
The band Keane performs live.
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David Fuerst
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David Fuerst
Listener support WNYC Studios.
Tim Rice-Oxley
This.
David Fuerst
Is all of It on WNYC. I'm David Fuerst filling in for Alison Stewart. It's been 20 years since listeners first heard this piano intro.
Tom Chaplin (singing)
I walked across an empty land I knew the pathway like the back of my hand.
David Fuerst
That's somewhere only we know. The opening song to Hopes and Fears, the platinum debut album from the English rock band Keen. The band is currently on tour celebrating the album's 20th anniversary with a stop at Radio City Music hall tonight. And we are excited to have with us in WNYC's Studio 5 right now, two of the band's founding members, lead singer Tom Chaplin.
Tom Chaplin
Hello.
David Fuerst
And keyboardist and songwriter Tim Rice. Oxley. Welcome to all of it.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Thanks for having us.
Tom Chaplin
Yeah. Great to be here. Where are the other two? That's what I want to know.
David Fuerst
It's a great time. Well, it's great to have the two of you with us. Can we get started with some music?
Tom Chaplin
Absolutely, yeah. We'd like to play a song off Hopes and Fears. It's called Everybody's Changing.
Tom Chaplin (singing)
You say you wander your own land? But when I think about it I don't see how you can? You're aching, you're breaking and I can see the pain in your eyes? Says everybody's changing and I don't know why. So a little time try to understand that I trying to make a move just to stay in the game? I try to stay awake and remember my name? But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same? You gone from here soon you will disappear Fading into beautiful light? Cause everybody's changing and I don't feel right so little time try to understand that I trying to make a move Best to stay in the game I try to stay awake and remember my name but everybody's changing and I don't feel the same so a little time Try to understand that I Trying to make a move Just to stay in the game I try to stay awake and remember my name but everybody's changing and I don't feel the same oh, everybody's changing and I don't feel the same.
David Fuerst
Everybody's changing Song from Hopes and Fears. Some music to really change the entire feel of the day here at wnyc. Thank you so much for that. Wow. This is what you're bringing to Radio City Music hall tonight.
Tom Chaplin
It is, yeah. Yeah. It's been lovely to celebrate Hopes and Fears. We sort of were a bit tentative about it, you know, when we were planning the whole thing sort of last year, thinking, you know, is it, is it too sort of nostalgic? Is it too much of a kind of nod to the past, whatever. But actually it's obviously a record that completely changed our lives as musicians and allowed us to tour the world. And I think also what we've noticed is just the impact it had on our fans and, well, as we've learned, people around the world. And so to be able to go out around the world and celebrate it with people and see the joy in their faces and what it kind of brings back for them has been a lovely thing.
David Fuerst
You talk about the impact on your fans, the impact when you're first performing those songs, when they're brand new, I imagine is different from what you're seeing now 20 years later. Is it a celebration? Is that what you're feeling?
Tom Chaplin
Well, it is a celebration, I suppose they've, they've got a life of their own now. 20 years of playing these songs, that the songs then have a life of their own and they become a different thing. It's very hard to remember when we were first playing them. You may have a view on that.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Yeah. No, I mean, we spent so many years like playing clubs in London and around, I mean really to tiny slash non existent crowds. And it's funny, every night for some reason in the song Bed Shaped, which is the last song of the set, normally I always think back to this pub in London called the Water Rats and I remember playing that song there, you know, and it's so weird to then obviously be in a completely different place. All these people, this history and yeah, it's a pretty magical thing. As Tom says, it kind of feels out of our control, which is beautiful. It's probably for the best.
David Fuerst
We're speaking with Tim Rice, Oxley and Tom Chaplin. And we're talking about these songs being 20 years old. But your experience together goes back well before that. Two of you met in grade school. Right. I imagine the shared experience between the two of you leads to a musical connection, an understanding that you don't get when you play with other musicians.
