Current Affairs: Interview with Tom Chaplin

There was a period when the voice of Tom Chaplin was pretty much everywhere; 10 million albums sold, sure, but also TV, radio, live shows, and just about anywhere else capable of emitting audio waves. But at this stage, you have to drive around rural Sussex with your windows open to hear the sometime Keane frontman in full flow.

“We just had a singsong in the car on the school run,” he grins, fresh from depositing his daughter Freya at nursery. “Today was a bit of a shift, though. She’s normally telling me to stop singing – quite hurtful, obviously – but today she was asking me to sing on my own. We watched my performance on Jools Holland the other night, and I think it’s the first time she got an idea of what daddy does. So today we had a bit of ‘The Wheels On The Bus’, a few ABCs – you know, taking it easy…”
It’s not surprising that simplicity would have its attractions for the Keane frontman, for the last decade and more has been anything but. Since his addiction problems first came to light a decade ago, there’s been some very dark periods in the life of the incomprehensibly youthful-looking 37-year-old – and it’s the little lady providing this morning’s accompaniment, as well as Tom’s wife Natalie, who’ve borne the brunt of it. 
“People ask if it’s the rock and roll lifestyle that caused problems to rear their head – the parties and so forth – but for me it was never that. Occasionally my addictions affected my career, but it’s mainly affected my family. I’m the sort of person who reaches the flash point when I get home.”
So the wild success and constant touring was actually keeping Chaplin on the rails?
“It’s paradoxical, isn’t it?” he chuckles. “But it’s absolutely true. We’re all creatures of habit, I suppose, with structures to keep us rooted, and a tour would provide some sort of structure – even if it was only temporary. My problems have been a lonely pursuit. Cocaine, in particular, seems to like having you on your own. I’d look at three weeks on the road as time to get fit and healthy, give people a great show, and take my career seriously – and it would give me temporary relief. But then I’d arrive home fit and healthy – and push the ‘fuck it’ button.”
The greatest depths of Chaplin’s struggles came at the start of last year, when an extended bender left him believing he was going to die. It proved a turning point – in both his life and his career. “I finally got my shit together, and started to address problems that hadn’t been tackled since before I was a kid. I don’t wake up every day thinking about how I can self-medicate the anguish and the sadness inside me. I have a way of dealing with it now. Part of it is being more open and talking to a therapist or a loved one, and the other side is being able to write about it.”
And while the writing process for his first solo album The Wave actually began before his troubles were tackled – opening track ‘Still Waiting’ a particularly bleak account of how low he’d sank – it was after seeking the help he needed that the project truly found its feet. 
“Repairing the relationships in my life, and my relationship to myself, was very fulfilling – and writing was sort of an extension of that. Really, everything that I was talking about in therapy was coming out in the songs.”
That, unsurprisingly, makes for a pretty raw and uncompromising collection of tracks.
“People keep asking me, ‘Are you sure you want to be so open?’” notes Chaplin. “But for me it’s become second nature. It was something I had to do to get well, and it’s become part of my ethos now. Obviously there are certain parts that I wouldn’t want to reveal – in that sense, those things are dealt with and I’ve moved on – but openness has made things easier. I hope that resonates with people, and that it might be the takeaway from the record.”
Indeed, there’s one particular group whose reaction to the record will be interesting – the army of fans that Keane built up before Tom himself put the group on hiatus.
“Keane have always divided people anyway,” he grins. “Like, music creates opinions and people have their tastes, but we were a band that people either loved or hated. So when I’m aware, as are the fans, that the other members of the group wanted to carry on, there’s a level where even they may see me as a traitor! The self-loathing part of me was ready for people to have their knives sharpened, ready to destroy it.”
But the combination of artistic and personal reward outweighs any anxieties before the record hits the shelves.
“Tim has always written the songs for Keane, and there was a frustration building for me,” says Chaplin. “I think Tim is one of the great writers of our time – but at the end of the day, I’ve spent my life singing someone else’s songs. I wondered if I’d ever get to marry that external voice with what I’m feeling inside. I would say that the writing process was probably the happiest time in my life.”

The Wave is out now on Universal. Dates for Chaplin's U.K tour can be found below.

27/10/2016 SOUND CONTROL MANCHESTER, UK
28/10/2016 ST LUKE'S GLASGOW, UK
30/10/2016 THE GLEE CLUB BIRMINGHAM, UK
31/10/2016 ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL LONDON, UK
05/11/2016 SPORTPALEIS ANTWERPEN, BE
10/11/2016 SPORTPALEIS ANTWERPEN, BE
11/11/2016 SPORTPALEIS ANTWERPEN, BE
12/11/2016 ETHIAS ARENA HASSELT, BE
19/11/2016 AHOY ROTTERDAM, NL
06/05/2017 ST DAVID'S HALL CARDIFF, UK
08/05/2017 OLYMPIA DUBLIN, IE
09/05/2017 ULSTER HALL BELFAST, UK
11/05/2017 SAGE GATESHEAD , UK
12/05/2017 BARBICAN YORK, UK TICKETS
13/05/2017 ALBERT HALL MANCHESTER, UK
15/05/2017 QUEENS HALL EDINBURGH, UK
16/05/2017 PHILHARMONIC HALL LIVERPOOL, UK
17/05/2017 PALLADIUM LONDON, UK
19/05/2017 DE MONTFORT HALL LEICESTER, UK
20/05/2017 GUILDHALL SOUTHAMPTON, UK
21/05/2017 CORN EXCHANGE CAMBRIDGE, UK
23/05/2017 SYMPHONY HALL BIRMINGHAM, UK
24/05/2017 DE LA WARR PAVILION BEXHILL ON SEA, UK