KASABIAN are set to steal the show at Glastonbury this weekend after we revealed they will perform as the secret act.
But as Serge Pizzorno and the group prepare to be mobbed by thousands of fans on Saturday, a different fate awaits shamed ex-bandmate Tom Meighan.
Six years ago, the former frontman, 43, was sacked by the band after attacking his then-fiancee, Vikki Ager, in a drunken row during lockdown.
Chilling CCTV footage revealed the singer struck his partner, had his hands around her throat and dragged her into the garden by her ankles.
Meighan, who initially denied domestic assault in a police interview, was described as having “smelt heavily of intoxicants” and was acting “aggressively” and “uncooperative”.
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In court, he was ordered to undertake five days in rehabilitation, carry out 200 hours of community service and received an 18-month community order.
Kasabian - who The Sun revealed will return to play this year’s Glastonbury Festival after 10 years away - said they were “completely heartbroken” but couldn’t stand by what he had done.
In a statement after the conviction, they wrote: “As soon as we found out about the charges made against Tom, we as a band made the decision that we could no longer work with him.
"Ultimately, as much as Tom hurt us all, we're not the victims in all of this. Domestic violence is something that can never be excused."
Meighan returned to performing after his conviction, but has lived in the shadows of his former success, explaining he lost his home, job and friends.
While he has continued to tour the festival circuit, the stages are smaller and he has faced regular boycotts from furious performers who refuse to share them with him.
In a recent bitter interview, he lashed out at the "hundreds of friends" who "disappeared out of my life". It followed a series of swipes at his former bandmates, who he alleges were desperate to force him out even prior to his shock trial.
Battle with booze
Shortly after the court case, Meighan publicly apologised, insisting it was “a wake-up call” for “who I was and what I was becoming”.
He said he had “struggled for many years with alcohol addiction” and said he was “spiralling out of control” before the attack.
However, some were appalled by his initial denial of the incident.
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Police were alerted to the assault at the couple’s Leicestershire home when a child, who was described as “panicked and afraid”, called 999.
Vikki was heard yelling “get off me, get off me" as she tried to fight Meighan off during the attack and was said to be “visibly upset” by officers.
The mum, who did not support the prosecution, was left with bruises to her head, knees, elbow and ankle as well as "a reddening around her neck".
Meighan and Vikki went on to marry the following year - they had been engaged since 2017.
Ahead of the nuptials, she told Cornwall Live: “He apologies daily. He really does. A lot of people have arguments and ours got taken to an extreme level.”
Swipes at Serge
In 2021, Meighan released the song Would You Mind?, which he said was written “when I felt I had nowhere or nobody to turn to”.
Lyrics for the track included: "Would you mind? If I lean on you for a little while. Would you mind? If I ask you one last favour cause (sic) we've always been like brothers."
By 2022, the singer’s tune changed as he hit out at his former band members, accusing them of trying to silence him and eject him from the band years prior to his conviction.
On the YouTube series James Hargreaves Guitar, Meighan said: “I felt like I was being watched. Serge (Sergio Pizzorno) was edging and edging to be the frontman for a long time.
I rightly lost everything: my home, my job, and people around me. I was sacked and shunned
“I was basically put in a cage and let out and then put back in again. Very, very egotistic leader. It is what it is.”
He argued that “they should change the name at least” and claimed they “tried to gag me”. Kasabian did not reply to his claims.
Meighan claimed Serge “ended me” because “it did his head in” that he wasn’t the lead singer, adding: “He’s a very 'me, me' person and he wanted to be the frontman and now he’s got it.”
Later, in an interview with the Guardian, Serge insisted he didn’t want to be Kasabian’s lead singer but felt “it would be difficult” to convey the meanings behind their songs by hiring a newcomer.
He claimed the band had “dealt with a lot” over the years from Meighan and had “been through some tough moments”.
Describing the sacking, Sergio added: “It felt like leaving home and coming back and seeing it burnt down, walking round the ashes, seeing old pictures and artefacts and picking things up and sifting through the destruction. It was an intense time.”
Bassist Chris Edwards added: “I think part of Tom wanted to go solo but he didn’t have the heart to tell us.”
'Lost everything'
Meighan released his first single as a free download and in 2022 put out a second titled Shout It Out.
The latter was accompanied by an unusual photoshoot at his home.
In the photos, he was seen cuddling cats with Vikki and kissing her, filling a kettle and receiving a massage from his wife, who's a reflexologist.
It appeared to be part of an attempt to rebrand himself as a changed man - having undergone therapy and rehab and stopped drinking alcohol.
I had hundreds of friends in the music industry and they knew that was hugely out of character for me, but they disappeared out of my life
Tom Meighan
It followed on from a previously published first-person piece for Medium, in which he wrote: "I rightly lost everything: my home, my job, and people around me. I was sacked and shunned."
In 2023, Meighan released his debut solo album The Reckoning, which peaked at No 17 in the UK album charts.
Despite his conviction, the singer has since played gigs around the country and headlined small festivals since 2022.
Earlier this year, Meighan moaned about being shunned by music industry pals and the struggles he had relaunching his career.
He told Sunday World in April: “I had hundreds of friends in the music industry and they knew that was hugely out of character for me, but they disappeared out of my life.”
Tom said there was one exception - Noel Gallagher, who he says “stuck his neck out” and described him as “a f***in’ great mate of mine”.
The former Oasis star booked him as the support act for his tour. Tom added: “He didn’t have to do that, but he did, he didn’t give a f***.”
Festival boycotts
While Noel has backed the singer, other musicians have objected to him being booked, including when he headlined at Sheffield’s Be Reyt Festival last year.
At least seven acts pulled out of the show including Rianne Downey, who wrote online: “I do not and will not stand by or sympathise with the headliner and his previous actions.”
Online fans branded the decision to book Tom “tone deaf” and a petition was launched urging partygoers to boycott the festival entirely.
Be Reyt organisers said “people deserve a second chance”, adding: “We do not accept that Tom should be cast out from the music community after working hard to better himself.”
However, domestic abuse charity IDAS said booking him “risks sending a message to music lovers that abuse is ‘not that bad’, that it is somehow excusable”.
Last December, Spice Girl Mel B - who suffered domestic abuse - lashed out at the organisers of the 2024 Brit Awards after Tom appeared on a list of artists who could be nominated to receive a gong.
She told The Independent: “I am deeply disappointed that an organisation so highly respected within the music industry should make a choice like this.
“You have to think what kind of message are you sending out to people when crimes of violence against women can be committed and then that person could be rewarded as part of a massively high profile awards event. It’s shocking to me.”
This year, fury continued to mount since the singer has lined up gigs including at the Isle of Wight Festival and Askern Festival.
The latter, which is held in July in Doncaster, will see him perform on the main stage for a second year running, much to the frustration of some artists booked to play there.
Niamh, from Slash Fiction, told Now Then Magazine that she was “not surprised but disappointed” - especially considering there was “backlash” to his booking the year before.
She added: “The message you're giving out is that his ability to earn money or make a career is more important than the message you are sending to victims of domestic abuse. I think it's a cop out.”
Another musician, who used the pseudonym Keiron, felt it was “pretty shameful” that he was booked “just below top billing” for the festival in July.
“It could have been anyone else. It could have been literally anyone other than him,” he added.
Keiron later said he shouldn’t be performing at festivals, arguing: “We can say actually, no, we're going to book someone without these sort of convictions, who doesn't send a message that we think this sort of thing is okay.”
