Keane

Keane is an English band from Battle, East Sussex.

Former Line-up

Tom Chaplin-vocals
Tim Rice-Oxley-bass
Richard Hughes-drums
Dominic Scott-guitar


Present Line-up

Tom Chaplin-vocals
Tim Rice-Oxley-piano
Richard Hughes-drums

History


Early years through 2004

All the members of Keane were at Tonbridge School in Kent. They started out in college in 1997 as a covers band, playing songs by U2, Oasis, and The Beatles but soon wanted to perform their own material, and released two short-run EPs. Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records was asked by a mutual friend to attend a Keane gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London and was so impressed that he offered to issue the band's next single. After another single on Fierce Panda, they signed to Island and released the single "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three in the U.K. in February 2004. Their album Hopes and Fears followed in May. It reached number one and was the second-biggest selling album of the year in the U.K., after the Scissor Sisters, losing the top spot on the final day of the year.


Success

The band won two awards at the 2005 Brit Awards — Best British album for Hopes and Fears and the British breakthrough act award, as voted by listeners of BBC Radio 1. In May 2005, they received the Ivor Novello award as songwriters of the year. "Everybody's Changing" was nominated for the song of the year but the award was given to The Streets "Dry Your Eyes".

The band are currently the patrons of War Child. In September 2005 they contributed a cover of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to Help: a Day in the Life — an album aiming to repeat the success of 1995's The Help Album by becoming the fastest online album ever produced. Keane also did a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" for the War Child website.

Keane gained some visibility in the United States in Fall 2005 by opening some shows for U2; onstage they claimed Achtung Baby as one of their biggest influences. A couple of new songs were played as well as their best-known material.

According to the Keane fansite keane.at, they have been working on their second album since April 2005, produced by Andy Green. Recording has been taking place in Rye, East Sussex (where Hopes and Fears was recorded) and, more recently, in New York City. The album is widely expected to be released in May of 2006.

Keane had also been nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy at the 48th Annual Grammy awards in Los Angeles. They lost the award to John Legend.




'Image Consultant' controversy

In 2005, it emerged that the band had employed Moving Brands, a London-based branding company, six months before releasing a single as image consultants. This involved shaping the band to (allegedly) appeal to the right market by creating identities and ideas which Keane were meant to embody. The branding ranged from the band's dress code to a special shade of green which would appear on their record sleeves. The British newspaper The Guardian discussed this in an article in the summer of 2005.

Tim was quoted as saying on their offical forum:

"...We're pretty angry about the article in The Guardian today by Alexis Petridis in which he bizarrely chooses to use Keane as an illustration of how all bands today are manufactured....The suggestion that Moving Brands had anything to do with creating an image or ethos for the band is offensive and ridiculous. The idea that we might have been sat down to conduct mock interviews is bordering on hilarious. Our one tentative brush with someone who brought us free clothes to wear felt so awkward and uncomfortable that we vowed never to do it again. Finally, Alex lake is not an employee of Moving Brands, nor is he any kind of image consultant; he is a trusted friend, sometime roadie and independent photographer who has taken many excellent shots of the band and with us has designed most of our record sleeves...Our image, if we have one, has been shaped only by me, Tom and Richard and the songs we write..."


Discography


Albums

* Hopes and Fears (Island) — released on 10 May 2004 (U.K. charts: #1; U.S. Chart: #45)
* Live recordings 2004 (Island) — released on 3 May 2005; only released in some countries.

[live recordings 2005] Keane Strangers DVD


Singles


Non-album singles

* "Call Me What You Like" (Zoomorphic) — released in February 2000
* "Wolf at the Door" (Zoomorphic) — released in June 2001



Hopes and Fears singles

* "Everybody's Changing" (Fierce Panda) — released on 12 May 2003 (U.K. chart: #122)
* "This is the Last Time" (Fierce Panda) — released on 13 October 2003 (ineligible to chart due to web-link contained on CD, was at #58 in the midweeks, then the Official Charts Company withdrew the single at the end of the week)
* "Somewhere Only We Know" (Island) — released on 16 February 2004 (U.K. chart: #3; U.S. chart: #50)
* "Everybody's Changing" (Island) — released on 3 May 2004 (U.K. chart: #4)
* "Bedshaped" (Island) — released on 16 August 2004 (U.K. chart: #10)
* "This is the Last Time" (Island) — released on 22 November 2004 (U.K. chart: #18)
* "Bend And Break" (Island) — released on 25 July 2005; only released in some countries



DVDs

* "Keane: Strangers" (Island) — a two-disc DVD documentary/video anthology released on 14th November 2005 (UK) & 15th November 2005 (US) in both jewel and digipak versions.



Trivia

* The band take their name from a friend called Cherry Keane who inspired confidence in their musical ability when everyone else thought they should give up.