British rock group Kasabian was formed in 1997 in Leicester by three childhood friends, Tom Meighan, Sergio Pizzorno, and Chris Edwards. Sergio enjoyed music since middle school and wrote lyrics. For a long time, his friends didn’t know anything about it. One day, Tom heard one of the songs. When Meighan learned that Sergio has a few more, he got an idea to form a rock band. The three friends needed a drummer for the group to be complete.
While looking for the drummer, the musicians met Chris Karloff. Even though he played the guitar, not the drums, the three friends invited him to join the band. The artists started rehearsing in a small room with a computer program as their drummer. At first, they decided to name the group Syracuse. The artists got a chance to record a demo album at a recording studio Bedrock where Chris Edwards worked as a sound engineer. However, the demo album wasn’t accepted by the labels, who called the songs raw.
The young musicians started working harder to achieve perfection. In just a few months, they re-recorded the demo album entirely. The second try was successful. The album caught the attention of the BMG label representative. He offered the group a contract, which the artists signed immediately. The label asked the artists to change the group’s name. At that time, Chris Karloff was reading about Linda Kasabian, who was the leading witness against Charles Manson’s cult back in the 1960s. Chris offered the others to call the group Kasabian. The artists agreed.
