2006年7月Keane官网：Tim回答歌迷的问题（第一轮）

TIM ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS
03.07.06 | 04.30.pm
Mr R-O responds to the first set of ‘Ask Keane’ questions

Thanks to all of you who’ve posted questions for the band via the ‘Ask Keane’ section of the Ezine (keep them coming!). We emailed a batch to Tim and his replies are below. Look out for more answers soon (they’ll all be archived in the Ask Keane section). Now, without further ado…

“Do you find it easier to put lyrics onto a piece of music or write the music around the lyrics of a song?”
Tom Molloy
Tim replies: The ideal situation for me is that I write a melody and as I’m writing it I get some bits of lyrics that help to suggest or solidify what the song will be about. Often I find that I don’t know exactly what I want to write about until the music starts pouring out and I start tapping into thoughts and ideas that I’ve hidden away somewhere. When that happens, the music informs the lyrics and the lyrics inform the music, so they work together very organically and those tend to be the best songs. Sometimes I’ll write a melody and it won’t be until months later that I manage to make a breakthrough and find the lyrics that bring the song to life. It’s harder for those songs to work, but occasionally you get lucky, like with ‘A Bad Dream’. I also have notebooks full of lyrics which I write without music, and I’ll often cannibalise those for little phrases or ideas. So basically it’s a big, chaotic process and I’ve no idea where it all comes from.

“How old were you when you wrote your first song? What was it about?”
Aki Shibuya
Tim replies: When I was about 12 I got really into writing songs for the first time, although they were pretty dreadful! The earliest one I can remember was a sort of cheesy disco number, and the lyrics were utterly mindless cliches about unrequited love, I think. If I remember rightly the chorus went, “You know I love you baby/But you can’t be here with me/If you were then you would see/That I am better than he.” Woeful. That was before the band. Things got much better once we were playing together, because we were all writing and pushing each other to write better stuff. Some of the early songs from about ‘96, ‘97, ‘98, that sort of period, are pretty decent really – ‘Captain Planet’, ‘Gingerbread’, ‘High Time’, ‘Melodrama’, ‘Less Is More’ are a few that spring to mind. We should put them all out on a Beatles-style anthology one day…with some sort of “Warning: These songs may be shit” sticker on the front.

“Could you please explain the video for ‘Atlantic’? It’s really interesting, I understand some parts, but others are a little confusing.”
Mary Hayes
Tim replies: The beauty of that video for me is that everybody interprets it in different ways. It’s arty and thought-provoking, which is exactly what we wanted from Irvine, and exactly what we tried to do with ‘Under The Iron Sea’. My view is that it’s a look at various kinds of human folly, with the cheery but accurate conclusion that all roads lead unassailably to death. Not your typical MTV fodder.

The ‘Atlantic’ video: “A look at various kinds of human folly” (possibly including
penalty shoot-outs)

“Have you ever hurt yourself during a show? You all do some serious rocking out!”
Mikaela
Tim replies: I’ve yet to sustain any serious injury. Although I’m worried about my neck, because I do tend to get carried away once the adrenalin’s flowing and do a lot of head-banging. I managed to smash my head into the piano during ‘Bend And Break’ once, which was pretty painful and left me reeling for a minute. I also hammer the piano keys very hard (I often break strings, which on a piano is quite an achievement!), and I sometimes cut my fingers. Once a cut starts bleeding onto the white keys, it just keeps bleeding and spreading as I’m playing. That can look fabulously gory, even though it’s only actually a small cut. Probably the only really painful injury I’ve had playing was when we were filming the video for ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ a couple of months ago. The camera was mounted on a little train of three fairly hefty cars, and as it zoomed around the track it had to pass through my legs once on each lap. I was getting lost in performing and I kept forgetting when the camera was approaching, so a couple of times it came crashing into my shins, which was inordinately painful and left some suitably messy gashes. Other than that, so far so good!

