Everything About Keane!

2009-06-21T19:40:00.002+01:00

Hello guys!!!

Yes we're back, and we are back to stay. With all this problems around our lives, we forgot a little bit about our function as Keane bloggers, but you all are in our hearts.

So as a tribute to Keane we decided to continue this journey that is being a fan!!

So stay with us, because news are coming everyday and believe us they are going to make you feel conected to Keane everyday.

So enjoy...

Loving Keane

by: keanefas moderators

2008-08-05T12:08:00.003+01:00

New informations:
As we could understand, the singer Annie Lennox (very know with the hit "Sweet Dreams") recorded Keane's song "CLOSER NOW" but with a different name "Patterns Of Life".
She says that this album "I`m very proud of these songs. They are timeless and have become `classics` in their own right."

Font: http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=5871

2008-08-05T11:44:00.004+01:00

Hey.
We're sorry for being so away from here.

But we return with SO MANY news...

Finally Keane released their new single "Spiralling" which you can download it for free directly from their (renovated) official site keanemusic.com
The lyric of Spiralling you can find here

After many especulation, after many things the real truth is that Keane are getting better and better, are more adults, and left definetly the "Under The Iron Sea" dark era.

Welcome to the new colourful, positive and Perfect Symmetry ERA!

2008-07-11T20:36:00.001+01:00

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.

font: keanemusic.com and official forum

2008-07-07T10:58:00.001+01:00

TIM'S SERENITY

2008-07-05T12:25:00.003+01:00

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.

more in www.keanemusic.com

2008-06-25T19:05:00.002+01:00

What Tom says:
Sometimes there might have been up to a hundred vocal takes that we did, but actually y'know, the final few we'd have picked one where we've gone "That whole vocal is pretty much bang on, its pretty much perfect". Its nice to have that because you get a sort of sense of continuity through the song... y'know, if you listen to a very poppy band, you know that the lyrics were composite takes that had come from 20 or 30 efforts at it and they may not have that sense of soul and continuity to them. But we really wanted to make sure that we got that with this album and so it did sort of end up that I suddenly hit a sort of "rich seam" of vocals and that was towards the end of the recording process. SO, most of them have got a feeling of "one take wonder" - I was pretty pleased with the way I was singing the songs by the end.

http://www.keanemusic.com/data/mp3/2727_t6.mp3

2008-06-24T11:13:00.004+01:00

CURATE A NIGHT FOR WAR CHILD

This will be the name of the Keane's DVD about their live gig's for War Child.

This DVD will show more artists than Keane, for example, Lily Allen, The Magic Numbers, Pet Shop Boys, and Guillemots.

More details about the dvd check this

Tracklisting/ Additional Info:
1. (From Now On All My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers – Teddy Thompson
2. You Finally Said Something (When You Said Goodbye) – Teddy Thompson
3. Nobody Cared – Findlay Brown
4. Don’t You Know I Love You – Findlay Brown
5. Cold Hands (Warm Heart) – Brendon Benson & Keane
6. Tiny Spark – Brendan Benson & Keane
7. Love Me Like You – Magic Numbers
8. Integral – Pet Shop Boys
9. Being Boring – Pet Shop Boys
10. Smile – Lily Allen & Keane
11. Everybody's Changing – Lily Allen & Keane
12. Crystal Ball – Keane
13. Somewhere Only We Know – Keane
14. Under Pressure – Keane
15. Bedshaped - Keane

Bonus Material:
16. Guillemots - Trains To Brazil
17. Backstage: Interviews & behind the scenes footage with the performing artists.
18. Keane - The Night Sky - Original Music video [complete with 'Making-of' Footage]
19. War Child Stories

Release date:
Monday,15 September 2008

Price:
£ 14.99, USD 29.23, € 18.89

More details come here or discuss in the official Keane's forum

2008-06-21T15:00:00.002+01:00

Leaving So Soon?

Today we'll publish a Keane's video compilation, that could really be a video, but here he goes.
The artist is named:"Locust".

2008-06-19T15:33:00.002+01:00

Keane's Last Post

Q. If you're recording a lyric that Tim's written, do you have to fully understand that lyric before you sing it?
A. http://www.keanemusic.com/data/mp3/2721_tom%20answer%203.mp3 (audio)

What Tom answers:

You know what, I think probably yes, but I think I do anyway... I mean, my own interpretation is obviously important, or as important, but we know each other so well and all the stuff that we talk about sort of infects Tim's writing anyway - and y'know, we're quite passionate people and we get fairly het up, I think recently especially about kind of issues on the way we all act as human beings. I think everyone would probably, or most people would probably agree that its a fairly grim time in terms of humankind at the moment - we're sort of at a tipping point where I don't know and I don't think many other people know exactly where its going, and there's a lot of sort-of "philosophising" on the record and trying to sort-of work out who we are and what we should do next. And also just trying to explain some of the things that are happening around us and some of the crazy things that people seem to do... and what drives them to do those things, y'know - whether that's celebrity culture that we seem to have in our country, or (sigh) the lovely world of terrorism, corporations and superpowers. Those are things that we talk about, so they've infected the songs and from that perspective, I think I have a real grip on what Tim's written about and I would say they're songs that come from all three of us in a lyrical sense.

Vocabulary: Two notes on this one - in case non-English speakers are confused, "het up" is a phrase that means "worked up", to get annoyed or angry about something in a passionate way (at least that's the best translation you'll get from me when I'm just out of bed!). Also, when he says "... the lovely world of terrorism, corporations and superpowers", its said sarcastically... it doesn't come across when its transcribed.

2008-06-01T11:39:00.000+01:00

Probably many of you had received KWN as I did, but i´ll post this great new here.

COMING TO A COFFEE TABLE NEAR YOU...

Hello again. We've got some exciting news for you, so we thought we'd drop you a quick line.

RICHARD AND ROB MAKE PHOTO BOOK!

We'll let Richard explain this one:

hi there everyone. i just wanted to tell you all about a book of photos that i'm putting together with rob, our lighting designer. as many of you will know, we've both put plenty of photos up on keanemusic.com over the last couple of years, and a few people suggested we put out a book. we thought that was a great idea! it's a collection of pics that we've taken over the last two years of touring, and should be published sometime in the autumn. there's a website with some sample images here: www.rnrkeane.com

we're still working away at the barn, trying to tie up a few more songs ready for mixing. it's sounding very alive and energetic, like a band in a room having fun.

richard

2008-05-10T16:42:00.001+01:00

2008-05-04T00:56:00.003+01:00

Tom's Blog and some photos

We'll try to make this more actualize =)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
(Dia Da Mãe - In Portugal)

2008-04-29T19:08:00.005+01:00

Today Keane's gif is Jesse Quin (their colaborater in the new album) going down the
escalators and Tim and another guy (we think is Tom) stopping his "escape".
HILARIOUS!

See you soon, and we hope with more news about them.

Thanks!

2008-04-26T20:02:00.003+01:00

Sorry !
With classes we don't have so much time to come here and post with quality.
But we decided to share with you this excellent and funny video, about KEANE! Of course.
This is a funny way to see their studium and how their work.

We promise we'll keep our blog more actualize.

See you and ENJOY!

If you have any sugestion for Keane's Third album, send us an email or a leave us a comment.

2008-03-26T12:49:00.004Z

KEANE DETAILED INFORMATIONS ABOUT THEIR THIRD ALBUM

First, all the credits go to a Keane fan Chris Flynn who wrote everything you'll see here.
This text is based in Keane quotes,interviews and posts in their official site.
Once again, this wasn't wrote by us but by a Keane's fan called Chris Flynn.

Album title - Song titles mentioned - Black Burning Heart, Playing Along
(falsely quoted as Playing Away) , Perfect Symmetry, 'YHTMA'
Written - February 2007 onwards
Recorded - February 2008 onwards
Recorded at:
+ le Studio de la Grande Armée, Paris, France - 11th February to 23rd February *.
+ Teldex Studio, Berlin, Germany - 4th March onwards
Produced - Jon Brion (Paris), Stuart Price (Berlin - from 14th March)
Additional personnel - Jesse Quin (bass)
Mixed -
Label - Universal (Island / Interscope)
Latest quoted release date - 'late September 2008' (31 December 2007).

- Details: -
14 March 2008 - Tim - keanemusic.com - message
+ Stuart Price has arrived to work on the sessions in Berlin.
+ "Richard's massive '80s drum sounds"
+ "[We] are agreed that the more tasteless and uncool we can make our music the
better, and that only when you lose the fear of breaking the unwritten rules of musical
etiquette can you make a really great album."

29 February 2008 - Richard - keanemusic.com - message
+ The band left France after two weeks, with "five tracks <...> well on the way".
+ Jesse Quin is recording basslines (previously played bass at Union Chapel and Warchild
gigs in November 2007)
+ One of the new songs is titled 'Playing Along' as opposed to 'Playing Away'
+ Song title mention: 'YHTMA' (may be an abbreviation).
Discuss In The Official Forum

15 February 2008 - Tim - keanemusic.com - message
+ The band spent "3 weeks working on songs in Sussex" (presumably the barn).
+ "We're now in Paris recording".
+ Jon Brion is working on the sessions in Paris.
Discuss In The Official Forum

23 January 2008 - Richard - keanemusic.com - Q&A
+ "I guess I might sing on the record".
Discuss In The Official Forum

18 January 2008 - Tom - keanemusic.com - Q&A
+ "There's a new song called 'Perfect Symmetry', which is the best song that Tim has
ever written. A true classic and also a song for our times. I can't wait to start singing
it to you lot out there. You won't be disappointed."
Discuss In The Official Forum

31 December 2007 - Feature - Q Magazine, February 2008
+ "currently being written in a converted barn in Sussex."
+ More than 20 songs for possible inclusion.
+ Aim to finish recording in late summer, with a view to September release.
+ Possibly released as 4 EPs.
+ Tim affirms the benefits of "throwing things down quickly".
+ Tim: "...There's something to be said for having a minimalist approach: just drums,
bass and voice."
+ Tom: "Some of them have a very classic feel. These could have come off a Talking
Heads album. Or a U2 record from the '80s. Or a classic Bowie record."
+ Tom: "Perfect Symmetry sounds like something off [Bowie's 1973 album] Aladdin
Sane."
+ Song titles mentioned: Black Burning Heart, Playing Along (quoted as Playing Away),
Perfect Symmetry.
Discuss In The Official Forum

6 August 2007 - Richard - keanemusic.com fans interview
+ "We've got some time in our barn, the HQ, which we're going to spend working on
stuff in advance"
+ "We've said in the past that we don't want to just churn out records that are the same"
+ "Maybe we'll try something that's as empty as possible. There's certainly elements of
that that you could experiment with. You could try and be more minimal in your approach
with instruments and try to get a bit more funk in there. We'll see! Or it might just be a rock
album – you know, I don't know."
Discuss In The Official Forum

15 June 2007 - Tim - Planet Sound - interview
+ "Yes, [Tom]'s writing quite a bit. But, more importantly, we're trying to pool our
resources creatively. It's not the basic writing, it's getting in a room, taking a basic
form and having input."
+ "What are the new songs' lyrics like?
Quite philosophical in places. I've just written a song I'm very pleased with which is
about small-town America, it's quite a rant. I'm not a big fan of its religious small-minded
nature. There are a lot of good things about small-town US, like the community feel, but a
lot of appalling things too."
+ "How do the five winning songs sound?
Quite a variety, which is why it's hard to say too much. It's very early days. Some take a
direct line from Under The Iron Sea, a song like Leaving So Soon. The other side of the
songs is newer. One is very, very different. It's more of a Kanye West vibe. It's fantastic,
it's got some great stuff in it, a very exciting piece of music. The name of it keeps changing."
Discuss In The Official Forum

12 April 2007 - Tim - keane.fr - interview
+ "Tom wants to try one of our news songs as a kind of a duet, a bit like 'Two Of Us' by
The Beatles, so we'll see how that sounds!"

3 April 2007 - Tim - keanemusic.com - interview
+ "Well, we've actually spent the last four days working on new songs, which has
been pretty exciting. <...> It's good to be playing together, working songs up in an
organic way rather than just layering them in the studio. <...> They're sounding
really great."
Discuss In The Official Forum

20 February 2007 - Tom - keanemusic.com interview
+ "Tim made a compilation of about 15 or 20 songs."
Discuss In The Official Forum

* Jesse posted a picture of an empty studio room to Flickr taken on 23rd February.
Tim's posting on the 15th suggests the band were in Paris on the Monday, so
we can assume the sessions were between 11th and 23rd.

(Wrote by Chris Flynn)
: Portuguese version click here

2008-03-21T13:53:00.001Z

Latest photos:

2008-03-21 11:51:00

2008-03-20 09:24:00

2008-03-19 19:01:00

2008-03-19 11:41:00

2008-03-20T23:11:00.002Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

To blogmaster, Ana Catarina. Today is her birthday (almost in the end)

And I only wanted to wish her the best in her life, with many Keane, but also friendship, love and everything great!

I know, she is a great person and she is more than perfect, because she is one of my best friends!

Thanks for everything Ana!

And thanks for everything, you've done for this blog and our forum and especially, what you've done for me!

2008-03-17T17:29:00.002Z

Keane Lastest Photos

Still waiting for more news about Keane and their Third Album =)

Until that moment we just have to wait... And wait... And wait...

2008-03-14T16:36:00.002Z

Tim's Last Blog

Tim wrote about Berlin.

Let's check

Bigger

2008-03-08T15:25:00.001Z

TOM'S BIRTHDAY

Thomas Oliver Taylor Chaplin, was born in East Sussex, England in March 8, 1979.

Tom's Life and Career

David Chaplin and Sally Taylor, had a baby on March 8,1979, with a name. A few weeks before Tim Rice Oxley's brother, also called Tom. He started a beautiful friendship with both that remains today.
His father was Vinehall School's headmaster in Robertsbridge, so both friends studied there.
With Rice-Oxley, Tom attended Tonbridge School.Here they met Richard Hughes and Dominic Scott (an original member who left the band in 2001).During his time at Vinehall School, Tom acted in several school plays and was part of the school's choral group.
In 1995,Tim, Richard and Dominic started their first band "The Lotus Eaters". It was a cover band that played U2,Oasis and Beatles at Sussex pubs.

Keane

Tom was invited to join the band by Tim in 1997, when the name "The Lotus Eaters" was changed to "Cherry Keane". Later "Cherry" was removed from the name. The name was used to represent eternal friendship since the band members all knew who Cherry Keane was.

In July 1997, Tom went to South Africa for his gap year, during the rest of the band were preparing themselves for a gig. When Richard went to take Tom a year later, on July 3 1998, his first words were, "We've got a gig in ten days." This would be the band's first performance at the Hope & Anchor pub on July 13 1998. Chaplin then began studying for a degree in art history at the University of Edinburgh, before leaving to pursue his music career in London.

Tom shared a flat with Tim in Stoke Newington and they tried to get money for rehearsal time. Tom worked at a publishing company where his chief responsibility was to carry boxes.

With Scott in the line-up as the lead guitarist, Chaplin had to play the acoustic guitar. Since Scott left in 2001, he primarily takes lead vocal, but also plays the organ on "Hamburg Song" during some live gigs, as well as a distorted piano for newer songs on their second album. He also took part in Band Aid 20's re-recording of Do They Know It's Christmas? in November of 2004 doing a solo on the line "feed the world", something that hadn't been done on previous versions where all artists sang.

Drug rehabilitation

On August 22 2006, Tom Chaplin revealed that he was receiving treatment for alcohol and drug abuse problems. He left the Priory Clinic in London on October 6 but is still receiving treatment.

Equipment

Chaplin uses a Hammond MK2 organ for "Hamburg Song" and "Nothing in My Way". Since May 2006 a Yamaha CP60M for the distortion piano riffs on "A Bad Dream", "The Frog Prince" and "Crystal Ball", is used.

He also has been playing the acoustic guitar in songs like "Your Eyes Open" since the 2006 UK tour, and during 2007 an acoustic solo of "Broken Toy".

Known Compositions

"Call Me What You Like"
"Closer Now"
"The Silence Of An Alien"

Keane Songs Dedicated to him

"Hamburg Song" : About Rice-Oxley's hopes to be still a friend for Chaplin.
"Broken Toy" : About Chaplin's indifference.
"Thin Air" : Though not declared, strong lyrics make it obvious.
"Maybe I Can Change" : Written by Rice-Oxley with forgiveness lyrics for Chaplin and one of the songs written the latter.

SPECIAL EDITION:
'WHY TOM MAKES US SO HOT?' http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=DQsvtNtP9gY

Happy Birthday Tom!

2008-02-22T22:02:00.003Z

Tom is a movie maker?

Well. We can say yes he is. A amateur,but he is!

We saw the video and it's very simple but we laughed a lot during those six minutes of pure british comedy.

It has a french title, because Keane are in Paris, recording their new album.
"Keane Allant Acheter Des Claviers"
> Keane Going To Buy the Keyboards

in the beginning it says: 'Un film de Tom Chaplin' > A Movie by Tom Chaplin.
After it says: 'Keane Allant Acheter Des Claviers' Quinze Fevrier 2008 > Keane Going To Buy the Keyboards February 15th 2008

Well now Tom's work of art!

http://rapidshare.com/files/94020540/YouTube_-_Keane_Allant_Acheter_Des_Claviers.avi.html

(Thanks Lora - portuguese forum)

2008-02-18T17:02:00.002Z

The last Keane's post

Armoire Electrique = Electric Cabinet

During this days, this will be Keane's posts. So we continue expecting their new site!

