departure<\/a> of singer Tom Meighan 2020.<\/p>\n“I’m obsessed with film,” Serge says. “Life is just one big story. This is the third act where everything comes together. I can hear Kasabian, the first record. I can hear Empire, West Ryder, 48:13. As a Kasabian fan, I think they’ll enjoy the little Easter eggs. It’s pure source Kasabian.”<\/p>\n
Still, Serge acknowledges the fine line between giving fans what they want and letting that pressure dictate what he does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tend to follow instinct and not really worry about who it\u2019s for, and make stuff that I really enjoy listening to,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no point in sitting there trying to give people what you think they want, because more than likely they don\u2019t want it. If you\u2019re bouncing in the studio, that\u2019s as good as it gets, and that\u2019s how it should always remain. I feel like when bands or artists try to make music for other people or for an algorithm or to keep people happy, it tends to get boring.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always have to respect the fans, but you also have to make things that blow people\u2019s minds. They\u2019re the most exciting artists: the one that you have no idea what they\u2019re going to do next.<\/p>\n
Act III<\/em>\u2019s lead single ‘Great Pretender’ takes its central theme from Pizzorno’s experiences with imposter syndrome. He cites a moment when he was tasked with presenting a film score to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, despite his self-described lack of theoretical expertise.<\/p>\n\u201cI think everyone can relate to being in rooms where you can feel out of depth,\u201d Serge says. \u201cI had to explain to the London Philharmonic about this score I\u2019d written. Bear in mind I got like an E in music. But I just had to go: ‘No, I have got something to say and this is a feeling.\u2019 Music somehow flows through me, I don\u2019t understand how or why, but it does. Then I spoke to the conductor and all of a sudden, I just kicked in and was like, \u2018Yeah, the violins are a bit slow and I need the cellos to be a bit more gnarly.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear yourself and you go, \u2018Oh shit, now I do belong here.\u2019 You know what I mean? It\u2019s a super fucking positive thing to feel and to be around.”<\/p>\n
Elsewhere on the album, Pizzorno has set his sights on a specific type of modern grifter. Eagle-eyed fans will have noticed a crypto thread running through multiple tracks, including on the lyrics for psych-rock single ‘Hippie Sunshine’ and album cut ‘The Guru and the Crypto Time Machine.’<\/p>\n
“\u2018Hippie Sunshine\u2019 is about these characters that keep popping up that are working in these high-end jobs, grifting online, and telling the world \u2018This is the world you want to live in,\u2019\u201d Serge says. \u201cAnd then deep down they\u2019re just trying to sell you crypto on the side.<\/p>\n
“It’s that thing where people, just to escape everything, they get fucked up. And it’s okay because ‘I’m still earning loads of money and not dealing with any of the problems of the world or any of the problems that I face.’ It’s about not accepting reality and just getting lost in pleasure.”<\/p>\n
So the crypto bros are the rockstars of the modern age?<\/p>\n
\u201cVery different, but yeah. I mean in a way, Silicon Valley – they\u2019ve taken on those kind of opulent rockstars of the 80s. The Silicon Valley people now are taking it into weird and\u2026 weird places.\u201d<\/p>\n