Doing ‘well’ for himself
Tom Chaplin grappled with his drug demons for a decade, both during Keane’s chart-topping, multi-million-selling success and as a solo performer. During the making of his 2016 solo debut The Wave, Hastingsborn Tom, posh son of a private school headmaster, nearly died when he returned to the cocaine habit that had seen him admitted to The Priory for rehab in 2006.
Now in recovery after a psychoanalyst helped him kick the habit, Tom, 38, is celebrating his restored relationship with wife Natalie and their three-year-old daughter with his seasonal second solo outing, Twelve Tales of Christmas.
“Getting well has afforded me the opportunity to reflect a lot more on my life and the world around me,” he reflects.
“I really tried to write and make an album that covered the full range of human experience, particularly at a time of year when we are likely to feel so many different things.”
Tom’s fave Christmas tune is The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York, and his personal approach to the festive season has given him a chance to show a side his doublebarrelled Keane chum Tim RiceOxley would probably never countenance.
“It’s certainly a challenging time of the year to write about and maybe it’s the kind of project that’s best explored in a solo guise. It allows me to follow my flights of fancy,” Chaplin admits.
He remembers the Christmases of his childhood – carol singing and knocking on neighbours’ doors, collection bucket in hand, with affection.
But his forthcoming Christmas shows will present a challenge.
“They’re going to be a bit of a logistical headache – having choirs and strings involved inevitably makes things more complicated,” he says. “However, it’ll be worth it because it’ll make for a unique, warm and beautiful-sounding run of shows.”
With Keane in hiatus and having no plans to reform, Tom is already thinking of a hometown summer show on Hastings’ newly restored, award-winning pier, reopened by fellow local boy Suggs and his band Madness in 2016.
Tom, now a picture of health, says: “The way the pier has been revamped it seems perfect for a big communal sing-song on a warm summer’s evening. With the sound of waves crashing in around me.”
Twelve Tales of Christmas album is out now. New single Midnight Mass released on December 22.
Literate pop writers can have their drawbacks but wordwise Lawrence O’Shea combines verbal dexterity with a vivid and often surprising musical template. Boo Hewerdine, no songwriting slouch himself, realised the potential in demos and his production gives the affectionately catchy (Molly Ringwald) and radiant, yearning songs (Work In Progress) the punch and brightness to which they naturally gravitate. Diverse influences are combined into a rare brew delivered with confidence and elan.