Formerly called Saracuse

The band was formerly called Saracuse. They started recording at Bedrock Studios in Leicester where Chris Edwards had once worked as a sound engineer before moving into the telecommunications and data industry where he was employed by Bedrock’s parent company, Micina Technologies Group. The original band members came from Countesthorpe and Blaby , and the band formed while Pizzorno, Meighan and Edwards were attending Countesthorpe Community College . The first demo EP was produced by Scott Gilbert and handed to the band on 24 December 1998. Three songs were recorded live: “Whats Going On”, “Life of Luxury” and “Shine On”. Their first public appearance was at the Vipers Rugby Club to celebrate Edwards’ 18th birthday with family and friends. Saracuse had several tracks included on a triple CD album called RED which was produced by Bedrock Studios and showcased Leicester bands in late 1999. They were also invited to take part in the event of the same name at Leicester De Montfort Hall later the same year but declined following the advice of their then-manager Allan Royland. The band was signed to BMG by London DJ and producer Sam Young and changed their name to Kasabian, after Linda Kasabian , a member of the Charles Manson cult who later went on to testify against Manson at his trial. In an interview with Ukula , bassist Chris Edwards explained how 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… so it was decided”, says Edwards. Kasabian is a common Armenian surname, from the dialectal Armenian ղասաբ ġasab taken from Arabic (Arabic: قصّاب , romanized: ḳaṣṣāb ) “butcher” and the patronymic ending յան -yan . Sam Young had been working at Concept Music, a small independent label, when the band’s manager left the Saracuse demo on his desk. Concept wanted to sign the band and a two-single deal was offered. However, Young did not take over managerial duties and did not solely get them signed instantly to BMG. EMI were interested in the band as well.