2007年6月英国Teletext采访Tim

(这个采访原本被分为了两部分发布)

Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley

2007.6.15 / 2006.6.18

by John Earls

In the first of a two part interview with keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley, the trio reveal plans for their future…

How are the new songs coming along?

We’re getting there. There’s four or five we’re really confident about.

How do the five winning songs sound?

Quite a variety, which is why it’s hard to say too much. It’s very early days.

Some take a direct line from Under The Iron Sea, a song like Leaving So Soon. The other side of the songs is newer. One is very, very different. It’s more of a Kanye West vibe. It’s fantastic, it’s got some great stuff in it, a very exciting piece of music. The name of it keeps changing. You could call it Keanye West. Ha! Exactly!

What do you want from your next album?

We need to reconcile these new ideas. We want to make a record that takes our music, and hopefully our genre, forward without making a mockery of instincts.

This sounds like a bleak comment, but I’m bored s***less of indie. The vibe from meeting Kanye or Pharrell – taking influences from anywhere, throwing it into a pot and whatever works stays – is what’s missing from indie, certainly on this side of the Atlantic.

How soon do you know if a song is good?

I normally get a feeling when I’m writing. I read Rufus Wainwright saying: "If I start crying when I write a song, I know it’s good." That’s typical Rufus, the operatic approach, but there’s some truth to it.

On a good day, some string of notes will come together and give you a little shiver. You’ve found a thread to follow and, if you can turn it into a song, they’re the great ones.

Tom’s writing songs for the first time since the band’s earliest days…

Yes, he’s writing quite a bit. But, more importantly, we’re trying to pool our resources creatively. It’s not the basic writing, it’s getting in a room, taking a basic form and having input.

Richard and Tom throw ideas at songs. We’ve had a couple of weeks of doing that, and they sound great. We’re finding things each of us are good at, which is why we formed the band.

What are your individiual strengths?

I’m quite good at the basic songs, but Tom puts twists on melodies and comes up with ideas that I would never think of. They’re beautiful twists. It’s really exciting, it stops us falling into the same old pattern.

Did your writing need that challenge?

Yeah, I think so. That, and taking influences from different places. I’m determined to push this band into different places.

(the second part) But, as the band gear up for a huge gig at London O2 on July 21, we ask how easy that will be in practice.

It’s easy for bands to say they want to push themselves…

It’s easier to say than to achieve. I can see why bands churn out the same songs over and over.

Are the new songs the first ones you’ve tried jamming as a band?

They were more like it on Hopes And Fears. Back then, we were rehearsing them to play at The Water Rats. It was exciting rehearsing a new song so you could play it live.

Iron Sea is a classic studio record. I’d present quite complete demos that were done on a tourbus, and we’d just go into the studio and the others added bits. We barely played those songs together before recording them.

Do you regret the way UTIS was written?

I don’t know. I’m quite glad we’ve done a record that way. It makes for a certain kind of record, a very dense one. It works with the style of record it is – very intense, lyrically dark.

It’s dense as you’d go in every day and say ‘I just want to add this idea.’ You end up with layers and layers. I’m really proud of it. But for us, our creative chemistry, it’s important to change it up again.

What are the new songs’ lyrics like?

Quite philosophical in places. I’ve just written a song I’m very pleased with which is about small-town America, it’s quite a rant. I’m not a big fan of its religious small-minded nature. There are a lot of good things about small-town US, like the community feel, but a lot of appalling things too.

I was having a day of feeling angry. I’m not sure why, but it turned itself into that song.

Is it a lighter record, not having to write about Tom’s personal issues now?

Well, as well as the personal aspect, the other main theme of Iron Sea was the political. That hasn’t gone away.

But I don’t want us to do another record about our personal troubles within the band. Hamburg Song and Broken Toy were very personal songs, difficult for Tom to sing and for us to play. We want a break from that, so in that respect it’ll be lighter.

Is it fate that brought Keane together?

Absolutely. We’re very lucky, we’ve known each other our whole lives. We’re stuck with each other!

There are very few meetings that change pop music – Lennon and McCartney at a church fete, Pet Shop Boys in a record shop. I love those little stories. I think it is fate. It’s a magical aspect of music. You can work hard, have the best intentions. But if the magic isn’t there, you’ll only be an ordinary band.