If you have attention, go to keanemusic.com as you can, they change the template colour sometimes, we've seen green,pink,red,grey and today blue!

Thanks for watching

2008-02-16T20:02:00.000Z

A Video Of Keane 'To Entertain You'

We hope you like!

2008-02-16T19:36:00.005Z

New VISUAL

As A Keane's fansite, we're glad to say that Keane decided to change their Site visual. During this days you'll only see a simple post (as you can check in their site).

They're,now, in Paris recording their album with a great producer Jon Brion and we are expecting more news!

In their newsletter, they say that this 'new' visual isn't forever and it's a provisory thing! So keep your eye here and in Keanemusic. Yes,we'll change our visual too

2008-02-12T17:15:00.000Z

In Another Youtube Trawl

This is a very simple and silly idea.

With the video of 'Everybody's Changing', using "a Mexican song from Los Palmeras called 'Bombon' - bombon is like marshmallow".

2008-02-10T20:57:00.000Z

Keane's Interview For 'ManiaTV!'

2008-02-10T12:27:00.000Z

Tim answers to Fans Questions

"My question is this: There're some bands that have a clear objective (like does Bono with U2 for example)...With your music, in general do you have an aim? Why do you do music?"
JiMe from Argentina
Tim replies: That's a big question. I love writing songs because it enables me to express thoughts and ideas and feelings that I seem to be incapable of expressing in any other way. I think the same is true of the band as a whole - when we play together we seem to be able to say something more powerful than any of us could say as individuals. It's a magical thing about being in a band. So that in itself is enough really. However, we've always admired people who consciously use their music to deliver a message of some sort. There are many great examples, from the protest songs of the 60s to the rave music of the 90s. Over the last few years we've become better at deliberately articulating specific ideas in our songs - 'Is It Any Wonder?' for example, or 'A Bad Dream', or even something like 'Atlantic'. That's really exciting for us. You have to be careful not to let the process become too contrived, or you'll lose the soul of the music. But for me probably the best thing about being in a band is hearing that one of our songs has had some kind of profound impact on someone, especially when it's someone on the other side of the world who speaks a different language and has a completely different experience of life. I can't explain how that works, but it's an incredible feeling and I suppose that's why we "do music".

"In your songs, you talk a lot about getting older. Is there a reason for the similar topic among the songs, or does it just happen that this is?"
Rachel
Tim replies: I constantly have the feeling that I'm trying to catch up, that I'm running late for something very important in my life. I think that's partly because it took us so long to get any recognition as a band. We made a lot of sacrifices in our twenties in order to keep the band together, and so now we have the opportunities we have I constantly feel that I need to do as much as possible to make up for lost time, and that time is always moving too fast for me. I'm sure it's a pretty common sensation. Plus I feel very youthful and I live in fear of settling in some kind of resigned lethargy as I get older. I hope I'll be one of those mischievous old people who always acts like a teenager, and my kids will dread bringing their kids to see me because I teach them rude words and make them listen to old fuddy-duddy music (Aphex Twin, Radiohead, etc) at deafening volumes.

"Who is James Sanger? How did he get a writing credit on such songs as 'Bedshaped' and 'This is the Last Time'?"
Kara
Tim replies: It's a long story, and judging from the current discussion on the forum, one that's long overdue to be cleared up! James is what's known as a programmer - someone who specialises in adding interesting parts of one sort or another (usually beats and synth parts) to a recording. Back in 2000, before we had a record deal, we worked on some songs with a producer called Mark Wallis. If I remember rightly Mark was working on another project at the time, and had asked James to help out on that project.

Anyway, a few months later James came down to see us while we were doing our weekly rehearsal at Backstreet Studios on Holloway Road. He had recently bought a farmhouse in France with a view to building a studio there, and he asked us if we wanted to spend some time there recording. We were feeling pretty desperate at the time so it was a really exciting offer. We had agreed all this with him when we were a four piece guitar band, but a few days before we went out to France, Dominic (our guitarist) decided to leave the band. I remember we were very nervous about telling James because we thought he might change his mind about working with us, but we persuaded him
that it would be really fun to make a more electronic album, which was more his area of expertise anyway.

James knew we didn't have any money to pay for his time or the use of his studio so we cut a deal with him whereby we agreed to give him a percentage of the publishing royalties from any resulting recordings if they were released commercially. He would also receive a reduced royalty if the songs we worked on were released in a different form - ie not the versions we recorded with him in France. At the time we'd never made a single penny from any royalties, so it all seemed like a pretty good deal! Publishing royalties are the royalties paid to the writers of a song, and if you get a cut of the royalty it means you get credited as a songwriter. We worked on four of the 'Hope And Fears' songs at James's place in France, hence he is credited as a songwriter on those songs, even though they were all already completely written before we worked with him, and even though the versions on the record are massively different from the versions we did with him.

James helped us out immensely by giving us the use of his studio and equipment, and also by teaching us how to record music using a computer. The latter has been especially useful over the years, enabling us to record demos at home. We never released any of the recordings we made in France, but the four songs from H&F did include some parts that we wrote and recorded while at James' studio. They also include a few bits of programming that James actually did himself - eg the great drum loop that's tucked in under Richard's drums in 'Sunshine', that big fat kick drum on 'She Has No Time', and the cool bass sound in the middle eight of 'This Is The Last Time'.

Sadly James does tend to pop up on TV every few months claiming to have written lots of songs for us, invented the Keane sound, kicked Dom out of the band, or whatever, but I think that's just something you have to put up with when you have a bit of success! He helped us out when we needed a boost, and we'll always be grateful for that.

I told you it was a long story!

"Dear Tim. Can you tell me who is that person talking at the end of the song 'The Iron Sea' and what is he saying??"
Sharon-From Ecuador
Tim replies: Er, I'm pretty sure it's me. I remember listening to the individual track when I edited together the Magic Shop version of 'The Iron Sea', but I don't think you can really hear what I'm saying. At one point you can hear me singing a little Mellotron line from the end of 'Airbag' by Radiohead though.....there's a geeky piece of trivia if ever there was one!

"Tim - I've watched so many live videos of you guys and you get so into playing. It's like you lose yourself in the music. How does that feel?"
Yire
Tim replies: It feels deeply surreal. I think maybe I have to lose myself in the music because I'd be too terrified to play otherwise. If I ever thought about the fact that there are thousands of people watching me play, I'd probably freak out completely.

"Hi. There's a song of your last album that i like very much Atlantic. Everyday i saw the video clip of this music but i can't understand it very well. I really wanna know what's the true message you guys want to pass for us. Could you solve this problem for me? Thank you."
Nilo Daniel
Tim replies: You'd really need to ask Irvine Welsh, as he wrote and directed the video. I felt that he was picking up on the "fear of dying alone" aspect of the song. For me, the video is about mortality, about clinging on to worldly things even as the shadow of death creeps towards us. So a jolly little number.... but then you wouldn't expect anything else from Irvine. The man's a genius.

"Tim, why do you never talk on stage? Even Brendan Benson had to introduce himself and YOU although you were the host at the War Child gig in London."
Lena
Tim replies: I don't like the sound of my voice.

"Hi Tim! I recently noticed that when you played 'We Might As Well Be Strangers' live, which is one of my favourite songs, you played it half a tone higher than on 'Hopes & Fears'. Is there any particular reason why you do it this way for gigs?"
Martin
Tim replies: The verses of the song are quite low for Tom's vocal range. On the record that gives them a nice intimacy, but when we came to play it live it felt like the verses were getting lost. Putting the song up a key meant Tom could project the melody a bit more, which is pretty crucial when you're trying to fill a big venue with delicate emotions.

"Hi Tim. Do you like the cover of your song 'Everybody's Changing' by Lily Allen?"
Cindy, Colombia
Tim replies: I love it. I find it very flattering when anyone covers one of our songs, but I particularly like Lily's cover. It's full of energy and really gives a new slant to the song. We played it in that sort of reggae/bluebeat style when we played it with her at the War Child show in November, and we all really enjoyed playing in a different style. It was quite refreshing for us as musicians just to do something different.

"Tim, in your opinion, which is the best song that you composed?"
Gabriela Kozakievich, from Argentina
Tim replies: I think probably 'Atlantic'. Or possibly 'Leaving So Soon?' Tom's convinced that the new songs we're working on are better than anything we've done before, so hopefully one of those is the best I've ever written.....I'll let you be the judge of that...!

"Have you ever felt like composing harder music and dressing up like KISS??"
Fatima
Tim replies: I wouldn't mind up a bit more dressing up I must admit. Putting on any sort of mask, real or imaginary, is a good way of freeing yourself up to do new things that you wouldn't normally do. As far as harder music goes, I always feel like I'm the only person on the planet who didn't go through some sort of hard rock/heavy metal phase as a teenager. I feel kind of embarrassed about it actually, as I feel I should be able to enthuse about Iron Maiden and Kiss an so on. I do like a good rock song, but I can't be doing with those interminable guitar solos where the notes get faster and faster and higher and higher. It's hard to take most rock music seriously once you've watched This Is Spinal Tap.

2008-02-10T11:57:00.000Z

Keane Last Newsletter

Keane's last newsletter from 8th February 2008.

2008-02-02T11:03:00.000Z

Keane-related videos (Youtube)

Doctor Who - Everybody's Changing

: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdmDIedst7o

sent in by an anonymous Keane fan,which features a young fellow "playing a few Keane Songs on my PVC Instrument".

: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQmGp8isKCg

Keane Argentina makes a version of 'Under Pressure'

: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4NXU9BDF_M

Any video you want to share just send an email to the official keanemusic electronic address

2008-01-24T20:23:00.000Z

RICHARD ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

Keane's drumming dude tackles your Ask Keane posers...

Yes, following Tom's answers last week, we're back with more answers to the questions which you folks have sent in via the Ask Keane section of the Ezine. This time, it's the turn of Mr Richard Hughes to face your queries...

"Hi Richard! You toured around in 2007 very much! Aren't you tired?"
Markus
Richard replies: I'm very well thanks Markus. We had quite a long break at the end of the year (because we are so lucky) and had a chance to catch up on some sleep. In fact, we are feeling very good - we've just started on new tracks and it's been the most fun we've had in a very long time. The new songs are great fun to play, and we're all just enjoying hanging out in our studio, making a lot of very bad jokes. Tom's wearing our Argentina flag as a cape at the moment.

"Do you like video games or anime?"
Gerardo
Richard replies: Hi Gerardo. there are games consoles on most tourbuses, so I sometimes end up playing them, but I'm not very good, except the driving games which I really like! I've watched a few films such as Princess Mononoke, and loved them, but I'm not an expert on anime. I just asked Tim and it turns out I can't even say it right. He's very clever you know...

"Richard. Will we be hearing your voice on the 3rd Keane album? I think your voice is rather good. And you show such enthusiasm when you sing live."
Kaili Steele
Richard replies: Thanks Kaili. I've always trusted that enthusiasm is a good substitute for ability! I guess I might sing on the record - I did my first ever recorded vocals on 'Under Pressure' and it was really satisfying. I'll show the others your question and ask them when they stop laughing at me!

"Hi Richard. I want to know, when did you learn play the drums?"
Couty
Richard replies: Hi to you too Couty. The drums were often my favourite part of a song when I was growing up, so I guess I started listening to them a long time before I started to play - I think I was 17 when I began playing, but I loved it, and immediately started to play whenever I could. As soon as I had a kit at home I'd play for hours, putting on album after album on headphones and trying to play along. All the Britpop records from Blur, Oasis, Elastica, The Bluetones, plus Radiohead, as well as pretty much the entire Beatles back catalogue, Bowie...

"Dear Richard, thank you for your music. I have listened to your (high-hat) work on 'The Frog Prince' and I cannot figure out how you are doing it? It sounds awesome but you cannot be as fast as Kieth Moon 'bro. It would take a third arm to smack that snare. Is that particular sound dubbed? Thank you for your music and inspiration. You are awesome."
Frank
Richard replies: Wow, thanks Frank, that's unbelievably kind of you. I'd recommend the Keith Moon biog 'Dear Boy' in case you haven't read it. I thought the hats on 'The Frog Prince' were played live, two handed - you can hear that the first half of the song is just played because the hats aren't there whenever the snare is played. The tambourine was overdubbed and kind of disguises that, but it was played as a take. But... I've just dug out the CD and had a listen, and I'm not sure but I think there might be an overdubbed double hat on there towards the end of the song, but I imagine that would be from the demo that Tim will have programmed. To be sure we'd have to open up the Protools file and have a look. Sorry i can't remember for sure! Thanks for asking, though - I really enjoyed listening back to it.

"What is your favorite Beatles song?"
Abby
Richard replies: I really love 'Revolver', and in particular the drums on 'She Said, She Said'. I think it's amazing, and may well be my favourite song. Ringo is such an amazing drummer.

"Richard, do you ever develop your own film and photos, or do you get them done for you? I was wondering if you enjoy time in the darkroom as much as you do snapping pictures?"
Eva Barrett
Richard replies: Hi Eva, I have developed some black and white pics in the last year, but I don't do it enough! I haven't got a darkroom at home but I hope to soon. I have a polariod pinhole camera which love - you get the pics pretty much instantly, but that's as close as I've come to it recently.

"This question is for Richard. I always laugh much when I read what you write, because you seem to be really funny!! How do you keep your good mood even with the pressure and the long time away from family??"
Maria Isabel Nobre
Richard replies: Thanks Maria! I'm glad you enjoy the blogs. Hanging out with my pals is a pretty good lifestyle and tends to keep the mood up. We have a great touring party of band and crew, and often the other bands on a tour are great to hang out with too. It's really the most amazing lifestyle we have, even though we are sometimes away from home more than we would like. It doesn't really compare to doing a real job, so I can't complain! I think the bottom line is that we are idiots at heart and enjoy laughing at pretty much anything.

"Hello, I would like to know what's the name of the font you use in 'Under The Iron Sea', 'cause I really like It..."
Tom Cappiello
Richard replies: Hi Tom. I don't know but I have it somewhere on my computer - I wonder if we can make it available as a download if people want it - erm, can we, clever Keane internet people?! Hello? Anyone out there?
[Great idea Rich, we'll ask... - km.com]

"Richard- somewhere i read that you were a fan of Tegan and Sara, what's your favourite song of theirs?"
Charlotte
Richard replies: Hi Charlotte. I am a fan, and was lucky enough to go into the studio where Chris Walla and Jason McGerr were recording drums for their most recent album, 'The Con', and I love the recent single 'Back In Your Head' - it's definitely worth checking out. I think they are fabulous, and yet they are so rarely on the radio. I think it was our excellent production manager, Ant, who pointed me in their direction and I am very grateful. He has good taste!

"How was your New Year 's Eve? How did you celebrate it?"
Wendy Stavig
Richard replies: Hi Wendy, it was great, thanks. I stayed at home. I hope you had a nice time wherever in the world you were. I have to admit that I don't really get the whole celebration thing, I just feel that with every year that passes we are getting further and further into what I once saw as "the future", where things were supposed to be better, but (and here comes the rant, so stop reading if you don't want to hear it)... we are still at war, America is getting ever more like an empire, and less like the way Americans I've met want it to be, yet the checks and balances that are built into the constitution are not being used, and the rest of the world is just looking on in horror, powerless or too scared, or too poor and oppressed to say anything. It's now 6 years since the first prisoners (some of them children as young as 13) were taken to Guantanamo, for example, and they still languish there. The USA and UK continue to spend untold billions and trillions on an illegal war, having already killed an estimated 150,000 to 1 million Iraqis - I wonder if George Bush, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown think all those people are better off dead than they were under Saddam Hussein. Equally tragic is the ongoing loss of life and limb for the "allied" troops - the thousands of soldiers killed, injured and affected, many of whom are injured because of inadequate resources to do the job, and then come home to find inadequate healthcare. How can our governments be so uncaring? Meanwhile, our new prime minister has actually done little to suggest anything more than a continuing obedience to American decisions (despite what he may claim to the contrary) and our media basically chooses not to report it. All I can do is try to become more informed, and that's where Amnesty International; Truthdig; Democracy Now; the Bill Moyers journal; Alternet; Human Rights Watch; the Center for Constitutional Rights and a million other organisations come in, and is the reason we put on the War Child shows last year. My over-riding thought as we entered 2008 was that we could do so much better than this.

2008-01-19T13:00:00.000Z

KEANE ARTISTS (competition)

Well.. A few times ago, Paty had the idea to create a special competition.
In this special competition everyone can participate and the idea of it is anyone who want to share their arts of Keane, includes drawings,paints,poems,EVERYTHING is avaiable!

But we have some rules:
-Only Keane are avaiable, you can make something about the three guys or only with one of them but Keane have to be there
-Ofensive and critics for Keane aren't avaiable, this is a competition for people who like Keane and want to show their passion with their arts
-You have to send your arts (more then one but not more than 7), with your name and country for our email keanefas@hotmail.com
-You have to sign your arts with your artistic or real name but if any of your arts are without name you won't except it
-Everything is avaiable as we've said, drawings,paints,poems,photography,anything is avaiable!

Keane and 'Everything About Keane!' are waiting for you!