Tom Chaplin
Yeah, I think that's very true. Keane is like a brotherhood, really. It's like a family, because we really. We did grow up in the same small town. We went to the same schools. In fact, Tim's mum and dad are my godparents. Wow. And, in fact. So Tim's a little bit older than I, but we were. His brother Tom and I were very good mates as very small kids. So there were the two Toms, who were sort of inseparable, and then there was Tim, who is his elder brother. And, you know, as the years went by, I saw sort of, you know, I was. I sort of was very intrigued by. By Tim and his world of kind of keyboards and sort of all these songbooks, and he would sort of learn the chords and play the music of all these songs that I was kind of getting into. Simon and Garfunkel, people like that. And as the years went by, we sort of formed this musical bond and it sort of grew. It grew out of that place. But, yeah, I mean, it goes back as. Almost as far as I can remember, really.
David Fuerst
And the two of you went to the same primary school, right?
Tom Chaplin
Vine Hall. Yes.
David Fuerst
Where your father was also headmaster, Correct?
Tom Chaplin
Yeah, yeah. They were very happy days at that school, I think.
David Fuerst
Was it a point of pride that your father was headmaster or could be an embarrassment?
Tom Chaplin
Well, it wasn't. It was neither, really. I think I sort of. I probably came in from harsher punishment, you know, than some of the other kids, but then I was also quite naughty, quite a sort of boisterous. So as a child. So it might well have been deserved. It's hard to be objective.
David Fuerst
Now, Tim, I was reading a comment from you recently. I think it was in the Guardian. You were talking about a photo of you taken back in those school days and saying it was the last time in your life that you still felt cool. I mean, for somebody who has performed on stage at Glastonbury Festival and will be heading to Radio City Music hall tonight. That's an incredible thing to say.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Yeah, I mean, we. We're sort of blessed and cursed with an acute sense of, you know, self deprecation or whatever. But I think it's. It's, you know, it's. When we when we first came out or first had some, you know, success or whatever as a band, we. We were definitely known as not being very cool. And we were surrounded by this whole scene of kind of cool bands and, you know, skinny.
David Fuerst
There's always somebody cooler, right?
Tim Rice-Oxley
I mean, definitely case. Everyone was cooler. But, you know, the funny thing is, you know, obviously at the time it was a bit of a. You know, it bothered us. But I think actually what's happened as the years have gone by is it's. It's meant that we're kind of out of. We're never. We've never been in fashion, particularly. So now we haven't fallen out of fashion. And actually, it's just that the music has spoken for itself and, you know, we're still. Still here.
David Fuerst
So that was good training for a long career.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Unintentionally, yes.
Tom Chaplin
But it is. I think if you get too enamored with the idea of coolness and being part of what's currently the thing, it's a dangerous game to play because obviously everything moves on. So I think we were always very interested in the bands and the artists who made kind of timeless classic music. And I think that's always where our intentions have been.
David Fuerst
What do you remember about each other when you were both first in school together?
Tom Chaplin
Well, we boarded at this school, even though my parents lived on the site. I wanted to board because there was a real. There was a lovely community of boarders. So I wanted to board. And I remember Tim, I think, was my dorm leader, and he was actually very kind. He looked after me when I sort of first arrived.
Tim Rice-Oxley
I don't remember that at all.
Tom Chaplin
Do you not remember that? I may have just made that up. I may have just dreamt.
Tim Rice-Oxley
It's probably true. It's just such a long time.
David Fuerst
That's incredible. But when did you first start to think of each other as, well, potential bandmates? Hey, let's. Let's work together.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Oh, well, the thing was that we, you know, like a lot of kids, I suppose we, you know, our connection really, for most of our young lives is more about sport, I would say, than anything else. It was all like, I don't know, just running around and doing kind of boy stuff, you know, and it wasn't until, I mean, we did dabble, start to dabble a bit with songwriting and. But it wasn't until probably into our early twenties, I can't remember. But, yeah, you know, it wasn't until later anyway, that we started to think seriously about music or even sort of seriously about the idea of trying to play music together. But, yeah, I mean, Tom was always a really good singer and that was sort of one of his things, you know. I felt like you were very much in the sort of musical world as a. As a kid, whereas we, like, Richard and I, were the real sort of duffers. He got put at the back of the class to play the tambourine. You know, it's like just trying, you know, try not to ruin it for everyone else.
