Greetings one and all! Much as the song suggested, I have been checking my sums and it has shamefully been almost another three months since there was any kind of meaningful update on this blog or website. All my good intentions have fallen by the wayside! Since I'm growing as weary as you are of apologies for the hugely intermittent updates, I shall simply say that real life has been getting in the way (things in my day job have been pretty crazy over the past while, as well as lots of stress in the run up to my driving test - which I passed, go me!), but that I now plan to get back in the saddle of Keane geekery (and yes, this time I do mean it!).
However, the period without updates did once again fire home how quickly time flies by, and of how the speed with which it is propelled seems to increase with each passing year. Firstly, it dawned on me that one year ago today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mr. Tim Rice-Oxley for lunch and an extended chat about the band, their gear and the then-impending completion of the third album. "Can that really be a year ago already?" was my immediate thought. It's been quite a year, what with the new album and its many sonic twists and turns, various live shows (small and large) and lots of support and encouragement from ladies' favourite, Jesse Quin. In fact, the past year has probably been the most exciting one I've had (though that may just be proving how dull my life is generally). But in a way, it's all been such a blur and it feels like its gone by in the blink of an eye.
Thinking about the passage of time then got me delving even further into my own personal Keane past, as well as into the band's history generally. It's amazing to think that I've been following/obsessing over/stalking (delete as you feel appropriate) those three lads from Battle for five and a half years now, yet it's truly terrifying at the same time! To say that I was a young man back then would clearly be bending the definition of the word quite a bit, but in my mid(ish)-twenties it was such an exciting time - getting familiar with songs that would within the space of a year become classics, sung by thousands at festivals all over the world and becoming cornerstones of an album that would be cruelly robbed of the UK top-seller-of-2004 spot by the narrowest of margins (yes, I'm looking at you, Scissor Sisters). There was the genuine excitement of tracking down radio session recordings and old demos, with the trepidation of that initial tentative listen. The example that sticks in my mind was my first listen to a recording of Somewhere Only We Know - by that point, I had already been completely bowled over by songs like Everybody's Changing, This Is The Last Time, Bend And Break and She Has No Time, so I was surprised by how distinctly underwhelmed I was by it. Dare I say it, but it felt quite plodding and boring, with none of the hooks and charm of the others. Well, we can all get things wrong sometimes!
The joy of going to those early gigs is also something that looms large in the memory. Seeing them up-close in the Glasgow branch of Fopp for a tiny acoustic session was an amazing introduction to how good these guys were live - I remember being particularly blown away by how powerful Tom's vocals were, even in such small, lowly surroundings, and then seeing Tim pound away at that rickety, battered old Yamaha CP70 piano ignited my fascination with the quirky-yet-brilliant instrument. At the legendary King Tut's that evening, there was also the humorous site of Richard being able to walk freely through the crowd chatting to people, with most of those attending being unaware of who the band members were, having came along in response to the buzz surrounding this up-and-coming band. Even a few months down the line, that type of thing had became impossible!
Of course, this trip down memory lane wouldn't be complete without mentioning the many great people that I've gotten to know through the years as a result of being a Keane fan. Given the global appeal of the band, it's quite mad to think of the time that I signed up to the official messageboard - if my memory serves, there were just over 100 other members! Being such a small community, it made it easy to get to know people very quickly... a lot of friendships and relationships were formed as a direct result of this band and this community. Whilst some inevitably moved onto other interests and other bands, the friendships still remain and it's been a pretty magical thing really - its something I know that a lot of other people reading this share, so its not just a case of me being unable to function in a normal social level (though that is a factor, of course). Having been a fan of many other bands over the years, I've never experienced anything quite like it elsewhere... in many ways, it's almost like an extended Keane family. Complete with the same degree of trivial arguments and infuriating personality traits!
But let's leave all that aside for now and get back to the music! If we're talking about history, there is the whole other story of Keane to consider... the journey of the band from their formation as a four-piece back at home in East Sussex in 1997 through their early shows in small venues across the south of England, through the trials, tribulations and disappointments of trying to get a record deal (while having to watch as their friends and previous gig-circuit colleagues Coldplay scale ever-greater heights of success), the difficult task of re-inventing themselves and finding a new sound and approach after Dom left the band, right up to the turning point in 2003 with the release of the Fierce Panda singles. I suspect that no-one reading this will have been around in those early days (other than the band themselves, of course - I'm sure they keep checking the site daily in the hope that I've updated!), but while trawling through a load of old files on my computer the other day, I found a transcript of the news page from the old, old, old version of the KM.com site (i.e. back in the days when the band themselves were still maintaining it!).
