well, I’m in a really good place now” reads his own tweet about his departure.
Following today's announcement I just wanted to let you all know that I am doing well. I'm in a really good place now. Thanks for all your love and support. I'll be seeing you all very soon. TM x #TomMeighan #Kasabian
— Tom Meighan (@MeighanOfficial) July 6, 2020
Which will make the comeback we’re all rooting for, once he’s dealt with whatever he needs to deal with, all the more celebratory. There’s no way Meighan won’t be back, and he won’t be returning to the stage with a catalogue full of trauma songs tracing his decline and demanding the world’s sympathy. He’ll march back singing “I’m on fire!” (or, who knows, the solo equivalent) and mean it as much as he ever did, no longer just the personification of rock’n’roll glory but also an inspirational figurehead proving you can beat back your demons with a smile. Take your time, Tom, we’re here when you’re ready.
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