"Vlad the Impaler" is the eighth song of Kasabian's album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the third studio album by British indie rock rock band Kasabian, which was released on 5 June 2009.The album was nominated for the 2009 Mercury Prize. In October 2009, it was voted the best album of the year by Q Magazine.-History:"Vlad the Impaler" was made...

. It was released as a free download with an accompanying music video in March 2009. It was released as a single physically on 15 February 2010.

The lyric "Joker, meet you on the other side" is a tribute to the late Dark Knight

The Dark Knight (film)

The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...

 actor Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger

Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

. Often when performed live Tom Meighan

Tom Meighan

Thomas Peter Meighan is an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist for Indie Rock band Kasabian.-Career:Meighan has been the lead vocalist of Kasabian since the band's inception in Leicester in 1999...

 changes this line to "Heath Ledger, meet you on the other side."

Track listing

• Digital EP

1. "Vlad The Impaler" - 4:41
2. "Fast Fuse (Live At Sheffield Arena)" - 5:22
   • iTunes EP
3. "Vlad The Impaler" - 4:41
4. "Fast Fuse (Live At Sheffield Arena)" - 5:22
5. "Thick As Thieves (Live At Sheffield Arena)" - 3:18

Music video

The initial video featured English comedian Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding is a British artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his roles as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-writes with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.-Stand-up comedy:Noel Fielding performed regularly as a...

 of The Mighty Boosh

The Mighty Boosh

The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...

 acting as a vampire

Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

 killer (Vlad the Impaler being the real name of the original Count Dracula

Vlad III the Impaler

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia , also known by his patronymic Dracula , and posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler , was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans...

) who goes on a wild killing spree killing two tennis players, a girl on a camping trip and a couple. A second music video was released in February 2010 and is live footage from their gig in Dublin in November of the previous year.

Chart performance

It is the band's lowest charting single to date, peaking at #114 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

External links

• http://www.kasabian.co.uk/gb/music/releases/singles/vlad_the_impaler/