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Ex-Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan speaks out on assault charge and exit from the band
8 December 2020, 12:08 | Updated: 8 December 2020, 15:00
The former Kasabian frontman has given an interview in Cornwall following the assault against his fiance Vikki Ager.
Tom Meighan and his girlfriend have spoken out about his assault conviction and his departure from Kasabian.
The former frontman hit the headlines this summer when he appeared at Leicester Magistrates Court to face a charge of assault against his partner Vicki Ager. The rocker pled guilty to one count of assault by beating and was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.
Now, the couple have spoken to CornwallLive after heading down to the region and have talked about the horrific chapter in their lives.
“We had too much to drink. I regret everything that happened that night – what I can remember of it,” said Meighan. "I don’t condone it – it’s horrific. I love my partner to pieces."
"I was at a boiling point in my life – I didn’t know where things were heading. I was drowning myself with drink because of my problems and things going on around me.
"We had a fight and I took the brunt for it. I was fully responsible for what happened but we love each other and we’re getting over it."
He added: "I reached a point in my life where I did kind of lose my mind. What I do in my life is not real and it affects you and I ignored the signals and it crept and crept and it got me.
“That was the lowest point of my life – I felt dead. I was a corpse walking around. I felt like I’d died on the day of the court case. I couldn’t get any lower. The media made it a thing, but I have a conscience and I say to Vix how sorry I am about it."
READ MORE: Tom Meighan issues full statement following assault sentencing
His partner added: "He apologises daily. He really does. A lot of people have arguments and ours got taken to an extreme level.
"I gave as good as I got. We were both fighting. We were really drunk and I don’t normally drink. It was more of a squabble, it wasn’t domestic violence.
"Mental health played a massive part in it and a lack of support for mental health. Tom isn’t that person and I don’t think Tom was himself for a long time. He’s not a violent person. He’d never done anything like that before."
When asked if she rang the police, she replied: "No, my daughter phoned the police because we were having an argument and she didn’t need to hear it. I’ve still got messages on my phone now where I was asking police not to prosecute him. I asked numerous times for them not to take it further. I said, this isn’t Tom, he needs support. They said it had gone to the CPS.
"Tom needed a wake-up call, but that was beyond it and they went to town on him."
Meighan also told the outlet the impact the event has had on their families.
He revealed: “It’s been awful. Vix’s family know my family, my dad knows her dad – it affects everybody. I know her brother from school. We’re quite tight.
"I’ve had massive support from friends and family – people know it’s not me. People will have other opinions, which is what it is, I can’t do anything about that. But I’ve had lovely support from fans, which has been great.
"I’m not excusing my behaviour, it happened, and it’s part of our lives now. I made a mistake and I was arrested and I had to deal with the consequences.
Ager added: “They know it wasn’t what was printed – they know it could never have been that way, because Tom isn’t like that. If I have so much as a headache, he’s ‘let me look after you’. He’s so gentle, he couldn’t do enough to look after me."
Now Meighan and his partner have revealed they are meeting with the female-run Cornwall-based management team Coalition Music Alliance, who are looking to work with Meighan on his solo career.
See a post they shared back in September 2020:
Katrina Russell told Cornwall Live: "From a female point of view, Jules, myself and Lou – strong women who have all got a strong opinion on such issues – wouldn’t be managing Tom or having anything to do with him if it was a domestic violence situation."
READ MORE: Kasabian speak out after Tom Meighan's sentencing for assault, say he misled fans
Meighan also talked about his departure from the band and how it was "heartbreaking" for it to end the way it did.
“I can’t say if the band will ever get back together again," he told the outlet. "It’s raw – it’s like a wounded animal, it’s infected but the infection’s dying out now. I spent my life with them … and it must be heartbreaking for them as well to have seen me like that.
"The way it went down wasn’t a very nice way to leave the band … or to be asked to leave the band. I was asked to leave, I was sacked by the band. I don’t want to go on about it, but we have split, everyone knows it.
"I don’t want to speak on behalf of the others, I don’t want to speak for Serge or Chris... we’d been together a long time, we’d been through so much together. Sometimes you do grow out of love. Is it getting boring? How do we reinvent ourselves? The main thing for me is enjoying it and once that goes, you’re dead.
"It was becoming a treadmill and with my drinking … I love them boys, they’re my brothers … it made a lot of people cry when that band split."
Meighan’s departure leaves guitarist Serge Pizzorno and bassist Chris Edwards as the only remaining founding members, with current drummer Ian Matthews joining the group in 2004.
The Leicester outfit have released six studio albums in Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006), West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009), Velociraptor! (2011), 48:13 (2014) and For Crying Out Loud (2017).
It is unclear whether the band will replace Meighan or continue as a trio.
READ MORE: Tom Meighan dropped from Kasabian's touring and merch companies
If you or anyone you know has been affected by this story, please reach out to the following organisations:
National Domestic Abuse Helpline
Tel: 0807 2000 247
Living Without Abuse
Tel: 0808 80 200 28
Refuge
Tel: 0808 2000 247
Victim Support
Tel: 0808168 9111
The Samaritans
Tel: 116 123
Mind
Tel: 0300 123 3393