We start with a special girl called Samantha, from Brazil (check the Fan Of The Month)

Here are her arts

- Keane_The Collage

- Tom (1)

- Tom (2)

- Keane (the three)

See you soon Keane Artists! and KEANE LUCK!

2008-01-18T22:53:00.000Z

Tom Answer to Fans Question

You can make a question to Keane in the EZINE section 'Ask Keane' of the official site.

Today Tom answer to the questions and in a few days we'll get Richard and Tim's answer for Keane (great and very personally) questions

Let's check them

"Dear Tom. My question is, how you do always have your voice so tuned?"
Romina
Tom replies: Practice and luck.

"Hi Tom! I wonder if you are related to Charlie Chaplin?"
Siri
Tom replies: So do I! Recently, I've become obsessed by a British TV series called "Who Do You Think You Are?" in which various famous people are helped by a genealogist to find out about their ancestors and the social history that surrounds them. It's often a very moving experience and something I've even considered doing on a private basis! Chaplin is quite an unusual name and although Charlie Chaplin spent a large portion of his life in America, he was born in England. Anyway, I'd be very interested to find out.

"Hi Tom, what is your favourite colour?"
Lauren
Tom replies: All of them. Kaleidoscopes make my brain go funny. Does that count?

"Tom - What is your favourite Keane song?"
Miri
Tom replies: There's a new song called 'Perfect Symmetry', which is the best song that Tim has ever written. A true classic and also a song for our times. I can't wait to start singing it to you lot out there. You won't be disappointed.

"Tom, is it true that you had (or have) a rabbit called 'Biffo'?
Ana Catarina
Tom replies: No. I have two ducks called Hannah and Wayne that potter around on my pond. There were originally five of them but I reckon my builders ate them when they were working on my house. My girlfriend has a miniature poodle (and no it doesn't have a stupid haircut) that I've grown to love. They're actually reckoned to be one of the most intelligent dogs of them all, although this unfortunately also makes him one of the most defiant, spoilt and arrogant dogs I've ever encountered. Those traits seem to have come to the forefront since I've known him. Every dog is like its owner etc… Somehow he seems to get away with it, though. Is that me or the dog? Who knows?

"Tom, what's the most important thing in your life?"
Esmeralda Duenas
Tom replies: It flits between cricket and golf. Followed by the wonderful people I have in my life. As you can tell, my priorities are as confused as I am.

"Tom, can you hold a note for 20.2 seconds (like Morten Harket does in 'Summer Moved On')?
Danielle
Tom replies: I met Morten Harket once and he's the healthiest looking man I've ever encountered. He probably has lungs like hot air balloons. How can I compete with that?

"Tom, I'd like to know how do you take care of your voice? I'm asking because I intend to be a vocalist someday and my biggest fear is to wake up without my voice in the day of a performance! Have it ever happened to you?"
Maria Isabel
Tom replies: My voice only really goes when I get a throat infection or a bad cold. Then there was the War Child gig in Manchester where I had a terrible stomach bug – voice was fine but the rest of my body was a mess. Normally though I'm very lucky that my voice seems to be pretty robust. I do a lot of warming up and I look after my body very well on tour these days…which really helps.

"Tom, what is your favourite football team?"
George Papadakis
Tom replies: Ipswich Town. Wouldn't die for them though. Mainly because they're a bit shit.

"Tom, I am from Costa Rica and I think you guys are amazing. I just wanna know, what do you do when you feel alone?"
Tiffany
Tom replies: Wow, that comes across as an extremely philosophical question. I feel that living in these times we have more distractions and more opportunities to communicate; and yet it seems like there's more loneliness and unhappiness than ever before. Solitude is fine so long as that's what you really want. I like spending time on my own but I don't like being stuck on my own with a lot of bottled up anxieties. My answer, for what it's worth, is to try to talk to someone if you feel alone, however hard that might seem. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the old cliché of "a problem shared is a problem halved" is very helpful. Whenever I feel alone, it's because I'm stuck with problems and parts of my personality that I don't particularly like. I've spent a fair amount of time over the last year or two trying to articulate those feelings to other people, especially the people closest to me. Anyway, before I start sounding like some awful pseudo-psychiatrist, I'll be on my way.

Lots of love to you all.

Goodbye. Tom

2008-01-10T17:23:00.000Z

CHICKEN OUT!

Tim writes about the Chicken Out! campaign

Happy new year everyone. We're gearing up to start work in the studio next week, which is very exciting. Everyone's feeling great and the songs are coming together nicely.

In the meantime, here's a thought for the day. The three of us all have very strong feelings about animal welfare, and also about the ethics of sourcing and buying food generally. Someone I've found very inspirational because of his relentless campaigning in this area is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, so we're pleased to be lending our support to his excellent Chicken Out! campaign.

Maybe some of you saw the first episode of Hugh's TV show about battery-farming yesterday (it will be continued tonight and tomorrow). If you did I hope you'll agree that it was both deeply disturbing and inspiring.

If you agree with Hugh, and with us, that rearing animals in this way should be illegal - rather than being the standard practice of supermarket-supplying farmers - then please sign up for the Chicken Out! campaign by clicking the banner below.

We can also make a statement - and force an improvement in rearing practices - by changing the way we buy food (again, in this case chickens). Buy free range, preferably organic, chickens rather than cheap battery-farmed animals, and let retailers know that food sourced in such a brutal way does not appeal to shoppers in 2008.

See you all soon. 2008 should be a great year.

Tim

2008-01-05T21:24:00.000Z

THIRD ALBUM

We started the new year with an EXCELLENT new

Keane finally show to their fans a bit more about their third album,without name until this moment, and they talk about their influences during the recording of the album and talked about three songs that they're absolutely in the album.

Keane said the album will be release probably in September/2008.

And the three songs are: Black Burning Heart, Perfect Symmetry and Playing Away. Misterious songs and in our opinion a bit different of the normal names but really really good!

Now the article of the truth (click in the image to see it bigger)

2007-12-31T15:25:00.000Z

Keane's Choices

This year,KM.COM decided to ask Keane to make a list of their choices of 2007 and here they're

TIM
Favourite album of 2007
Kings Of Leon 'Because Of The Times'

Favourite film of 2007
The Bourne Ultimatum

Tim's top flick of the year

Favourite meal of 2007
Breakfast at the Stockyard Café in Amarillo, Texas on a freezing morning in January.

Favourite journey of 2007
Driving from Las Vegas to a ranch in Utah on the Keane tour in May.

Favourite Keane moment of 2007
Playing 'Leaving So Soon?' at The O2 arena in July.

Thing most looking forward to in 2008
Going on tour again.

TOM
Favourite album of 2007
Cherry Ghost 'Thirst For Romance'

Favourite film of 2007
American Gangster

Favourite meal of 2007
Room-service on my balcony at Agra, India, overlooking the Taj Mahal.

That view certainly would make your cornflakes go down well...

Favourite Keane moment of 2007
The Point at dublin

Thing most looking forward to in 2008
Singing some incredible new songs and making Keane's best record yet.

RICHARD
Favourite album of 2007
Findlay Brown 'Separated By The Sea'

Nice cover, great album

Favourite film of 2007
The Bourne Ultimatum

Favourite meal of 2007
Dinner at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's in London.

Favourite journey of 2007?
The whole South American and Mexican trip

Favourite Keane moment of 2007
Bumping into Chris Rock at Live Earth.

Thing most looking forward to in 2008
Getting stuck into recording some of the great new songs we've got up our sleeves!

2007-12-27T19:47:00.001Z

WAR CHILD

We decided to start with an AMAZING charity called 'WAR CHILD', of whom Keane are patrons!

War Child is an organization that works with children affected by war in countries like Iraq, Uganda or Afghanistan. They work with children who have been hit hardest by the joint forces of poverty, conflicts and social exclusion. Their groundbreaking work with child soldiers, street children and children in prison has supported and helped thousands and thousands who would otherwise not have been able to reintegrate themselves in their community, gain access to education or be able to sustain themselves.

The children that War Child works with participate directly in their decision making and project design. In that way their projects reflect their needs.
War Child also works with other aid organisations, local and national governments, to ensure the knowledge and skills gained through their work are shared with as many people as possible. In that way, they're able to help many and many more children than they hope to reach directly.

Keane made some concerts to raise some money for WAR CHILD and they earned something like £115,000. A totally impressive number!

Some Keane Team Reviews:

Rob's War Child Blog #1

Rob's War Child Blog #2

Rob's War Child Blog #3
Tim's War Child Blog
Tim's War Child Blog #2

Tom's War Child Blog
Beth's War Child Blog
Richard's War Child Blog

Some artists gave their support with a YOUTUBE video:

Elton John
Rufus Wainwright

Adam And Joe

Maximo Park

Links That You Can Find About WAR CHILD

War Child UK Official Site

Youtube - War Child UK

My Space - War Child UK

War Child - Iraq

War Child Music

Thanks for reading this post and PLEASE support this organisation

2007-12-26T20:55:00.000Z

Tom's Interview At Capital 95.8

Tom gave an interview in October 25th, 2007 to the radio Capital 95.8, from London.

In this interview Tom talk about War Child, about his musical preferences, about Keane's favourite song of that day and talk specially about 'The Night Sky' and the new Album.

RADIO INTERVIEW

DOWNLOAD THE INTERVIEW
[photo took in Aula Magna,Portugal in 2004/05]

2007-12-25T20:41:00.001Z

New Poll!!

Today we'll post the results of our last poll

'What Is Your Favourite Cover?'

1ST PLACE - Enjoy The Silence [Depeche Mode]
2nd - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore [Walker Brothers]
3rd - Dinner At Eight [Rufus Wainright]
4th - That's All [Genesis]
5th - With Or Without You [U2]
6th - Dirtylicious [X-Tina & Destiny's Child]
7th - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road [Elton John]
8th - What A Wonderful World [Louis Armstrong]
9th - She Sells Sanctuary [Cult]
10th - Your Song [Elton John]

The new poll
'Do You Think That 'The Night Sky' Should Appear In The Next Album?'

http://www.polldaddy.com/p/175966/ the directly link to vote!
Or in the left side of our blog

This poll will end at March 31st,2008 at 23:59 pm

VOTE! We're waiting for your comment

2007-12-25T13:40:00.000Z

Hello everyone!
The team of Keanefas wants to wish you a Merry Christmas and an excellent 2008! With many surprises and Keane and we wish that you continue with us!

We really apreciate your kindness with all of us! We really enjoy your company! Thanks for all your emails to make us continue.. Thanks for commenting our posts! Thanks specially for read our blog!

Well for thank you we made some special things

->Mini-Calender to use EVERYWHERE

->Wall-Calender-Paper

->Some Songs to download =]

We wish you everything you in your life and Thanks for being with us during this 2 amazing years!!!

The team,
Keanefas
(Patricia,Ana Catarina and Jessica)

2007-12-24T17:30:00.000Z

REMEMBER!

FREE 'EARLY WINTER' MP3

A Christmas gift from Keane

As a Christmas gift, Keane have decided to give you the MP3 of them playing Gwen Stefani's 'Early Winter' at the acoustic show at London's Union Chapel on November 28th 2007. This, you'll remember, is the song which Tim wrote with Ms Stefani and which Keane had never performed live before.

Click here to download the track for free.

DON´T FORGET: The track will only be online until December 28th.

Enjoy. And have a very happy Christmas!!

2007-12-24T16:59:00.000Z

KEANE ADVENT CALENDAR

day 22:

(click here to bigger)
This picture was taken by Richard and shows the Dublin Point

day 23:

(bigger click here)

This one is by Rob, and shows "Richard recovering from some shopping trolley hi jinks in a Wal Mart parking lot somewhere between Boston and Philly. This was taken at about 2am - I'm not sure if he was drunk but I certainly was."

day 24:

( click here to see it bigger)
The last picture of the advent calendar, a brilliant photo taken by Richard

2007-12-21T21:18:00.000Z

Keanemusic's Surprise

Today Keanemusic gave us TWO presents! Yes!!! Two presents!

The first is a photo by Rob of Richard at a soundcheck,in Amsterdam Westerpark.

(bigger click here)

Keane and their official site decided to give us an EARLY WINTER PRESENT!!

They give us an Free MP3 song of them playing Gwen Stefani's 'Early Winter' at the acoustic show at London's Union Chapel on November 28th, 2007.

Note: This song was wrote by Tim and Gwen and Keane had never performed it live before.

Click Here To Download The Song

P.S.- The track will only be online until December 28th.

2007-12-20T21:18:00.000Z

Keane Advent Calender

Day 17
(bigger click here)

Photo by Rob. It was took in the morning sky,Chile.

Day 18

(bigger click here)

Photo by Richard. Photo of St Maio Factory.

Day 19

(bigger click here)

Photo by Rob. And the photo represents the 'Dublin's customs house'.

Day 20

(bigger click here)

A genious photo by Richard with the title 'Oh Burger'.

2007-12-16T12:10:00.000Z

KEANE ADVENT CALENDER

(of these week - SECOND WEEK COMPLETE!)

Day 08
(bigger click here)

This photo was took by Richard. Took in France. This photo name is 'Fleurs' =]

Day 09
(bigger click here)

This one was took by Rob. He commented this photo: 'It shows, Tom soundchecking the B Stage Guadalajara.'

Day 10
(bigger click here)

This photo by Richard was named as 'Burn Baby Burn' don't ask us what is it but it's an excellent photo!

Day 11
(bigger click here)

A photo by Rob. He left a comment of this photo:"a rather jolly butcher in the covered market in Guadalajara".

Day 12
(bigger click here)

Photo by Richard. This one is, we believe, a photo of a glass floor.

Day 13
(bigger click here)

Photo by Rob. This one was took in Montréal
'Tim in soundcheck Montréal Olympia.'

Day 14
(bigger click here)

This marvellous photo was took by Richard and the name is 'Airport Reflection' for obvious reasons.

Day 15
(bigger click here)

Took by Rob this photo is specially differente. The theme,the way he took but sometimes changes are great
"Stained glass in the Cementerio de la Recoleta, Buenos Aires."

Day 16
(bigger click here)

Took by Richard. This photo was took in Dublin in July.

2007-12-09T20:41:00.000Z

A Special Video

This is a special video.. A brasilian Keane Fan Agatha and she made a video talking about the other side of the World ..
She show to us a terific side of war and children who live there

An amazing video by an amazing girl

2007-12-08T08:24:00.000Z

Keane Advent Calender day 07
(complete a WEEK!)

They (we) finally complete a Week of our Keane Advent Calender!!

And in the end we'll open a poll and you decide which is the best photo for you of our amazing Keane Advent Calender

Today is a photo by Rob and he comments this photo saying:
"Tim gets everything just so. Soundcheck for the VH1 Rock Honors in Las Vegas, NV."

(To see it bigger click here)

Today we'll make some surprises and publish here and of course we'll continue the KEANE ADVENT CALENDER

2007-12-06T17:30:00.000Z

Keane Advent Calender Day 06

Today is a photo by Richard of Rob in Boston.

Well.. The photo is very original and we are really pleased to show it!
Actually.. Rob is a excellent Model! x)

Title: Rob,Boston
(Bigger click here)

Tomorrow we have more =]

See you there!

Have a nice day!

2007-12-05T17:24:00.000Z

Keane Advent Calender

Day 05 (to see the full size click here)

Today the photographer is our great lighting director Rob .
"The Bridge at Haugesund ...". To read more about Haugesund and this bridge click here

As Keanemusic said "the Keane advent calendar is educational, as well as pretty..."
And we and we hope you too totally agree. Keane don't only show photos but also gives us a bit more of culture and gives us more passion for ART

This is the famous and great photo by Rob

Thanks keanemusic.com for doing this..

Tomorrow you have more =]

Have a nice day

2007-12-04T17:33:00.000Z

Keane Advent Calender Day 04

This is a photo by Richard and it's a photo of a swimming pool in France 'Piscine'

(Original click here)

Tomorrow we publish more =)

Thanks for watching us

2007-12-03T17:10:00.000Z

Keane Advent Calender

Days 01,02 and 03

Keanemusic is hosting an advent calendar from December 1st-24th, Each day, they'll be posting a different picture - 12 of them were taken by Richard and the other 12 by Keane's lighting director Rob.

Day 01 (bigger click here)

"At the MEN Arena, Tom's looking bored and on the verge of mischief. Stage manager Mickey and soundman Iain seem much more engrossed in their onstage production meeting." By Rob

Day 2 (bigger click here)

"Please keep this room tidy" and the clues point to it having been taken in France. " by Richard

Day 03 (bigger click here)

"A balloon at the Vietnam Memorial, Washington DC on Memorial Day". by Rob

Tomorrow of Richard, wednesday of Rob and Thrusday of Richard

=] We'll make a plan of the days of who publish the photos (Richard,drummer or Rob,lighting director)..

2007-12-03T16:25:00.000Z

ROB'S UNION CHAPEL PHOTOS

Hello

As it's the last one of these I'll do for a while here's far too many pictures from the rather lovely day at the Union Chapel ..

Top Tour Manager Colin gets in the churchy mood.

Soundman Mike (on loan from James Blunt as Iain is on tour) is faced with an extremely low sound limit - it still sounds marvellous though so Hurrah! for him.

Mr Hughes is making a list and checking it twice. Probably a set list though and not a note for Santa.

Mr Chaplin thrapes the Gibson.

