Keane (Press Conference)
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Everyone’s favourite posh poppers hold an audience before their second sell-out
performance at London’s biggest financial blunder.
Keane have come a long way in four short years since 2005’s ‘Hopes and Fears’. Originally billed as Coldplay imitators, the band have arguably matched their
success, without the burden of an attention-seeking front man. Gradually
evolving their sound around a vast musical ensemble including the majority of
the keyboard/synthesizer catalogue, drums, guitars and of course lead singer,
Tom Chaplin’s vocal gift.
Pretend That You’re Alone
Predictably the first poser to the enthusiastic Hughes and the slightly-less
Rice-Oxley was about the show last night and
how their first night at the epic arena went.
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“Very good, fantastic... it’s an amazing place to play.” nodded TRO.
Hughes elaborated, “In arenas you get to break out the smoke and lights. We’ve made some videos to play and show on those massive screens, which is good for
people at the back.”
You somewhat get the feeling they weren’t expecting that question or at least perhaps hadn’t fallen in love with the ‘Millennium Dome’ as much as the Labour Party had.
“I find it really liberating dancing in front of a small crowd.” TRO adds, reminiscing over past small performances.
Does it get any Better Than This?
‘Do you think ‘Better Than This’ can be seen as an anthem for people to live their lives and better their
dreams?’ is the next poser from the floor. TRO is set into a stunned silence, if Tom did
duck out for scrutiny reasons, he needn’t have worried.
“Err... well it’s a song about wanting to rearrange our cultural priorities, a lot of the songs
on this record are about our love for humanity. I think our idea of what
constitutes great achievement is being gradually twisted by the media and the
cult of fame.”
The band’s next question revolves around the fourth member of ‘the Keane team’, Jesse Quin as Richard muses over their prolonged friendship with him. It
really is high time someone asked something challenging.
‘Tim, you worked with Gwen Stefani on ‘The Sweet Escape’, what’s next for Keane after this record and are there any solo projects planned?’ I ask, hoping for something newsworthy.
“No, at the moment we’re looking at touring until the end of the year and haven’t really thought about it. It’s flattering and distracting the amount of offers I get. Working with Gwen is
about as good as it gets in terms of pop stars, the only way to go would be
down after that, but you never know.”
Well I tried, as the conversation goes back to the fascinating subject of Jesse
Quin.
Playing Along... in Latin America
Keane’s success is not just limited to these shores, a successful European tour aside,
the band are heading to Latin America – where as Tim says “It’s like being The Beatles.” Richard seems as baffled by it all as perhaps the average man on the street
would be,
“You show up at airports, like Rio, and we had to get rushed into the bus – it’s very flattering. Half of our website traffic comes from South America and it’s such a fun thing to play for these people.”
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And it seems the disease of ‘Perfect Symmetry’ being ‘really different’ is spreading. Although the disc features classically vibrant Keane tunes, laced
with the usual keyboard magic and epic vocals – some just can’t see the evolution. Tim outlines the changes,
“It’s definitely different, but that’s because we didn’t write it caring what people would think. We had more fun making the record
than ever before. You almost forget that anyone is ever going to hear it.”
Richard went on to mention some tales of enlightenment: “Being in Berlin was very inspiring. Being in one bar was like being in Cabaret
without the attractive women.”
“There’s quite a lot of ABBA on the record if you scratch beneath the surface” Tim continues. “We were into a lot of different things when we were making it. At one point we
had our sights set on making a hip-hop record...” Cue the laughter as Rice-Oxley looks to the sky...
The record companies Are Losing
‘In the days of iTunes, with the focus on individual tracks, do you feel the need
to defend the integrity of the album?’ TRO thinks carefully in his newly-appointed position of protector of music,
“My opinion is that the album is doomed. It’s a real shame but if you feel the need to defend the 45-minute LP, you will get
left behind. It’s a huge achievement to write a great pop song, just as it’s disappointing when you have an album with only two good tracks on it.”
‘Do you have a stance against illegal music downloading?’
“I don’t think it’s very good for bands in the long term but it’s something that we’ve benefitted from.” TRO begins rather unexpectedly. “Essentially they are music lovers and that’s got to be a good thing. There are some bands that are afraid to change in
order to still sell as many records as the one before – but we don’t need to do that.”
So Keane, or what we saw of them, seem rather positive about the future. Having
evolved musically, survived emotional toils, they don’t seem particularly focused for now on individual directions. So love them or
hate them, it would appear they won’t be going anywhere just yet. CM
(c) ChrisOnline.biz 2009
