TEN KEANE TRACKS IN SONG OF THE DECADE TOP 100

You might remember that, back in November, we told you about Absolute Radio's Song of the Decade poll. Well, we're pleased to report that the results were announced earlier this month and Keane had a whopping 10 songs in the Top 100! The Keane track positions are:

10 - Somewhere Only We Know
30 - Bedshaped
36 - Everybody's Changing
67 - Spiralling
69 - This Is The Last Time
70 - A Bad Dream
73 - Is It Any Wonder?
75 - Nothing In My Way
76 - Crystal Ball
79 - The Lovers Are Losing

Big thanks to all of you for voting for Keane. Head over to songofthedecade.com to check out the full 100.

WHAT IS KEANE GOING TO DO FOR 2010?

Right, a new year it's coming, with a new decade. After a excellent 2009 in the Keane world, the guys have a lot of plans to begin this 10' decade. So, what are Tom, Tim and Rich going to do in 2010? Here are a couple of things that Keane announced for the next year:

- The Night Train EP or "mini-album": 8 brand new tracks will be released on May 10, globally.

- The Forest Tour: With (up to now) 6 forest shows confirmed, the band will be playing the songs of The Night Train EP.

- Writing, Recording, Going Back To The Studio: On a special xmas podcast of Beyond The Iron Sea, Tim said this was one of the plans of he band for 2010.

- "Sovereign Light Cafe" on the next album: On the xmas podcast, Tim said this song wasn't finished, that it was going to be on the new album, and that he love it.

- Other plans of Tom, Tim and Richard: On Beyond The Iron Sea, Tim said that he has been collaborating with a lot of people, including Cathy Dennis, and that he has worked on an alternative project of counry rock. Tim doesn't know if anything of this it's going to be released, but for now he's only interested in Keane.
Tim added that the band talked about a solo album from Tom Chaplin, because Tom has some songs to do an album by himself, but that it's his choice. But Tom seems to be only interested in Keane too.
About Richard, there are no rumours about himself doing any other thing related to music but Keane, so he will be doing stuff with Amnesty International and Death Penalty.

TIM'S BOOK CLUB #2

Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles

I read a lot of music books. I've got a pile of them called things like Tips From Great Record Engineers, which will be endless stories of what microphone they used on the snare drum and stuff. They're specialist to say the least. I've been trying to get back into just reading for pleasure and I suppose also for inspiration, and not trying to get quite so hung up on the technical side of things.

But this book offers the best of both worlds. It's the autobiography of Geoff Emerick, the guy who engineered a lot of the Beatles' most important albums. Being a lifelong Beatles fan, I've read pretty much every book on them that there is. I don't think this one is massively well-known, but I've found it, as a musician, much more insightful, exciting and atmospheric than pretty much any of the others. It's got so much about the creative process of the Beatles. It was interesting to read about the way they spent their time in the studio. You always have this sort of image of the Beatles turning up in a chaotic mess, recording a masterpiece in about three hours, and then speeding off in an E-type Jag to some trendy club. But it really gives you an impression of how hard they worked and how much time they put into their writing and pre-production before they started recording stuff, working out harmonies and polishing up songs. For instance, he talks about sitting there with Paul McCartney all night working on a bassline note by note. I found it quite encouraging, because you always imagine that these guys had an almost supernatural talent to put down these amazing songs and productions without even thinking about it. It's kind of reassuring to know that they had to work really hard for it too.

It's a very, very interesting book if you're into learning about the actual creative process of a band. And this kind of book really does help you as a musician. I was actually reading it while I was writing songs for Perfect Symmetry, and I remember finding it very exciting and having that feeling of being in a room while great music is being made, which is definitely inspiring. It makes you think, "Oh, I could sit at a piano now and try and write a song like that." You get this surge of excitement and a feeling that you can do it too. And that's always a really, really great feeling.

Tim

(This book is not currently in print, but you should be able to find it on eBay or through Amazon sellers)

Tim's Book Club #1

BEST OF 2009 BANNER

Best of 2009 on km.com

A CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM KM.COM

Hello folks. To thank you for all your amazing support for keanemusic.com over this past year, we wanted to give you a little something. So here it is, a km.com desktop wallpaper / calendar for you to download. Click on the thumbnail to get it (and then save it to your computer).


Have a brilliant Christmas and we'll see you in 2010!

km.com

TIM LOOKS BACK ON 2009

Hi everyone. Just a quick note to say thank you so much for all your love and amazing enthusiasm and support in 2009.

I think it's been our best year of touring ever - so many new places and new friends, and every tour has been fantastic fun.

