Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley says that he and bandmate Tom Chaplin’s friendship is so intense it is "almost romantic".
The British group disbanded in 2013, a year after releasing their fourth studio LP ‘Strangeland’, but reunited this year to release new album ‘Cause and Effect’.
Piano player and chief songwriter Tim had been working on a solo record before a meeting with Tom led to them reforming Keane, and since getting back together with his pal he has realised just how important their friendship is in his life and to the success of the band.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, Tim said: "Maybe you have that youthful, innocent ¬relationship when you’re very young. I think I had that with Tom, it’s almost romantic, I suppose. You get such an intense friendship, and I certainly had that with Tom. I think it’s ¬pretty difficult, well impossible, as you get older to maintain that and life starts to creep in a bit too much."
Tim admits when he was recording the songs for his aborted solo album – which dealt with his break-up from his wife Jayne – he always felt they would be better if Tom was singing and when they did decide use some of those tracks on a new Keane LP his gut feeling was proven to be right.
The 43-year-old musician said: "We’ve been friends since we were born, basically, and for 20 years of that didn’t do much music together. We were too busy playing football or down the pub, but it all adds up to a very symbiotic relationship musically.
"My view is that we are better together basically and I really felt that when I was making my aborted solo album. Tom has a great radar for the emotional impact of a song."
Tom, 40, has previously admitted that Keane’s break-up was "mostly" his fault because he was struggling with his addiction to cocaine – a problem he first went to rehab for in 2006.
‘The Way I Feel’ singer 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."
Tim Rice-Oxley’s friendship with Keane’s Tom Chaplin is ‘almost romantic’
