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Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

agibbons by Anthony Gibbons [Edit this content] ▾ 56 comments 14:46 May 29th, 2004


keane
I have a confession to make: I like Keane. There, I’ve said it, and yet judging by Neil Robertson’s ‘against’ piece on the band, and by reading some of your comments on the DiS message boards, I feel like I have to apologise.

Keane’s debut album ‘Hopes And Fears’ is one of this year’s best, and I don’t agree with Neil’s assertion that it’s "production-line lite-indie". I think the Sussex trio have written an important-sounding, emotionally literate record, dropping the guitars and instead using powerful percussion and striking piano to underpin Tom Chaplin’s stunning voice, which swoops and soar across the album’s 12 tracks. And I think it sounds fucking great.

‘Hopes And Fears’ is an honest record made by an honest band who wear their heart on their sleeves and who don’t have any claims to being a 'rock' band. Keane are three, well-educated, musically proficient men who just happen to come from a middle class background (which for some is a non-starter straight off - pathetic). Keane have made an uncomplicated and warm album that also happens to be comfortable and radio-friendly, something which must really rile the indie purists/snobs that populate this site.

I’ve also got a problem with Andrew Future’s review of ‘Hopes And Fears’. Andrew reckons Keane fans listen to "lowest common denominator daytime rock" and "shop at JJB Sports". Talk about tarring everyone with the same brush! Using myself as a case for the defence against this condescending clap trap: I’m a single, white male, earning a reasonable wage. I shop where I like and I wear what I want. I have an eclectic musical taste which takes in The Broken Family Band, Hope Of The States and Squarepusher but I also like supposed ‘bedwetters’ Coldplay and Snow Patrol. I also happen to think I have a fairly sunny disposition despite facing the same day-to-day struggles as pretty much everyone else i.e. trying to pay the bills on time, saving up to find somewhere of my own to live, and seeing my favorite football team relegated to Division Three.

So, if that means putting on the Keane album, enjoying it, losing myself in it, and yeah, fuck it, crying to it (see ‘relegated’, ‘Division Three’) than I must be a bad, bad boy because as 'Somewhere Only We Know' says “I’m getting old and I need something to rely on.” I like Keane and, no, I’m no longer going to apologize for it.

Keane

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

This is great - not because I like Keane too (although I think the album's a little overproduced), but because it's good to see someone acknowledge that it's possible to have varied tastes. In December of last year/ January of this year, I saw Keane and Metallica in the space of a month...

Fine for people not to like it - but I'm also with Anthony in his hatred of the stereotyping of music (middle class/dinner party/JJB sports customer etc. etc.), which is just deeply patronising. For my part, I'm mostly a rock fan with some indie pretensions and there are a lot of bands out there - Starsailor springing immediately to mind - that bore me to within an inch of my life. But I really like Keane. No idea why, nor do I feel the need to explain.

I put on records to make me happy. And I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like Keane - but to single them out as the cause for problems with radio playlisting/ record companies/ the record industry/ the decline of western civilisation as we know it is just stupid.
Damian | 29 May '04, 14:59 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

Sometimes the most impassioned defences are the simplest ones. We can't all be Keats.
Damian @elgor | 29 May '04, 16:14 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

>My opinion on Keane: I'm sorry but I don't like bedwetter indie. The problem is that there are far more talented bands out there who don't get signed cos of bands like Keane making nice little ballads with string sections in them, which ppl in their 30's and 40's buy.

Oh come on. By all means dislike them but avoid all the usual cliches. I'm 31, but most people at the two Keane gigs I've attended were a lot younger than me. The 'bedwetter' label is just meaningless. And no band hasn't been signed just because of Keane. Plenty of bands haven't been signed (or have been dropped) due to the idiocy of record companies and radio playlisting. But none of this has happened because of Keane.

Incidentally, there are no string sections on the Keane album... if you care.
Damian @CaviarAndCigarets | 29 May '04, 21:39 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

How are Rushden 'fake'? Because they're not called Irthlingborough any more? Or because they had an investor invest a lot of money? So... for a club who are already small to not be 'fake', and thus 'real', they must be financially crippled, and unable to raise money to fund growth?
brusma @CaviarAndCigarets | 30 May '04, 10:04 | X | Reply

