Q. Tell us about The Barn.
A. http://www.keanemusic.com/data/mp3/2738_tom%20answer%209.mp3

Well, The Barn is a kind of little haven of various musical instruments and people who are related to Keane, or in Keane... its a little place that we've set up. I mean, the whole process of recording is just, y'know... going to a studio, especially if you go abroad, is obscenely expensive - and in some ways is lovely and its nice to go away together on a bit of a jolly, but The Barn is basically a very easy and good place to go to get stuff done quickly and in our own time. And we love it there, we love hanging out there and we've got everything we need - and its sort of a mid-point for all our homes, so we can all sort of convene there whenever we need to get things done. I guess its just a simple easy way of getting us all together and getting our heads together... and also I guess, an easy place for Tim and Richard to store their multitude of ridiculous instruments that they don't need, that they seem to keep buying hehe... and my one microphone, which sits there on its own and feels rather lonely!

vocabulary: "a jolly" in this sense is probably best thought of as going off on a holiday with your mates for a good time.


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TIM'S SERENITY

Q. Have you enjoyed making this album?
A. Audio

I have enjoyed it hugely, actually! It was interesting, we had Jon Brion, who's an American producer/genius musician sort-of guru kinda bloke, and he came to Paris when we first started on the main part of recording.. and he said "Go and listen to those Bowie records and Beatles records that you love and just listen to the sense of fun that the people who made those records are having!" - and I think we thought "Well y'know... We've gotta make sure that translates onto this record". And it really has I think... there's a lot of fun stuff - I mean, y'know its not a joke record, its not a kind of parody or anything of Keane... its a very serious and thoughtful record, I guess, but at the same time the sound of it, sonically, its a lot more fun and I think the reason is because we were having a lot more fun. We wanted to get involved in all kinds of crazy percussion and backing vocals and y'know, using instruments that we wouldn't have dreamed of using before... and I think y'know, part of that was just that we'd had a break, we feel so much closer as a unit now, we had such a good time touring in 2007 that it just... it just made us feel sort-of alive again as a band and so, y'know I just think... well, its ironic because I think we wanted to, with the second record we said that we wanted it to be a record that made us feel alive again after sort-of finding touring getting a bit kind of... well, touring became a bit of a drag, it became something that went on too long and that we weren't enjoying. But in the end, Under The Iron Sea just became a very dark and upsetting record - I mean, I personally think a very good record, but not a particularly pleasant experience to make. Y'know, I guess that happens in the life of a band, there are times and there are records that get made where those things happen - but this whole process has been completely different. We've been away to Berlin a couple of times, we've been away to Paris together, we've been up at our barn together and its that togetherness and that feeling that we're all kinda pulling in the same direction - and we're excited about making music again and doing it in a fun way. Its really infected this record with that sense of fun, and for me its been by far and away the most enjoyable record-making process I've had with Keane, and I think that probably could be said for the others as well.

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