A bit of a catch-up from Mr Chaplin…

Hello everyone

It’s been far too long since I popped in and said hello to you all, so here’s my latest news from “camp Keane”(!!) Firstly, I know a lot of you were interested to find out about me donning the tweed plus-fours (well not quite, I was mostly in black for a change) and joining Ronan Keating and Ian Botham for their charity golf event at Gleneagles. I had an incredible time doing something I love while also helping to raise £250,000 for Cancer and Leukaemia Research. A little known fact is that Cherry Keane (after whom the band was named) was very close to me and died of cancer when I was still a kid, so it was also a very poignant thing for me to be part of.

Moving swiftly on to the Knowsley Hall show in Liverpool. Congratulations and thanks to ALL of you who came for withstanding the rain and subsequent mud. We were sorry not to be able to construct our ramp and b-stage but we were limited by the conditions I’m afraid! Despite all that, we had an incredible time and felt completely overwhelmed by the singing and enthusiasm. In terms of muddy festivals, that was as good as it gets for us and in no small part thanks to the fact it was so heavily populated by Keane fans!

Finally, I was up at the crack of dawn yesterday to make the (dreaded) journey to London to unveil our 10 foot guitar in aid of several of our favourite charities (especially Teenage Cancer Trust). Had a good chat with Tommy Penton, the artist, who said that the original design of the guitar was based on a woman’s midriff. By the same token he was inspired to put a baby on it and call it “Mum Played Joni Mitchell While Pregnant”…very cool and worth seeing up close along with the rest of the exhibition! Check out londonguitartown.com for more details. It was a good feeling to be amongst guitars again… some of you may or may not be aware that we were a guitar band for many years before we made Hopes and Fears. It’s still an integral part of who we are in a weird way! Will you be hearing guitars on the next record??

Sorry that’s all I’ve got time for I’m afraid,
Lots of love
Tom