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Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. The band comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
Keane achieved mainstream international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK Albums Chart, the album won the Brit Awards for Best British Album and was the UK's second-best-selling album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea (2006), topped the UK chart and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. They released their third album Perfect Symmetry in 2008, and followed it with the 2010 EP Night Train. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in 2012 and peaked at number one in the UK.
The band went on hiatus after the release of their compilation album The Best of Keane (2013). They returned in 2019 with "The Way I Feel", the lead single from their fifth studio album, Cause and Effect (2019). The band then embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers was a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine magazine as among the best British albums ever. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.
In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums. The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands. After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey, in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped." Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from the Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer, she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.
Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days." With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history. However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over Pound sterling1000 on eBay. During production of "Wolf at the Door," the band recorded and released other songs as demos, namely "More Matey," "Maps," "To the End of the Earth," "Allemande," "New One," "Russian Farmer's Song," and "Live in Fear." The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin said "They most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of— I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently."
Dominic Scott decided to leave the band in July, a month after "Wolf at the Door" was released, to continue his studies at the LSE. Rice-Oxley referenced this departure in "This Is the Last Time," which was being rehearsed in May, according to Hughes. Keane was invited by record producer James Sanger in July to his property in Normandy, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November, including "Sunshine," "This Is the Last Time," "Maps" (anew) and "Happy Soldier." It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including "Sunshine", the only song composed there. The band members returned to England in November.
The band signed with BMG to publish their music in April 2002, and this enabled them to better commit to music, but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. Sometime in early 2002, Rice-Oxley wrote "Everybody's Changing." He played it for Chaplin, Hughes and people at BMG, and then the band developed the song into a demo completed in July. They also produced a demo of "Walnut Tree" completed in May. 2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin. In December, Keane returned to performing live. One gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 14 April 2003, and came out as a CD single on 12 May. As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels. The band decided to sign with Island Records in summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show but even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway." According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.
The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.
Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the second best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9× platinum in the UK. Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" with, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know" as "breathtaking".
The album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide. In the UK, it stayed in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for 72 weeks, appearing again on its 115th week. Post-release, the band released singles from the album "Bedshaped," "This Is the Last Time" (a version with Island Records) and "Bend and Break" on 16 August, 22 November, and 25 July 2005, respectively. The band won two awards at the 2005 BRIT Awards in February; Best British album for Hopes and Fears, and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.
As members of the Make Poverty History, Keane performed "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Bedshaped" at the Live 8 concert, which took place in London on 2 July 2005. Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album a Day in the Life. Previously, the band had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". It also was released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane emailing list. During the year, the band achieved minor recognition in the U.S. from their extensive touring, which culminated with a series of gigs as the opening act for U2. The group were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy.
Before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour. However, because of the extensive touring, on 22 August 2006, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems. This initially resulted in the cancellation of three gigs and postponement of their September tour. The entire North American tour was cancelled outright to allow continued treatment. As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment. Chaplin then left the Priory Clinic in London on 6 October, but he continued to receive treatment. The tour reached for the first time South American countries (Argentina, Chile and Brazil) and saw the band's third visit to Mexico in late April with four dates, playing at the downtown zócalo in Mexico City, as well their first visit to Monterrey and Guadalajara. On 7 July 2007, Keane played at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, part of a series of gigs similar to Live 8, to highlight the threat of global warming. They performed "Somewhere Only We Know", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Bedshaped". The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.
In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV. In early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition nine-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Live 06.
The album was released on 13 October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted "Best Album of the Year" by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track. In November 2008, they started the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by the Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single "Better Than This" or also to hand-make their own glasses.
On 10 May 2010, Keane released the EP titled Night Train which, on 16 May became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. The band first named this record as a mini-album, then that changed to an EP. In an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Night Train is "pretty much an album". The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah. The song "Your Love" features Keane's keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley on lead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People". Night Train has been met with mixed reviews from critics. Ryan Brockington of the New York Post PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.
Supporting the Night Train EP, the band began on the Night Train Tour, which started with a show in Brixton, London at The Fridge on 12 May 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, outside the band's hometown of Battle. Also festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of North America, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.
The band released "Silenced by the Night", the album's lead single, worldwide except for the United Kingdom on 13 March 2012. Keane performed "Silenced By the Night" for the first time on 12 March on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song was sent to U.S. adult alternative radio stations on 26 March 2012. In the UK, the single was released on 15 April 2012. The single "Disconnected" was released on 20 April 2012 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the official worldwide release on 8 October 2012. The single "Sovereign Light Café" was released on 23 July 2012. The video was filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England.
On 20 October 2013, several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of The Best of Keane, and reported that the band members were "taking a break...to pursue their own projects." On 21 October 2013, Tom Chaplin clarified on Real Radio Yorkshire that the band was not splitting up, but the band members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years.
In an interview conducted in late 2017 with a correspondent from The Sun, Tom Chaplin stated that he felt that he was too old to reform and relaunch the band.Bang Showbiz, Chaplin 'too old' for Keane", The List, 27 December 2017 He recorded a solo album titled The Wave, released on 14 October 2016. He released follow-up Christmas-themed second album Twelve Tales of Christmas on 17 November 2017. Rice-Oxley and Quin continued side project Mt. Desolation, releasing the album When the Night Calls on 25 May 2018.
During the band's hiatus, the band has reunited three times: on 8 August 2015, Chaplin and Rice-Oxley performed a Keane setlist at Battle Festival. On 11 September 2016, the band released a music video for "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the film A Monster Calls.
On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures". On 6 June 2019, the band released the first new single from Cause and Effect, titled "The Way I Feel". On 16 June 2019, Keane performed a set at the Isle of Wight Festival, being the closing act of the event. On 8 August 2019, the second single, "Love Too Much", was released for streaming and debuted on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade." On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their Dirt EP on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from the Cause and Effect sessions. On 17 July, the video for the EP's title track was released onto YouTube and Apple Music, coinciding with the limited early release of the 12" vinyl of the EP for Record Store Day. This came with the announcement that the full release of the EP would take place on 13 August 2021. The band played a handful of shows that same year, including an appearance at that year's TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow.
The band undertook a brief tour of the UK in June and July of 2022, including a performance at Belgium's Rock Werchter festival. Later that year, Chaplin released his third studio album Midpoint in September 2022. In an interview with Retro Pop magazine, Chaplin said that people "keep asking" him about Keane and whether they will make another record. "I don't know," he said in response. "I will just see how I feel."
In September 2023, the band announced they would undertake a tour of the UK, Europe and America in 2024 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hopes and Fears. The tour commenced in May, coinciding with the album's reissue, and continued on until December of that year.
In June 2025, the band announced on Instagram that they are back in the studio recording their sixth studio album, due for a possible 2026 release.
Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.
While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to the Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.
Keane have covered songs by artists such as U2, Rufus Wainwright, Depeche Mode, Genesis, the Beatles, the Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."
Former members
Timeline
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