Keane talk about new album

From the NME.

The East Sussex lads are back!

Keane are back after a six year break. Once the much loved darlings of British music, for a time the band didn’t have it easy. Between drug addiction, a bad marriage breakup and a drunk driving incident, they’re back and ready to march their way back to the top of the charts. With four consecutive number one albums to their name, the band are now hoping for a fifth as they prepare the release of ‘Cause and Effect’. The first single, ‘The Way I Feel’, sounds like a Killers’ record written by Keane – and that’s a good thing. Discussing the band’s return, overcoming addiction, going head to head with the Gallaghers and what fans can expect from the new album, Tom Chaplin and Richard Hughes talk to NME.

Did you ever think Keane would get back together?

Tom Chaplin: “I didn’t really expect it to happen. I was off doing my solo thing and pretty happy doing that. I think all of us probably thought that we weren’t ever going to come back and do anything. It’s funny how fast things can change though. We were drawn back together for the right reasons, it wasn’t like we needed to do a reunion tour to pay the bills, it was because of the music, the songs.”

Was there a particular moment that triggered the band reforming?

T: “I hadn’t seen Tim for a couple of years and you know, he’s been a pivotal part of my life and I felt a bit guilty that I hadn’t seen him and I wondered how he was. So I phoned him up and he came over one Christmas a couple of years back and we talked a lot and the subject of what he had been doing with his writing came up. He had this solo album that he’d written but he didn’t think it was going to see the light of day. So I said, ‘Send it to me and I’ll have a listen.’ And I just didn’t realise how deep the despair had been in his life. His marriage had broken down, and obviously that’s different to when you’re like 20 years old and you get your heart broken, there’s a lot more baggage that comes with being married for a long time and kids and all of that.

“The songs were very sad but very beautiful by virtue of being full of this experience and this sort of depth of feeling. And so it didn’t take me long to start thinking that I should be the one to be the voice for the songs and try and get them out of there. And obviously that means a Keane record, right? Then we all got together and talked about it and the rest is history.”

Do you believe you and Tim are better together than apart?

T: “Both Tim and I would accept that we are better together than apart. I’m very proud of my solo stuff but I know I’m never gonna be as good a songwriter as Tim – that’s just a fact. He’s an incredible songwriter and has written quite a few classic songs, so I’m in no doubt about that. I mean, I enjoyed writing songs, and I still do, it’s a great outlet for my creativity, but I think, yes, the combination of the two of us together, we’ve been able to do something we could never have achieved going down separate lines.”

Your new single, ‘The Way I Feel’, sounds like a Killers record. Was that intentional?

T: “I remember saying when I first heard the first demo that it was quite Killers-y. That’s a good energy to have, right?”

So you weren’t directly inspired by them?

R: “From a song point of view I would imagine not because Tim is quite instinctive when he writes. From a production point of view, we just went into the studio wanting to be pushed by our producer, David Kosten, and to not sound like you would expect the next Keane record to sound, or to not sit back and do the things we would have done before. So we’re huge Killers fans, and as Tom says, they have such a good energy in their music so it’s a good reference.”

Continue reading on the NME website.

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