![]() Coupled with a downloadable PDF map, it’s now possible to walk in Keane’s footsteps and take a tour of their Strangeland. The website’s online map clearly indicates the location of each landmark and provides postcodes for SatNav users. Richard recalls the first time he met Tim Rice-Oxley in Marley Lane while Tom tells of his annual Christmas shopping trip to Battle. The website connects Tim Rice-Oxley’s lyrics with the actual landmarks they refer to.Īn exclusive Keane Trail interview with lead-singer Tom Chaplin and drummer Richard Hughes reveals an enlightening encounter with Roger Daltry in Battle and both discuss their memories of the band’s acoustic gig at Battle Memorial Halls in 2004. A geographical tour of the Strangeland album has already been greeted enthusiastically by the group’s fans. Through Strangeland, the band’s fifth consecutive number one album, Keane revisit the places and spaces of a youth spent growing up in Battle and share the geographic and emotional journeys that helped shape their lives.Ī trail has been launched that proudly spotlights the individual places name-checked on the album. I went back on consecutive mornings hoping to get more of the same sort of thing, to provide the band with more options on those and other buildings but of course the lights never came back on that early again, always once the sun was up and in that slip of time between night and day where I got my cover and life feels like it has momentarily paused, it remained dark.The East Sussex towns of Battle, Bexhill and Hastings will forever be remembered collectively as 'Strangeland', thanks to international super-group Keane. It is just a portrait of life in that town. ![]() It was the first time I’d been to that part of the seafront so there is a truth to the original photo that I really love. We didn’t contrive which lights came on or that I was going to frame that shot at all. What I like about the image is that it is a genuine story. You can see additional images of the limited edition A4 book featuring my photos that he designed for the album here. Additional image grading was done by the album’s splendid designer Rob Cherny (Tourist) to fit the vibe and route of the campaign he’d reached with the band. The original shot is fairly colourless, all pale blues punctuated with yellow light as you’d imagine at that time of day. ![]() I hope it gets across the idea of a journey. I hope it captures some of the isolation, intimacy and otherworldliness I felt on that morning. I shot it fast as I could knowing the moment – and the light – was going to pass very quickly. I didn’t think I could come up with another shot in Bexhill that would encapsulate the album better. I was standing right in front of and in, the next album cover. The pressure was getting slightly monolithic from where I was standing.Īt around half five in the morning I saw the lights slowly coming on in the towerblocks and I knew from where I was on the beach looking back up at the horizon that that was my shot. I just couldn’t think but I only had a couple of days left to come up with a cover everyone would like. ![]() I also just wanted to be indoors and out of the spirit shattering cold. I wanted to tell a human story without having anyone in the photo itself. I knew I was getting some interesting shots but the weather was massively distracting and I wasn’t sure I was nailing anything that would work as a cover. I think it was about -8 degrees and colder still with the high winds. My hands were so numb through my gloves I couldn’t feel my camera at all. I’d been on the beach since 4am doing long exposures of the shifting tide. The photos were taken in Bexhill-On-Sea last February on what were a couple of the most relentlessly cold days of the year – my car got stuck in frozen snow on the outskirts of the town and I had to frame shots where drifts of frozen snow on the ground were not visible. We had a couple of false starts getting the narrative right for the visuals and eventually we settled on the photographic route you are all familiar with. I knew where the band were coming from sonically with this record having been in and out of the studio with them for over a year documenting the recording process. “Shooting the album cover and campaign images for Keane’s recent number one album, Strangeland. Here, explained in Alex’s own words, is the process behind the project. Shot by Alex Lake and featured on the cover of Strangeland, the apartments and shelter are situated on Bexhill seafront close to the Sovereign Light Café.
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