Cash for questions
Words Matt Allen
Portaits Ellis Parinder
Q‘Three things discussed below: Massive C*cks, Orgies, and not being on the receiving end of a drunken Pass from Lily Allen. More Tea, Vicar?
You read it here first: Keane aren’t posh. Well not according to lead singer Tom Chaplin anyway.
‘We’re officially not toffs’, he laughs, reclining on a sofa in South London’s Miloco Studios.
In his pink sweater and dapper blazer he looks more like a camp estate agent about town than a flamboyant lord of the manor.
‘Nobody asks Coldplay or Radiohead the same question and they came through the public –school system. We’re no posher than those people. And it’s not as if you can hear the posh in our music.’
Since the release of their 2004 debut album, Hopes and Fears, the Sussex three piece- Chaplin, drummer Richard Hughes and piano-playing song writer Tim Rice Oxley – have suffered the slings and arrows of inverse class snobbery. The band members attendance at the fee paying Tonbridge School didn’t help, nor did the double-barrelled surname.
Elsewhere, Keane’s inescapably catchy pop and recognition at awards shows ( grammy nominees, Ivor Novello winners) have miffed the rock fraternity: when Chaplin was admitted to the Priory for cocaine and booze problems in 2006, Liam Gallagher dismissed him as a ‘posh lightweight’; Kasabian guitarist Serge Pizzorno claimed he was ‘addicted to port’.
‘I don’t really like port´, smirks Chaplin, taking the jab with good grace.
‘Anyway what’s wrong with having a butler?’ laughs Hughes,’ Who said butlers were out? I bumped into Kasabian after Live 8. They were very nice. But Tom [Meighan, Kasabians Lead singer] was wearing a blue velvet jacket. He was the velvet-jacketed toff, not me.’
The band shift their attentions to Q’s readers questions. ‘I'm excited to find out what people think of us,’ says Chaplin. ‘Is it true you recently asked Keith Flint, ‘Why are you such a cu*t [in the Prodigy’s cash for questions]?’
Er, yes.
‘Why don’t you ask me the same thing? I’d love to get a question like that. I’ll say, I like destroying relationships and hurting everyone around me. I’m a right *rsehole.’ He checks himself for a moment. ‘As long as you print,’ says sarcastically’ in brackets before it. I’m not really a c**t. I like to leave a trail of happiness wherever I go.’
The questions:
Is it true you’re such big neighbours fans that you once visited the set of the show?. Michael Jennings, Birmingham
Tom: Years ago, we used to rehearse at Tim’s mum and dad’s house. At 1.35pm every day we used to down our tools and watch Neighbours. When we went to Australia to play we visited the set.
Richard: I actually answered the phone behind the reception at Lassiter’s. There’s a desk diary prop there and the actors have been drawing massive c*cks on it.
Tim: Our favourite characters were Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy. Dr Karl was actually in a band called The Right Prescription.
Tom, what do you do in the Priory all day?. Elliot Tines, via email.
Tom: [sighs]Oh God. Well, you sit around and talk mainly a lot of nonsense, really. It’s good that you’re there to make a change in your life, but other than that it feels a bit like a conveyor belt. To them, everyone’s an addict, it seems, and I don’t think it was very personal. I regret having gone there in some respects, but only in the sense that it felt like I was being churned out. It’s in the past isn’t it? Let’s move on.
How close did the band come to breaking up during the height of Tom’s drinking and cocaine use in 2006?. Andy Mills, Reading.
Rich: I thought Q had the rights to this information in the last interview with us?
Tom: I remember sitting on a plane home [from Tokyo] and thinking,’ this is it, it’s over, I’ve had enough.’ Then the next day thinking,’ Hmm, maybe that was a bit hasty.’ It’s one of those things that’s so ingrained in who we are that we can’t really chuck it away. What led to it was a whole chain of unfortunate events. We weren’t dealing with being a band very well. It took a long time to work out our problems. We felt what we were doing was too important to throw away.
Is it true you were marketed by a PR Company called Moving brands?. Katherine Green, via e mail.
Tom: [angrily] That came from an article that was written a while ago. A writer said that we were being marketed by a company called Moving Brands when they did some artwork and a short video for us. That was it.