Mr Rice Oxley gets to grips with his upright Piano.

An impromptu band meeting.

Once again playing the bass guitar (and making the tea) the talented and warmly wrapped Mr Jesse Quin.

Some churchy windows and Mr Chaplin.

A rather small treasure chest and Mr Hughes.

The string section (can a quartet be a section?)

Richard examining his new bongos.

A Piano, Tim, some computers and a speaker.

Post-soundcheck meeting.

Celebrity guitar tech for the day the dapper, charming and tuneful Mr Alastair Artingstall.

Tom sitting in the pews reading the lyrics to Early Winter.

An Audience of one.

Pulpit's (fish) eye view.

Keane bust out Atlantic.

What a top day out.
Rob

2007-11-30T16:13:00.000Z

Keane Performing 'Early Winter'

As you may know, Gwen Stefani's next single is 'Early Winter', the song written for her by Tim Rice-Oxley. Well, the band played the track at the Union Chapel gig on Wednesday and a decent video of it has now turned up on YouTube. We thought you might like to see it...

2007-11-30T16:11:00.000Z

Pics Of The Band

Pics of the band just before they went onstage

Hello again. Thanks for keeping us company while we did the blog last night - seems there were thousands and thousands of you online.

Here are three pictures which we didn't have a chance to post last night. We took them in the dressing room about 3 minutes before the band were due onstage...

It was a very fun night.

2007-11-30T16:02:00.000Z

UNION CHAPEL - LIVE BLOG (yesterday)

Live updates from Keane's last gig of 2007

10.54pm - Tom's back in the dressing room (he'd popped off somewhere). He says he enjoyed the gig "immensely", which seems a pretty fair summary. We're going to head off to catch our train home. Thanks for all your emails, it was lovely to hear from you folks all over the world. Hope you've enjoyed the blog.

We'll leave you with a picture we just took of a very happy band with their lighting director Rob (the chap who kindly takes ace pictures for this very site). Keep it locked to keanemusic.com - we've got some exciting stuff coming up in the next few weeks...

Cheerio!

10.52pm - Tim says he really enjoyed the gig - particularly playing a proper upright piano rather than his usual CP70. And, of course, the strings.

10.42pm - We're back in the dressing room. "That was a lot of fun," says Richard, who took his earpiece monitor thingy out to listen to the string quartet for the last song.

Richard tells us the band have recorded the show for their own use, but we're afraid there are no current plans to do anything with it. If we see a CD, we'll grab it and run...

10.35pm - 'Bedshaped' has just started. The last song of the last Keane gig of the entire 'Under The Iron Sea' era. And it still makes the hairs on the back of our neck stand up. Particularly when it's got added strings. Amazing.

Anyway, here's a pic of Tom down the front of the (teeny) stage. Spot anyone you know?

10.33pm - 'Somewhere Only We Know' and naturally everyone stood up again (including us).

10.24pm - That was the last song of the set. Hopefully Mr Swaying Sweater will sit down before the encore. Mart (who was the second person to get the Drum Challenge correct) has asked if this gig is being recorded. We don't know. But we're gonna find out.

The band are back on. They're playing 'Atlantic'. And EVERYONE JUST SAT DOWN AGAIN! Woot! Woot!

10.23pm - Dang, they're playing 'Is It Any Wonder?' and everyone has stood up. Laptops don't work so well when you're standing up and now all we can see is a man's back. He's dancing. And he's wearing a dark sweater, with a white T-shirt undernearth. And um...

10.16pm - We've been for a wander, so we have some pictures from different angles. Oh yes.

We also meant to say that The Feeling were the surprise special guests at 7.30pm tonight, but they'd finished by the time we got here.

Oh, and happy, happy, happy birthday to Yan - who's one today.

Wow, the band are now playing 'Early Winter' - the song Tim wrote for Gwen Stefani (and her next single). Works really well as a Keane song!

10.06pm - The band have been joined by a string quartet! It's their first gig ever with a string section. 'Try Again' sounded great with the strings sweeping all over it.

10.02pm - We can't see Rich, but we can see Jesse, who's guesting on acoustic bass. It's so quiet in here we're having to type really quietly. Shhhhhhhh...

9.58pm - Here's a pic of Tim and Tom. Unfortunately we can't see Richard because of a big speaker. Ooh, they're playing 'Under Pressure'.

9.53pm - The band are serving up a stormer. The crowd were a bit restrained at first - possibly because they're sitting in pews, in a church - but they're all bellowing along to 'Crystal Ball' as we type.

Hello to Helen who had a ticket for tonight but couldn't make it because she's ill and in bed. Poor Helen. But she sent perhaps the best limerick of the day...

I should be sitting in a pew
But I'm lying at home with the flu.
Please pity my plight -
name-check me tonight -
and the Live Blog might just see me through.

Bless.

9.48pm - We have a Drum Challenge winner!

"I couldn't help noticing (and I'm not sure if it's for sure the answer cause this challenge is a toughie) but Richard's drumming sounds a lot like the theme song to Only Fools and Horses :O
- Lindsay (Holland)"

Congrats Lindsay!

9.45pm - The band are all on now, just started playing 'Nothing In My Way'. Here's how Tom looked doing his solo spot...

Jo Whiley is sitting next to us in our pew. Before Keane came on, she spoke very eloquently about Mencap and what an important and worthwhile cause it is. If you've enjoyed this live blog, why not head to their website and give them a donation...

9.40pm - So we're out in the pews of the Chapel and - happily - the wireless works out here. Tom is just taking to the stage, it's just him and an acoustic guitar. He's playing 'This Is The Last Time' with just him and an acoustic. Wow. Sounds amazing.

By the way, the drum challenge isn't a Keane song...

9.29pm - 11 minutes til showtime, it's just us and the band in the dressing room and they've just run through 'Under Pressure'. Sounded grand. Anyway, here's a pic of Richard (lots of you have emailed ontour@keanemusic.com asking for one)...

9.22pm - It's the moment you've all been waiting for. Click here to take part in the third of Richard's Drum Challenges. You have to guess what tune he's playing. First person to email ontour@keanemusic.com with the correct answer gets, um, something (possibly just a mention, to be honest). It's a bit hard.

9.17pm - We're back in the dressing room having watched a teeny bit of Rilo Kiley. The band are currently running through a rendition of 'Early Winter' while we sit in the corner typing.

Here's how Rilo Kiley looked.

We heard the chap with the yellow sleeves telling singer Jenny Lewis that it was the :most fun gig of the tour so far". Which is nice.

8.53pm - Mr Richard Hughes is now in the building! Yay!

Oh, and sorry if it sounded like we were just showing off when we told you we'd heard the demo (Ale emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to tell us that in Argentina the saying is "don't count money in front of the poor!"). We just wanted to let you know that a) the demos are making real progress and b) they're really good. Moving swiftly on...

8.48pm - Ooh, we've been meaning to say all day - this gig is in aid of a very worthwhile charity called Mencap. Check out their website here.

8.40pm - An hour until show time. Richard isn't back at the venue yet. Presumably he will be soon. Tom just played us a demo of a new Keane track on his laptop. It sounded *proper* amazing. Genuinely. But, sadly, we can't tell you what it sounded like. You'll have to wait until next year for that.

8.26pm - Here are some pictures...

This is what the venue looks like as you walk in...

Here's opening act Duffy, who sounds a bit like Dusty Springfield and a bit like Amy Winehouse and a lot like someone who's going to be BIG in 2008.

Um, this one is pretty self-explanatory

Tom and those gas stoves Beth was talking about earlier.

Tim strumming his guitar. His swanky hooded top almost matches the ironing board, don't you think?

8.18pm - We're in the Union Chapel. In the dressing room. Give us a minute and we'll post some pictures and stuff.

6.54pm - Right, we're setting off for the venue. Should be back online in a bit over an hour (Keane are on at 9.40pm, by the way). The latest news from Beth is that the doors are open, the boardies are already at the front, Tim and Tom are "mooching about in the dressing room" and Richard's still at home.

See you when we're there. In the meantime, we'll leave you with this from Isabela in Brazil. "Hello. I would like to send a pic of my dog "Preta Gil". She really wants to go to the Union Chapel today with her "sister", me! Lol.."

How cute? Very, very cute.

6.08pm - Several people, from countries as far apart as America, Peru, Argentina and Italy have now emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to tell us that they're risking their jobs by looking at this live blog too much. If your boss asks, tell them you're researching the latest online interface web 2.0 customer marketing methods, which you feel could reap huge rewards for your company if they were to adopt. Or just smile and tell them how nice their outfit is today.

6.00pm - And another limerick, this time from Anne...

The young singer of Keane was quite tall
At every show he would give it his all
One night his trousers did rip
And he ended up doing an impromptu strip
Bet he wished he'd seen that in his Crystal Ball

Huzzah! Over at the venue, dinner was apparently "chicken, cauliflower cheese and salad".

The band have also confirmed what several of you emailed in to say, that they have played at Virgin Megastore in London (see below for full list of Keane London shows). The ICA and Backyard Club are still being verified, apparently. And the Monarch is the same thing as the Camden Barfly.

Shout out to "the Finnish massive" who've just emailed ontour@keanemusic.com. Big up the home of the Moomins!

The Moomins: queueing patiently for the Union Chapel earlier

We're setting off for the venue in about an hour (we only decided to do this live blog this morning, otherwise we'd have arranged to get there sooner).

5.28pm - Another good limerick has arrived at ontour@keanemusic.com, this time from Chris Dillon in Liverpool

Rice-Oxley and Chaplin and Hughes,
Play so loud that they wake up Shrews.
They've shared their hopes and their fears,
Reduced us to tears,
And they're millions times better than Muse.

Beth tells us Richard is still at home, while Tim and Tom are "discussing lyrics" in the dressing room. Ooooh, intriguing!

5.02pm - We have a photograph! Keane's tech dude and resident photographic hero, Rob, has just emailed us this...

Top pic, as ever. Verily, Rob rocks the party.

4.40pm - And so here is the first limerick which hit our ontour@keanemusic.com inbox. It's by Jane A from, um, somewhere (she didn't say). Take it away Jane...

There was a sex-bomb called Tom
Who was such a huge fan of Queen
So he joined a band
From the south of the land
And now he's the frontman of Keane

It doesn't quite follow the strict AABBA rhyming pattern of a limerick, but it's pretty good!

Email from Alejandra who says, "All the Mexican boardies at "El Mundo de Keane" are following the live blog.. it would be really nice if you send a big "HOLA" to us."

HOOOOOOOOLA!

4.17pm - Now the whole band have gone for a wander, so the confirmation of other London venues has been delayed slightly (though hopefully not as long as we delayed telling you the winner of the O2 banner competition, eh KWN readers?). We're getting far too many emails to ontour@keanemusic.com to say hello to everyone, so we've picked two at random. Shout out to Agatha in Brazil! And shout out to Roby & Ilaria from the marvellous keane.it fansite! And thanks to everyone who's emailing. First person to send us a Keane limerick gets it posted here...

4.01pm - Update of what the band are upto now:
Richard has gone home for a couple of hours. Handy living near the venue
Tom is fiddling with his iPhone in the dressing room
Tim is hanging shirts up in the dressing room.
You've emailed lots more suggestions of venues in London the band have played at. They're currently being checked by our official adjudicator (ie Beth is asking the band).
By the way, we're still not at the venue - pictures will follow when we are.

3.39pm - Well, that didn't take long - we've already had *lots* of emails, but the first person to correctly point out a missing venue was Demetria, who quickly noticed that Water Rats wasn't on the list. And here's the proof that Keane played there.

3.23pm - We've just received the following email from Beth (Keane's PA):

Hi Everybody

Keane have gone off to sound check now. I'd love to take a few photographs but it will spoil what promises to be an exciting night so I've stayed behind in the dressing room to write this on their behalf.

This morning, Richard has been reminiscing about the sheer amount of shows Keane have played in London since they were an unsigned, anonymous band.

So, for your pleasure, the boys have compiled a list. I couldn't actually keep up with everything that was being yelled at me so I'm hoping I've got it all.

Now the exciting bit; the first person to email ontour@keanemusic.com with a London gig that is not listed here will win a signed Keane gift!

Oh, Richard has just popped in with another one to add. I've never typed so fast in my life. Here we go....

Royal Albert Hall
ULU (three times we believe)
Apple Store
Gibson Guitar Studio
The Victoria Pub, Holloway Road
The Embassy Rooms (for War Child)
Astoria (twice)
LA2
Barfly (ooh, around three times)
The Hope & Anchor, Islington
12 Bar Club (twice?)
Gutteridge's Yard (twice)
Buffalo Bar, Islington (a meeting of minds took place here - the band met their tour manager Colin, and remember him wearing a beanie hat! Colin tells me it was a beige Carhartt beanie hat)
Spitz (twice)
The Garage
Upstairs at The Garage
Betsey Trotwood (twice)
Bull & Gate (about five times!)
Dublin Castle (twice)
Camden Falcon
Upstairs at Camden Market
100 Club
Metro Club, Oxford St
Carling Academy, Islington (at least twice)
Hammersmith Apollo (twice)
The Forum Kentish Town
Villiers Theatre
Brixton Academy (three times)
Wembley Arena (twice)
Wembley Stadium
Hyde Park (twice)
Alexandra Palace (twice)
The O2
The Union Chapel
Can't remember the name of this one but its in a downstairs bar on Great Portland Street
Can't remember the name of this one either but it was a theatre in Central London where they played with their old guitarist Dom.

And there you go.

It's sounding good out there so I'm off for a listen. Photos to come later.

Beth x

2.34pm - Nice to know that the newspapers are paying attention to km.com - Keane's Tom "Hacker" Chaplin.

2.10pm - Sorry, we were off having lunch. So.... the emails have been flooding in to ontour@keanemusic.com. Sarah and Scott are on their way to the show from Norfolk ("We are very excited"), Demetria is getting distracted by the blog in Colorado Springs, Vanessa and Maria both say "hi" from Spain, Denise does the same from Brazil and Angelique emailed from Holland to say how nice the venue looks on its website. Katia's asked us to say hello to Peru (HELLO PERU!) and Naily, funnyface and charlotteh have emailed from outside the venue to recommend the bacon and cheese sandwich from Harry's cafe. It is, we're told, "wicked".

In other news, the band have literally just started their soundcheck. We know this, because we spoke to the band's PA, Beth, who is currently sitting in the band's dressing room, which apparently is very nice and has lovely little gas stoves in it to keep it warm. Sounds like Beth wants to take one home. But stealing from a church would be BAD.

12.49pm - The Union Chapel is one of the loveliest venues in London, if not the UK (heck, if not the world). It's also still a proper working church. Click here to check out its website and have a look at some pictures.

This just in to ontour@keanemusic.com from Argentine Keane fan Gaby. "We are in the door of the chapel since 7.30am.with the funny keane boardies!...we are freezing..BUT HAPPY!!! we can't wait for tonight! cheers!!!!!" That is one excited lady...

12.19pm - We've just spoken to Mr Tim Rice-Oxley, who's in a taxi on his way to the venue, where he's meeting Tom and then going for a sandwich. When pressed, Tim revealed that he may plump for a bacon and avocado sandwich, on wholemeal bread. "But only if the bacon is from free range, organic pigs," he said. "Which actually shouldn't be too hard to find in Islington."

12.07pm - Big up Jeanet from Holland, the first person to email ontour@keanemusic.com. We should say we're not actually at the venue yet, but we're trying to get hold of various band and crew for updates.

12.01pm - Hello there. As you know, Keane are playing a special acoustic show at London's Union Chapel tonight, for the Little Noise Sessions in aid of Mencap. This is, officially, Keane's very last gig of 2007. From what we hear, it's going to be rather special.

So, what better time to unleash another live blog on you folks? Hopefully you know the drill by now - we bombard you with regular updates on what's happening, you keep us company by emailing any thoughts, greetings or queries to ontour@keanemusic.com. First person to email gets a "big up"....

2007-11-27T18:08:00.000Z

Keane Live Magazine

KEANE Live Magazine (2007 UK magazine originally came with 15th July 2007 issue of The Mail On Sunday), features an exclusive 3-page feature in which frontman & singer Tom Chaplin openly discusses his personal struggle with the drink & drugs dependency that nearly destroyed the band, and how he and the band have overcome their problems to becomes one of the worlds biggest bands, the features comes with exclusive photos of the trio by Dave Willis, including a superb cover shot of the band in classic black suit & white shirt.

Font: http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=409329 and www.keanetrack.blogspot.com

2007-11-26T17:58:00.000Z

WAR CHILD GIGS RAISE £115,000

Brixton and Manchester shows swell charity's coffers by £115k

Click here to check out the latest newsletter from War Child, which reveals that Keane raised £115,000 with the recent two gigs - give yourself a big pat on the back if some of that money came from your pockets.

2007-11-24T16:47:00.000Z

NICE DVD REVIEW

The Manchester Evening News digs 'Keane Live'

Click here to check out a very lovely (and, of course, wholly accurate) review of the 'Keane Live' DVD from today's edition of the Manchester Evening News.

