Kasabian unveil dance-infused Call single share Happenings album details

21 February 2024, 09:16 | Updated: 21 February 2024, 10:38

Serge Pizzorno works the crowd at Radio X Presents Kasabian with Barclaycard. Picture: Matt Crossick

By Jenny Mensah

Serge Pizzorno and co have shared the official video for the lead track from their Happenings album.

Loading audio...

Kasabian have unveiled their Call single and announced their Happenings album will be released on 5th July 2024 - the day before their homecoming Solstice II gig.

Last year saw the band - comprised of Serge Pizzorno, Chris Edwards, Ian Matthews and Tim Carter - confirm their eighth studio album, Happenings, would be released in 2024.

Now, they've dropped the album's lead single and its accompanying video, which comes from directing duo Waxxwork- featuring a phone falling out of a plane and hurtling through the sky.

Shot in Albania, where aerospace laws would allow it, sky-divers jumped out of a helicopter with the video playing in real time - portraying an energetic, high-powered performance of the single, which you can watch below:

Kasabian - Call (Official Video)

"This was the launchpad," frontman Serge explains of Call. "Quieter on the verses, loud for the chorus - it’s dance music! The first bit is where you get ready, the second bit is where we all go crazy. It’s really fun and just feels like now. When I finished the track, I felt I wanted to go to a gig by whoever was behind it."

Kasabian's Call single artwork. Picture: Jimmy Turrell/Press

Happenings will be the follow-up to the band's 2022’s No.1 album The Alchemist’s Euphoria, which included the likes of ALYGATYR, CHEMICALS and ALCHEMIST.

Speaking to their fans on social media, the band added that: "The album is about pure joy and takes you on a psychedelic trip through the dance floor to the mosh pit x"

Consisting of 11 tracks, Happenings and its Call single were preceded by the release of Algorithms last year, which was a comment on the use of AI.

Kasabian - Algorithms (Official Lyric Video)

The record was written and initially recorded at Pizzorno’s home studio, The Sergery, before the band later decamped as Serge and Mark Ralph (Zara Larsson, Clean Bandit, Rudimental) co-produced the final sessions together.

Kasabian's Happenings album is released on 5th July 2024. Pre-order it here.

Kasabian's Happenings artwork. Picture: Press

Kasabian's Happenings - Tracklisting

1. A Happening
2. Darkest Lullaby
3. Call
4. How Far Will You Go
5. Coming Back To Me Good
6. G.O.A.T.
7. Passengers
8. The Hell Of It
9. Italian Horror
10. Bird In A Cage
11. Algorithms

Kasabian will make their hometown a creative focal point as they return to Leicester’s Victoria Park on 6th July, which the band believes their Happenings album will help make extra special.

"Thinking about where we are with phone screens, us being able to create something that people can be a part of in the real world has got to be a positive," Serge muses. "I’ve seen it in people’s faces at the shows, that need to experience something that just snaps you out of yourself, to feel a connection. Well, that’s Happenings.

"It’s 20 years this year since we released our debut album, but we felt the best way this band, at this time, should celebrate that was by making a new album. And we’re extremely grateful for it."

Previously speaking to Radio X's Johnny Vaughan about their eighth studio album, Serge teased it would be "joyous" and full of "big tunes".

Asked about the record, which Serge revealed was inspired by the gigs put on by psychedelic bands in the '60s, he explained: "So the late '60s, like Hawkwind you’d have psychedelic happenings [...], so with that in mind, we’re going to do Kasabian happenings all over the world."

The Leicester rocker added: "This album was made during sort of touring, which we’ve never really done before and that’s kind of fed into this joyous, huge, big tune album and from it we’re gonna do our own happenings, so it made sense that’s what the album is gonna be called."

Looking back 10 years at their first milestone homecoming show, Solstice I, the ALYGATYR singer said it was like his city was celebrating a "World Cup win".

"It was just that amazing feeling of inviting everyone from your town," he recalled. "People coming from literally all over the world."