Keane - Wolf At The Door (2004)

Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when they met at Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex when they were young. The school was owned by Chaplin's family, and his father was the headmaster there, and when they left and moved on to Tonbridge School in Kent at the age of 13, they met Dominic Scott, and discovered their liking for music. Although Chaplin had learned to play the flute, he never considered music as a proper career at the time, but while Rice-Oxley was studying at University College London in 1995 he formed a rock band with Scott and invited another Tonbridge schoolfriend Richard Hughes to play drums. The band were named The Lotus Eaters, and started as a cover band, playing songs by U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home. After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay, but he declined because he didn't want to leave The Lotus Eaters, and because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. It was at this point that they band opted for a new name, choosing Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young, and which was later shortened to Keane. Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year, and when he returned in July 1998, he was picked up at the airport by the band, who announced that they had a gig booked in 10 days! Keane made their live debut at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998, playing original material, and although Chaplin later went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history, he quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single 'Call Me What You Like', which they released on their own Zoomorphic label, selling it at live gigs in early 2000. Only 500 copies were pressed, and so it was re-recorded in February 2001 and added as a b-side to their 'Wolf At The Door' single, but this was even rarer as only 50 CD-R copies were made. 

Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after the single was released to continue his studies at the LSE, and the band decamped to James Sanger's recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where they taped a number of tracks in late 2001, including 'Bedshaped' and 'This Is the Last Time', and it was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. After they returned to the UK in November, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but still did not have a recording contract, and for most of 2002 all recording or live performances were stopped, with the band starting to agree with the departed Scott that they were going nowhere. In December 2002 they started playing live again, and one gig was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, who offered to release 'Everybody's Changing' as the first commercial single by the band. As a result of the attention garnered by the single, and because of the strong live reputation they had built up, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels, with Island Records eventually winning out, but they were allowed to issue 'This Is The Last Time' on Fierce Panda in October 2003 as the final release on that label. In January 2004 Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll, and a month later their first single release on Island reached number three on the UK singles Chart. A re-release of 'Everybody's Changing' followed 'Somewhere Only We Know', featuring a new cover and b-sides, and that reached number four in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album 'Hopes And Fears' was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, and debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart, becoming the second best-selling British album of the year. Despite their disjointed discography in the early days, the eight singles they released on Zoomorphic, Fierce Panda and Island included eleven new songs on the b-sides, and this was to continue for the rest of their career, with the band treating their fans to new songs or choice covers on nearly all of their subsequent singles. In what will be a multiple post from the band, we start with those first two singles, some early demos, and some exclusives b-sides, to hear how the band started out, from their formation in 1997 to their multi-million selling debut album some seven years later.  

Track listing

01 Emily (previously unreleased 1999)
02 More Matey (previously unreleased 1996)
03 New One (previously unreleased 2000)
04 Call Me What You Like (single 2000)
05 Rubbernecking (b-side of 'Call Me What You Like')
06 Closer Now (b-side of 'Call Me What You Like')
07 Wolf At The Door (single 2001)
08 The Way You Want It (b-side of 'Everybody's Changing' 2003)
09 Snowed Under (b-side of 'Somewhere Only We Know' 2004)
10 Allemande (b-side of 'This Is The Last Time' 2004)
11 Walnut Tree (b-side of 'Somewhere Only We Know' 2004)