2007-11-23T16:52:00.000Z

RICHARD'S LATIN AMERICAN PHOTOS

As always we're pleased to publish here Richard's photos.
Actually we're thinking to open a new label in our blog only with photos by him. Tell us what you think about his photos and comment us =]

Here they are

-> Photo nº 25 - Tom,Tim in Buenos Aires

-> Photo nº 26 - Mannequin, Buenos Aires

-> Photo nº27 - Quimes Rock Festival

2007-11-23T16:27:00.000Z

LIVE DVD DOWNLOADS

As you know, the Keane Live DVD is out now in the UK (and lots of other countries). But there are also some downloadable goodies related to the DVD which we thought you might like to know about.

At iTunes, you can buy the 'Keane Live EP', featuring the audio recordings of 'Somewhere Only We Know', 'Is It Any Wonder ?' and 'A Bad Dream' from the O2 show. They cost 79p per track. Click here to check them out.

Meanwhile, at 7 Digital, you can get the 'Keane Live EP' (79p per song, or £1.79 for all three) by clicking here. And they're also offering the entire 95 minutes of gig footage from The O2 to download as a WMV video clip for £9.99 - click here for that.

So, what country should km.com be getting behind in next year's European Championships now that England didn't make it?

ps - for all the Brazilians asking below, Keane's label tell us the DVD was out there on Nov 19th.

2007-11-19T17:35:00.000Z

LIVE DVD OUT IN THE UK (AND OTHER COUNTRIES) TODAY!

O2 DVD hits British shelves this very morning

Yes, Keane's new live DVD, filmed at The O2 in July, is out in the UK today. You can buy 'Keane Live' from the following retailers:

- Click here to buy direct from km.com (with or without iPod skin)

- Click here to buy from Amazon.co.uk

- Click here to buy from Virgin (with a £2 discount if you put your copy of 'Hopes & Fears' or 'Under The Iron Sea' in your computer first)

- Click here to see a random picture of a happy snowman (because it snowed here in the UK last night - although sadly not enough to build one of these)

The DVD covers:

2007-11-16T23:01:00.000Z

TOM'S INTERVIEW (PART 1,2 AND 3)

TOM: FANS' INTERVIEW PT1

Exclusive interview between Tom and two Keane fans

Following the interviews with Richard and Tim, here is the first part of our exclusive interview with Tom, which was conducted by two Keane fans (and message board regulars) Chris and Andrew. The other two parts will be posted tomorrow and Friday.

ANDREW: Was it a relief to you that your troubles came out last year?

TOM: No. It wasn't at all. Personally, I think the best thing is that it feels it's something that's now in the past. Although it's not a chapter of my life that will ever be closed, I think it feels like a part of my life that is over, or at least a troubled time that almost definitely will not ever be seen again. I feel good about that - I feel good that as a band we've survived those troubles and personally, more importantly, that I have. There was certainly more strain there before it all came to blows than there is now, from my perspective. I think we've got a much healthier relationship as a band. It wasn't just entirely down to me and my bad behaviour. In a group of people, things start to fall apart and are driven underground and become secret – I was holding back my feelings, as were the others. I think it was about all three of us, but certainly my problem was the worst part of it. We have a much healthier existence as a band now and we're more accepting of each other, which is good - less judgmental, more realistic. I think we accept that we could have easily lost the band. Ever since September and October last year, since we were back out on the road, things have got better and better in pretty much every aspect of the band. It's good to be in that position.

ANDREW: One of the things that Richard said to us was that when you came back through Gatwick after the Spain and Portugal gigs was that you collected your luggage and all these people got their cameras out and started taking photos of you. How hard is it for you to live with it?

TOM: I absolutely hate it! It's really, really irritating. The invention of the cameraphone has been just a complete disaster for people in bands and I don't think there'd be anyone who'd deny that. The large majority of people will ask you, 'Oh, can we take a photo', but even then you feel obliged to say yes.

ANDREW: Have you ever thought about whipping your Blackberry out and taking photos of them?

TOM: It doesn't have a camera on it. I would never have a phone with a fucking camera on it, I'd feel like a hypocrite! When I was a kid, I used to find being in a famous band and being recognised pretty exciting - I think most kids probably would. But, actually, the novelty of that wears off pretty fast! And you realise that really the thing that you're in it for is the singing, the visceral experience of being out on stage, making a record – those are the really exciting things where you realise the achievement, or feel like you're making a difference. After five minutes of having any of kind of celebrity I find it faintly embarrassing and difficult, and I kind of wish it wasn't there. But I also understand that it's the flipside to all those lovely things that you get to do, and we are very privileged really.

CHRIS: Do you miss the obscurity of the early days, then?

TOM: Well, I think that in the early days you'd think 'Well, being famous will effectively mean we're successful and we won't be in the cycle of failure anymore!', so I suppose it didn't seem like a bad thing then. I really have a lot of empathy for people like Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse - they're the talk of the town at the moment - because obviously they have their own demons, and possibly that's partly what makes them great artists. They have this very dark side and they can draw from that, find inspiration from it, but it also means that when they do go down that bad self-destructive road, they can end up being hounded and basically chased out of town. I do feel for them – I can't imagine what it's like. For a start, those two live in London and they seem to have a pack of paps and journalists following them wherever they go and it must be quite difficult for them to deal with those issues in such a public way. I certainly found it difficult, even though the press were generally pretty kind to me. All I hope is that they find some kind of solution to whatever their issues are and get back to making good music.

ANDREW: OK, lets talk about your solo album that never was.

TOM: Right…!

ANDREW: Apparently your solo album was coming out in 2007 produced by Tim Rice-Oxley, and with Richard Hughes probably drumming. Tell us all about it!

TOM: Well, I could tell you that that is probably 99% unlikely to happen. I hadn't actually been writing songs for quite a long time and it was something I loved doing, ever since I was about 12 or something - ever since Tim taught me how to play chords on the piano and all that kind of jazz. It probably occupied a large proportion of my day as a teenager, and when we moved to London, I used to love writing – I just did it as much as I could. But when we moved to France for that six months we were there working on stuff, suddenly we went from doing 50% of the songs each to Tim having 'This Is The Last Time', 'Everybody's Changing', 'She Has No Time', 'Bend And Break'… loads and loads of great songs just suddenly flowed out of him! It probably fuelled two things inside me – it made me fearful that I couldn't really do it, and it also made me lazy because I just thought, 'Well, I don't need to because we've got all these great songs'. I think our roles became quite defined at that point.

So anyway, one of the things that I thought last year as I emerged from the haze was 'Why are the roles so defined in this band?'. I realised I had no outlet for all the things that I felt, aside from really being out on stage. I just felt like I needed that again. So I started writing again, and I suddenly found I was really enjoying it. I was coming out with stuff that just made feel good, because I was then able to vent some anger or love or anything. All these things were spontaneously coming out, and it felt like a really good process. I started to think, 'Well, if the band splits up, or if things get difficult, or we take a break for a while, I could work on these songs'. I guess somehow that leaked out as me doing a solo album.

I certainly have a desire for those songs to be heard and a desire to work on them but, at the moment, we've been working on stuff and rehearsing it down in our barn. That's been equally exciting for me just because it's given me the same kind of outlet. Maybe in a slightly different way – there may even be some of my songs on the next album, I don't really know. Whatever happens, I know that I will have had an input that I may have had for 'Hopes and Fears', but certainly didn't have for the second album. And that's kind of good enough for me at the moment. So I don't think you're going to see a solo album yet!

CHRIS: It's more a case of you wanting to write than you wanting to do something separate to Keane?

TOM: Exactly. It's one of those things where if you've got the ability to do it, then you should do it. If you don't, you're missing out on a great way of expressing yourself, and I think that's a realisation I had last year.

-------------------------------------

TOM: FANS' INTERVIEW PT2

Second part of our exclusive interview with Mr Chaplin

ANDREW: What was the last song of yours that you put together as a band?

TOM: We’re going back to before 'Hopes and Fears' – 'Closer Now' and stuff like that. There was a song called 'Rubbernecking', which was actually the first song of ours that ever got played on the radio. Years and years ago it got played on XFM. That was a weird song, but yeah – it was quite good and quite strange in its own way. There were a few others dotted around but, like I say, I got lazy when it got to 'Hopes and Fears', and it was a downward spiral from that point onwards. It’s something I’ve started to resurrect, but who knows where it will lead! I haven’t got a clue yet, to be honest.

ANDREW: Are you trying to get in more instrument playing on stage with the band?

TOM: Possibly. I enjoy it. But it makes me feel quite nervous, even if I’m just hammering away at chords!

ANDREW: Or just two notes with your tips of your index fingers.

TOM: I had to do that actually at the end of 'The Frog Prince' when we played it full electric! That was actually the hardest thing to play of everything! I think chords are easier and that kind of thing is actually harder, so I’ve learnt piano in reverse! I enjoy it - it’s a good thrill to play some of those parts. I play the lead bit at the end of 'Try Again', and I always almost forget. That song feels quite an important song to me. I think it’s probably the best song Tim’s written that we’ve released, and I always get completely wrapped up in the song. I know I have to come in half way through and start playing the piano… and then I always forget that I’ve got this solo! Then suddenly, it dawns on me that I’ve got to play it, and it’s all in E flat or something. I enjoy it though, because it adds to the excitement and the nerves and it keeps me fresh. So yeah – bring it on! More instruments.

ANDREW: At one of the gigs last year – 'Try Again' got towards the really climatic solo and it just wasn’t distorted it was just clean piano.

TOM: *laughs* Yeah, my pedal didn’t work. The technical wizardry of Keane sometimes falls a bit short. I enjoy that solo though. I’ll have more of those! The thing is, the last album was very much a studio record, so we went from building it up in the studio to learning how to play it live. This time we’re doing it the other way around, the same as we did 'Hopes and Fears', and I hope it’ll feel... not more cohesive, but I’ll certainly feel like I contributed a lot more.

ANDREW: Is there going to be an effort to play some new material publicly before the next record comes out, or it just going to be you guys in the Barn?

TOM: I don’t really know. Possibly. I think we’ll see how it goes. We’ve worked on a few things that sound really good. We know there are a lot of good songs there. There comes a point when everything falls into place and you know what it is that the record’s going to sound like and what the vibe of it is and what the direction of it is, but I don’t think we’ve quite reached that point yet. Once we’ve reached that point we might start to try things out. We could do what REM did, with their gigs in Dublin playing new material, like live rehearsals, which sound quite fun. Who knows?! I’m sure we’ll wheel out a few things before the album comes out, but we haven’t really got anywhere near making that decision yet.

ANDREW: What’s it like being the youngest member of the band?

TOM: I think that it has been the cause of some problems, because I’ve always felt younger than the other two. Well, not just always felt younger, I HAVE always been younger! I think for them it’s less of an issue, because they probably think we’re all grown-ups in a band together. My understanding of it is quite different. I think I’ve always been the ‘younger one’ who’s always come in and been a bit less mature – I’ve certainly had that ‘hang up’, whether consciously or not, of being younger than the rest.

ANDREW: What have you been listening to recently?

TOM: I’ve actually become a massive fan of Russell Brand – I know he divides opinion massively, but I love downloading his podcasts because he’s a man who has entirely based his whole spiel on being positive and being interested. It’s like ‘A Celebration of the Madness of Life with Russell Brand’. I really respect that and I really like that. It’s much more interesting than that cynical approach of ‘X is shit’ and ‘that’s funny because that person looks stupid’. I much prefer people to celebrate the quirks and madness of the world we live in.

I think the best and most enduring music is music that really says something insightful about the world that we’re living in and actually speaks to a lot of people, whether it’s on a very personal level or whether it’s on a global level. I like that kind of thing. I keep recommending Rufus Wainwright to people. I get very stuck on certain albums and certain bits of music, and I listen to them until I know every beat and note and inflection. I don’t get into things lightly - I like to get into music in a heavier way. I think going through the back catalogues of various bands is more appealing to me than a lot of really contemporary stuff. But I love the Guillemots. I love their imagination. It’s quirky and it’s interesting, and I love the songs and the melodies. I suppose I’m more of a sucker for melody than anything. If you asked me about the Beatles I’d definitely be a Paul McCartney fan more than a John Lennon fan. I’m a complete sucker for something that sounds melodically very beautiful, but says something powerful as well.

CHRIS: Do you think Keane suffer sometimes, because you are pigeonholed?

TOM: Yeah, I remember hearing Stuart Maconie a few months ago, I’d turned on the radio and it’d just got the end of 'A Bad Dream' and he said something about we had become ‘whipping boys’ - unfairly, in his opinion - and thought that 'Under The Iron Sea' had been one of the best records of the past few years. That whole thing about being pigeonholed – it’s so boring, the posh boys thing. It’s such a nonsense anyway.

ANDREW: None of it comes across on record.

TOM: No, I know – exactly! None of it comes across on record because the only vestiges that remain of our private school education are the way we speak and … well that’s probably about it really! I’ve never really been one of those people who are stuck in my public school days. It was ten years ago, and I’m not interested in it any more. I hated it at the time. As soon as I left I wanted to be in a band. I have no connection with it at all. To feel like we’re still pigeonholed for something that was ten years ago, that we didn’t really have any choice over, and that doesn’t remain in any single respect in our music is quite weird. But I do feel like gradually, over time, the pigeonholing is beginning to disappear. The more that people have got to know us - and I think that's taken a long time - the more that we’re shaking those things off.

-------------------------------------

TOM: FANS' INTERVIEW PT3

The final part of our exclusive chat with Tom

PART 3

CHRIS: How do you feel about 'Under The Iron Sea' now?

TOM: I think it’s a great record. Anyone who listened to 'Under The Iron Sea' just before it came out would have probably said that it’s not going to have the same kind of impact that 'Hopes and Fears' had, because it’s not the same kind of record. I don’t think it’s anything like as accessible. But I think that, once you get into it, it’s a much better record. 'Hopes and Fears' was a very personal album of love songs and about things that people experience, whatever age they are, living in Britain. From any kind of demographic, I think you can relate to that record. Whereas 'Under The Iron Sea' is much darker and more difficult. So it was received in a different way. But I’m glad we made it. I feel proud to have been a part of that record, even if the memories are mixed!

ANDREW: Are you happier talking to crowds now than you used to be?

TOM: It depends really. I have my good days and my bad days. I find it terrifying and exciting in equal measure!

ANDREW: Do you find you fall back on certain stock phrases?

TOM: Yeah, I think you can do. But the notion that every night I should say something completely different is basically unrealistic if you’re doing 200 shows in an album cycle. Also, to be fair, most people only come to one show so, in that sense, I don’t really have any qualms about saying the same thing. What’s true, though, is that the best nights for me are when I feel a connection with the crowd. Some nights you don’t feel that same connection, or something inside you isn’t quite right, or you don’t feel that communicative, or you don’t feel that spontaneous – whatever it is. There are some nights where I feel like I’ve… not gone on automatic pilot, but I’ve had to draw on my reserves. But then are lots of nights - and they are the best nights - where I just feel like there’s a spark there, and the crowd’s really with us and I’m really with them, and it becomes much more conversational.

ANDREW: Do you like this big venue feel that your shows have now?

TOM: Yeah, I love the ego ramp – it’s certainly got me fit! I think we just wanted to do something ambitious. There are so many bands that you go and see, and you think ‘Why couldn’t you have a bit more imagination?’ I think we, and other people, often forget that we’ve only got two records of material to draw on. It’s not like being U2 or someone like that, but we can still be ambitious. We’ve been inspired by those bands that we’ve seen who’ve really been ambitious, as opposed to the ones who’ve just gone up there and trundled through a few songs and after about 45 minutes you get a bit bored. We wanted to make the production bigger and better. Because there are only three of us, and because we’re limited by Richard and Tim being quite static, we wanted to find ways we could make that more interesting for the crowd, so out came the ego ramp. We thought of lots of different ideas to make the show look more exciting. When it goes well, I think it’s as an exciting a show as you could see, personally.

ANDREW: Do you enjoy getting down close to the front row?

TOM: Yeah, I do actually. When I go down into the crowd or when I see people’s faces, I get excited. I see the experience of them really loving what they’re seeing. I’ve said this many times before on stage, but I think there’s something special about our music and about our fans - about the emotional power of it. I do think that that is something that is quite unique about us. There’s not many bands with that kind of ability to make people really go through an emotional experience. That may sound immodest, but that’s really how I feel. When I go down there and see people’s faces and see it coming back at me – that’s a life affirming experience. It actually makes me feel alive. When you’re hanging around in an airport, or when you’re waiting to do your 58th interview in a row in a country far from home, you can sometimes think, “I don’t know what I’m doing here – this does not make me feel alive”. But I know that when I’m down in people’s faces, and I feel that energy - it is a genuine life affirming experience. So I absolutely love that ramp, and I love being able to get out there amongst people and really feel that energy. People bang on about spirituality and spiritual experiences, but that’s as close it gets for me to really experiencing something other-worldly or even giving me some kind of understanding of why we’re all here and what we’re doing. It probably sounds like bollocks to you but I really genuinely feel that.

ANDREW: Finally, should Matt Prior still be England’s wicket keeper after leaving sweets on the pitch during the India game this summer?