Reading through it brought back a few interesting gems of information, some of which I thought were particularly worth sharing. First off, here's an excerpt from an entry by Richard on February 22nd 2003, where he was discussing a recent show at The Marquee in London:
Immediately of interest is the fact that Tom's Closer Now (recently resurfaced on Annie Lennox's greatest hits collection as Pattern Of My Life) was still in the set-list even in 2003, yet apparently never managed to make the final cut for the debut album sessions (unlike all the other songs around it). Perhaps even more intriguing though is the fact that they were actively rehearsing Untitled 1 with a view to playing it live - yet, unless I'm very much mistaken, it's one song that they have never actually played live at all. Maybe it's electronic, introspective vibe didn't sit comfortably alongside the more upbeat songs that formed the backbone of the set-lists... it's a shame that we never got to hear it though!
In a similar vein, another posting from Richard on April 10th 2003 revealed an even more intriguing rehearsal:
We all know Can't Stop Now of course, but the mythical Russian Farmer's Song is a song that remains a mystery to pretty much everyone. Aside from having what is surely the strangest title of any Keane track ever, it's clearly also another track that could have been a contender for at least being a b-side but has never publicly surfaced (even in demo form). Unless they just changed its name to something else and released it... but that would ruin the intrigue, so let's ignore that possibility!
Going quite a bit further back, there are a number of other tracks from the early days that have also never seen the light of day (or more accurately, never appear to have hit the file-sharing sites of the internet):
[18/10/2000] ... Spent the rest of the weekend and Monday working on some new tracks... "If Not You" and "I'll Live in Fear" starting to sound really cool... "Start the Car" proving more problematic but it's early days for all of them. ... [tim]
[15/09/2000] We played at the Club With No Name in Peterborough last weekend - another chance to play to people who don't know our music, and to play a couple more songs than usual. Tom was in fine string-breaking form, but we charged through: Pot of gold, Morsel, Less is More, Call Me What You Like, Closer Now, New One, Maps, Wolf at the Door. ... [richard]
It's all pretty fascinating stuff - well, if you're as much of a geek as I am, at least! Even after all these years, there are still tonnes of unheard Keane songs out there, locked up in the vault (or on a CD buried at the bottom of Tim's attic, maybe). Hopefully, the guys will be releasing another retrospective E.P. soon (a recent comment from Tim on KM.com seemed to hint at a release of The Happy Soldier), which will offer another couple of previously-unreleased songs. In an altogether stranger twist though, even those very early tracks like Pot Of Gold may well also be given an unexpected release of sorts, albeit via an unofficial source...
A few weeks ago, a company called Video Seconds posted on the messageboard to say that they would be releasing DVDs of three early Keane shows - two from the Bull And Gate, and one from The Hope And Anchor. This caused a bit of a flurry of excitement, and the release of one song onto YouTube certainly seems to prove that the footage exists and is genuine. As with all things though, a bit of a brouhaha then developed after people had (perfectly reasonably) asked if the band were aware of the footage and had been consulted about its sale, since it wasn't coming through the official channels. The Video Seconds folks got narky in response, which then triggered off a tit-for-tat case of one-upmanship in the argument - it rumbled on for a bit before the shadowy (yet strangely alluring-sounding) figure of Jenni_admin from Keane HQ came in to lock the threads and recommend that no-one purchases it until they've investigated it fully.
This seems like a reasonable course of action to me - I'm pretty sure that there was a similar post about a release of one of these gigs back in 2005 or 2006, but nothing ever came of it (other than a blocky, postage-stamp-sized video clip of Call Me What You Like and More Matey). Having said that though, I'd say I'm cautious but hopeful... given the rarity of the material contained in those gigs, if Video Seconds can actually deliver the goods as they've claimed then I'd happily part with the cash for a copy. Whether or not they'll be allowed to release it is a different matter, of course - I can certainly understand that the band's organisation would be keen to ensure that fans aren't being ripped off (unless its through official channels, of course - a bit of satire there, folks!), so hopefully they'll be able to satisfy themselves that its legit and OK to go out (or even take it on themselves). Obviously, it's also the understatement of the year the band have moved on sonically from those days and those songs, so in one sense it might not be entirely surprising if they'd rather those rough and ready tracks from their younger selves didn't get out and detract from what they are doing now. But given that this is the type of thing that that is only going to be on-the-radar of the more hardcore fans, and they've already got most of the old demos anyway, I don't think that aspect is something that the band will worry about too much.
So, perhaps we will get a glimpse into the band's past after all and we really can get an idea of what it was like for those young men and their struggle to make it happen back in the day. Given the recent lack of b-sides on single releases, any "new" material would be much appreciated by fans and I'm sure that there's a pandora's box of previously unreleased stuff just waiting to be heard... c'mon guys, don't be scared to share some of your earlier work! After all, it's all a crucial stage on the journey that's lead to where you are today - I say embrace it, rather than run away from it!
Maybe some things are best left in the past though. Dom's hat is the first thing that springs to mind... :)