Kasabian West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2008-10)
What was Kasabian doing in 2008?
What was Kasabian doing in 2008?
The band released an EP titled Fast Fuse in late 2007 which featured the songs "Fast Fuse" and "Thick as Thieves". Both tracks are featured in their third album. Kasabian started work on their third album in late 2007 with producer Dan the Automator. On 5 March 2009, it was revealed that the album title would be West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, with a release date of 8 June 2009. The song "Vlad the Impaler" was released as a free download for a period of 4 days, as a preview for the album. The promo video for "Vlad the Impaler" stars Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh. Fielding is a fan of Kasabian, and appeared in an NME cover with the band. The album's first single was the track "Fire", which was released on 1 June 2009, used as the theme song for the English Premier League from the 2010-11 season onward, and the song "Where Did All the Love Go?" was released as the second single. The third single "Underdog" was used in the movie Takers (2010). On 14 June 2009, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, spending two weeks there. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize, and was named 'Best Album' at the 2009 Q Awards. The band won "Best Group" at the 2010 Brit Awards. At the 2010 Q Awards the band won the "Best Act in the World Today". The first three albums were released as a box-set called The Albums in 2010. CANNOTANSWER
their third album
Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and occasional vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karloff left the band in 2006 and founded a new band called Black Onassis. Jay Mehler joined as touring lead guitarist in 2006, leaving for Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye in 2013, to be replaced by Tim Carter, who later hired as full-time band members in 2021. Meighan left the band in July 2020, and Pizzorno stepping up as full-time lead vocalist since then, double duties with his primary work as guitarist.

In 2010 and 2014, Kasabian won the Q Awards for "Best Act in the World Today", while they were also named "Best Live Act" at the 2014 Q Awards and the 2007 and 2018 NME Awards. The band's music is often described as "indie rock", but Pizzorno has said he "hates indie bands" and does not feel Kasabian fit into that category.

Kasabian have released six studio albums – Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006), West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009), Velociraptor! (2011), 48:13 (2014), and For Crying Out Loud (2017). The band's music has been described as a mix between The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis. Their music has won them several awards and recognition in the media, including a Brit Award in 2010 for Best British Group, and their live performances have received praise, the most notable of which was their appearance as headliners at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival.

History

Early years (1997–2002)
The band was formerly called Saracuse. They started recording at Bedrock Studios in Leicester where Chris Edwards worked as an engineer. The original band members came from Countesthorpe and Blaby, and the band formed while Pizzorno, Meighan and Edwards were attending Countesthorpe Community College. The first demo EP was produced by Scott Gilbert and handed to the band on 24 December 1998. Three songs were recorded live: "Whats Going On", "Life of Luxury" and "Shine On". Their first public appearance was at the Vipers Rugby Club to celebrate Edwards' 18th birthday with family and friends. The band was signed to BMG by London DJ and producer Sam Young and changed their name to Kasabian, after Linda Kasabian, a member of the Charles Manson cult who later went on to testify against Manson at his trial. In an interview with Ukula, bassist Chris Edwards explained how former guitarist Chris Karloff picked the name. Reading up on Charles Manson, the Kasabian name stuck with Karloff. "He just thought the word was cool... so it was decided", says Edwards. Kasabian is a common Armenian surname, from the dialectal Armenian ղասաբ ġasab taken from Arabic () "butcher" and the patronymic ending յան -yan. Sam Young had been working at Concept Music, a small independent label, when the band's manager left the Saracuse demo on his desk. Concept wanted to sign the band and a two single deal was offered. However, Young did not take over managerial duties and did not solely get them signed instantly to BMG. EMI were interested in the band as well.

Kasabian (2003–05)

Their eponymous debut album was released in the UK on 13 September 2004, receiving good sales and generally positive reviews. During the recording, the band lived in a farmhouse near Rutland Water to avoid being disturbed. Kasabian featured at Glastonbury Festival 2005 on the "Other Stage".

Despite having two prior single releases with debut single "Processed Beats" and lead single "Reason Is Treason", it was their third single release "Club Foot" that gave Kasabian success in the UK Singles Chart. The song, which was written in the early years of Kasabian, went on to enjoy both critical and commercial success, and being performed at nearly every Kasabian live performance since its release.