Tom Chaplin
I was probably naturally a bit more extroverted as well. And so I think that because when we. When we first formed the band, there were. There were four of us and three of us were all contributing songs and we didn't really know who the singer should be. But I think it sort of, quite quickly, it made sense that, oh, yeah, Tom's the big show off. Let's. Let's get him to be the from man.
David Fuerst
I want to play a little clip. This is a very early recording, I believe. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the very first song you released as Keen, it's called Call Me what yout Like.
Tom Chaplin
Oh, wow. Okay.
David Fuerst
Came out in 2000. Let's hear a little clip.
Tom Chaplin (singing)
There's no believing reason why well, I Superstitious and I can fly I FL through the ceiling Nail your eyes Call me what you like I just wanna be there with you all the time do you want to be here with me?
David Fuerst
Do you remember this song?
Tom Chaplin
Absolutely.
David Fuerst
Absolutely.
Tom Chaplin
I mean, it's interesting because that's only sort of three or four years before Hopes and Fears came out. I mean, it wasn't. I don't think that was strictly a formal kind of release. It wasn't done through a label or anything. But you can really see we hadn't quite arrived at what we wanted to or what we were gonna be.
David Fuerst
Your voice certainly already sounds fantastic.
Tom Chaplin
It sounds good, but I can hear it's. I'm sort of trying a bit too hard and it's. What's interesting is that at that point we still had a guitarist in the band.
David Fuerst
Well, yeah, fans know your sound, really, from that debut album, which has such prominent piano and keyboard and here there's a lot of guitars in the mix.
Tom Chaplin
Yeah. So at that point we were living in London. We were trying to sort of get signed on the London circuit. And we had a. Yeah, we had a guitarist called Dominic. He's a great guitarist, as you can hear from that recording. But I think at that point there was so many bands in London who just wanted to be Radiohead. And you can definitely hear a little bit of that influence. Travis and Travis.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Acoustic is so. Travis, yes.
Tom Chaplin
Yeah, absolutely. But, yeah, and it's. It's interesting. It's sort of. It's. I can all. I can hear the sort of. The sort of. The seeds of what Keen would become in there, but I can't. Can't quite hear the finished article or whatever.
David Fuerst
Well, the band Keen are with us in the studio celebrating 20 years of the debut album Hopes and Fears, performing at Radio City Tonight. Tim, in the last 20 years, have you thought about what makes a Keen song?
Tim Rice-Oxley
I thought about it. The funny thing is, especially playing live, you know, and trying to sort of pick our set list every night or every tour or whatever, you know, you sort of realize that actually we've accrued a sort of quite large collection of songs now. And actually there's a real variety which even we, I think, tend to forget. There's a lot of kind of weirder stuff, more ethereal stuff, you know, in amongst all the kind of big. I don't know, the big soaring notes which Tom's so good at, and, you know, the sort of catchy choruses and stuff. I mean, I think really the thing that defines us probably is a kind of emotional authenticity, which is something we've talked about quite a lot recently because, you know, you're always trying to find your way forward creatively and find out, you know, what is it. What is it that we're trying to achieve together if we make new music? And I think it's really hard to put your finger on until you start playing. But I think the thing at the core of it is that we're always really. We struggle to do anything apart from be really honest about normally ourselves. And most of the songs are essentially about ourselves and a lot of them are actually really about the band, even. So, yeah, there's a bit of a sort of. Yeah, musically, I don't know. You know, there's a lot of catchy. You know, we're kind of very melody driven generally, but I do think, really, it's the. It's the emotional authenticity that actually draws people to the music.
David Fuerst
We're speaking with Tim Rice Oxley and Tom Chaplin with Keen, and we continue the conversation in just a moment with some more live music as well. This is all of it on wnyc. This is all of it on wnyc. I'm David Fuerst in for Alison Stewart. We are here with Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice Oxley of the band Keene at Radio City Music hall tonight. Can we hear some more music?
Tom Chaplin
Yeah. We're gonna play a song called this is the Last time.
