‘It changed everything in our lives’
◆ Tom Chaplin talks to Naomi Clarke about how Keane’s debut album transformed their fortunes as they celebrate with a 20th anniversary tour
The album was lifechanging for me and for the rest of the band,” says Keane frontman Tom Chaplin as he reflects on the indie rock group’s seminal debut album Hopes And Fears 20 years on from its release.
The group of 20-something schools friends had been playing gigs around London for years in the hope of making a name for themselves.
Fuelled by the hits Somewhere Only We Know and Everybody’s Changing, their first record soared up the charts across the world, including becoming one of the best selling album’s of the year in the UK. The following year it picked up the Brit award for best British album and secured them the British breakthrough act prize.
“I don’t think we ever expected then that Hopes And Fears would be quite the record that it became,” Chaplin says.
“It really was a mainstream success and all over the world and for an indie band who just wanted to make records it was exhilarating, but also, at times, quite a terrifying experience as well.
“Once you’re in that position you know that you’re probably going to be able to make records for for a long time into the future – it changed everything in our lives.
“And it was just a beautiful feeling to know that the music seemed to resonate with so many people so I look back on it with huge fondness.
The original line-up – consisting of composer and multi-instrumentalist Tim Rice-oxley, drummer Richard Hughes, guitarist Dominic Scott and singer Chaplin – all attended the private boarding school Tonbridge School in Kent.
Scott left the band in 2001 and Jesse Quin was later added as a bassist.
Chaplin recalls the years of graft within the mid-tolate-90s when they were set on breaking through when British bands such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp were among those dominating the scene.
“We had this dream of making it and trying to get a record deal and trying to emulate our heroes and we had this quite long period of time where we really had to work out a lot of things,” he says.
“We had to work out how to write songs, how to be a half decent live band, how to be heard, how to record and it felt like an age because we were desperate to get cracking and release music.
“There was no way of doing it back in those days unless you got a record deal, the traditional way back then.
“And I suppose those years between ’98, when we first started doing gigs, and getting a record deal in 2003, was just a long process of learning our craft.”
However, when their much sought-after success finally arrived, they group quickly learnt that it would come with a new plethora of challenges. A major strain on the band was navigating the intense scrutiny on their music and their background having gone to a private school now they were in the public eye.
“What I realised looking back is that you need to be so thick-skinned to cope with not just the criticism or the negative aspects, but also the adoration,” says Chaplin.
“You have to be able to take that with a pinch of salt as well because both ends of the spectrum aren’t really that real.”
They cemented their position within the music industry with their following studio albums – 2006’s Under The Iron Sea, 2008’s Perfect Symmetry and 2012’s Strangeland – which all went to number one. However the group announced they were going on a hiatus in 2013 to pursue other projects.
Chaplin, who suffered with drug and alcohol addiction during the early years of the band, has previously opened up on how he spiralled once again during this break.
Reflecting on how the swift rise to fame affected him, he says: “I definitely unravelled in a way and I guess I’m a much more robust human being these days.
“Sometimes I do look back and think ‘Oh God, I wish I’d been equipped with the same healthy emotional world and knowledge of myself that I have now back then’.”
After six years, the indie rockers made a comeback with their fifth studio album Cause And Effect, which peaked at number two in the UK, proving that their reunion was truly welcomed.
Their music has continued to find new audiences across the world through the power of social media as Tiktok users have latched on to the melodic tones of Somewhere Only We Know.
Chaplin is grateful for their music being giving a new lease of life and feels the secret to its longevity is the “classic sound” of their songs which he believes has not dated as much as some of their contemporaries’ work.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the record that started everything for them, the band are releasing a remastered version and are now on a world tour. Their summer schedule is also swiftly filling up as they have recently been announced to perform on the main Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in June before they headline Latitude Festival in July.
As for many groups, playing Glastonbury in 2004 was a pivotal moment for the band.
“As soon as I experienced Glastonbury I wanted to go back every year and I have done pretty much,” Chaplin says. “I’ve always gone back as a punter or playing with Keane or doing solo stuff. I adore the place, it’s an otherworldly experience.”