During this period, various drummers played with Kasabian, including current keyboard player Ben Kealey, DJ Dan Ralph Martin, Martin Hall-Adams, brothers Mitch and Ryan Glovers and some others. While recording in Bristol, the band met Ian Matthews, who plays on "Processed Beats", "Butcher Blues", "Beneficial Herbs" and possibly some other songs on the debut album and B-sides. He was asked to tour with them in 2004 and became a permanent member in April 2005. The album was produced by Jim Abbiss.

Empire and Karloff's departure (2006–07)

During the recording of Kasabian's second album, Empire, Christopher Karloff, one of the band's chief songwriters, had "artistic and creative differences" and was asked to leave the band, according to the band's website, although there is evidence to suggest that he left due to personal circumstances. He had contributed to three of the songs on Empire.

The album, which was co-produced by Jim Abbiss, was released in the UK on 28 August 2006. "Empire" was released as the first single from the album, and reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart "Shoot the Runner" reached No. 17 in the same chart. A third single, "Me Plus One", was released on 2 January 2007.

Kasabian won the Best Live Act award at the 2007 NME Awards.

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2008–10)

The band released an EP titled Fast Fuse in late 2007 which featured the songs "Fast Fuse" and "Thick as Thieves". Both tracks are featured in their third album.

Kasabian started work on their third album in late 2007 with producer Dan the Automator. On 5 March 2009, it was revealed that the album title would be West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, with a release date of 8 June 2009. The song "Vlad the Impaler" was released as a free download for a period of 4 days, as a preview for the album. The promo video for "Vlad the Impaler" stars Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh. Fielding is a fan of Kasabian, and appeared in an NME cover with the band. The album's first single was the track "Fire", which was released on 1 June 2009, used as the theme song for the English Premier League from the 2010–11 season onward, and the song "Where Did All the Love Go?" was released as the second single. The third single "Underdog" was used in the mobile and PC game Asphalt 8: Airborne as well as in the movie Takers (2010). Underdog was also used in the 2009 TV advert for Sony Bravia 200hz televisions. The advert also featured Kaka, at the time the world's most expensive footballer

On 14 June 2009, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, spending two weeks there. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize, and was named "Best Album" at the 2009 Q Awards. The band won "Best Group" at the 2010 Brit Awards. At the 2010 Q Awards the band won the "Best Act in the World Today".

The first three albums were released as a box-set called The Albums in 2010.

Velociraptor! (2011–12)

Kasabian started work on their fourth album, Velociraptor!, in November 2010 with Dan the Automator as producer. It was revealed in a number of interviews that some songs were already written. One track, titled "Green Fairy", which featured on the London Boulevard soundtrack, is present on the record under the name "La Fée Verte", but the album version is different from the soundtrack version. In June 2011, Kasabian closed the Isle of Wight Festival. They also headlined Rockness festival and played at Rock Werchter in July 2011. The band confirmed that the album would be released on 19 September 2011.

"Switchblade Smiles", the first song to be heard from Velociraptor!, was exclusively played on UK radio on 7 June 2011 during Zane Lowe's show on BBC Radio 1. The title and release date of the fourth album was also confirmed on the show. This first single from the album was available for visitors to listen to on the Kasabian website, and was available as a download for people who pre-order the album. Two tracks from the album ("Velociraptor" and "Switchblade Smiles") were premièred throughout the four-date warm-up tour including playing at the Leeds O2 Academy before the RockNess and Isle of Wight festivals in June 2011. A track from the album "Days Are Forgotten" was due for radio release on 22 July 2011. However, it surfaced online the night before. The album failed to crack the Billboard Top 200 chart upon its first week of release in the United States.

On 27 November 2011, Kasabian performed "Goodbye Kiss" during the BBC's Formula 1 2011 closing season montage. In the same month, the band went on a full tour of the UK, including two sold-out gigs at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, supported at the shows by Miles Kane and Australian band ME. On 31 December 2011, Kasabian played a New Year's Eve concert entitled NYE:Rewired at the O2 Arena, London. The event was streamed live on YouTube.