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

for me their 'proficient' musical talent doesn't lead me to believe anything about their hearts on their sleeves. pretty much anyone can learn how to play a piano - but the difference between a good band who use pianos and a bad band who use pianos is what they do with them. i'm sure if rock had been dominated by pianos instead of guitars, Keane would be regarded as the Busted of our generation - radio-friendly plinkyplonky melodies that act as a 'way in' for anyone still clasped by the sweaty hand of the mainstream music industry. And, as with Busted, the band need to be taken with a pinch of salt. We can lie safe in the knowledge that we know of a shitload of better bands who are doing the same kind of thing - and when anyone tells us 'i like keane, do you know anything else like them?', we can jump into a half-hour-long list of bands bearing similar traits and the reasons you should buy their albums with your, or your parents, hard earned cash.
the article sounds like anthony only half believes that the 'powerful percussion and striking piano' is really all that powerful and striking.

but thats just my opinion, and it's very early.

mike.
waves | 30 May '04, 11:07 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

That's precisely how i feel. why does dis need to care about bands like this? they're inconsequential apart from the fact they're as bland as dido, and if you're bland enough, you can get some media attention. booorrrring!
sean @WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG | 30 May '04, 16:44 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

if you feel that, take the article down, boss.
brusma @sean | 30 May '04, 17:04 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

But I don't think we should ignore a band just because they're successful. It says so in Almost Famous.
Andy @sean | 30 May '04, 17:30 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

I think you'll find that most of the bands you rate highly also have/had huge followings of teenage girls.
shadyadie @santas-little-helper | 30 May '04, 18:25 | X | Reply

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

As a fan of Coldplay, I too thoroughly resent being tarred with the same brush as Keane fans.

Everyone knows that Coldplay fans wet the bed with SPUNK.
SeymourMBA | 31 May '04, 13:52 | X | Reply

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

Sorry this is late- encouraging comment, here.
elmsyrup | 31 May '04, 15:37 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

But if pianos were the dominant force, maybe they would play guitar, or harp or something?
elmsyrup @waves | 31 May '04, 15:41 | X | Reply

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

Does anyone know that Keane haven't got a guitarist?

Crazy.
Kevtheone | 6 Jun '04, 13:37 | X | Reply

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

hmmmm - I suspect that a particularly constructed press release trigged the flavour of this article - it seems to be the in thing amongst record labels to generate a love / hate thing around bands - fuck it its always worked at getting 'the faithful' to be even more so - so that they get so obsesed that they forget that their band can also be shite at time as well and go out and buy 14 copies of each release.

I am drinking cider and listening to Northside (whos album I remeber buying 3 copies of in 1990 in disgust at its chart position) - which I thoroughly reccomend - (the drinking and listening - not the excessive buying)
bobslayer | 7 Jun '04, 02:52 | X | Reply

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

Oh and thanks for pointing out to me about their lack of guitar - now I understand why they just sound unfinished!

(ps I also recomend Flowered Up)
bobslayer | 7 Jun '04, 02:56 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

Yah, it's like Yogi Berra once said: "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."
ourobourosrat @R_A_G_E | 8 Jun '04, 13:47 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

indie that makes your bed wet.
easy_rob @a4747 | 11 Jun '04, 11:37 | X | Reply

Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

I think Keane are a weak band, great he can sing, but wheres the freaking imagination, theres not one stunning piece of music, or harmonisation, or anything that makes u want to cry with emotion. Its just a nice voice over some basic piano chords! Feed the masses with bollocks music that they can listen to 'cus its easy on their ears!
IcedB | 11 Jun '04, 15:23 | X | Reply

Re: Hopes And Jeers: A Keane Fan Speaks Out

Finally! I've come across someone with some sense in his head. I listen to Keane all the time, and "Somewhere Only We Know" is my favorite emotional song. I also like Eminem (he's hilarious). I enjoy listening to Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Weezer, The Killers, and sometimes Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and Green Day.
I live in America, so not many others here recognize Keane, but I could pinpoint one of their songs from a mile away. Tom has a captivating voice. And to those who like to make fun of the band, why are you even wasting your time talking about them?
People are idiots.
I'm a 16 year old girl, therefore most assume I know nothing about nothing. But I know music, and anyone who puts down such a successful band doesn't know jack-crap.
At least Keane doesn't sing about screwing every girl in sight, and doesn't have a dozen slutty women in bikinis riding up on the band. They don't touch base about being rich or tough or famous. They put into words and melodies what I feel inside. That is respected music. And anyone who disagrees can go sit in a closet and play with their imaginary friends. Because that's all they're ever going to get.
nameless @KV-Man | 5 Aug '05, 05:06 | X | Reply

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