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LifeIs4Living

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busybeeburns

busybeeburns

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Let it bleed: British trio Keane survives success and madness

 

pfr_-_Keane_col_5k_8-4.jpg

 

It’s tough to name a band that accomplished more in its first full year in the spotlight than Keane did in 2005.

 

The group’s debut album, “Hopes and Fears,” sold more than 5 million copies. The acclaim earned the trio a Grammy nomination for best new artist. And when Keane wasn’t headlining its own worldwide shows, it was touring as the opening act for U2.

 

Unfortunately, all the band’s hopes AND fears became realized.

 

“The first album was so amazingly successful for us that we went a bit mad,” drummer Richard Hughes says.

 

“We stopped talking to each other like we used to. We got bogged down in the day-to-day process of being a band and traipsing around the world. By not being able to mix things up a bit and go into the studio and create stuff, everything got a bit stale for us — including our friendship.”

 

It was an odd experience for the Keane members, who had grown up as childhood pals in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. (The place is best known as the site of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 — the last time the kingdom was conquered by a foreign power.)

 

“If we hadn’t got that (longtime friendship) to fall back on, I think we would have given up on it,” says Hughes in a phone interview from Los Angeles. “It’s a bit like what I imagine being married is like: If it’s a new relationship, you’d be tempted to just say ‘bollocks’ to it. But we kind of had the rings on our fingers, and we wanted to give it one more go.”

 

The one more go became the band’s just-released sophomore album, “Under the Iron Sea.” The disc further showcases the act’s proficiency at crafting moody pop songs driven by keyboard riffs and the suave falsetto of singer Tom Chaplin.

 

Hughes says, “The new record is a definitely darker and atmospheric affair than the previous one, but it still rocks.”

 

Rock reputation

 

Rocking has always been a debated concept when pertaining to Keane. For starters, the band has one of the most unique lineups in the industry: keyboardist, bassist, lead singer.

 

But it’s not like the trio is composed of a xylophonist, Theremin-player and yodeler. There has to be another act out there with the same lineup, right? Like ... hmmm.

 

“I’m sure there must be some, but not that I have seen play. The weird thing is that it just sort of happened by accident rather than by some clever idea that this would be the ultimate way to do anything,” Hughes says.

 

The lack of a guitarist or bassist has always implied that Keane is more of a pop vehicle than a true rock band. But Hughes is quick to quash that assessment.

 

“Tom is a rock frontman. I play the drums like a rock drummer. Tim (Rice-Oxley) rocks on the piano. Playing the piano in a rock band has a long history, you know, since Little Richard or whatever. And Tim breaks strings. You’re not supposed to break strings on the piano — and not just the thin ones. He’ll break strings in the middle of the piano or the bass strings. He hits it hard. There have been gigs where the keys have been covered in blood because he cut his hands,” he says.

 

“It’s not as if the world needs another band with two guitarists, a bass player and a drummer. There are plenty of them, and many of them are brilliant. We have nothing against the guitar, but it’s nice to give people something different.”

 

Inevitable comparisons

 

The members of Keane first started their career by dabbling with other people’s songs in 1995 when they were a four-piece (featuring a guitarist) called The Lotus Eaters.

 

“We never went out and played gigs as a cover band,” the 30-year-old drummer says. “We just learned our instruments by playing along with albums — old Brit pop, Oasis, Blur, Pulp, all those bands that were exploding at the time.”

 

The ensemble adopted the name Cherry Keane in honor of a lunch lady Chaplin and Rice-Oxley knew from their grade school. It was subsequently shortened, along with dropping their guitarist. Reportedly, the trio originally pondered going by the name Coldplay, but found the tag too depressing. So Rice-Oxley suggested it to his college friend Chris Martin — the future singer of the eventually named Coldplay.

 

That association has come to haunt Keane, as the group is often likened to its fellow piano-heavy mega-group.

 

Hughes says, “People always ask us how we feel about being compared to another band, which is kind of an oblique way of saying, ‘I think you’re like this other band.’ The number of times you get asked how you feel about a comparison is about a thousand times more than you get someone saying, ‘I think you sound like ...’”

 

First blood

 

Keane will make a quick stop in Lawrence for the Bleeding Kansas Arts & Music Festival, then it’s off to Thailand, Japan and England — all in the span of two weeks.

 

It won’t be the first time Hughes and company have performed in Lawrence. They came through in 2004 during their first stateside tour for a show at The Granada, 1020 Mass.

 

“I actually love seeing different parts of the world,” says Hughes, who uses his downtime to take photos on the road for an eventual book collection.

 

“I remember having played in Lawrence, Kansas, before. We played at a theater on the main street. It was right off of a cafe and music shop. There was a drum kit in there that my drum tech really should have bought, but something stopped him and he regrets it to this day. So maybe we can go to that music store and see if it’s still there.”

 

While Hughes isn’t versed in what the phrase Bleeding Kansas refers to, the British musician feels some kind of kinship to the concept. He’s a fellow small-towner who comes from a place well-known for its violent past.

 

He says, “On the battlefield in Battle there’s a place called the bloody lake where they apparently threw all the bodies of the people there. Maybe if we suck or we die you can throw us in the river.”

 

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/aug/04/let_it_bleed/

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Bace

Bace

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Thanks for the link to the video! It's ok, not what I had in mind for the song and it's taking some of it's lyrics too seriously I think. And there's no real ending to it either - no conclusion or anything. I liked the scenes of the guys tho!