Following early 2012 dates in Japan, Australia, and Europe, Kasabian launched their North American leg in Dallas on 12 March, with 19 dates in U.S. and Canada until late April. It was announced on 16 May on the Kasabian website that their show of 15 December 2011, that was filmed at the O2 in London, would be screened in over 60 cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 30 May 2012. The film, titled Kasabian Live! Live at the O2 is distributed by Altive Media and Eagle Vision. On 29 June 2012, Kasabian performed at the Main Square festival in Arras France. At the end of the set, Tom Meighan returned to the stage without the band and performed The Beatles "She Loves You" unaccompanied, something that he had also done three days earlier in Athens, Greece, and on 16 June in Denmark at the NorthSide Festival. On 8 July 2012, the band headlined the UK festival T in the Park. Kasabian also headlined the Reading and Leeds Festivals on 24 and 25 August 2012.

48:13 (2013–15)

In March 2013, Sergio Pizzorno confirmed via Facebook that touring rhythm guitarist Jay Mehler had left Kasabian to join Liam Gallagher's new band Beady Eye as a touring bass guitarist. Tim Carter joined Kasabian as a touring guitarist, first performing with the band on 6 March 2013 at Russell Brand's Give It Up for Comic Relief, comedy and music gig at Wembley Arena. Carter is a music engineering producer and assistant to Dan the Automator, who co-produced West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum and Velociraptor!.

Following a handful of gigs and festival performances throughout the year, Kasabian posted a teaser video in November 2013, announcing that they had been working on new material for the previous six months. The album was produced by Sergio Pizzorno. They also announced that they would be playing a homecoming gig in Victoria Park, Leicester to 60,000 people in June 2014, around the ten year anniversary of their debut album. On 4 April 2014, Kasabian were confirmed to be headlining the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2014 on 29 June 2014.

On 28 April 2014, the band revealed that the album would be titled 48:13, and be released on 9 June 2014. The lead single to promote the album, "Eez-eh", was released on 29 April 2014. "Eez-eh" was performed at Glastonbury Festival 2014 alongside other tracks from 48:13 and previous albums. The show also featured two cover versions – "Crazy", originally recorded by Gnarls Barkley, and "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim, which has been used as an intro to their song "L.S.F.".

At the NME Awards 2015 Kasabian were nominated for 9 awards, beating the 2009 Oasis record (7 nominations).

For Crying Out Loud and Meighan's departure (2016–present)

In 2016, the band played a short tour in May, culminating in two concerts at Leicester City Football Club's ground, the King Power Stadium, to celebrate the club winning the Premier League. At the first of these two concerts, Kasabian debuted a new song, "Put Your Life On It", dedicated to the city and those who are no longer with us to see the city's recent sporting achievements, accompanied by a gospel choir from De Montfort University. They also performed a short set in Leicester's Victoria Park, as part of the LCFC victory parade on 16 May. Numerous inspirations for the sixth album also have been listed, including Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Claudio Ranieri. On 8 September, it was confirmed that "Comeback Kid" will be featured on the soundtrack of EA Sports game FIFA 17. In December 2016 the group were rumoured to be playing Reading and Leeds Festival the following year, but insisted that "The band are currently finishing their new album". The band did play the Reading and Leeds Festival in August 2017, as well as several other festivals that year.

In a January 2017 interview to NME, Pizzorno revealed that the upcoming album would contain a track called "Bless This Acid House", which, in the musician's opinion, is one of the best songs he has written.

In March 2017, it was confirmed that the band's sixth album would be titled For Crying Out Loud, and released in May of that year. The album cover features a photograph of the band's guitar technician Rick Graham. The band embarked on a world tour in support, that included performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals and headlining TRNSMT in Glasgow.

In July 2020, it was announced that Meighan was stepping down from Kasabian by mutual consent due to personal issues. He admitted in court that he had assaulted his now wife with her daughter present. It was also reported in court that this wasn’t the first time police had been notified of a domestic disturbance at the property. In late October 2020 the remaining band members issued a media statement confirming both  Meighan's permanent dismissal from the band and his termination as a partner in their touring and merchandising companies.

On 28 May 2021, Kasabian announced an October tour of the UK, their first since Meighan's departure, with Pizzorno assuming all lead vocal duties and touring guitarist Tim Carter becoming a full-time member of the band. The new-look Kasabian made its debut in Glasgow on 13 October, with the band now joined by Robert Harvey of The Music as a multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist.