TOM: He should, yeah! What I love about the way English cricket has been going over the last few years is that there have been a few players who have come into the England cricket team who have this sense of competitiveness and steely aggression. I don’t think it should be discouraged. All the old farts and old fogies who are responsible for making cricket look like it’s stuck in the past, those who commentate on it and who run the game in England, look down their nose at that kind of competitiveness. Personally, I think ‘bring it on’. That’s why when I’m watching football I love seeing people get sent off, Cantona’s kung-fu kick in the crowd – I loved all that, because it’s all the drama and the theatre of the game. And it’s a game. If Matt Prior wants to sprinkle jelly babies all over the pitch before someone comes on, who gives a shit? I think it’s great! It’s part of the spirit of competitiveness - the Aussies wouldn’t think twice about doing it. There wouldn’t be an outcry if one of their players did it. Within bounds of course, you wouldn’t want people to start resorting to anything that was immoral…

CHRIS: So no kung-fu on the cricket pitch then?

TOM: Maybe kung-fu kicks are pushing it a bit, but you know what I mean. There have been elements of racism in cricket and you’d never encourage that. But anything that people can do to create competitiveness is for me in sport the best thing. I love the drama, I love the intrigue when things go a bit doolally and a bit wrong - those are some of my favourite parts of the game. So there we go – he should be keeping, he’s definitely the best man for the job.

ANDREW: Are you still playing?

TOM: I do try and play a bit. I didn't play much this summer, partly due to the weather and also because we thought we were gonna stop touring a while ago, and we decided in the end to just carry on. But yeah, I’m still good enough for village cricket!

---

Big thanks to Chris and Andrew for all their hard work on the interviews and for the band for agreeing to do them. Keep it locked to KEANE Site over the next few weeks for lots of other interesting, um, stuff.

That's a mistery everyone :D

2007-11-10T19:06:00.000Z

SIGNED PROGRAMME WINNER

Winner of Keane's 'The Night Sky' prize draw

You might remember that everyone who purchased 'The Night Sky' was eligible to enter a prize draw to win a special programme from the War Child shows, signed by the band.

Well, we're pleased to announce that the winner is Margaret Lyon from Lancashire. Congratulations Margaret!

And as a treat for the rest of you, here's a YouTube video of 'Bedshaped' from the TV coverage of the Brixton War Child show.

Have a good weekend y'all.

ps - The next KWN will be coming early next week. As will the much-awaited fans' interview with Tom...

(from www.keanemusic.com)

2007-11-10T18:58:00.000Z

WATCH DVD TRAILER!

Check out a promo clip for Keane Live DVD

Yes, click below to check out a trailer of the Keane Live DVD. It made us go all tingly when we watched it.

If that gets you in the mood, you can pre-order the DVD from Amazon by clicking here.

UPDATE: You can also now see the trailer on the Video Jukebox in the MUSIC section in www.keanemusic.com

2007-11-10T18:55:00.000Z

NEW KEANE FANZINE ONSALE

Download the PDF, raise money for War Child

For the last few months, Keane fans across the world have been working together to compile a new fanzine, The Night Sky, in aid of War Child.

The 95-page ebook is now onsale, for the princely sum of £4 (around 8 US dollars, 6 euros or 25 Peruvian nuevos soles). The fanzine is packed full of reviews from Keane fans throughout the world, photos, quizzes, contributions from the band and even Keane-related recipes and smoothies.

£3.20 from each purchase goes directly to War Child (with the other 80p covering admin/costs).

Click here to buy your copy.

2007-11-10T18:52:00.000Z

MORE GLOBAL DVD DATES

O2 DVD release info for more countries

Yes, following yesterday's list of international release dates for Keane Live, here are some more:

Norway - 19th Nov

Finland - 19th Nov

Central America - 19th Nov

Colombia - 19th Nov

Narnia - 21st Nov

Argentina/Chile – 29th Nov

We'll let you know as and when more come through.

2007-11-10T18:47:00.000Z

ROB'S WAR CHILD BLOG #3

A final War Child blog from Keane's tech chap

I hang my head in shame. I didn't manage to take any pictures at either War Child show - unfortunately I was a little busy doing my day job.

It was a fantastic few days (marred only by the worry of Tom's Manchester barfitude) and it was great to be back in the friendly, family vibe of the Keane touring party.

More importantly we managed to catch up with video tech ASBO - he's managed to persuade a young lady to go out with him. She has our deepest sympathies and we hope she sees sense soon.

So to make up for my non snappyness on the show days here's some more stuff from rehearsals:

Mr Chaplin.

Mr Rice-Oxley

Mr Hughes

The talented and charming Mr Jesse Quin on the electric bass.

From Detroit, MI, Mr Brendan Benson on the acoustic guitar.

Over Tim's shoulder to Jesse.

Two computers and Tim.

Richard, Jesse, Tim, a pile of lyrics.

Brendan and Keane.

Brendan Benson facing towards Richard.

Ana thinks the first photo is great...you know....she loves Tom!
We hope you like the photos too! =P

2007-11-10T18:43:00.000Z

GLOBAL DVD RELEASE DATES

When Keane Live will hit shelves worldwide

As you know, the Keane Live DVD filmed at The O2 is out in the UK on November 19th. We've just been sent a bunch of release dates for other countries. They are as follows:

S. Africa - 12th Nov

Mexico - 13th Nov

Holland - 16th Nov

Italy - 16th Nov

Australia - 17th Nov

Austria - 19th Nov

Denmark - 19th Nov

Brazil - 19th Nov

France - 19th Nov

Portugal - 19th Nov

Spain - 20th Nov

Germany - 23rd Nov

Sweden - 23rd Nov

Switzerland - 23rd Nov

Proof, then, that not everything Keane-related comes to the UK fans first!

2007-11-10T12:39:00.000Z

Something we want to share.. =)

This is a promo of 'Under The Iron Sea'

This is other promo of 'Under The Iron Sea'

We Can Also See The Good Music

THE BEST DVD'S FOR THIS CHRISTMAS

(found in Blitz nº 17,November 2007)

Paty last Wallpaper.. Inspired in 'The Night Sky'

DVD Shape that will be release between 18th and 20th November:

-front

-Back

2007-11-04T21:27:00.000Z

WAR CHILD MERCH NOW IN STORE

T-shirts and programmes now on general sale

Yes, the last of the limited edition T-shirts and programmes made especially for this week's War Child shows are now onsale in the store, priced at £15 and £5 respectively. All proceeds will go to War Child.

Click here to buy them.

Text all responsible by keanemusic

2007-11-03T16:48:00.000Z

CHECK OUT LAST NIGHT'S VIDEO MESSAGES

Messages from Elton et al now on YouTube

Thursday night's Brixton gig featured video messages from several War Child supporters who couldn't make it along to the show. We've now uploaded them onto Keane's official YouTube.

Click here for Elton John's message

Click here for Adam and Joe's message

Click here for Rufus Wainwright's message

Click here for Maximo Park's message

And while we're discussing YouTube videos, click here to check out six minutes of Peter Kay's amazing Keane introduction from the Manchester show (which contains quite a lot of bad language).

----------------------------------------------------------------

3 months from now, was the day!!! the day where we went to the our life´s gig!!! it was great, and paty is doing a video to celebrate this...=D
We hope you like it!
kiss

2007-11-03T16:46:00.000Z

KEANE LIVE SESSION ON XFM yesterday

Yesterday the band played live session at 6pm

Following last night's triumphant Brixton show (how good was it?!), Keane played a session for Xfm yesterday evening, which were broadcast live at 6pm UK time. As well as digital and FM, you can listen at Xfm's website by clicking here (then clicking LISTEN TO XFM in the top left).

2007-11-03T16:42:00.000Z

RICHARD'S WAR CHILD BLOG

Mr Hughes sends a post-Brixton blog

Hi everyone, I hope you managed to see the show, or hear it on the radio. It was like hosting our own festival, with so many of our favourite people involved. Thanks again to everyone who came along for buying tickets (last night alone should have made War Child £80,000, with another £40,000 from the show in Manchester). What a great way to kick off the War Child Iraq Appeal. Please pass on the war child web address (www.warchildiraqappeal.com) to your friends, and tune in on Sunday night to see highlights on the telly.

Finally, huge thanks again to everyone that made the show possible - there are a lot of very tired people today who worked very, very hard to make it happen, and we are very grateful to all of you!

Richard

2007-11-03T16:33:00.000Z

BETH'S WAR CHILD BLOG

Keane's PA sends a blog and a pic from Brixton

"Hi, it's been a while everyone! We are having a hugely busy and very exciting day. Tom is feeling miles better and the band can't wait to host their evening.

Thought you'd like this photo which I took on my phone.

Bethx"

we loved this pic, and tom really seems to be better!!

2007-11-01T12:39:00.000Z

Keane In Gig Incident

Keane singer Tom Chaplin was stuck down with a severe throat infection and gastro enteritis during the first of the band’s two Warchild charity shows, forcing him to leave the stage - twice - to throw up. Hmmm tasty.

As we previously reported, Keane were scheduled to play two live shows to raise money and awareness for Warchild this week. The first at the Manchester Apollo last night (October 31) and the second at Brixton Academy tonight.

However disaster struck on Wednesday when singer Tom became sick. But somehow he battled through last night's gig, with slightly unpleasant and, one imagines, slightly unhygienic results. A statement from the event organisers reads:

“Tom from Keane was struck down with a severe throat infection and gastro enteritis during rehearsals for the Keane War child event. On stage in Manchester, Tom had to leave to vomit on at least two occasions, after being sick all day, but like a true professional Tom played on – delighting the Manchester audience and raising thousands for War Child.

“The show had to finish 15 minutes early as paramedics had to be called, but Peter Kaye held court delighting a satisfied and sympathetic audience.”

However, tonight’s show – which also includes performances from Lilly Allen, The Pet Shop Boys and The Magic Numbers – will still be going ahead despite Tom’s illness, as the statement continues “War Child is an extremely important charity to him and Keane and in his own words... The show must go on!”

These two events and the release of Keane’s new single 'The Night Sky' are part of Warchild's appeal to raise £1.5million for the children of Iraq. For more information see http://www.warchild.org.uk/

Xfm would like to wish Tom all the best for tonight's performance.
Keanefas wish the best for Tom and for tonight's performance and we wish the best for all of them!
XFM Article

Tim's answer to a fan in the official forum:

Dear Christine,

There's a fairly simple answer to your question. When we left the stage Richard and I were totally uncertain as to whether we would be able to come back on and play at least a couple more songs. We had even discussed the option of me singing a couple of the songs if Tom did have to pull out of performing. It was only when we were already off stage that we had to make a snap decision to stop completely and to ask Peter to round the evening off - an eventuality we had agreed beforehand. Once he was on stage and entertaining the crowd in his inimitable style, it would have been rude and unprofessional for me or Richard to interrupt.

It was a incredibly difficult situation and one that had no easy solution. I understand your confusion and frustration, and can only say we're truly very sorry that we couldn't play our whole set. I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank you and everyone else for coming to the show tonight and supporting War Child. Lookling at the wider picture, it has been a momentous night. The ticket sales from tonight alone have raised an incredible amount of money - looks like about £50,000 - that will directly influence and improve the lives of children in Iraq.

I hope that thought, and my attempt at explaining what went on, will offer some consolation.

Thanks again,

tim
Article by Tim

2007-10-31T22:41:00.000Z

WAR CHILD GIGS MERCH

Pic of special T-shirt and programme available at the shows

We thought you folks might like a sneak peek at some exclusive merchandise which has been made for this week's War Child shows in Manchester and London. Keane, War Child and artist Kate Moross came together to produce a T-shirt and Programme which will be sold at the two shows, with all proceeds going to War Child. If any items are left after the gigs, we'll be putting them up for sale in the web store early next week.

2007-10-31T22:38:00.000Z

ROB'S WAR CHILD BLOG #2

Keane's tech hero sends another update from the rehearsal studio

Hello again.

A few weeks ago you might have seen the bat signal calling us all back to Keaneworld for the War Child shows.

Well, you wouldn't have actually seen it as we have a special bat signal. It consists of top tour manager Colin sending out at least 50 emails a day.

After two days of activity, rehearsals are over. The truck is loaded, the bus is here and we're off to Manchester.

Things went very well in the secret bunker. I could tell you what happened but then I'd have to kill you. And I probably wouldn't be very good at that.

So I'd better think of some captions for this lot:

This is the cage in which Keane's gear lives when it isn't on tour. It's now mainly empty.

Um ... Richard and Tom, playing a song.

Mr Chaplin singing a top pop song.

Richard gives it some 'rabbit in headlights'

Tim and his note-strewn piano

Richard and his Nikon F6 .. it has modes that neither of us understand.

Tom's enlisted keyboard and computer whiz Thom to try and fix his lappy. Apparently iTunes broke it somehow.

Tom's fancy fret hand.

Soundman Iain and Mr Chaplin are up to no good.

Tim explaining to handsome production manager Ant that brown M&Ms are no longer acceptable. Or something more important, perhaps.

Tom singing 'The Night Sky' from the rehearsal studio's kitchenette. This man is so talented that he can belt out a song and make himself a cup of tea at the same time.

A slightly pensive Tim.

Those Rice-Oxley hands hammering the CP70.

.. and the Hughes sticks in motion.

Richard post run through.

And you'll all be glad to know that Tom's lappy is on the mend. Maybe.

I'll try and take some more shots in Manchester and Brixton. But no promises.

Rob

2007-10-31T22:36:00.000Z

ROB'S WAR CHILD BLOG #1

Keane's snap happy tech dude is back!

Hello from our super-secret rehearsal bunker somewhere in one of London's less desirable neighbourhoods.

Not much to report yet, but here's a picture of a piano with a random button on one of the keys to get you excited.

More to follow during the week...

Rob

2007-10-31T19:21:00.000Z

Celebration Of Our 1st Year With You

We ask to each other (moderators) to send an email for HERE and say what we want about this year of Everything About Keane!

Let's Check The Texts.. =]

By Jessica (our recent Moderator):

Happy bday to youuu! Happy bday to youuu! Happy bday to Keanefas! Happy bday to youuuuuu!!!
Yay! 1 year! Once, a friend gave me a bday card with this message: "Per fare gli auguri come si deve, il modo migliore è essere breve!" (The best way to wish happy bday is to be brief!). And that's what I'm gonna do right now...Being brief. It's a great blog, made with love form nice people! Thanks for sharing your love for Keane and their music with us. Muito obrigada (is it right, professora?)!!!
Thanks very much...Don't stop doing what you love...This blog is very stunning!
Love,
Jessica

By Ana Catarina:

this is what i think about this year writing this blog... first i have to say, that paty has done almost everything, like the templates, the photos, and the most part of the posts...
she´s amazing and she worked very hard (but always with pleasure) for this blog survives... and she made it...she´s great!

Now talking about what i think about the blog...of course i´ll say that i love this blog, even though its mine,jessica and paty´s, it is for keane, and it makes it special, actualy... very special! =D

I know that this year i didnt pay atention to the blog as i should, but i promise that i will...=P

I know that there are people that loves keane more than me, paty is one of these persons... but, i dont know how to explain...everythime i listen to them they make me feel happy, hopeful, peaceful, they can make me think about my life, about all my life with truth and quiteness... and i think this is great in my life...they are one of the few reasons that make me live! And they´re very important to me... even if sometimes i dont pay atention to them in this blog, they´re always in my heart...

ok, this isnt about the blog anymore, its about me...=S so let me continue...
all this is just for say: even if there are few persons who saw the blog this year, they were great with us, and they make us continue the blog... thanks to everyone who supports us and commented our blog!! =D

Thanks*****

By Paty:

This is the way I feel about all of this.. Thanks to these blog I passed many times doing editions of photos,videos,discover many things,learn to do templates and you'll think that's nothing and you are right!
Because I have MANY reasons to be happy with this Blog ... I realise a long wish to create a blog of keane who is known in some countries in the world and that's great!
Other is meet some people fan of keane like me and Ana and thanks that I made friends for all my life!
Thanks to these blog I made maratoons like when they posted every minute at 02 Arena's gig (future DVD) or when I return to the Keane's gig and I posted.. Amazing!
These blog made me a better person and made me do things that I never thought!
Here everyone is special and everyone make these blog better and better!
Thanks for everything you do and did to make these possible!

Continue with us,
Paty

2007-10-30T19:36:00.000Z

29th October News

- KEANE ON NEW SUN PODCAST -

Tom chats about War Child single and gigs

Click here to check out the latest edition of The Sun newspaper's free podcast, which features Tom chatting about 'The Night Sky' and the band's links with War Child.

- 'THE NIGHT SKY' IN SHOPS, MORE VIDEOS -

CD in shops, plus more films from the video shoot

After last week's digital releases (see earlier stories) the CD, 7-inch and USB formats of Keane's charity single for War Child, 'The Night Sky', arrive in record shops today. Click here to buy direct from HMV.com.

Also, following the posting of the track's video on the Video Jukebox in the Music section, we thought you might like to see these accompanying films. Click on the titles to watch them.

- BENI'S STORY READ BY JALIL

- FAISAL'S STORY READ BY CLAUDIA

- WAHIDA'S STORY READ BY SAMAN

- THE MAKING OF THE VIDEO

- A BLOG FROM ROB -

Keane's snap happy tech dude is back!

Hello from our super-secret rehearsal bunker somewhere in one of London's less desirable neighbourhoods.

Not much to report yet, but here's a picture of a piano with a random button on one of the keys to get you excited.

More to follow during the week...

Rob

2007-10-30T19:19:00.000Z

26th October News

- CHANNEL 4 TO BROADCAST WAR CHILD GIG -

Brixton show to be recorded for 65 minute show

We're very pleased to announce that highlights of the show which Keane are curating at Brixton Academy next week will be broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK on the night of Sunday November 4th. The programme will run from 11.50pm until 12.55am. No doubt snippets will turn up on YouTube shortly afterwards...

