Re-Wiring Up For Some Footy

Kasabian and English football collaborations are becoming something of an annual occurrence here at Treeswingers. Two years ago, the quintet from Leicestershire brought us Football Hero. Last year, they launched the new England kit. This year’s edition is the pick of the bunch.

Fresh off the release of their fourth full album, Velociraptor!, Kasabian sent lead singer Tom Meighan to face off against England No. 9 Darren Bent in a virtual reality version of the beautiful game. Instead of controlling pixels however, the pair were commanding live humans, who were wired up to headsets and forced to submit Big Brother-style to the commands of their overseers. It’s a bit choppy at first, but the pair eventually pick up the pace on the real life rendering of FIFA (which featured Kasabian’s “Switchblade Smiles on this year’s soundtrack). With Bent showing his ineptitude anywhere around any type of football match, the Kasabian frontman takes over and eventually comes out the 3-1 winner.

Kasabian Kicks It Again

Photo courtesy of forums.canadiancontent.net

If you have been following us for a while, you might remember how the combination of Kasabian and football produced some phenomenal results before.  They’re at it again, but this time for more mixed results.

Photo courtesy of forums.canadiancontent.net

The FA and Umbro decided it would be a great idea to launch the latest England away jersey not by showing it off on a footballer, but by having the lead singer of band model it at a concert.  Not only that, but they also thought it was a good idea to launch it not in England, but overseas (as it is an away jersey).  I don’t really understand either ‘innovation’ to their marketing, but the result was Tom Meighan, lead singer of Kasabian, debuting the shirt at a concert in Paris two nights ago.  I can’t imagine Parisian Kasabian fans really cared about the jersey at all, but it’s making a huge buzz in the football community, giving Kasabian plenty of publicity.

Flashback Friday: “Three Lions on a shirt”

Photo courtesy of epltalk.com

So this may be a bit of blasphemy on my part, but this post was brewing long before the draw this morning. Plus it’s a catchy song.

If you haven’t heard already, the U.S. was drawn into Group C for the World Cup putting them in a group with England, Algeria and Slovenia. Given what could have happened with the draw with the questionable seedings, the team now has a great chance of making it into the knockout stages. But they’ll have to face a world superpower first.

England have been the downtrodden giant for a while now. The Three Lions have been wounded, having missed Euro 2008 and branded a constant disappointment at World Cups. They’ve become famous for their choke acts, failures to rise to the occasion and prowess at missing from the penalty spot.

And the funny thing is their fans realize it.

During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, one song banked on this idea and  caught on like fire. Opening with commentary on Gareth Southgate’s missed penalty in the Euro ’96 semis against the Germans, Three Lions’ (the band) “Football is Coming Home” is a song which embodies the constant hope that defines the English fan despite their team’s reputation. Maybe this is our year.

In South Africa, England has as good as a shot as the other favorites to lift the cup, and with Don Fabio Capello leading them in the right direction this maybe their year. Or maybe it’s just another opportunity ripe for disappointment.

I guess we’ll just have to find out when they take the field against the Stars and Stripes on June 12.

-Ryan

Three Lions- Football is Coming Home (download)