Serge Pizzorno had “no choice” but to step up and front Kasabian after Tom Meighan’s exit.
The 41-year-old singer was thrown out of the group he had fronted for two decades after drunkenly assaulting his then-fiancée – and now wife – Vikki Alger on April 9, 2020, an attack for which he was later found guilty of but spared jail.
His conviction and sentence of 200 hours unpaid work prompted his long-time friend Serge and his other bandmates to axe him from the band, saying they could not “condone” Tom’s conviction as “domestic violence is something that can never be excused”.
Tom has since gone solo and Serge says there was no way he could give up on Kasabian because the mountain of songs he’s written single-handedly over the past three decades are so sacred to him.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, he said: “Those words are in my blood.
“I know where I was when I wrote every one of those songs. That counts for something on stage when the words come from within. So, I had to stand up and I had to step up. I had no choice really.”
The guitarist-turned-frontman admitted not only would it have been heartbreaking to disband, but he needs to pay his mortgage.
And despite letting Tom go, Serge – who is also joined by Chris Edwards and Ian Matthews in the ‘Club Foot’ group, with Tim Carter enlisted as their touring guitarist – insisted they are always there for their ex-bandmate if he needs them.
He went on: “To park Kasabian’s songs for the rest of my life didn’t just affect me. It affected Dibs (Chris) and Ian, our crew, and families.
“What else were we going to do? Go and do something else? I have to pay my f****** mortgage and so we had to do what made us happy .
“We made the decision as a band to carry on with me as singer. Tom knows that we’re there if he needs us. We spoke to him and he knows that. But subsequently, he’s moved on. He went solo before we even knew what we were going to do.”
Serge admits he has never wanted to be a lead singer and compared it to jumping out of a plane and “freefalling” when he steps out on the stage.
He said: “I didn’t want to be the singer. It’s not my calling. But out of necessity I am now.
“There’s not been that much time to think too deeply, which is good for me as I can overthink.
“I can go to places when I’m on the sofa, but when I am on that stage the focus is absolutely insane. I just get on with it. It’s like jumping out of a plane.
“As long as you pack the parachute yourself, you’re OK. Once you’ve made the choice and stepped on to that stage, there’s no turning back. You are freefalling and I can’t be worrying about any of it by then.”
Kasabian will release their first studio album since Tom left, ‘The Alchemist’s Euphoria’, on August 12.
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