Gigwise has learnt that Kasabian were at loggerheads with their label over their new album title ‘Empire.’

The Leicester band apparently wanted to call the album ‘The British Empire’, but were allegedly denied by their label Columbia because of the negative connotations of the name.

It transpires that Kasabian insisted that they wanted to keep it, but after some wrangling they were eventually happy with the shortened title. 

An industry source tells us: “The band wanted to call it (their second album) ‘The British Empire’, but Sony (Columbia) were having none of it.

“They were worried about how ‘The British Empire’ might be perceived after some of the things that happened with colonialism.” 

It’s also believed that the original disagreement caused the album to be delayed slightly.

Kasabian’s eagerly-anticipated second album ‘Empire’ is released through Columbia on August 28.  Buy it.

Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.