Interview

In the ever-changing twenty-first century musical climate, there is no less accurate barometer of the shape of things to come than the obligatory predictions of ’Bands to Watch’ that abound at the turn of the year amongst music critics and record companies up and down the land.

This year though, like the proverbial Shakespeare-writing monkey, the popular music press has happened on a band that may for once justify the hype, in the unassuming form of south-coast three piece Keane. With new single ’Somewhere Only We Know’ firmly ensconced in top reaches of the charts and a sold-out tour underway, their commercial potential looks set to match the critical acclaim heaped upon them in recent months.

Not that the band themselves are getting too excited about their status as the official next big thing. Drummer Richard Hughes admits: "Record companies seem to chase their tails sometimes - just trying to find something that sounds like something else, but if people get to hear our music because of the hype, that means they can then decide for themselves."

The music itself is an intoxicating blend of wrung-out hometown sentiment - ’Somewhere Only We Know’ for instance, is an ode to growing up in the small town of Battle in Sussex. They’ve honed their style over their last two years playing tiny venues, and this led to the release of their first single, ’Everything Changes’ on Fierce Panda Records.

The lack of guitars in the line-up, made up of piano, drums, and the swooping vocals of Tom Chaplin, may seem out of kilter with rock music’s current leaning towards Whitesnake and Stooges pastiches, but evidently the band’s idiosyncrasies seem to be working in their favour.

"Once people have given you a chance it is a real advantage" claims Richard, "our favourite bands have a distinctive sound, so you instantly know it’s them: I hope this applies to us too."

"It’s really flattering when people we respect, like Steve Lemacq, are into our music and recommending it to others. That’s how we discovered a lot of our favourite music so it’s great to have people recommending us.

"We don’t consider ourselves retro, we actually use very modern recording techniques and technology. We all listen to some current music but we are into older stuff too like the Smiths, Paul Simon, Nick Drake. We have always been drawn to great song writing, and that’s kind of timeless."

Last year a few hundred people witnessed Keane’s dramatic, sensitive performances in the new band tent at the Reading and Leeds festivals, but with their new found success the band are looking to reach further.

"We’d like to have earned the right to make another album and have people out there that would want to hear it. A lot of our songs are about communication, and we put a lot of ourselves into it. We want the songs to mean something to people, because they means a lot to us."

Interview by Rob Parsons



Official website:
www.keanemusic.com