FM5 traf Keane bei der nachmittäglich Pressekonferenz vor ihrem Wien-Konzert und bekam interessante Einblicke hinter die Bandkulissen.

“There isn’t a formula for writing a song that everyone´s going to love, but for us, we do what comes naturally to us…” (Tim Rice-Oxley)

Am Nachmittag vor ihrem Auftritt im Wiener Gasometer stehen Sänger Tom Chaplin, Pianist Tim Rice-Oxley und Drummer Richard Hughes für eine Pressekonferenz zur Verfügung und geben interessante Einblicke hinter die Bandkulissen.

Das britische Trio existiert seit 1997 und steht für große Melodien und bittersüße Texte, für wuchtige Hymnen und fragile Balladen. Erst seit dem Ausscheiden ihres damaligen Gitarristen formte sich der typische, auf Piano basierende Keane-Sound. Ihr erstes Album „Hopes And Fears“ ging bisher in Europa bereits drei Millionen Mal über den Ladentisch.

Die „Gitarrenfrage“ ist eine oft gestellte, welche Sänger Tom Chaplin dahingehend beantwortet, dass es nicht darum geht, ob eine Gitarre mit im Spiel ist oder nicht, sondern dass sich eigentlich alles ums Songwriting dreht. Und das ist es auch, was Keane von anderen (britischen) Bands unterscheidet.

Tom Chaplin: “In my mind, I hope this isn´t arrogant, it´s the songwriting, it´s the songs and the emotional quality, and the power of them. I think it´s a very unique thing that no other band has at the moment. The sonic side, the fact that we don´t use guitars, that is unusual, but the power is in the songwriting. It´s a rare thing and we are very lucky to have that, I think that´s what distinguishes us from lots of other bands coming out of Britain . We were never convinced that we didn’t need guitars. Again, it´s like the songwriting, it´s what comes naturally to you, that´s what great rock´n´roll music is, it´s nothing to with guitars, it´s about expressing yourself in a kind of simple and pure way, and with us, we have chosen instruments that we can all play. I just sing, Richard plays the drums and Tim plays the piano.”

Unsere Frage nach dem „nice guys next door“-Image der Band entlockte den Anwesenden ein Lachen und löste damit ein wenig die anfängliche Befangenheit.

FM5: You seem to represent the image of the proper and polite “guys next door”. Is that real or is it an image, or is there another side, a “sex, drugs and rock´n roll”-side of Keane?

Richard Hughes: “Oh you found us out” (lacht)

Tim Rice-Oxley: “I don´t think we´re actively promoting. I think what basically matters to us is music and the image side of it is not so important for us because we think the strength of it is in the songs, in the playing, in the sound of the music, and that´s what people are connecting with. I mean music can start to get too linked with fashion and style and sometimes I think it can suck the life out of it. If you take a band like U2 for all the kind of wonderful fashion and style and sunglasses (lacht) … but what stands up is fantastic records and great songs that people still love and listen to now. And that´s why they wanted to be remembered, not for other reasons. I´m sure there´s plenty that goes on behind the scenes that will probably banish us from being the boys next door, I don´t really know. It´s not important.”

Keane ist eine der wenigen Bands, die die es schafft, sowohl für anspruchsvolle, im Alternativsektor angesiedelte, als auch für massenkompatible, mainstream-taugliche Musik zu stehen. Auf Österreich umgelegt bedeutet das vereinfacht ausgedrückt, dass die Musik von Keane sowohl auf FM4 als auch Ö3 läuft. Wie sie es schaffen, dass ihre Musik so viele verschiedene Leute erreicht, erklärt Tim Rice-Oxley folgendermaßen:

Tim: "No one really knows, there isn’t a formula for writing a song that everyone´s gonna love, but for us, we do what comes naturally to us, we try to write songs that are very honest, I think lyrics are really important, it´s a very underrated side of rock music. You can have a song with the best catchy melody in the world but if the song doesn´t speak to people, it´s gone in a week. The things we write about are probably the things we experienced, that mean a lot to a lot of people.”

Pianist/Keyboarder Tim Rice-Oxley zeichnet als Songwriter auch für die Texte verantwortlich. Wir wollten von ihm wissen, wie er an die Kompositionen herangeht.

FM5: Tim, I heard that it´s you who comes up with the songs, do you also write lyrics? And how do you write the songs, where do all these fantastic melodies come from? Do you have to sit down and concentrate on composing a song or do melodies appear when you go for a walk in the park (or something like that)?

Tim: “I do write most of the lyrics as well, but I don´t know how to write a song really. Probably bit of both, you have to try and sit down every day and play a bit, but then you can sit and play for hours and hours and nothing happens and then you go for a walk in the park and suddenly get an idea that comes out of nowhere. If you´re really lucky than you get a song that comes out of the air and then it´s in your head and that happens sometimes, like Bedshaped. that always makes me very happy because it´s easier. You got to have the hope for some inspiration.

Über das harte Tourleben „on the road“ angesprochen und woraus die band ihre Energie schöpft, reagiert Tom Chaplin äußerst euphorisch.

Tom: “It´s very easy to be energised & excited. Being in Vienna for example, coming back to a place and finding more people who are into your music, and understanding and connecting with the weird things you do, it´s exciting. I don´t know if we will ever get bored of touring, just because it´s a great way of meeting and understanding your fans and finding out that it´s not about record sales or number one´s, it´s about making an emotional connection with people, by playing live. We are incredibly excited to still be on tour and that people still want to come and see us.”

Ob sich Keane Kollaborationen mit anderen Musikern vorstellen könnten und mit wem sie gerne zusammenarbeiten würden, dies beantwortet Drummer Richard Hughes ironisch: „We´re still at the stage that if we´re in the room of someone famous we sort of giggle and say, look there´s Bono. We don´t have the guts to say hello and ask them to collaborate on a film score or something, it´s a bit far down the road for us, but I like the idea.”

Schließlich verrät Tim noch einige Details zu den Songs und zum Stil des heiß erwarteten zweiten Albums.

Tim: “We´ve got about 30 new, good new songs, in April we get into the studio and play together and then we will find out whether we actually got anything good. We wanna make a record that´s really great and much better than the first record and that´s a progression. And that means that the songs have to be better. The ones we hopefully play live tonight, we´re really excited about. I don´t know so far about the sound yet, it will be a bit more raw and maybe a bit more funky. The bands that we listen to are not all just kind of white British Indiebands, so we don´t necessarily wanna be part of that tradition of kind of earnest British music, we want a bit more funkyness, a bit more rock and a bit more sexyness to our music.”

Am Ende der Pressekonferenz bekamen Keane von einem Vertreter der Plattenfirma die Goldene Schallplatte für 100.000 in Österreich verkaufte Exemplare ihres Albums „Hopes And Fears“ überreicht. Die Band jubelt und widmet als Dank beim abendlichen Konzert einen der neuen Songs der Stadt Wien. Und alle sind glücklich... 

Fotos: Christine Elsner & Stephan Brückler