- 'THE NIGHT SKY' - FULL EP AT DOWNLOAD STORES -

Keane's War Child single gets full digital release

Following the exclusive release of 'The Night Sky' via warchildmusic.com on Monday, the full EP is now available via all major download stores.

Click here to buy it from iTunes, where £1.99 bags you the following five tracks:

1. The Night Sky (Radio Edit)
2. The Night Sky
3. Under Pressure
4. Put It Behind You (Frisco Mix)
5. The Night Sky (Demo)

At 39.8p per track - with profits going to War Child - that sounds like a proper bargain to us.

- 'THE NIGHT SKY' VIDEO NOW ON KM.COM -

War Child single's video now live in the Music section

Yes, we're very pleased to announce that the amazing video for Keane's War Child single, 'The Night Sky', is now live on the Video Jukebox in the Music section of this very website. We hope you like it.

How the band look in the vid

PS - if you're wondering why there was no KWN this week, that's because we were waiting for this video to go live before we wrote it. Sadly, by the time that finally happened, the folks at the label who can press the giant SEND button had gone home. Sorry 'bout that. Have a good weekend.

In Keane's Site The Night Sky Video
And In Our Blog Post 25th October

2007-10-30T18:59:00.000Z

25th October News

- PRE-WAR CHILD GIG INTERVIEW -

The band speak to The Sun newspaper about next week's shows

Click here to read a new interview with Keane about their involvement with War Child for the current single and the upcoming gigs in Manchester and London next week.

2007-10-25T20:29:00.000+01:00

'The Night Sky' Video

We Hope you like it 'cause we Loved it! It's very emotional.. Thanks for creating it! x')

2007-10-24T20:17:00.001+01:00

MORE STATIONS BROADCASTING BRIXTON SHOW

List of European and Middle East stations carrying the show

As we revealed last week, Keane's Brixton Academy show for War Child on November 1st is to be broadcast live on Emap radio stations across the UK.

We now have a list of stations in Europe and the Middle East which will be broadcasting the Brixton show. They are:

Channel Islands: Island FM

Croatia: Otvoreni Radio

Czech Republic: Express Radio

Denmark: Skala, Radio SLR, Hit FM

Germany: NDR

Iceland: RAS 2

Ireland: FM 104, Red

Italy: Radio Number 1

Jordan: Play FM

Lebanon: Mix FM

Lithuania: European Hit Radio

Netherlands: 3FM

Pristina: Blue Sky

Spain: Cadena 100

Please consult the listings of your local station to discover when it will be transmitting the show (we've been told some will be live and others recorded). And remember that several of the UK stations will be broadcasting live via their websites, to listeners anywhere in the world.

All text by: www.keanemusic.com

2007-10-24T20:15:00.000+01:00

DVD RELEASE NOW NOVEMBER 19TH

The O2 live DVD pushed back one week

The release of 'Keane Live' the DVD of July's show at The O2 has been moved back one week, to Monday 19th November.

In related news, the finished DVD artwork looks like this:

Can any of you spot yourselves?

All text by: http://www.keanemusic.com/

2007-10-22T18:17:00.000+01:00

Download Keane's new single from warchildmusic.com now!

Yes, Keane's one-off single in aid of War Child is released this very morning, exclusively through warchildmusic.com. Click here to go directly to the track.

NB: as War Child's store is only able to sell the track in WMA format, it won't work on Apple Macs or iPods. But all other download stores (including iTunes) will be selling the track from Friday. And you can still pre-order the physical formats (released a week today) from HMV by clicking here.

All text by: www.keanemusic.com

2007-10-20T20:43:00.000+01:00

This is our 201st post! We're so glad of that and almost 1 year with all of you but the moderators of this blog are preparing a special post for 27th October.. Wait and see! ;-)

Now some informations:

Keane Live In Plymouth 'A Bad Dream' -> http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-944289427626501272&pr=goog-sl

Keane by Leanne [member of Keane's Official Forum] with the music 'Under Pressure'

thanks for the fans who made or record the video..

2007-10-19T23:29:00.000+01:00

BRIXTON SHOW TO BE BROADCAST LIVE

UPDATED: War Child show will be broadcast across Emap stations and online!

We're very pleased to confirm that Keane's upcoming show at Brixton Academy will be broadcast live on the following UK radio stations, between 9-11pm on November 1st:

* Radio City
* Red Rose
* Key 103
* Radio Aire
* Hallam FM
* Viking FM
* TFM
* Metro
* Radio Clyde
* Radio Forth
* North Sound
* West Sound
* Mory Firth
* CFM
* Tay
* South West Sound
* Radio Borders
* Downtown (N.Ireland)
* Kerrang
* Wave 105
* The Hits

The gig is also due to be broadcast on several radio stations outside the UK - we'll let you know as soon as we have details of those.

Plus, all of the UK stations which have a "Listen Live" option on their websites (which is lots of them) will be broadcasting it there. So you'll be able to listen to the gig live, wherever in the world you are!

all text by: www.keanemusic.com

2007-10-18T07:45:00.000+01:00

No Mencap Presale

We're leaving the 200 tickets in the pot

In last week's Keane Weekly Newsletter we mentioned that we may be running a special presale for Keane's acoustic show for Mencap at the Union Chapel on November 28th. It turns out that a) those tickets would just come out of the pot of tickets for which many of you have already registered and b) you'd need to register for a second time in order to qualify for the presale. So we've decided not to run a presale afterall.

Remember, if you have already registered via mencapmusic.org.uk, tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis from 9am Monday 22nd October.

Thanks.

Text by: www.keanemusic.com

2007-10-15T20:45:00.000+01:00

Details From 'The Night Sky'

As previously announced, Keane are releasing a special single for War Child on October 22nd. As you'll see, the artwork for the single is above. And here are the dates when the different formats will be available:

Oct 22: 'The Night Sky' made available exclusively from warchildmusic.com

Oct 26: 'The Night Sky' plus B-sides made available at all digital download stores (iTunes, Napster etc). So you'll be able to buy 'The Night Sky' edit, demo and extended versions, plus the band's 'Under Pressure' cover and the Ffrisco remix of 'Put It Behind You'.

Oct 29: Physical single released on 3 formats, CD single, 7-inch and USB stick single. You can now pre-order all three of those from HMV by clicking here. The USB stick is £4.99, with the CD and 7-inch £2.99 (all including delivery).

2007-10-12T19:49:00.000+01:00

MANCHESTER SUPPORTS ANNOUNCED

Keane's support acts for October show announced

We're pleased to announce that rising Sheffield indie-rockers Milburn will support Keane at their Manchester Apollo show for War Child on October 31st. Also on the bill will be singer-songwriter Findlay Brown (who is also playing the Brixton Academy show). There are still a few tickets for the show available here.

Have a good weekend.

2007-10-12T19:47:00.000+01:00

TIM: FANS' INTERVIEW PT 4

The final part of our exclusive in-depth interview

Yes, we've reached the fourth and final part of our fasincating interview between two Keane fans (Chris and Andrew) and Tim. Big thanks to all three of them for their hard work in getting the interview together. And thanks to Richard for another picture of the boys having their (serious-looking) conversation.

CHRIS: Obviously there’s an element of performance when you’re on stage – would you say there’s an element of performance in your writing, or is everything completely true to life?

TIM: My personal approach, and I think our approach as a band, is it should be true to life. It’s funny - I’m constantly amazed by the amount of people that want to take on a different persona for a song - although there are great albums like 'Nebraska' by Bruce Springsteen which are full of those songs, so it obviously has a lot of merit. But the thing that really amazes me is when people say that they don’t want to write about certain things because they’re personal. I even hear people criticising songwriters for being too personal, which seems very, very odd to me. My view is that the closer to the bone it is, the better. That’s where all the good songs come out.

ANDREW: Do you think that the risk is that you can end up being quite vague with your lyrics, so as to not hurt people? If you’re writing a song that’s very close to home, you end up writing about very abstract themes. A lot of criticism I’ve seen aimed at you is that your songs are vague lyrically, almost as if to achieve universality by non-specificity.

TIM: I think that’s bollocks! I suppose you could say that about some of the first record. I don’t know really. I mean, you could say ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ is vague, but... if it was about a particular street, it wouldn’t be the same song! There’s nothing that I consider to be out of bounds at all in a song - except if a song is about someone who has nothing to do with the band and I don’t feel that they deserve to be dragged into the limelight, so that’s happened like once or twice probably. A song like ‘Broken Toy’, for example - you can’t get much more specific than that. I’d say most of the songs on the second record are pretty specific. I don’t think that anyone could be expected to put ‘This song is about so and so’ on the album sleeve, but beyond that they’re pretty direct.

ANDREW: Is it a lyrical style rather than a good/bad thing?

TIM: Yeah, absolutely – a good song is a good song. I certainly don’t differentiate between those sorts of things. As I’ve often said, probably my favourite songwriter is Paul Simon, and I would say his songs are very, very specifically personal to him and they’re about specific things, but they rarely mention a name or a particular street. I would say that our songs are kind of like that.

ANDREW: It’s funny that you mention Paul Simon, because 'Hopes and Fears' is very close to outselling 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' in the UK. Only a few copies in it now.

TIM: That’s just crazy. Nice to hear, if slightly bizarre! Although those sorts of things do tend to throw everything into relief slightly, because you can find yourself thinking “It’s great that we’ve sold so many records” or whatever, but I don’t think any of us would ever claim that 'Hopes and Fears' is a better album than 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', so you can see that these sorts of things are merely figures.

ANDREW: The demos record that you put out alongside 'Under The Iron Sea' was a great move. Was there any political significance to having two or three of the demos from 7th July 2005 [the day of the London bombings]?

TIM: No, there's no significance, other than the fact it was just after that tour and it was the first time that I’d had a chance to actually record the demos. Inevitably, I tend to deliver batches of demos and those three were what I gave to the band. I’d written all of those songs on that American tour which had just finished, I think. I’d just moved house - we’d bought a house, and we completely stripped it back because it was falling to bits, and it was completely empty. I had this one little room, and I was completely desperate to get on writing some songs, so I got my piano moved up there. I just had this empty house and this empty room with this big piece of polythene on the floor with my piano. I bought a little picnic table and put my laptop on it and did the demos for 'A Bad Dream' and 'Crystal Ball' and finished the one for 'The Frog Prince'. I think you can hear the polythene sheet crackling around in the background.

ANDREW: Did you set out to write a political record with 'Under The Iron Sea'?

TIM: Yeah, I think we probably did. I think we’re all very passionate and emotional people. I don’t think that comes across very much when we’re talking or being interviewed, but it comes out in our music. ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ – it’s fairly obvious where that came from, and we were really just translating our fear and anger and a lot of confusion and negative emotions into a song. ‘A Bad Dream’ is less specifically about the current wars, but it still obviously came from the same place, emotionally. There are other lines on the record just scattered about – you can just feel it coming out. I guess we’re all just hippies at heart, just feeling very angry and impotent about it all.

ANDREW: The band seem to be doing a little bit more campaigning these days than you used to be.

TIM: I’ve always felt that politics and music should mix. I think that’s because a lot of the people I really admire as musicians are people who have been very forthright in that respect – either musically or on stage, or elsewhere. As a teenager, I was a lot more inspired by what musicians said about whatever political issue they happened to be talking about than I was by watching crusty old politicians on the telly. And so I always felt that, if we were in a position to do so, and we felt that we knew what we were talking about that, that we should use that profile to try and make a difference in the world. But, of course, as soon as you get to the position where people will, rightly or wrongly, listen to what you have to say, you open yourself up to a barrage of accusations of being pompous, or preaching – again, especially in the UK. There’s people who say you shouldn’t mix music and politics. There have even been differences of opinion within the band on that issue, or there were, a couple of years ago at least. But I’ve always felt it’s something that we shouldn’t shy away from. One of the reasons people can be cynical about it is that there are so many people who obviously jump on any bandwagon in order to sell records. Obviously, if we’re doing something with War Child, for example, it’s very much more isolated than the big starry world of celeb musicians. That has a very genuine quality to it – they’re not broadcasting to millions of people on TV, so there’s not really much ‘in it’ for people who are just wanting to shift units and up their credibility a bit. But I think we’ve found at Live Earth and at Make Poverty History and anything that has more of a public profile, those things are blighted by people who are in it for all the wrong reasons. I’m sure I’m not being very constructive by saying this, but I was actually disgusted by the attitude of most of the artists at Live Earth, because it was evident that most of them didn’t give a shit about why they were there. It could have been Top Of The Pops, it was just a promotional event where they’d flown in for - especially the Americans. They clearly just didn’t give a fuck about what they were there for, and I found that really heartbreaking actually.

ANDREW: It provided an on-a-plate counter-argument to the event that was a lot more compelling than the event in the first place.

TIM: Absolutely. Those people just don’t care about that. People like Madonna, who just fly in all this gear, and turn it into a thing which is very much about their production. They are providing ammunition for people who want to discredit an event like that, or a campaign like that. The event is just a small part of it. It’s just sickening really, it is just ‘How can I use this thing to sell records and be on telly on something that’s going to be broadcast around the world?’

ANDREW: It is something that is debated on the message board in quite a heated fashion. There’s a great “Climate Change – man-made crisis or natural cycle” topic.

TIM: I think it’s great that you guys are having those conversations at all, but most people don’t have the attention span, or won’t make the time of the day to spend more than five seconds thinking about these sorts of things. The idea behind the concerts is Al Gore saying - he said this to us specifically - that he’s a politician in a suit on the telly, probably indistinguishable to a lot of people from every other politician out there. Music has the ability to reach a lot more people in a very direct way, and the big star celebrity musicians will make people pay attention. The idea of the Live Earth event was just to focus people’s attentions in a way that’s very easy to understand, very ‘bullet point’ – ‘Look what’s happening over here, pay attention over here’, in the hope in that they would then prick up their ears and the things that were being talked about on the day would lead them to enquire further. But I don’t know. I think the gamble you take is that people will - and I definitely felt this with Live 8 - get very concerned, but then they wake up the next morning and they don’t give a shit, because they’re going back to work and everyone’s getting on with their own lives and it’s hard to think outside that. The danger is that it just becomes a big gig on the TV. The point of Live Earth was not to change the Earth, but it to provide a focal point and a ‘kick-off point’, like a whistle starting a football match, to announce the campaign. It remains to be seen whether people will take the issue seriously in the long run. It seems to me that there are a huge amount of good things happening as a result. Generally, people are paying more attention, and generally the issue gets talked about a lot more than a year ago. It feels like things are happening – it’s just that you always need more to happen. Even on a political level, a few months ago, as far as I can remember, George Bush was still arguing – and his official party line was – that climate change is basically made up. Now there seems to be more recognition that the science is irrefutable, full stop. The fact that anyone's even arguing that climate change isn’t happening when pretty much every neutral scientist in the world is saying that it is - and they’ve got no political motivation for saying that – is just crazy. Obviously, then the issues become what the causes of it are, and there are people who, inevitably, don’t want to acknowledge that their zillion-pound business is contributing to the problem, and all the political ties that go with it.

CHRIS: Before we go. Which song are you most proud of, purely from a songwriting point of view?

TIM: Err... I don’t know. Probably 'Atlantic', I think. And I’m very proud of 'Crystal Ball'.

ANDREW: Do you think 'Crystal Ball' should have been a bigger hit than it was, that it was overtaken by events surrounding its release?

TIM: Yeah. I think we were all a bit... disappointed. It was still Number One on Radio Airplay, but it didn’t chart that high and we didn’t promote it at all, which I guess illustrates the previous point. When we play 'Crystal Ball' live, it’s one of the biggest moments of the set – it’s great to play live, and everyone knows it. You come to realise that song’s impact in ways that you don’t expect.

CHRIS: One last question - you're a phenomenally successful songwriter now. What do you think the best measure of success has been for your songwriting? Awards, audience response, Tom and Richard...?

TIM: Well, Tom and Richard are definitely my first port of call. If they don’t like a song, the song won’t go any further. If they do like something, that’s probably the biggest thrill for me and I feel very excited about that. I think a lot of people liking a song, or really falling in love with a song and then telling you that is probably the highest praise, for me. Because you are writing pop music, at the end of the day - call it rock music, call it indie music, but it’s basically pop music. Any kind of genre where you’re trying to get played on Radio 1 or whatever, you’re talking about how people around the world will respond to that. I always feel good if you get people all over the world who are really touched by something, even though you’ve never met them or never even been to that country or don’t even speaking the same language. That’s pretty cool!

---

Next up, of course, it'll be Chris and Andrew's interview with Tom. Look out for it on km.com in the next few weeks.

2007-10-11T19:04:00.000+01:00

Tim Fans' Interview Part 3

Third part of Tim's interview from the official website.

ANDREW: In our interview with Richard, we asked how he felt when you said he wasn’t drumming well enough. Did you feel as though you were marshalling Tom and Richard through it in a way, because you hadn’t played them all together and it was a studio record?

TIM: I don’t know - it’s really hard to know. It’s quite hard to remember as well!

