Keane (band)
Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met while at Tonbridge School together. The band comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
Not to be confused with the Keane Brothers, Kane (Dutch band), or Kane (American band).
Keane
Keane achieved mainstream international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK chart, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the UK's second best-selling album of 2004.[5] It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.[6] Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008 and their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
After the release of their next album, The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a break of nearly five years. They returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of songs had been written by Rice-Oxley during his divorce. After discussions with Chaplin, Rice-Oxley decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, the Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20.[7] In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK.[8] Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands.[9] The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music[10][11] which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.[12]
History[edit]
1995–99: early years and formation[edit]
Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when very young.[13] Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years,[14] the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both discovered their liking for music. Richard Hughes, Keane's future drummer, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had learned to play the flute, but none considered music as a proper career at the time.[15]
In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums.[11] The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands.
After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey, in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped."[11] Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from the Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer,[16] she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.[17]
Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year.[13] Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days."[15] With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history.[15] However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career.[11][15] After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
1999–2003: early releases and Scott's departure[edit]
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's label Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only 500 copies were printed.[18] The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.[19]
Recording for the band's next release began on 28 October 2000.[20] At the start of 2001, Rice-Oxley and Hughes disclosed that the main recording would be "Wolf at the Door," and that it would be completed soon.[20] The band gave progress updates. Hughes recorded drums in late January, and the final recording session was in February.[20] Mixing took place in April.[20] The single was released in June, and only 50 copies are known to have been made, using unlabeled CD-Rs.[21]
Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay.[21] During production of "Wolf at the Door," the band recorded and released other songs as demos, namely "More Matey," "Maps," "To the End of the Earth," "Allemande," "New One," "Russian Farmer's Song," and "Live in Fear."[20] The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin said "They most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of— I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out [(Hopes and Fears)] leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently."[22]
Dominic Scott decided to leave the band in July,[20] a month after "Wolf at the Door" was released, to continue his studies at the LSE.[20] Rice-Oxley referenced this departure in "This Is the Last Time," which was being rehearsed in May, according to Hughes.[20]
Keane was invited by record producer James Sanger in July[20] to his property in Normandy, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November,[20] including "Sunshine," "This Is the Last Time," "Maps" (anew) and "Happy Soldier."[23] It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge.[20] Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including "Sunshine", the only song composed there.[24] The band members returned to England in November.[20]
The band signed with BMG to publish their music in April 2002,[20] and this enabled them to better commit to music,[20] but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. Sometime in early 2002, Rice-Oxley wrote "Everybody's Changing."[25] He played it for Chaplin, Hughes and people at BMG, and then the band developed the song into a demo completed in July.[25] They also produced a demo of "Walnut Tree" completed in May.[23]
2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin.[15] In December, Keane returned to performing live.[20] One gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 14 April 2003, and came out as a CD single on 12 May.[26]
As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels.[27][28] The band decided to sign with Island Records in summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show [but] even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway."[27] According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.[27]
The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.
Collaborations[edit]
In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape. Stefani had been wishing to work with the band since 2005, and Rice-Oxley responded by saying "we might give it a go".[73] Tom Chaplin collaborated with Rocco Deluca and the Burden on the song "Mercy". The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train. In late 2009, Rice-Oxley collaborated with the Australian singer Kylie Minogue as co-writer of the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Minogue's eleventh studio album "Aphrodite", released in June 2010.[74] The band collaborated with dance artist Chicane on a remix of the song "Bend & Break", renamed "Wake Up". It was featured on the artist's 2008 best-of compilation. In 2012, Tom Chaplin collaborated with the Dutch singer Laura Jansen on the song "Same Heart" for a Dutch charity radio programme. The track was featured on Jansen's second studio album Elba. In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.
Musical style and themes[edit]
Tim Rice-Oxley and Dominic Scott were the main writers of the band's songs during their early years. When Scott left in 2001, Rice-Oxley became the main composer.[75] However, Rice-Oxley credits the rest of the band on all compositions, so that royalties for song credits are shared.[75]
Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.
While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to the Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.
Keane have covered songs by artists such as U2,[76] Rufus Wainwright,[77] Depeche Mode,[78] Genesis, the Beatles, the Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."[79]
Current members
Former members
Timeline