Rich: They made websites for Volvo and Vodafone and they asked if they could do a website for us. Our website at the time was made by Tim...
Tom: What are you saying ?
Tim: In my opinion, they gave a very naive interview where they though it would be good for everyone – including us – if they said that they’d branded Keane. It wasn’t very appropriate for the band. It did us a lot of harm.
Where did the name Keane come from? It’s not named after footballers Roy or Robbie. Is it?. Danielle Hudson, via e mail.
Tom: Are they still playing?. It actually came from an old lady we knew when we were kids. She was called Cherry Keane and she was a friend of my mum’s – she was the only person who dared to listen to us when we first started. She would come along and nod as if we were doing something special.
Rich: Any other embarrassing names? Someone suggested The Browns, which I think was supposed to be a sh*t version of The Smiths.
Tim: I remember someone saying we should have been called The Hairy Sheep.
What’s your beef with the electric guitar?. Sue Dinkley, Manchester.
Rich: We’ve never had a beef with the guitar. Tom’s rocking the guitar on the latest album.
Tom: We lost or guitarrist [Dominic Scott] when we first started and we had to find a way to work without him. I feel like we’re a guitar band even though we use a piano. I love playing the guitar, but it doesn’t feel more rock’n roll to have one up there.
Rich: In our heads we’ve been a guitar band for about 20 years. I think there is more of Jonny Marr in Tim’s piano than Elton John.
Tom: Or Liberace.
Tim, do you ever regret not joining Coldplay? Even when you see Chris martin hanging out with Jay-Z and disco-lunging at Gwynneth Paltrow?. Kelly Dodd, Whitehaven.
Tom: [laughs] Disco-lunging? What’s that? Oh, heavy petting.
Rich: Have you ever seen Chris Martin disco-lunging at Gwynneth ?
Tim: Q has a lot to answer for because that story isn’t true. What’s the truth? Me and Chris were studying at the same university [University College London]. When [Coldplay] started out they were interested in me being their keyboard player. I was up for it because we weren’t going at the time, but the idea petered out. Chris was quite brainy, though. He was a dark horse. I remember sitting in the pub with him. He was doodling in his notebook, drawing ancient instruments. He said,’ Do you think I should do something on these for my dissertation? ‘ I remember his deadline was only three days away. He still got a first.
Richard, you were a supply teacher for a while. Are the youth of today fat and frightening?. Richard Connelly, Blackheath.
Rich: It was probably one of the most difficult jobs I’ve ever done. I did a week of covering for a maths teacher in Camberwell [in South London]. He had died of a heart attack. When I walked into the classroom for the first time this kid jumped onto the desk and mimed having a heart attack. He was saying,’ This is what we did to the last bloke.’ I thought,’ Please let this end.’
When and where did you lose your virginity?. Mike Stokoe, Leeds.
Tom: We lost it to one another.
Rich: It was a big Orgy. It was actually the night before our guitarist left the band. We all got really hammered. I think the embarrassment and the grim reality of the morning after was too much for him.
Do you think the lurid sleeve artwork of last year’s Perfect Symmetry was the reason it’s been your least successful album so far?. Brian Edwards, via e mail.
Rich: It depends how you define successful. [Mock angrily] Jesus Christ! We’ve just done some of the biggest shows we’ve ever done. We went to Buenos Aires and played to 15,000 people. They like the new songs as much as the old.
Tim: I think the word ‘lurid’ is a compliment.
Tom: People probably thought that Picasso was making lurid Art when he started to change his style. You have to be different at times. Most bands probably get a marketing company like moving Brands to do their sleeves for them.
How come you duetted with Lily Allen at the 2007 War child concert? And did she make a drunken pass at anyone?. Sam Leonard, Maidstone.
Rich: Lily Allen said some very nice things about us and even did a cover of Everybody’s changing’ on the radio. When it came to War child, we though it would be a good idea if we played some music and she sang for us.. She was lovely. She has an amazing voice. She didn’t make a drunken pass at any of us.
Tom: Ed [Simons, her then boyfriend] from the Chemical Brothers was there at the time. It probably would have been a bit out of order if she’d made any drunken passes at us.’ Q
