Tom Chaplin says "slick" Coldplay showed Keane how "it could be done".
The ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ hitmaker – who is joined by Tim Rice-Oxley, Richard Hughes and Jesse Quin in group – has admitted they didn’t have high expectations when they started out in the late-90s as a band from "Battle in East Sussex" in England, but watching Chris Martin’s band get played on the radio and go on to achieve global success rubbed off on them and the singer is grateful to the ‘Yellow’ hitmakers for taking them out on the road.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Tom said: "Coldplay were the example.
"Compared to us they were slick. Chris was charismatic. And we’re from Battle in East Sussex. No band comes from East Sussex. But Tim and Chris had been at university together [UCL in London], we were doing gigs with Coldplay, and suddenly they were on the radio. We saw it could be done."
Keane disbanded in 2013, a year after releasing their fourth studio LP ‘Strangeland’.
At the beginning of 2019, the group decided to reunite and frontman Tom recently admitted they needed that time apart because he hadn’t fully overcome his addiction to cocaine, a problem he first went to rehab for in 2006.
Keane will release their first album in seven years, ‘Cause and Effect’, on September 20, and Tom has admitted he feels "tentative" and wants to take everything "one step at a time".
He said: "We had an incredible bond, we had success; external forces pulled us apart.
"Now we’re back. I feel tentative, but we’re taking it one step at a time. We’ll do an album and a bit of touring. That is all we are expecting."
Opening up recently about their split, Tom said: "It was probably mostly my fault. Back in 2012/13 I wanted to do something else with my life for a bit.
"I felt creatively I wanted to write and needed space and time to do that. The other thing was, unconsciously, I needed time to finish off my addictive behaviour."
The ‘Bedshaped’ singer also said that this time round they are not going to be so self-deprecating about their talents as a band and be more confident about their place in the music business.
He said: "We live in a bubble of self-deprecation and over the years we probably haven’t done ourselves proud by slagging ourselves off."
Coldplay showed Keane ‘how it could be done’
