“It was like being The Beatles... on a much smaller scale.”
Keane’s musical linchpin and main songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley is recounting last month’s arrival at Lima Airport in Peru as part of the band’s “wild” South American tour.
“I’m not saying there were thousands and thousands of screaming fans waiting for us in Arrivals, but there was a decent sized crowd and they were screaming. It was the same in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. The actual live shows have been equally crazy; mosh pits and the entire audience singing every word.
“Because we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our debut album in 2024, I found myself naturally looking back over those two decades, and being on that South American tour made it all seem slightly surreal. How had we got from loading all the gear into my knackered Ford Fiesta to playing shows in the foothills of the Andes?”
The album’s 20th anniversary is also marked with the release of a book, Hopes and Fears: Lyrics and History, which features photos, interviews, drawings, doodles and scans of the band’s scribbled lyric books.
“Obviously, working on a project like this book got us all thinking about the highs and lows of Keane and we had to admit that, between 2013 and 2018, it all looked a bit... bleak. Putting it simply, we’d sort of split up. We no longer felt we were on the same page musically and it looked highly unlikely that we’d ever be celebrating any kind of 20th anniversary.
“I certainly found that painful,” admits Rice-Oxley. “I’m sure we all did. We’d all invested a big chunk of our lives, our time and our love of music into the band. When you’re in a band and you have a decent amount of success, the band inevitably starts to define who you are. The band failing made me feel like I’d failed, too.
“Of course, loads of bands go through ups and downs, but the idea that Keane might never play together again made me feel very sad.
“Songs still got written during that period, but I was often working with other artists. You know what it’s like... a band splits up and the record company wants to put you together with some up and coming artist. Bits of it were enjoyable, but I’m too much of a hermit at heart. I don’t have the confidence to sit down in a room with someone I’ve just met and start swapping musical ideas. Even after all these years, I still get nervous when I’m sharing song ideas with the rest of Keane!”
Much was made about Keane’s line-up during that early spurt of success with Hopes and Fears: a three-piece, with Tom Chaplin on vocals, Richard Hughes on drums and Rice-Oxley on his trusty Yamaha CP-70 piano. No bass guitar, no lead or rhythm guitar.
“That line-up was definitely not planned,” laughs Rice-Oxley. “When we first got the idea of the band back in the ‘90s, we did the classic four-piece thing: bass, guitar, drums, vocals, with our mate Dominic on guitar. But Dom left and I ended up filling the space with piano and keyboards. Although it was meant to be short term, I quickly realised that I felt most comfortable playing the piano and that sound seemed to suit what we were doing.
“Some people still think of us as a three-piece, but Jesse Quin has been playing bass with us for 17 years. At first, I used to program basslines for the live shows, which was... OK. The problem is that anything programmed limits your flexibility on stage. It’s like being tied to a click track. As soon as I handed the bass over to Jesse, the songs had an immediate lift.
“My problem is that I tend to suffer from demo-itis. A lot of the song ideas started with just me, the piano and Logic but I would immediately get stuck into adding strings, basslines and drums. The structure and feel of the song became quite fixed in my head and I wasn’t leaving enough space for Tom, Richard and Jesse to bring in their own ideas. What Jesse does with the bass is tons better than anything I could do and it’s the same with Richard and Tom. These days, I don’t find it so hard to let go and the songwriting process is much more of a band thing. I just concentrate on the CP-70.”
A mainstay of the mellow sound that graced many a (late-) ‘70s and ‘80s album, the 300lb CP-70 was used by every band from Toto, Led Zeppelin and Genesis to the Grateful Dead, Billy Joel and A-ha.
“I am lucky enough to own several amazing synths and keyboards - CS-80, Mellotron, Juno-6; every time I’m struggling with songwriting, I convince myself that I need a new toy! - but I’m most at home with the CP-70. I first came across it when I was reading George Martin’s 1983 book, Making Music. It sounded like an interesting take on what is essentially a real piano, so I started looking around and I found one just outside London. It had a few holes and several bits missing, but it sounded fantastic. Quite dirty and rough around the edges.”
Is Rice-Oxley an effects-heavy piano player, then?
‘I go through phases,” he says. “On Hopes and Fears, it was quite clean, but on Under The Iron Sea [2006], I started sticking it through all sorts of guitar pedals. Live, I actually use a bank of Line 6 Pods... you can create some pretty mad sounds on there!”
So does Rice-Oxley have multiple CPs… and if so, how many?
“‘Ha ha! I keep getting asked that question and, to be honest, I’ve lost count. At the moment, I think I’ve got about eight or nine. I do have a favourite but that can change. A few years back, I had one that sounded perfect. Foolishly, I decided that it was looking a bit tatty and sent it away to be overhauled. Big mistake! I’m sure all sorts of musicians have done it. Although your favourite instrument comes back all shiny and beautiful, it sounds completely different. I’d got used to how the effects pedals responded, the slightly out of tune feel, the way the hammers hit the strings. All of a sudden, my piano sounded posh!
‘I’ve now got a great keyboard tech who looks after them and keeps them healthy without taking away their character. I’m not sure what the secret is... every year, pour a few pints of beer over it and empty a couple of ashtrays onto the strings. Finally, throw it out the back of the tour bus. Ah, that’s more like it!”
To coincide with the 20th anniversary of their debut, Hopes and Fears, Keane have just released Hope and Fears: Lyrics and History, a hardback book featuring the album’s lyrics, plus exclusive interviews and pictures.
Tim Rice-Oxley on the albums and songwriters that have shaped Keane’s sound
The Smiths
“One of the biggest influences on the whole band is the Smiths. I can remember so many days when we’d be travelling up the M1, listening to The Queen Is Dead and Hatful of Hollow. You had these very energised, melodic tracks, with Morrissey’s incredibly melancholy vocals over the top. I always thought the Smiths influence was a bit too obvious on the first album but, luckily, we never got busted.”
Kraftwerk
“Looking back for this 20th anniversary thing reminded me of how much electronic stuff seemed to creep into our songs. I’m sure that came from Kraftwerk’s Man Machine album. Driving around London, late at night, with Neon Lights on the car stereo.”
Röyksopp
“They were the other side of Keane’s electronic influence. In particular, their first album, Melody AM. Again, it’s all about the mixture of melody - sometimes, very strange melodies - and atmosphere.”
Andy Dunlop from Travis
“This might sound a bit weird, but Andy is the biggest influence on me when it comes to piano playing. The trouble is that... I’m not really much of a pianist. You look at people like Elton John, Rufus Wainwright or Tori Amos and they can do the most amazing things on the piano. With me, it’s more about trying to fill in the space where the guitar would be. Imagine fingerpicked melodic guitar soundscapes played on a piano. Andy is brilliant at that. And can I just add that Travis are one of our most underrated bands; Coldplay have openly admitted that they used to listen to Travis all the time.”
Taylor Swift
“I’m speaking for myself here, but I seem to be listening to her a lot. Yes, I know that everybody in the world is a fan and it’s hard to find someone who didn’t go to see her on the Eras Tour, but behind all the headlines and the obvious hits, she is an incredible songwriter. In a few years’ time, when all the hype has died down, people will start noticing some of those album tracks - the ones that don’t get played at the stadium shows - and there’ll be a whole new level of respect coming her way.”
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