Early years and formation
Rice-Oxley's brother ... also called Tom ... is a few months younger than Chaplin, who was born in March 1979. Their mothers became friends, as did Chaplin and Rice-Oxley. Tom Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex, (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years, the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both of them discovered rapidly their liking for music. Richard Hughes, future drummer for the band, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had also learned to play the flute but none of them considered music as a proper career at the time.
In 1993, while studying at University College, London for a degree in classics, Rice-Oxley managed to form 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, including U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home.
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 guitar. 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. She took care of them and would tell them to go for their dreams. 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 afterwards.
Chaplin departed for South Africa in the summer of 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there would later be reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later on July 1998 following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes's first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in ten 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, in order to pursue a full-time musical career with his friends. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
Early releases and Scott's departure
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single, "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's own label, Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only five hundred copies were printed. The track, however, can be found on the internet. The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the "More Matey" and "Emily" demo tracks. Chaplin has commented "they most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of and 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." The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.
Four months after the "Call Me What You Like" re-recording session in February 2001, their second single, "Wolf at the Door" was released. Only fifty hand-made copies are known to have been made, using unlabelled CD-Rs.Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay.
Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after this single was released in order to continue his studies at the LSE. Before this, in November 2000, Keane had been invited by record producer James Sanger to his recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November 2001, including "Bedshaped" and "This Is the Last Time". 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 the song "Sunshine", the only one composed there.
The remaining members of the band returned to England in November 2001. Soon after, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but at this time they did not have yet a recording contract.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 2002, Keane returned to performing live. Luckily, 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 would be "Everybody’s Changing", which Steve Lamacq went on to name single of the week on Lamacq Live on 19 April 2003; the CD Single was released on 12 May 2003.
As a result of the attention created by this release, a bidding war for the band ensued between major labels, with the band deciding to sign with Island Records in the summer of 2003. The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003, as the final release on that label.
Hopes and Fears
With the release of their first major single, Keane began to achieve recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States, where "This Is the Last Time" was released and remained as the only single sold there until "Crystal Ball" in late 2006.
In January 2004, Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll; additionally, this year is popularly referred to as one of the best years for new British music.
A month later, Keane's first release on Island was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in February 2004. On 4 May, a re-release of "Everybody’s Changing" followed and featured new cover and b-sides; it reached number four in the UK Singles Chart.
Keane's debut album, Hopes and Fears, was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, just a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and went on to become the best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9x platinum in the UK.
The album has sold approximately five and a half 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.
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, defeating bands like Muse or Franz Ferdinand. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.
As members of the Make Poverty History foundation, 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 also had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", which was available as a download-only track from the War Child website. It was later released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane e-mailing list.
Nineteen years after the 1985 version, Band Aid (now called Band Aid 20) recorded a new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Rice-Oxley and Chaplin both contributed vocals.
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 also nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy, but ultimately lost out to Legend.
Under the Iron Sea
In April 2005, in the middle of the Hopes and Fears tour, the band began recording their second album, Under the Iron Sea with producer Andy Green, who also worked with them previously on Hopes and Fears. The band later recruited Mark "Spike" Stent for mixing duties. Recording took place in Helioscentric Studios, Rye, East Sussex, where Hopes and Fears was recorded. Additional recording was done at The Magic Shop Studios in New York. The band revealed the title of the album on 14 March 2006 by posting a handwritten note on their official website.
The album's release was preceded by the release of "Atlantic", a download-only music video and the lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2007. The album had a worldwide release of on June, 2006 and was at #1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. As of 22 May 2007, it had sold more than 2,200,000 copies. The third single from the album was "Crystal Ball", which was released on 21 August 2006, and reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The fourth single from the album was "Nothing in My Way", released on 30 October 2006, which received particular success on Mexican commercial radio, charting on Top 3 in 13 January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. The band released the single "The Night Sky" in aid of the charity War Child. The song is written from the perspective of a child about the war-torn devastation around them, and became available via War Child's official website on 22 October 2007 before going on general release on 29 October 2007. Jesse Quin played with Keane since the small tour of The Night Sky.
Even before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour that would promote the album. 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 US tour. The entire North American tour was later 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, although 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 early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition 9-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Keane Live 06.
Perfect Symmetry
In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary", became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website also implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions.
Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He play the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals.
On 31 July 2008, Keane's website was changed to display a timer counting down to 4 August, the date set for the release of "Spiralling", the first single from the album, which was available as a free download until 11 August. This track reveals a different sound to that of both previous albums, and has hints of the vocal style of The Killers' Brandon Flowers, having Chaplin waver in and out of half notes. While Hopes and Fears majored on powerful piano-driven ballads, and Under the Iron Sea featured electronic rock and distortion piano sounds, "Spiralling" has more of a pop feel, using synthesisers for the second time, and electric guitar for the first time.
On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".
The song "Love Is the End" was also aired on a Portuguese radio station where the DJ referred to the song as being "The Lovers Are Losing" leading some to believe that the song was accidentally played. The song "Love Is the End" also contains the musical saw which Rice-Oxley had referred to in a note on the band's website.
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.
On 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 of the same year, they started their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry 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. The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition.
During the 50th anniversary of Island Records, Keane also recorded a cover of Pulp's "Disco 2000", which was released on the Island Records 50 years anniversary album.
On 17 September 2009, in Thunder Bay Ontario, Keane performed a brand new song called, "Sovereign Light Cafe".
Night Train EP
On 10 May 2010, Keane released a new EP entitled Night Train which, on May 16 became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry Tour. To accompany this, the band have also announced plans for a summer tour of forests in 2010, support bands include Everything Everything. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, just outside the band’s hometown of Battle, East Sussex. The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP also 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, having lead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People". 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 the 12th May 2010. It then took the band through a series of Forest Shows and then with Festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of the USA/Canada, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.
