As if we didn’t know it already, it’s been a very good year for Kasabian. In addition to a chart-topping album and a headline performance at Glastonbury, the group have been nominated for an impressive eight NME Awards.

The Leicester-based band have become arguably the biggest alternative rock band in Britain over the last decade, and this status is reflected by this massive haul of nominations. The band are in the running for: Best Band; Best Live Band; Best Track and Dance Floor Filler (both for lead single ‘Eez-Eh’); Best Music Film (Kasabian: Summer Solstice); ‘Music Moment of the Year’ (for their Glastonbury performance); Best Fan Community and, perhaps most importantly, Best Album for their fifth record 48:13 which was released back in June.

Kasabian
Kasabian (their lead singer Tom Meighan above) end a fantastic year with 8 NME Award nominations

Having just wrapped up an arena tour of Britain, the group reacted by saying "2014 has been such an incredible year for us, and being nominated for eight NME Awards is a better Christmas present than getting Castle Greyskull in '86! Thanks very much!"

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Other acts that have performed well in the nominations have been newcomers Royal Blood, a hard rock two-piece that notched up one of the year’s fastest-selling debut albums, with seven nominations and Jamie T, who released a new record after a lengthy five-year absence, with six.

The NME Awards has always sought to be an idiosyncratic alternative to the pop industry’s BRIT Awards – illustrated by the existence of two categories ‘Hero of the Year’ and ‘Villain of the Year’. Usual suspects like British Prime Minster David Cameron are in the 'Villain' category, but confusingly Taylor Swift and Russell Brand are in both. Hmmm.

The winners will be announced at the ceremony at London’s Brixton Academy on February 18th.

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