Sound of Keane

Keane are an English piano rock band , first established in Battle, East Sussex in 1995, and taking their current name in 1997. The group comprises composer, bassist, and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley, lead vocalist Tom Chaplin and drummer Richard Hughes. Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001. Keane are known for using a piano as their lead instrument instead of guitars, significantly differentiating them from most rock bands.

Keane have cited bands such as The Beatles, U2, Oasis, R.E.M. , The Smiths, Radiohead, Queen, a-ha, Marty Wilde, Pet Shop Boys and Paul Simon as influences. The band has been known as "the band with no guitars", due to its heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their piano sound, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to The Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's aforementioned distortion piano has set most of Keane's multifaceted style, varying from Hip Hop on "Dirtylicious" to house on "Tyderian".

Due to the piano-based music and the alternative sound of the debut album, critics first regarded Keane as Coldplay imitators;the media however, in supporting Keane, started calling them the "new Coldplay", with reference to their recent commercial success.Newer bands such as Morning Runner and The Fray have been compared to both Keane and Coldplay for the piano-oriented sound of their music.

Notable feuds with other artists were held with The Darkness, The Libertines, James Blunt and Oasis; Noel Gallagher famously dismissed them saying "Traditionally speaking, the three biggest twats in any band are the singer, the keyboardist and the drummer. I don't need to say anything else."[37] Keane have however stated that they have never had a feud with The Darkness or The Libertines and the story was misinterpreted by the media.

ALBUMS

• Hopes and Fears (2004)
• Under the Iron Sea (2006)
• Perfect Symmetry (2008)

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