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busybeeburns

busybeeburns

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http://www.star-ecentral.com/archives/2006/8/17/music/24keane.jpg

 

24keane.jpg

 

Brit pop outfit Keane made grown men weep in its Bangkok concert last week. EDWARD GOMEZ was in the crowd with tissues in hand.

 

KEANE, so detractors continue to claim, has enjoyed tremendous success by shamelessly nicking Coldplay’s sound.

 

But why merely wag the accusatory finger at the band for the thematic and chordal similarities between Somewhere Only We Know and Yellow?

 

Why not discuss how the East Sussex trio seems to have rummaged through Franz Ferdinand’s wardrobe? Or kidnapped U2’s lighting engineer? Or how Tom Chaplin’s voice soars at decidedly Fran Healey altitudes on new single Crystal Ball?

 

Heck, Chaplin even supports Ipswich Town – Brett Anderson’s favourite football team!

 

After all, if you are going to indict Keane for unoriginality, you might as well go all the way.

 

The point for your average rock band thus, is to not aim to please everybody but rather just the ones who really dig what you do.

 

In Keane’s case, this meant serving up a sumptuous light and sound banquet to 4,000 Thai fans at Bangkok’s Impact Arena last week. It was the band’s only concert stop in this region. And as the last notes of instrumental curtain raiser The Iron Sea died away and the lead notes of Put It Behind You blasted forth from the speakers, sometime before 9.30pm, it sure seemed like everyone was assured of getting their money’s worth.

 

Not even the nearly hour-and-a-half wait mattered to the faithful once Chaplin, chief songwriter/keyboard wizard Tim Rice-Oxley and drummer Richard Hughes had launched into full flight.

 

The song Put It Behind You and in particular the lines “Too much to hold on, to hold on to, You better do what’s best for you” may recount the personal tribulations faced by the band members in the wake of Keane’s rapid commercial rise, but the earnestness in Chaplin’s voice made it impossible to feel that it wasn’t written especially for every soul present that night.

 

Chaplin is not your typical frontman. He possesses neither Bono’s rock star swagger nor Chris Martin’s manic energy.

 

Even among his generation of Brit rockers, Chaplin stands alone ... without eyeliner (unlike Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell), street cred (Hard-Fi’s Richard Archer) or a criminal record (Babyshambles’ Pete Doherty).

 

Yet, his stage presence, due in no small part to that glorious voice, is magnetic. Bend And Break, We Might As Well Be Strangers, Everybody’s Changing, Try Again, Leaving So Soon... heck, Chaplin could have sung the telephone directory ... in Thai ... at the Impact Arena and you’d still have been captivated!

 

But while Chaplin is, as he himself admitted at the South East Asian press conference a day earlier, Keane’s centre forward, it is childhood pal Rice-Oxley who orchestrates the band’s every play.

 

“I’d like to see myself, for better or worse, as a Midfield General,” joked Rice-Oxley the day before, when asked about his favoured position on the football pitch. And yet that statement couldn’t be truer. Presumably, in the studio, and visibly onstage, he is Keane’s master tactician. It’s Ronaldinho, if you will.

 

Needless to say, the keyboardist was in prime form for the duration of the 90-minutes it took his band to run through the 17 songs on its set list (including three encore tunes – Atlantic, Crystal Ball and the gorgeous Bedshaped), Headbanging, hammering keys, punching commands into the two PowerBooks positioned within reach and triggering effects, samples and bass lines with his feet, Rice-Oxley was the picture of a musician at the peak of his powers.

 

He is Keane’s central nervous system, the super glue that holds everything – the music and his close friends – together. He is also the reason that the band members chose to return from imminent death all those months ago and pour their collective disillusionments into richly textured songs. Songs, one might add, that come alive before a devoted audience and which have been, slowly but surely, swaying the initial views of one-time critics.

 

I say this with utter conviction because until last Wednesday’s stellar show at the Muang Thong Thani venue, I was one of the many who were still critical of the Keane’s success and unsure of the band’s place in the grand scheme of contemporary rock. I’m not in that group any longer.

 

Keane, I believe, fits into that nook in rock where gentle harpsichords take the place of fuzz toned guitars, heartfelt melodies replace complicated riffs and reason gives way to feeling. If I’m being honest, it’s that area of the heart and mind where Travis’ The Man Who once resided. And in case it wasn’t already obvious, that’s a compliment.

 

http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2006/8/17/music/15149822&sec=music

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Shiver129

Shiver129

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wanna see what i found??

 

It doesn't seem like Keane have been back in the limelight long, does it? But apparently all the promotional work they've been doing since their second album hit the shop shelves in June has been really tiring, especially for their poor singer Tom.

And now, the band have been forced to stop doing...well...anything, on doctor's orders, as Tom is suffering from exhaustion. Which means they won't now be appearing anywhere they were supposed to in August, so that they can get back on the road later on in the year.

A post on their official website explains: "Due to an extremely punishing worldwide promotion and touring schedule over the last few months, Tom is suffering from exhaustion and has been advised to take a proper rest so that he can get himself back to full fitness in time for the rest of this year's touring activities."

And there's a quote from Tom too, saying "I am gutted that I have to take a break from touring. I was really looking forward to these dates, but if it means we can do what we've got planned for the rest of the year then I'll take the time off".

"I want to apologise to our fans, and I hope that everyone understands. Be assured that we will be back out there soon."

Course we understand, fella. Now take that heavy head of yours and go and lie down on your reinforced pillow for a lil snoozynap...

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