Tom Chaplin (singing)
This is the last time that I will say these words I remember the first time. The first of many lives. Sweep it into the corner hide it under the bed say these things they go away but they never do something I wasn't sure of but I was in the middle of something I forget now but I see it too late. Love the last time you fall on me forever than you like you're one last line. You follow me for anything you like and yes, make everything right. You fall on me for anything you like and I. No, I don't. My eyes. This is the last time that I will show my face One last tender lion when I'm out of this place I dreaded into the carpet hiding under the stairs you say that some things never die I tried and I tried for something I wasn't sure of but I was in the middle of something I ain't forgetting now but I see it too little of the last time. You fall on me or anything you like your wordless light. You fall on me for anything you like and yes, make everything right. You fall on me for anything you like and I. No, I don't. My eyes. The last time. You fall on me for anything you like you one last line. You fall on me for anything you like and yes, make everything right. You fall on me or anything you like and I. No, I don't mind y.
David Fuerst
Insert applause here. It sounds incredible. Thank you for the performance. Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice, Oxley, the band Keene, you'll be at Radio City Music hall tonight. What can we expect from the show?
Tom Chaplin
Well, this tour has felt like just one big celebration, really. A celebration of hopes and fears. But, yeah, also just the music since in the last 20 years, and just this sort of amazing bond that I feel like we have with. With our fans. I think, as Tim was saying about the emotional element of the music, I think you really see it etched in people's faces at shows. You know, they. They really give us so much emotionally, and it's a real sort of outpouring of every sort of feeling, joy and sadness and excitement. So there's that. I mean, that for me, is the core of the show. And of course, you know, we try and take people on a journey with the set list and provide lots of variety and fun. Lights and me sort of prancing around the stage, twirling around as well. It's just great fun, I think.
David Fuerst
And as you're celebrating this. 20 years of hopes and fears. There's. There's a new version of this album out, right, Tim? A deluxe edition with a lot of extra material.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Yeah, we put a lot of work into it, actually, and dug very deep into the archives.
David Fuerst
Probably too deep for fans. It's never too deep.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Yeah, exactly. There are three people out there who are going to be very excited about the demo of me singing, you know, whatever, some.
Tom Chaplin
Whatever was scraped off the bottom of the barrel.
Tim Rice-Oxley
But it's a great start. I mean, it's amazing. It's been amazing for us as well, as Tom says. We were a little bit skeptical about the whole concept, I think, but actually, as soon as you start digging in, I mean, I loved, like, going back, trying to. Trying to find sort of very early demos, like really the original demo of Somewhere Only We Know, for example, and you can hear us talking between takes and stuff. And, I mean, the thing that made me laugh about it is that we just haven't changed. It's just like.
David Fuerst
It's the same jokes or the conversations that you hear.
Tom Chaplin (singing)
Yeah.
Tom Chaplin
You know, just incredibly puerile, the whole.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Thing in between these sort of incredibly emotional takes, you know.
David Fuerst
Tom, Wolves, still, it's great to chart that. Evolution or non.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Yeah, yeah. But I think it's great, as you say, for fans. I mean, it's. There's so much stuff, all the B sides and rarities, stuff that's never been released before. We actually recorded one song specially for it. There's a load of demos, you know, stuff that we'd completely forgotten about and definitely hasn't been heard before. So it's a pretty cool. Cool thing.
David Fuerst
Very cool. And can we get you to play one more song?
Tom Chaplin
Absolutely.
David Fuerst
Before you rush off to the show tonight?
Tom Chaplin
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're gonna play the song that Tim was talking about called Somewhere Only We.
Tom Chaplin (singing)
I walked across an empty land I knew the pathway like the back of my hand I felt the earth beneath my feet Feet sat by the river and it made me complete oh, simple thing where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on so tell me when you're gonna let me in I'm getting tired and I need to Somewhere to begin I came across a fallen tree I felt the branches out and looking at me Is this the place we used to love? Is this the place that I've been dreaming of? A simple thing where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on so tell me when you're gonna let me in I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin until you have a minute why don't we go talk about it Somewhere only we know? This could be the end of everything so why don't we go Somewhere only we know? Somewhere only we know A simple thing where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on so tell me when you're gonna let me in I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin until you have a minute why don't we go talk about it Somewhere only we know? This could be the end of everything so why don't we go so why don't we go? O sha la la la la this could be everything so down we go Somewhere only we know Somewhere only we know Somewhere only we know.
