Serge Pizzorno feels like he's "on holiday all the time" when he's working on new music in the studio.

Serge Pizzorno

Serge Pizzorno

The Kasabian guitarist ends up spending his downtime in the studio working on new material when the group take time off and he's realised that's because he doesn't feel like he needs a proper break because he loves his job so much.

He said: "I've gotten to the bottom of that. It's because I think I'm on holiday all the time.

"What I love doing happens to be the job that I do."

And with the 'Empire' hitmakers currently on an extended break, Serge felt the time was right to work on his first solo album.

He added to Q magazine: "This just felt like the time to do it.

"After six albums you need to reset everything, get out of the cycle and have something else to think about. Get out of your normal routine and just go, 'Boof'."

The 38-year-old musician enjoyed the fact he's had no pressure to match the group's success or meet fan expectations with his solo record, 'The S.L.P.'.

He said: "We've been lucky that the fans have followed us when we've made sidesteps and twists and turns.

"We've been able to explore and experiment but there is definitely that thing in your mind of headlining Reading and Leeds, headlining Glasto, playing these huge gigs and having the big single - which I love - but it was nice to be able to not think about that and to go in thinking it could be absolutely anything I want, a total blank."

But Serge was "surprised" by how "melodic" the tracks he's written for the record have turned out to be.

He said: "What surprised me most in the end was that I thought the record was going to be more ragged and out-there, but it fell into this very direct bunch of tunes.

"It's way more melodic than I was expecting it to be."