Here's a nightmare scenario. You walk into a recording studio and there are the faces of Kanye West and the idiots from Keane grinning insipidly back at you, listening to their own bland music. Recently the King and Prince Regents of beige music were united in a studio where Kanye chose to play his new album to the hard-rocking muthas in the band.

After enquiring if the speakers went up to eleven the playback commenced, but it was so rockingly-loud that the sound system blew up and Keane (a band so dull they aspire to be Travis) immediately conducted a Health and Safety questionnaire focussing on prevention of accidents in the workplace. Tim Rice-Oxley (yah, smashing) from Keane described the incident on his blog (or probably got his butler to do it).

"What a strange week in the life of Keane. Exactly a week ago I was sitting on the Eurostar in a half-sleep, having just played the last gig of our European tour in Paris, and then I spent the entire night in the studio with Kanye West. He played us the whole of his new album, which sounded truly awesome - the bass was so fat that eventually the mixing desk blew up."

Maybe it wasn't the volume but the content and the desk took its own life? Anything apart from having to listen to more Kanye West, and the inevitable 'Would you like to hear our album now?' from Keane. I'm just surprised the desk didn't tear itself from the wall and throw itself out of the window, just to make sure.

by Ian McShane