David Fuerst
Lead singer Tom Chaplin. Keyboardist, pianist, songwriter Tim Rice. Oxley, thank you so much for joining us today. You are playing Radio City Music hall tonight, so don't let me keep you. You got to run out of here right now. Thank you so much for joining us and have a fantastic show tonight.
Tom Chaplin
Thanks for having us.
Tim Rice-Oxley
Thank you.
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Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Host: David Fuerst (filling in for Alison Stewart)
Guests: Tom Chaplin (lead singer), Tim Rice-Oxley (keyboardist/songwriter) of Keane
Date: September 24, 2024
This episode of All Of It celebrates the 20th anniversary of Keane’s iconic debut album, Hopes and Fears. Host David Fuerst welcomes founding members Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley into WNYC’s Studio 5. The episode features live acoustic performances, a deep-dive into the band’s history, creative process, and cultural impact, as well as playful banter and reflection on the band’s journey since their school years.
Anniversary Tour: Keane is touring the world, performing the album live to commemorate 20 years since its release.
Mutual Nostalgia: The band reflects on initial reservations about dwelling on the past, only to realize the celebratory power of reconnecting with fans:
“It’s obviously a record that completely changed our lives... to celebrate it with people and see the joy in their faces... has been a lovely thing.” — Tom Chaplin ([06:37])
Evolution of the Songs:
“They’ve got a life of their own now...It's very hard to remember when we were first playing them.” — Tom Chaplin ([07:33])
“Every night...in the song ‘Bed Shaped’...I always think back to this pub in London called the Water Rats ... And it's so weird to then obviously be in a completely different place...all this history.” — Tim Rice-Oxley ([07:46])
“Keane is like a brotherhood, really. It’s like a family...it goes back as almost as far as I can remember, really.” — Tom Chaplin ([08:49])
“We were definitely known as not being very cool…and we were surrounded by this whole scene of kind of cool bands…But actually what's happened is we're…never in fashion, so now we haven't fallen out of fashion. The music has spoken for itself.”
— Tim Rice-Oxley ([10:54])
“If you get too enamored with the idea of coolness and being part of what's currently the thing, it’s a dangerous game...We were always very interested in the bands and artists who made kind of timeless classic music.”
— Tom Chaplin ([11:54])
“You can really see we hadn't quite arrived at what we wanted to or what we were gonna be." — Tom Chaplin ([15:32])
"At that point so many bands in London just wanted to be Radiohead. And you can definitely hear a bit of that." — Tom Chaplin ([16:10])
“I think really the thing that defines us probably is a kind of emotional authenticity...We struggle to do anything apart from be really honest about normally ourselves...Most of the songs are essentially about ourselves, and a lot...are about the band.” — Tim Rice-Oxley ([17:04])
Everybody’s Changing ([02:42] – [06:21])
This is the Last Time ([19:10] – [22:50])
Somewhere Only We Know ([25:40] – [29:48])
On the 20th Anniversary Tour:
“It’s a real sort of outpouring of every sort of feeling—joy and sadness and excitement...We try and take people on a journey with the set list and provide lots of variety and fun. Lights and me sort of prancing around the stage, twirling around as well. It’s just great fun, I think.”
— Tom Chaplin ([23:03])
Diving into the Archives for the Deluxe Edition:
“There are three people out there who are going to be very excited about the demo of me singing...whatever was scraped off the bottom of the barrel.”
— Tim Rice-Oxley ([24:21])
Repeating Patterns:
“...You can hear us talking between takes and stuff. And, I mean, the thing that made me laugh about it is that we just haven’t changed.” — Tim Rice-Oxley ([24:58]) “Incredibly puerile, the whole thing in between these incredibly emotional takes, you know.” — Tim Rice-Oxley ([25:06])
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in British pop/rock, band dynamics, or music history. Keane’s unique chemistry, self-awareness, and emotional forthrightness are evident in both their performances and conversation. Fans will appreciate behind-the-scenes anecdotes, while newcomers will gain insight into what makes Keane’s music last beyond fashion or hype.
The episode wraps up with gratitude and excitement for their performance at Radio City Music Hall, capturing not only Keane’s journey but also the lasting bond between band and fans.
“Thanks for having us.” — Tom Chaplin ([30:05])
“Thank you.” — Tim Rice-Oxley ([30:06])