Keane Hopes to Conquer U.S. With Tour

After storming the U.K. with their debut album, other rock stars might have a hard time coping with a modest U.S. club tour, but Keane vocalist Tom Chaplin swears he's looking forward to the challenge.

"The way things are in the U.K. makes it different coming over here, starting out at the bottom. It reminds us of the essence of what we're doing, which is just trying to get our songs across to people and connect with them," says vocalist Tom Chaplin, regarding their first American tour.

Formed in 1997 in Sussex, England, Keane create complex, moody songs by relying heavily on lyricist Tim Rice-Oxley's piano skills rather than employing a guitar. Though their debut album, Hopes & Fears, has already gone triple platinum in the U.K., the band is still mostly unknown in the States, a place Chaplin has longed to bring his band. "It's just such an adventure," says Chaplin. "American culture is something that I think fascinates a lot of British people, including ourselves."

Still, most American fans and critics have, perhaps incorrectly, associated the band with other British rock acts, namely Coldplay and Radiohead. "I think musically we're actually not that much like those bands," Chaplin explains. "The songs are structured in a different way, and the words take you to a different place, and I think those are very important differences."

Keane's tour bus is about as raucous as you would expect from piano balladeers. Chaplin admits, "We're prone to the odd evening out and things get a bit wild. But our music is very important to us, and you have to wake up and be ready to go out there and give people a good show, not be miserable and hung over and wasted. It's not a big rock and roller atmosphere. We're not in the back with bags of cocaine."

Keane will finish up their U.S. tour with opening band the French Kicks in early October in Boston.