ANDREW: It’s funny that we’re doing this interview all about things that were in 2005 and 2006…

TIM: Well it is funny, because it doesn’t seem like any time ago at all. Sometimes you look back and wonder quite what all the fuss was about, or why we didn’t do things differently, but we were in such an intense head-****** place mentally that we didn’t really know what we were doing. I love recording, I love writing, I love hearing a song come together, and I enjoyed making the record the way we did. But everyone was very tired.

I felt very energised about making the record, and I was having a good time coming up with all sorts of crazy piano sounds and so on. Tom would come and go – he’d come in and do great stuff and then he’d disappear for a week or something. It didn’t feel like there was much energy coming from him. Richard was around a lot, but I guess what I meant when I talked to him about his drumming was that it didn’t feel like there was much enthusiasm coming from all three of us, with any unified sense of “Let’s get these songs down, lets make them sound really good”. It just didn’t feel like that, and I don’t know why - I still don’t really know why. But that was basically the situation. I guess probably because it felt, from the inception of the process, it had become too much ‘my thing’. It’s so difficult to dissect these things and make any sense of them. One of my regrets about the second album and the way we presented it was that we were trying to say “well, there’s some very dark songs on here”, and there’s probably two songs about the intensity and darkness of making it, and our friendships and stuff like that – but, of course, you then go on to explain all the other things, and journalists will just be like “They all hate each other!”. And you know, for every bad day, there was a great day as well.

CHRIS: So would you say there are only two songs about the turmoil within the band? The message board has been full of posts saying “It’s all about Tom, it’s completely about Tom!”…

TIM: Well obviously, a lot of what gets written in the press or on the board is basically conjecture and that’s fine, that’s what liking music is all about – I do that all the time, it’s part of the fun of it. But, let me think. 'Broken Toy' is the only real desperate cry of pain, I suppose. And 'Hamburg Song' is partly about that.

ANDREW: 'Hamburg Song' was one of the earliest songs written for the second record. So had this been going on for a very long time? Because that dates back to around October 2004.

TIM: Well, yeah. I’ve actually thought about it a lot recently. Because like I say, everyone feels very good about the end of the touring now, and it feels like “God, that’s really flown by”. Even though last year was very turbulent in places, it still feels like things have gone very quickly, and everyone is almost a bit sad that touring is over. And really, I think if you look at it, it’s not actually that much shorter than last time. With 'Hopes and Fears' we finished touring at the beginning of October, and this time we finished touring at the beginning of August, so that’s two months earlier. But everything that happened in that initial period after 'Hopes and Fears' was released felt so momentous. It felt like years between the album coming out and 'Hamburg Song' being written, but really it was only 4 months or something. It’s just because we weren’t at all ready for it psychologically – I don’t think you ever can be really.

ANDREW: Despite all the predictions that it would be the biggest success of the year, the decade…

TIM: It’s funny how you feel so disconnected from all that stuff. Even now – you think about 'Hopes and Fears', and looking back it seemed to me like that album was everywhere when it came out. The B-sides were getting played on the radio, and it was Number One again nine months after it came out. All that stuff really only happens once in a lifetime. But it always felt like it was happening to someone else, and we felt like were traipsing around doing our little gigs, and then we’d get a call saying “The album’s Number One again”. But we’d be on the other side of the world, and it felt like we had nothing to do with it. Somehow all that success didn’t help us with building up any kind of thick skin at all. So I guess my point is that it seemed like we’d gone from being great friends on this great adventure in May 2004 to suddenly all going a bit mad and not really talking to each other by October. In fact, I started writing that song quite a long time before that – probably in June in the States? Really, that was probably just a little bump in the road in the grand scheme of things. Hopefully, we’ll look back on everything that happened in the last year as being a tiny little bump in the road, but at the time these things seem so massive, and they just get on top of you. I guess that’s just life really isn’t it? So anyway, it was obviously something that was preying on my mind and it came out in that song.

ANDREW: How do you view Tom as a frontman now? I remember reading that you rated him as one of the best around.

TIM: In order to have that ability to really martial a crowd and race around a stadium, you’ve got to have an incredible amount of energy, and probably some sort of, um, weirdness in your mental make-up! I think it’s an incredible gift that Tom has, but there’s always another side to it. For all of the energy he puts into the band performances, he has to balance that with really retreating. And I think he also feels he’s out there being scrutinised so much of the time, that when he retreats into his shell it’s hard for people who don’t have some sort of emotional access to break down that wall.

CHRIS: He’s a showman at the end of the day.

TIM: Yeah! He feels it so much, he’s a very very passionate and emotional person. But a lot of that gets put into music and again performing, and it’s just like he needs to retreat from it sometimes in order to do that.

ANDREW: How do you think Tom deals with the criticism levelled at him – often either unfair or concentrating on appearance?

TIM: I tend not to get too riled by what's said about us, because that’s one thing that we have gradually gotten used to – people just talking crap basically. But that is something I get very defensive about, mainly because it tends to be aimed at Tom rather than me or Richard. I just find it very rude. It’s not like we’re putting ourselves on the cover of Heat magazine and saying “Look at our beautiful lives and look at my new boobs” or whatever… well, that would be weird. Um, don’t go to the tabloids with that.

ANDREW: “This what they do between records – have them put in, have them taken out!”

TIM: Exactly - I just want to be a woman between albums! Anyway, what was I saying? … It is such bollocks, because we’ve not put ourselves in a position where we’re presenting ourselves as beautiful people with Hollywood smiles. We’ve always presented ourselves as musicians, and that is still the way we present ourselves. That sort of criticism Tom gets seems very snidey and very British. I don’t think you’d get it anywhere else – that sort of jealousy and bitterness and that desperation to cut down the people who rise up or who dare to put their heads about the parapet. It’s just so foul. It’s so untrue – I’ve known Tom all his life, and I’ve never thought of Tom as... moonfaced or whatever. He’s a phenomenal sportsman, which a lot of people don’t know, and he’s very, very fit.

ANDREW: Does he still play village cricket?

TIM: Yeah, sometimes. He plays a lot of sports – he really is annoyingly talented in a lot of ways, and sport is one of them.

ANDREW: Speaking of negativity, talk a little bit about the 'Frog Prince' – because you were very coy about that up until that interview with NME. Why would you write a song which was about someone else in that way? What drove you to it?

TIM: Well, that was one of those things where it’s a bit like ‘You turned down the opportunity to be in Coldplay’ thing, where really the facts of the story are more convoluted and less interesting, so journalists just go for the more obvious, slightly more controversial story.

ANDREW: So this story is more “I was slightly concerned about this particular aspect of something that Johnny Borrell said once” rather than “This song is about…”

TIM: Basically, the way I remember it, I had this song that I had written the melody for – this was on a tour of America, probably the very long tour that made us all want to kill each other. And I can remember finishing writing the melody in a hotel in Washington DC, on a very very cold day. And then I can also remember being in a hotel in Toronto, and I went down to the bar for a beer with Tom and we got talking about other bands slagging each other off, and slagging us off, inevitably, which is just part of being a band - in Britain anyway. I remember Tom was a bit het up about it.

Johnny was one of several people who came up in conversation when I was talking to Tom about it, and the only approach that we ever have to those things is that we tend to feel a bit sad and a bit betrayed, because we never belonged to any gang of musicians or bands or anything – we came from this little town in the middle of nowhere, and then we moved to London and we never got any friends there either. It’s nice when you feel like you’re part of a movement of bands, and we did feel like that at the time and when, occasionally, people would say bad things about us, we’d feel a bit hurt by it, I suppose, and think “Well, why are they slagging us off? We’re all doing the same thing here.” So I think that was basically the way we felt - and after I was having this conversation with Tom about it, I went upstairs and started working on that song all night, and those are the words that came out. But it’s one of those things where, whoever’s interviewing you from Q or NME or whoever it is, they want to know “Can we say ‘Keane dissed X’?”. And of course I think they eventually got sick of me saying “I don’t really want to say who it’s about”! But the song is much more about us than it is about anyone else. I wouldn’t say it’s a song about Johnny Borrell, I’d say it’s a song about believing in the three of us and what we stand for… and **** everyone else. It’s quite a different song for Keane, I think.

2007-10-10T19:39:00.000+01:00

Tim Fans' Interview part - 2

Second part of Tim's interview from the official website ( www.keanemusic.com ).

ANDREW: I’ve read a lot of your comments about “the state of British music”. How do you think things are doing, given that more people than ever are out at gigs every night? Do you think there are some bands who have made it further than they should have done?

TIM: I think these things ebb and flow really. There are some moments where there’s a barrage of great music, but... I listen to the radio a lot, and I’ve found myself thinking in the last few weeks that actually, there’s not that much that I feel very excited about at this moment in time in terms of new music. Whereas even a year or two ago I felt like there was SO much to take in. I don’t know why that is. It just seems like things do ebb and flow naturally, and it feels to me like there’s not much value put on … it feels like there’s a bit of treading water going on. I think the Arctic Monkeys ‘sound’ and the other bands that might be categorised as…

ANDREW: Riding their coat tails?

TIM: Well, maybe. I like Bromheads Jacket. I don’t know where they’re from, but that seemed to be a similar, very rapid-fire delivery and sound. There seems to be a rash of those bands - of which I think the Arctic Monkeys are rightly still above - of that particular movement in the last few months. That’s the kind of distinctive thing that’s happened in the last year or so, and other than that I’m not sure what else has happened in British music in the more commercial end. I’m sure things will naturally get great again. That’s just my impression. I guess some records seem to have something about them that defines a time for you or say something special to you. I’m slightly struggling to hear much of that. It feels like a bit of a dangerous time – if you think about the bands and artists who were most commercially successful last year, it’s pretty... depressing, for want of a better word. I guess a lot of that is due to the fact that, especially in Britain and America, the majority of records are now bought in supermarkets, and the people who do the buying ar not looking for something challenging. Record companies know that, and artists know that.

CHRIS: I read something recently about this iPod culture where people don't sit and listen to albums in one go - you’ve got something on in the background or you flick between songs. Do you think that’s devaluing albums by not challenging bands to produce 12 amazing songs on one record?

TIM: Yeah, I think that’s absolutely true. For anyone who’s my age, it feels like it’s quite possible that, in a couple of years, the value that has been put on ‘an album’ as 12 songs is just going to be an antiquated concept altogether.

CHRIS: Ash have already said that.

TIM: Everyone is torn at the moment because you never quite know how it’s going to go. I think we, as a band, and you guys, as music fans, value ‘an album’ and not just because it’s an album and a complete concept, but because it has a certain number of quality songs. It feels like you’re getting this ‘multipack’ of quality material. It does feel like that’s not going to be necessary – you’re not going to have to write an album’s worth of great songs. But I’m sure that in itself will make for a different kind of competition between bands. It’s a weird one – I’m reading a book by Geoff Emerick at the moment, and he’s talking about how, in the earlier period of the Beatles’ career, the singles were considered to be more important than the album because they were attracting attention - it was the singles that got played on the radio, and that was driving record sales. Certainly in the very early ’60s, the album was just a few singles and a load of cover versions and fillers. The concept of quality songwriting output was not valued particularly highly. It’s hard to say one approach is better than the other, but I still like having a full album.

ANDREW: Have you ever done anything under a false name, or alias?

TIM: No, I haven't. I was thinking recently that it’d be nice to do an album or something where we were completely released from the pressures of being Keane. It’s a bit of a weird problem because, if you go back a few years or a few decades, bands and artists used to chuck out albums all the time. Now, when you release an album, it’s such a big deal - especially if you’re ‘major league’, for want of a better phrase! There’s so much competition for people’s attention that if Keane released a completely shit album that only sold 5 copies, it’d be very hard to say “Oh, well, we’ll just release another one 6 months time”. I think it’d be almost impossible for any band to come back from a real failure and get people’s attention, because people move on so quickly – I mean, I do. If I hear a band that I like and I go out and buy their record on the merit of their past albums, and then I get home and think “Oh, it’s a pile of shit, they can’t have tried too hard on that one”, then I’m probably unlikely to go back next time round and give them another chance. We’re all so spoiled with the amount of music that’s available to us now that we’re pretty fickle. Because of the type of band we’ve become in terms of commercial size, it’d be hard to put out an album of twiddly Aphex Twin-style typewriter sounds.

ANDREW: Did you enjoy making 'Tyderian'?

TIM: Yeah, I did. It kind of came about by necessity – that was when Tom was in the Priory. It was like “Well... I can have a go now!”. I love doing that sort of thing, but I rarely have time to do it – let alone the incentive of it becoming a B-side or whatever. I loved being able to do that, it was fun and I would have liked to spend a bit more time on it. It was playing at the O2 aftershow, I don’t know why! And when it came on all I could hear was the kick drum, and I thought “That sounds pretty funky” and then I realised what it was! So I felt quite smug about that. It’s pretty basic, and it’s quite sinister sounding, which I like.

CHRIS: Have you been asked to write for any more pop stars after Gwen and Nicole?

TIM: I’ve been asked to do some things that I would have been a little bit coy about… big American pop starlets.

ANDREW: Richard alluded to something that he said you were definitely not doing.

TIM: Right. Well yeah, like Ashlee Simpson. And Britney was another one that came up.

CHRIS: Really?

TIM: Yeah.

CHRIS: You turned down Britney Spears?

TIM: Yeah. That stuff is all fine, but I don’t know. It’s very easy to think “Right, I’m just going to do everything now”. After the Gwen thing, I was offered a lot of things, but both Gwen and Nicole are – I can honestly say – phenomenally talented, and I wouldn’t want to start diluting that level of musical quality, I suppose.

ANDREW: You must have melodies and ideas that you want to save for Keane, too.

TIM: Yeah – more to the point I found that I was starting to spend a lot of time on that stuff, and again realising that I never had time to write songs for Keane. So I just drew a line under it, and I’m not really intending to do anything else.

CHRIS: You were just talking about other projects and 'Tyderian'. That’s got quite a cinematic feel, as has 'Atlantic'. And 'Try Again' has this huge ‘soundscape’. Would you ever consider doing a soundtrack for a film if you were invited?

TIM: Well, I’ve been asked to do stuff before, and we as a band have been asked to do stuff, although more as contributing songs or writing especially to be in enormous films. But the soundtrack thing – I feel a bit daunted by it to be honest. Firstly, it’d be very time-consuming, and secondly, it’s a huge responsibility, because you’re trying to contribute something that is going to be a significant part of someone else’s artistic statement. I think you’ve got to have a particular gift to be able to do those sorts of things. I wouldn’t feel confident that that’s a gift that I have. As I’ve probably said before, I love Yann Tiersen - he’s one of my favourite musicians and there’s good stuff that he’s done for a few films. He’s a similarly prodigiously talented multi-instrumentalist. But where people are producing songs that are pop song length, even if they’re instrumental soundtrack type of things – I think I can cope with the concept of that a bit more! It’s when people want a big orchestral thing, the approach is normally ‘you come up with some nice melodies, and we’ll turn it into a big orchestral piece’. I did try doing it once for a friend of ours called Ed Roe, who did the DVD. He’d asked me to write a soundtrack for this very funny thing he did with Martin Freeman –it’s very good! I actually agreed to do it and it was just the biggest pile of shit I’ve ever written. He didn’t use it in the end, which was fairly humiliating – I didn’t feel very happy or encouraged by that. Anyway, my theory at the moment is that whatever musical ideas the three of us have, it’d be nice to pool all of them into Keane.

CHRIS: Do you still believe in Keane as a unit then, as a whole band which is completely intact?

TIM: Oh yeah, yes – very much so. More so than ever actually, I think. Things were very fragmented last year around the time… I only worked with Nicole because we had that downtime while Tom was in the Priory. It turned out to be a really fun thing, but it wouldn’t have happened if Keane were still on the road. What I feel now is that I want all the energy to go into Keane, because I think we all feel very positive about things and we do feel very close knit, the way we did before. I don’t want to do anything to shatter that.

ANDREW: There’s the Q piece that talked about Tom and his solo project. What’s the status of that, or was it just talk?

TIM: Yeah, that definitely wasn’t ever something that was seriously discussed – not to diminish Tom’s songwriting. Obviously, he’d be more than capable of making a solo album, but it’s a bit like me saying I might be interested in doing an album of twiddly Aphex Twin stuff – it’s something a journalist will think (mimics writing on notepad) “Ah right – ‘planning to do album of techno babble’”. That’s all I can say about it really, I don’t think it’s something we seriously considered. Because of the fallout from the touring, Tom ended up not being as much involved in 'Under The Iron Sea' as he should have been, which I would say is largely because he needed to get away from the band and we went straight in the studio. I suppose he ended up feeling he wanted an outlet for his considerable musical energy, so it was probably some comment along those lines. Hopefully all of those energies will be put into the next record.

ANDREW: Richard said Tom had been in the Barn with a guitar and was writing.

TIM: Yeah! We’ve amassed a lot of songs. The other thing that we didn’t do with the second record was work on the songs before recording them, which we did by necessity on the first record because we were writing the songs and were like ‘why don’t we try to play this one at the Water Rats?’. We’d just rehearse it and change the structure, and Tom would try a bit of guitar or try a bit of synth or whatever, and that’s basically what we ended up recording. So it was very much a band process. Whereas with the second album, I was writing it all the road, doing demos that were quite complete-ish. We started recording in January 2005, long before we finished touring, so there was never any time to go through that process of rehearsing stuff together. That was another reason why it didn’t feel like a very ‘band’ process at all. So that’s something we’re consciously trying to get back to now.