Keane (band)

Not to be confused with the Keane Brothers, Kane (Dutch band), or Kane (American band).

Keane
Keane standing side-by-side onstage
Keane Performing at Cornbury Festival in 2019
Background information
OriginBattle, East Sussex, England
Genres
Years active
  • 1995–2014
  • 2018–present
Labels
Spinoffs
MembersTom Chaplin
Richard Hughes
Tim Rice-Oxley
Jesse Quin
Past membersDominic Scott
Websitekeanemusic.com

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 chart, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the UK's second-best-selling album of 2004.[6] It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.[7] Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008 and their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.

After the release of their next album, The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a break of nearly five years. They returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of songs had been written by Rice-Oxley during his divorce. After discussions with Chaplin, Rice-Oxley decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band 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.

In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, the Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20.[8] In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK.[9] Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands.[10] The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music[11][12] which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.[13]

  1. ^ "Keane: 'We've always been an alternative band' – NME". NME. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  2. ^ "AllMusic – Keane". AllMusic. "Piano-driven rock quartet"
  3. ^ "Keane – Under the Iron Sea". AllMusic. "mainstream rock"
  4. ^ Andy Bennett, Jon Stratton (eds.), Britpop and the English Music Tradition, Ashgate Publishing, p. 164.
  5. ^ a b Donavan, Thom (5 September 2024). "4 of the Best Post-Britpop Bands of All Time". American Songwriter. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  6. ^ "The BRITs 2005". Brits.co.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  7. ^ Copsey, Rob (13 October 2018). "The UK's Top 40 biggest studio albums of time". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Keane official site: Biography". Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  9. ^ "James Blunt records the biggest selling album of decade". Press Office. BBC. 29 December 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  10. ^ Youngs, Ian (9 January 2004). "Sound of 2004 winners: Keane". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
  11. ^ "Keane explain their new sound". NME. 28 March 2006. Retrieved 19 August 2006.
  12. ^ Odell, Michael (1 May 2004). "The Shore Thing (Annotated)". Q magazine. pp. 48–52. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
  13. ^ "Keane returning to Brighton and announce new album". brightonandhovenews.org. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.