It's been great to keep up the creative momentum too, and we've got loads of great memories of recording the Night Train EP on our travels - Berlin, Copenhagen, Washington DC, Brisbane and many others. I think we may well be the luckiest people on the planet!

One thing that has really stuck in my head this year - I already mentioned this in a blog I think - was a message from someone in South America saying thanks for making music that "protests against everything that harms our world". That's a huge compliment for us, but it strikes me that I also think that spirit is embodied by you guys, the fans who come to shows all over the world and are always so passionate and joyful, but also so courteous and considerate of other people. You are a positive force in the world and we couldn't ask for a better bunch of people to share our music with.

2010 is nearly upon us already, and it's nice to have some plans other than "write lots of songs and make a record" already laid. The EP will be fun, and it's great to know we already have some touring booked. And, of course, we can't wait to get into the studio and make new music together once again.

Anyway, thanks again and here's wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Tim

TIM ON PODCAST XMAS SPECIAL

Yesterday afternoon, Tim headed along to Beyond The Iron Sea Towers to record a special Christmas edition of Chris and Andrew's much-loved unofficial Keane podcast. Head over to beyondtheironsea.com to download it for free.

VIDEO CONTEST: TOP PRIZE WINNER

Yes, after much head-scratching, debate and soul-searching, the band have picked the overall winner for our Hopes and Fears video contest. Over to Richard, who's holding the virtual golden envelope...

Watching back through all the song winners I was blown away again - they are all brilliant - such a variety of styles, and from all around the planet. But we've decided that the overall winner is Untitled #1 by Elmira Temirgaliyeva from Kazakhstan. I wish we could make a video that good!

I've loved watching the videos, and just want to thank every single person involved - we had no idea how huge this was going to be, and how many people would make videos!

Congratulations Elmira! Your amazing video wins you the deluxe Hopes And Fears bundle featuring a double CD, a T-shirt and a limited edition signed poster. Here is that fantastic winning video...

The seven other song winners will each receive a signed copy of the Hopes And Fears Deluxe Edition double CD. Congratulations to those guys too. Here are their videos again:

She Has No Time by Muhammad Abiyoso from Indonesia

Bend and Break by Kaidy Kuna from the US

Snowed Under by Karen Loewy from Barranquilla, Colombia

Can't Stop Now by Karla Solalinde from Monterrey, Mexico

Sunshine by Manida from Minnesota, USA

We Might As Well Be Strangers by Lareindedecoeur1 in Belgium

Your Eyes Open by Airiin from Estonia

We really had no idea that we started this that we'd end up with so many amazing videos. Thanks once again to everyone who entered.

VIDEO CONTEST: YOUR EYES OPEN WINNER

Hello. So, here it is, the very last indivudual winner of our H&F video contenst - for Your Eyes Open. This one was judged by Tom. Thanks again to everyone who submitted videos. All indivudual winners each get a signed copy of the Hopes And Fears Deluxe Edition.

Now that we've picked all eight video winners, the band are in the process of selecting the overall H&F video contest winner from the eight winners. With such a high standard of winning entries, it's sure to be a tough task, but we hope to announce the winner very soon.

WINNER

Airiin from Estonia
Tom: My winner! Beautiful interpretation of the song. Animation does it for me EVERY time. I was totally taken by surprise when the snowmen came to life! Love Richard's drum fill before the second chorus too! Bloody BRILLIANT!

RUNNERS-UP

Anastasiya K in Moscow
Tom: Very good indeed! Definitely a frontrunner with Airrin’s. Loved the Humpty Dumpty element to it and makes me wonder how all these so-called “professional” video directors who send us scripts come up with such bad stories all the time, when we have fans waiting in the wings with far greater imagination. I found it very, very hard to pick between this and Airrin's.

Scott N from the US
Tom: The chorus section is totally inspired! I think we may have to steal that for one of our future videos!! Like the varispeeding, especially in the middle eight. Really simple and effective vid...well done!

Alejandro A from Guatemala
Tom: Unsettling light and angles combined with sense of solitary confinement, so pretty dark emotionally! A more art-house style interpretation...

ALL THE OTHER ENTRIES (ONCE AGAIN, THERE'S SOME *GREAT* VIDEOS IN THIS LOT...!)

(In order of entry date)

Joanna Lie from Norway

Roy G from The Netherlands

Frédérique Durbec from France

Mac O in France

Romana in Croatia

Zöe M in England

Mariana in Aguascalientes, Mexico

Amelia H and Viv L in the UK

Sarah G in Germany

Millie and Ellie in the UK

Ana from Portugal

Laura and Carly from Vancouver, Canada

Leanne in the UK

Pilar from Spain

Claire from the UK

Emmanuel in Mexico

Branwen C in the US

BANNER