Band members

Current members
Sergio Pizzorno – lead and backing vocals (lead since 2020), rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion, electronic programming (1997–present); lead guitar (2006–2021); occasional bass, piano, synthesizer (2004–present)
Chris Edwards – bass (1997–present); backing vocals (2017–present)
Ian Matthews – drums, percussion (2004–present)
Tim Carter – lead guitar, backing vocals (2021–present; touring member 2013–2021)

Current touring musicians
Ben Kealey – keyboards, piano, backing vocals (2006–present)
Gary Alesbrook – trumpet (2006–present)
Robert Harvey – guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals (2021–present)

Former members
Christopher "Chris" Karloff – lead guitar, bass, keyboards, electronic programming (1997–2006); drums, percussion (1997–2004)
Tom Meighan – lead and backing vocals (1997–2020)

Former session and touring musicians
Jay Mehler – guitar (2006–2012)
Ryan Glover – drums (2004)
Mitch Glover – drums (2004)
Daniel "Dan" Ralph Martin – drums, piano (2004)
Martin Hall-Adams – drums (2004)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums
 Kasabian (2004)
 Empire (2006)
 West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009)
 Velociraptor! (2011)
 48:13 (2014)
 For Crying Out Loud (2017)
 TBA (2022)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Kasabian Live
Kasabian.co.uk

 
Brit Award winners
English indie rock groups
Musical groups from Leicester
Musical groups established in 1997
Neo-psychedelia groups
NME Awards winners
Musical quartets
People from Countesthorpe
People from Blaby
Third Man Records artists
Linda Darlene Kasabian (born Drouin; June 21, 1949) is a former member of the Manson Family. She was the key witness in District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi's prosecution of Charles Manson and his followers for the 1969 Tate–LaBianca murders.

Early life
Linda Darlene Drouin was born on June 21, 1949 in Biddeford, Maine, and raised in the New England town of Milford, New Hampshire.  Her father, Rosaire Drouin, was a construction worker of French-Canadian ancestry. Her mother, Joyce Taylor, was a homemaker. They struggled financially in a working-class home. Her parents often did not get along, and her father eventually left when she was still a young child. Both of her parents remarried a short time later, and her father moved to Miami, Florida. She was the eldest child, and her mother Joyce has remarked that with so many younger children and stepchildren to care for, she was not able to devote the necessary attention to her teenage daughter. "I didn't have time to listen to her problems. A lot of what has happened to Linda is my fault," she has admitted.

As a child, Kasabian was described by friends, neighbors, and teachers as intelligent, a good student, but a "starry-eyed romantic". She was regarded as kind and shy, but "forced to grow up too soon". She dropped out of high school and ran away from home at the age of sixteen due to conflict with her stepfather, Jake Byrd, whom she claimed mistreated both her and her mother. Kasabian traveled to the west coast, "looking for God". At the age of 16, she married Robert Peasley, but divorced a short time later. She briefly moved to Miami and tried to reconnect with her father, who was working as a bartender, but they again drifted apart before long. She then traveled to Boston and remarried, and gave birth to a daughter in 1968. When her second marriage, to Robert Kasabian, began to sour, Linda and her baby daughter Tanya returned to New Hampshire to live with her mother. Later, Robert Kasabian contacted Linda and invited her to meet him in Los Angeles. He wanted her to join him and a friend, Charles "Blackbeard" Melton, on a sailing trip to South America. Linda, who was hoping for a reconciliation with Robert, returned to Los Angeles to live with him in Topanga Canyon.

Introduction to the Manson family

By the time she became pregnant with her second child, Kasabian was feeling neglected by her husband Robert, who had ultimately left her behind for the South American sailing trip. Through Melton she met Catherine Share, who told Kasabian about an idyllic ranch outside Los Angeles where a group of hippies were establishing a "hole in the earth" paradise to escape an anticipated race war which they referred to as "Helter Skelter". To Kasabian, the ranch situation sounded like the Hopi legends that she had read about as a girl, and she was intrigued. In early summer, 1969, she decided against attending a July 4th Malibu "Love-In" and instead—daughter Tanya in tow—joined Share and traveled to the Spahn Ranch in the Chatsworth area outside Los Angeles, where she met Manson and soon became a member of his "Family".