“When was the last time that you told a lie?”
Sam
Tim replies: I very, very rarely tell lies. Partly because it always comes back to bite you one way or the other, and partly because the guilt just gnaws away at me until I come clean! I don’t like having any secrets. Anyway, I can’t remember any decent lies I’ve told lately. Actually, I’ve just remembered one, but I’m not telling…

2006年7月Keane官网：Tim回答歌迷的问题（第一轮）

Tim来回答你的问题

Mr (Tim) R-O 现在回答在（Keane官网）’Ask Keane’ 版块里的第一轮问题。

感谢所有在Ezine的Ask keane版块里向乐队提出问题的歌迷。我们把一些发email给了Tim。他的回复如下。请留意不久后我们给出的更多回答。所有回答都会保存在Ask Keane的档案里。现在，大家不用在心急了…

“你觉得是在音乐里填词容易些呢，还是就歌词作曲容易些？” – Tom Molloy
Tim：对于我来说，最理想的状况就是一边写一些曲调，一边就写一些歌词来显示或强化这首歌的内涵。通常我会发现直至音乐如潮水般涌来时，我才知道要写些什么。然后我就开始找到原来隐藏在某处的想法和主意。这些就是音乐启示歌词，然后歌词又启示音乐。所以当它们能有机地结合在一起，这就是一首好歌。有时我会写出一段曲调，但要在几个月后我才取得突破，找到能让这首歌有生命力的歌词。这种歌比较难制作，但有时你就会有运气，就像“A Bad Dream”。我还有一本我在没有音乐的情况下写的歌词的笔记本。我时常会从中摘取一部分来作为一小段或者是灵感。所以基本上这是一个庞大而又混乱的过程。我都不知道它从何而至。

“你在几岁写了你的第一首歌？它是说什么的？” – Aki Shibuya
Tim：我在12岁开始真正地去写歌，虽然它们很糟啊！最早的那首，我记得是一种低俗的disco音乐，歌词呢是关于单相思的没脑的陈词滥调。如果我没记错的话，高潮部分是这样的：“You know I love you baby/But you can’t be here with me/If you were then you would see/That I am better than he.”糟透了。那是在乐队之前的事了。当我们在一起演奏时，情况要好多了。因为我们都在写并且互相支持来写出更好的东西。大概 ‘96, ‘97, ‘98那时后的歌是比较不错的。我想到的就有《Captain Planet》《Gingerbread》《High Time》《Melodrama》《Less Is More》。我们真应该有一天把它们都放到一个Beatles风格的选集……还要在封面贴上像“警告：这些歌有可能是垃圾”的东东。

“你能解释一下Atlantic的影片吗？它很有趣，我看懂了一部分，但其它的就有些让人迷惑不解。” – Mary Hayes
Tim：我觉得这部片子的美丽之处在于每个人都可以从不同角度理解它。它很有艺术美，并且引发人思考。而这就是我们想从Irvine那里得到的，并且正是我们想用《Under The Iron Sea》做的。我的观点是这涉及到了人类的各种愚行，用一个亲切但又准确的结果作为结论，那就是所有的路都不可置疑地通向死亡。这可不是那种典型的MTV材料哦。

《Atlantic》影片：“涉及到了人类的各种愚行”（可能还包括点球决胜）

“在表演的时候你有伤到过自己吗？你总是摇滚得很厉害啊！” – Mikaela
Tim：我暂时还没确认有什么重伤。但我担心我的脖子，因为一旦肾上腺素量上升了，我就会兴奋起来，头也摇得很厉害。有一次我在表演《Bend And Break》的时候还真的把头撞到了钢琴上。这挺疼的，还让我来了一阵眩晕。我还很大力地敲打钢琴键（我常常敲断弦，在钢琴上还真是一种成就！），有时我会割伤手指。有一次，伤口开始流血流到白色的琴键上了，并且漫延开来。虽然只是一个小伤口，但这看起来超血腥。也许在表演时真正让人疼的受伤是几个月前在拍《Is It Any Wonder?》的影片时。摄像机是安装在一辆有三节挺重的车厢的小火车上。而它在轨道上嗡嗡飞驰的时候要穿过我的大腿，两边各一次。但在表演的时候我真的忘乎所以了，连摄像机在接近的时候也忘记了。所以两次它都撞在了我的胫骨上。这非常疼，还留下了伤痕。除了这些，还没什么大碍。

“你最近一次说谎实在什么时候？” – Sam
Tim：我很少很少说谎。一部分因为它总会这样或那样地回来咬你，一部分因为它会折磨着我，直到我把它澄清。我不喜欢有什么秘密。反正我也不记得最近我故意说了什么谎话。其实，我刚记起一个，但我不是在说……

翻译：enchinya