Nearly 3 years after departing Kasabian, Tom Meighan returns with The Reckoning, his first solo album, released today, 5th May 2023. It comes with a video for the title track and follows previous single Everyone’s Addicted To Something. Last year he revealed Movin’ On and Shout It Out, both of which feature on the album. One of Tom’s earliest solo tracks and a favourite with fans at recent live shows Would You Mind is featured on the deluxe album. He has just finished a 16-date UK tour. This summer he will perform at a string of festivals, and will support Noel Gallagher at Audley End on 5th August.
It’s been 20 years since Tom Meighan signed his first record deal with Kasabian at the age of 21. He sold four million albums, celebrated 5 consecutive number one albums and was awarded, amongst many others, a BRIT Award, 7 NME Awards, 5 Q Magazine Awards, a Mojo award and a Music Week Award. He headlined Glastonbury, V Festival and Reading and Leeds twice, along with most other major European music festivals. He toured the world, relentlessly.
Throughout all of this, Tom was masking undiagnosed ADHD and Generalised Anxiety Disorder. He was self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. His loved ones could see disaster was approaching, but didn’t know how to help. His previous band booked him into rehab mid-US tour, but it was unsuccessful. His partner (now wife) and his mum reached out to the police on several occasions amid fears that he was going to take his own life. Then, in April 2020, during the first Covid lockdown, Tom Meighan’s world imploded. As is often the case with those in the thrall of addiction, a devastating, life changing event occurred. What some saw as an unforgivable act of rage, others saw as one final, primal cry for help.
During Tom’s intense recovery program, he received his mental health diagnosis. Research shows that mental health problems are experienced by the majority of drug (70%) and alcohol (86%) misusers in the UK. It also shows that a history of drug and alcohol use is recorded in 54% of suicides in people experiencing mental health problems.
Addiction, remorse, recovery, redemption. These are themes that run deep on Tom’s magnificent solo album. Whatever the reasons he didn’t contribute to the songwriting in Kasabian, it wasn’t down to lack of talent. The confidence and ability to sing an earworm with passion and charm remain in Tom’s new songs. What’s new are a broad range of styles. In addition to the rock power and bulletproof bangers of his former band, you’ll hear a blissed-out euphoria, a tenderness and a lyrical depth resulting from a period of self-reflection and emotional maturity.
The journey of recovery is not an easy one, particularly for someone in the public eye. The less stigmatised addiction becomes, the more we talk, the more we listen and the less we judge others without having walked in their shoes, the sooner we might move on from the cold hard rejection of cancel culture.
Perhaps we can all take something from standout track Scared - “I’ll help you stand, stand on two feet, take it step by step, hold on to me / We’re all scared, scared of going under, we are lost souls we are not numbers / We’re all scared, scared that no one’s there, every son and daughter, keep your head above the water / There’s a way through this madness, a way through it all, we’ll do it together, I won’t let you fall.”
A born frontman with an unmatched ability to get a crowd jumping, Tom has just finished a packed out UK tour and with live shows throughout the summer, including a support slot with his friend Noel Gallagher, his sights are firmly set on the future.
“It’s hard to express what having the opportunity to make this album means to me. I’ve called it ‘The Reckoning’, because I have had to have a reckoning with myself. I know it’s a cliché to talk about the creative process as catharsis, but this really has been for me. It's not just music; parts of it are my soul, my life up until now, my old life and my new one. I tried to pour everything in my head into this collection of songs; the highs, the lows, the light and the dark in me. I feel vulnerable and invincible all at once, I hope you get that when you listen to it.” - Tom Meighan
Joining Tom in his band are keyboardist/guitarist Bnann Infadel, bassist Ele Lucas, lead guitarist Chris Haddon, guitarist Brodie Maguire and drummer Gareth Young.
TRACK LISTING
1. Rise
2. Deep Dive
3. Daytona Racing
4. Shout It Out
5. Don’t Give In
6. Scared
7. Acrobat
8. Thinking On Our Feet
9. Better In The Dark
10. Everyone’s Addicted To Something
11. Moving On
12. The Reckoning
LIVE DATES
6th May - Be Reyt Festival - Sheffield
12th May - Dublin - Opium
13th May - Belfast - Limelight
1st July - Nibley Festival - Cotswolds
8th July - Askern Festival - Doncaster
5th August - Audley End supporting Noel Gallagher