Kasabian was welcomed by group members, who greeted her with professions of peace and love and assurances that she and her daughter would be cared for, provided she proved loyal. Kasabian became privy to various events and statements that later proved to be important to the criminal case. During her first night with the family, she met and had sexual relations with the high-ranking Manson follower Tex Watson. Both of them have described their initial encounter as very intense. Watson persuaded Kasabian to steal a sum of money from her ex-husband's friend, Charles Melton.

Kasabian was then introduced to Manson, a dramatic event for her. She thought that he looked magnificent in his buckskin clothing, and that he seemed to be Christ-like. Manson talked with her about why she had come to the ranch, and after feeling her legs, he accepted her. That night, Manson and Kasabian had sex in a Spahn Ranch cave. She thought that Manson could "see right through her" and that he was perceptive of her issues with her stepfather and her feelings of being "disposable" to the people in her life and to the world in general, as recorded in her trial testimony;

Kasabian adopted the attitude toward Manson that the other ranch girls held: "We always wanted to do anything and everything for him." She began joining family members on their "creepy crawls", quietly sneaking into random homes in Los Angeles to steal money while the occupants slept. These and other criminal activities were the means by which the members of the family supported themselves, and Kasabian was willing to participate. When Mary Brunner was jailed for using a stolen credit card, Kasabian became the only member of the group to possess a valid California driver's license.

Involvement with murders 

On August 8, 1969, Kasabian claimed Manson directed her to gather a knife, a change of clothing and her driver's license, then to accompany three other members of the family, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel and do what Watson told her to. They drove to 10050 Cielo Drive. According to Kasabian once there, she saw Watson shoot and kill Steven Parent, a teenager who had come to visit the caretaker, William Garettson. Watson then ordered Kasabian to remain outside the residence, and she stood by the car while Watson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel entered the house and killed Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and the eight-month pregnant Sharon Tate.

Kasabian testified that at one point she heard the "horrible screams" of the victims and left the car. "I started to run toward the house, I wanted them to stop. I knew what they had done to that man [Parent], that they were killing these people. I wanted them to stop." Approaching the house from the driveway, Kasabian was met by Frykowski, who was running out the front door. Kasabian said in her testimony, "There was a man just coming out of the door and he had blood all over his face and he was standing by a post, and we looked into each other's eyes for a minute, and I said, 'Oh, God, I am so sorry. Please make it stop.' But then he just fell to the ground into the bushes." Then Watson repeatedly stabbed Frykowski and hit him in the head with a gun butt. Kasabian tried to stop the murderers by claiming that she heard "people coming" onto the Tate property, but Atkins insisted that it was "too late". According to Watson and Atkins, Kasabian stood rooted to the front lawn, watching with a horrified expression as her companions committed murder. Kasabian testified that, while in a state of shock, she ran toward the car, started it up, and considered driving away to get help, but then became concerned for her daughter back at the Spahn Ranch.

The next night, Manson, Leslie Van Houten, and Clem Grogan joined the quartet because, according to Kasabian, Manson felt the deed the night before had been performed sloppily. They drove to the LaBianca residence. Inside, Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. When asked why she went out with the group again, knowing this time that murders would occur, Kasabian claimed that when Manson asked her to go with them she was "afraid to say no".

Later the same night, in the Venice Beach, Manson allegedly asked Kasabian to participate in the murder of a Lebanese actor named Saladin Nader. Kasabian claims she purposely knocked on the wrong apartment door in order to avoid causing any harm to Nader. Two days after the LaBianca murders, she fled from the Manson "family", and she eventually returned to her mother's home in New Hampshire.

Witness for the prosecution

Several members of the  "family" were arrested following a raid on the Spahn Ranch in October for car theft. The police at the time had no idea that they were also rounding up the murderers in the Tate and LaBianca cases. The investigations of these were already in progress, along with the intensive news media coverage of the murders. After being informed that a warrant for her arrest had been issued, Kasabian turned herself in to New Hampshire authorities in early December. Kasabian was offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for turning state's evidence.

There have been reports that Kasabian wanted to tell her story to the prosecutors, with or without any kind of deal, to "get it out of my head", as chief prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi described it, but that her attorney, Gary Fleischman, insisted that she remain silent until the district attorney made an offer of immunity. Kasabian, who was then pregnant with her second child, agreed to the immunity offer.

