Tom Chaplin of Keane
Earlier this week, we caught up with Tom Chaplin, lead singer of Keane in a rather noisy 100 Club off Oxford St, London. Click here to watch all of Keane's music videos.
What will it be like to knock Oasis off the top slot?
"You know, I'm not really concerned about Oasis, all I'm concerned is with how our record does. I'd be absolutely thrilled if our record goes to number one. You know, I feel like Noel Gallagher sets the trap and he wants bands like us to walk into it, and I just refuse to do it. I don't think it's the way things should be done. I don't think music should be treated so light heartedly. It's the most powerful art form we have and to bring it down to base level is not what I'm up for, so I'm not concerned about knocking Oasis off, but it would be lovely to be back at number one, put it that way."
What's the best song that you've ever heard?
"I completely fell in love when I was eighteen, with 'OK Computer', like a lot of people my age, and the song 'Let Down' from that album, which is one of the most perfectly conceived songs of all time, in every respect, it's a great lyric, just brilliant vocals, brilliant performances and as a song on an album it's great. I used to remember just sitting in a fug of dope smoke and just having it turned up to full on my stereo and being completely absorbed in what it was, and that whole record was like that, but particularly that song."
What's the best song that you've ever written?
"Well I think 'Perfect Symmetry' the title track from this album. I think you have to play close attention to the lyrics and there's a frustration I have about being in Keane, which is that I find that, especially people who write us off, have not spent very much time with the words to our music and I kind of feel that they are pivotal, especially on this record."
What's the best city you've ever been too?
"I was back in Edinburgh the other day, and I haven't been there for a very long time. I spent a year there as a student, and then I gave it all up to come back to London to sort of, seek fame and fortune with the band which took a very long time. So for a very long time I regretted leaving Edinburgh and really missed the place and it was great to go back there the other night and it's got this incredible smell to it, because they have the McEwans beer factory. At certain times of the year you can get this smell of bubbling hops, and smell is probably more nostalgic than anything else and it brought back this flood of memories and this whole life I'd had for a year that had gone, so you know Edinburgh, I kind of hold dear to my heart."
Who's the best looking man or woman?
"I mean, David Bowie, he's a fairly beautiful figure as a man. It's funny, because everyone's picked out the beginning of 'Better than this' and then gone on to say that, 'Better than this' is the same song as 'Ashes to Ashes', whereas it's just a sound at the top of the song, the song actually is quite different, but actually more than anything else, it's the spirit of David Bowie that we loved stealing for this album, that sense of reinvention and being quite extravagant with everything that you do and a sense of fun in the sound that we nicked off him."
What's the best way to spend an hour?
"I live in the middle of nowhere and I absolutely love just going out and running through the countryside, because I'm very easily distracted as a person and I'll take the easy way out whether it's watching TV or switching the radio on. I like having noise around me and I don't like spending too much time thinking, I'm probably too afraid of what I'll start thinking of. But when I go running, I just have this sense of freedom and it's very liberating mentally, and I just love being out in the open space where there are no more humans and you're on your own. So that's a very good way of spending an hour. There are a whole multitude of ways of spending an hour and I'm very good at it!"