The immunity agreement was seen at the time as a somewhat controversial option for the prosecution for a number of reasons. Some wanted her to be fully prosecuted for the crimes. However, though Kasabian had been an accomplice to the murders (their driver and lookout) and she had not prevented the crimes or contacted the police or the sheriff afterwards, she had not entered either residence and was not thought to have physically participated in any of the murders. She had been described as reluctant and extremely upset during the events of both nights, even challenging Manson ("I'm not you, Charlie. I can't kill anyone"), and she was the only member of the group to express remorse and sympathy for the victims. When taken back to the Tate residence to help reconstruct the crime there, Kasabian reportedly suffered an emotional breakdown.

Taking the witness stand, Kasabian was the chief witness for the prosecution, and she tearfully recounted the murders in vivid detail. She related to the trial jury all that she had seen and heard during her stay with the "family" and during the commission of the murders. Her testimony was considered to be the most dramatic segment of the very long trial, and it received an unprecedented amount of news media coverage. During the trial, unjailed members of the Manson "family" led a campaign of intimidation against Kasabian in an effort to prevent her from testifying. The actual defendants in the crime constantly disrupted her testimony with a blizzard of dramatic courtroom theatrics. Manson ran a finger across his throat, glaring at Kasabian as she testified, an act he repeated during the testimony of other prosecution witnesses.

Susan Atkins also repeatedly whispered to Kasabian across the courtroom "You're killing us!", to which Kasabian responded, "I am not killing you, you have killed yourselves". Manson notoriously interrupted Kasabian's testimony by holding up a copy of the Los Angeles Times newspaper to the jury with the headline "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares" referring to President Richard Nixon's statements to the press about the pre-verdict trial. He apparently hoped that this stunt would result in a mistrial, which the defense argued for, but lost. Judge Charles H. Older refused to allow the defendants to legally benefit from the antics.

For the majority of her 18 days of testimony, the defense attorneys tried unsuccessfully to discredit Kasabian by bringing into account her extensive use of LSD and by attempting to perforate her story. Kasabian did not break under the intensive cross-examination, and her testimony matched all of the physical evidence that had been presented, in addition to being supported by the subsequent prosecution witnesses.

During Kasabian's cross-examination, Manson's defense lawyer Irving Kanarek showed her large color crime-scene photographs of the Tate murders. Kasabian's emotional reaction was in stark contrast to the other "family" members. Manson and Krenwinkel's defense attorney Paul Fitzgerald later asserted that Kanarek's tactic—meant to discredit Kasabian—was a grave error that completely backfired and exonerated the state's primary witness. Composing herself enough to look up from the color photo of the dead, bloodied Sharon Tate, Kasabian shot a look across the courtroom to the defendants. "How could you do that?", she asked. The female defendants laughed. Manson's defense attorney Kanarek asked Kasabian how she could be so certain, considering her LSD use, that she had not participated in the gruesome act. "Because I don't have that kind of thing in me, to do something so animalistic", she replied.

Although the Manson gang's murder trial lasted nine months, with testimony from numerous witnesses (including several other former "family" members), Kasabian's testimony, more than anything else, according to Bugliosi, led to the convictions of Manson, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten.

Penalty phase
On January 25, 1971, the defendants were found guilty on all counts by the jury, leading to the penalty phase of the trial, which decided the punishments of the convicted. Various female witnesses, including the defendants and other loyal "family" members (all of whom carved bloody Xs into their foreheads as a sign of their allegiance to Manson), testified that Kasabian, rather than Manson, had masterminded the crimes. The trial jury completely rejected their testimony. Over the years, these accusations have been publicly repudiated by many of the former "family" members who originally offered the tale, including Catherine Share (in 1997), Susan Atkins (in 1977), and particularly Tex Watson, who in 1978 described those allegations as "patently ridiculous".

Life after trial

The heavy news media coverage of the Manson trial had made Linda Kasabian a well-known, if somewhat controversial figure, by the time the sentences had been handed down, with opinions about her ranging from sympathetic to hostile. Kasabian shortly returned to New Hampshire with her husband and her children, seeking to escape the glare of the media, and to raise her children quietly. She lived on a hippie commune for a time and later worked as a cook. Kasabian was called back to Los Angeles County several times after the first trial: she was a witness against Tex Watson in his separate trial in 1971, and also against Leslie Van Houten in her two retrials in 1977.

Kasabian was later detained for numerous traffic violations, until an automobile accident left her partially disabled. Though she had severed all of her ties with the Manson "family", the Secret Service kept her under surveillance for a time after former Manson associate Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford. Kasabian was the target of scorn from the few remaining Manson "family" members.

Over the years, Kasabian has avoided and refused most news media attention. She appeared only once between 1969 and 2008, for an interview with the syndicated American television program A Current Affair in 1988.

Later, Cineflix, a production company in the United Kingdom and Canada, produced a docu-drama called Manson, in which Kasabian appears, telling her story in complete detail for the first time. This program was telecast in the UK on August 10, 2009, and also in the United States on September 7, 2009 and again on July 20, 2013, on the History Channel. In this interview, Kasabian recounts her four weeks spent with the Manson "family".

In a September 2, 2009 live interview on CNN's Larry King Live, Kasabian recounted her memories of the murders at Sharon Tate's home. To help her maintain her now-quiet life, Kasabian wore a disguise provided by the program. She told Larry King during the interview that after the trial she had been in need of, but had never obtained, "psychological counseling", and that during the previous 12 years, she had been "on a path of healing and rehabilitation." When asked about the degree of remorse she felt for her participation in the crimes, Kasabian said she felt as though she took on all the guilt that "no one else [who was involved in the crimes] felt guilt for".

Notes

References

Didion, Joan. The White Album. Flamingo, New York, 1993. 

King, Greg. Sharon Tate and The Manson Murders. Barricade Books. Fort Lee NJ, 2000. .

Paul Watkins with Guillermo Soledad. My Life with Charles Manson. Bantam, 1979. .
 Watson, Charles as told to Ray Hoekstra. Will You Die for Me? Cross Roads Publications, 1978. Chapter 13. .

 CNN, Larry King Live, September 2, 2009.

1949 births
Living people
Manson Family
Crime witnesses
People from Biddeford, Maine
People from Milford, New Hampshire Ian Matthews  (born 20 June 1971) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Kasabian.

Prior to Kasabian, Matthews played with a number of noted local Bristol bands, such as K-Passa, CCQ, and Sissi. He met Kasabian in 2001 before the band were signed when they were recording demos in Bristol. From these early sessions Matthews recorded with them came the single "Processed Beats". He also played on "Butcher Blues" and "Club Foot" from Kasabian's self-titled debut album. He also overdubbed an extra drum track over the single version of "Cutt Off", and recorded the drums to the B-side "Beneficial Herbs". He was asked to tour with them in April 2004 and became a permanent member in April 2005.

Matthews started his career as a young club/jazz drummer and when not touring or recording with Kasabian, he often plays small jazz/funk gigs in and around Bristol. He has recorded with Bristol artist James Morton's Porkchop on Don't You Worry 'Bout That album.

He cites Mitch Mitchell, Tony Williams and Buddy Rich as his strongest drumming influences.

In 2015, Matthews joined with Al Murray, Keith Keough, Stuart Warmington and Al Kitching in founding the British Drum Company.

Drum kits 
Matthews has used various drum kits and cymbals over the years. Currently he is using British Drum Co Drums, Zildjian cymbals Remo Drum Heads, Vic Firth Sticks and Natal percussion.

Trivia 
Matthews is left-handed. He broke his left hand when touring with Kasabian in Europe in February 2010 and was replaced by his drum technician Laurie Jenkins for a show and the NME Awards performance of "Vlad the Impaler".

He got his first drum kit when he was four and by the time he was seven, he played his first gig in a pub and was capable of laying "a pretty good waltz, quickstep, foxtrot, and tango".

In addition to his work with Kasabian, he has also recorded drums on the following: Soundisciples - Audio Manifesto (2002), Ilya - They Died for Beauty (2003), Bruce Parry Presents Amazon Tribe: Songs for Survival - track 9 with Skin at Robot Club feat. the Adi Tribe - "Simmer Down" (2008), BBC Earth Unplugged series Earth Files Ep2 "Salmon Strike" and Ep5 "Xmas Special" (2012), soundtrack to I Give It a Year (2013) and on the soundtrack to Fast and Furious 6 (2013).

References

External links 
 Kasabian.co.uk
 Interview with iDrum magazine, issue 6

1971 births
Living people
British male drummers
English rock drummers
Musicians from Bristol
Kasabian members
21st-century drummers