Hollywood wives, the threat from Justin Bieber – and why they might be about to call it a day. Louise Gannon gets the final word with Coldplay.
Tucked away on the wrong side of a smart north London neighbourhood, flanked by a grim housing estate, lies the small, squat HQ of the most successful band Britain has produced in the past decade: Coldplay.
There is absolutely nothing to suggest the building is home to über-rich rock stars and a hangout for Hollywood royalty – Gwyneth Paltrow, the wife of lead singer Chris Martin.
The cramped lobby is largely taken up by a mountain bike and bits of cycling paraphernalia, and the narrow stairway is sprayed with home-made graffiti (the theme of the band’s new album, Mylo Xyloto).
Standing outside, £30 million worth of Coldplay – in the form of drummer Will Champion – is making a call on his mobile. No one at the bus stop opposite even gives him a second glance. As far as X Factor expectations go, Coldplay have done something very, very wrong. These guys are just not living the dream.
During the course of the afternoon, three (Martin, Champion and Johnny Buckland) of the four members struggle to think of any big, flash purchase they have made in the past decade (‘I don’t actually own a car,’ says Martin. ‘But then I agree with Noel Gallagher. He once said to me, “Singers just shouldn’t drive. It’s a concentration thing, we’re dreamers”’).
Buckland says he has bought a scooter. Bassist Guy Berryman (the man Martin describes as ‘fulfilling the rock star fantasies’) cites a 1952 AMI vinyl jukebox as his ‘prize possession’ along with his Apple gadgets. Champion doesn’t even own his own drum kit.
‘They’re too noisy and to be honest it’s not the easiest thing to fit in a home with children. I have them in the studio and Yamaha make them for the tours.’
All of them cycle round London, do supermarket shops, use buses and Tubes without being recognised. Although Martin has, he admits, managed to do one ‘clichéd rock-star thing’ by marrying a movie star, Paltrow.
‘When we did our last gigs at the O2, I went there by Tube,’ he says. ‘I was with all the Coldplay fans and not one single person recognised me,’ he says.
‘It’s true. When I’m on my own it just doesn’t happen. In fact the other day this cab driver stopped me by our office and said, “You know, you look a lot like that singer, Chris Martin.”
'For some reason I just said, “Do you know what, I am him.” He then went, “Ha, ha, ha… You know he lives round here, don’t you?” I swear on my life that’s true.’
But this is the very point of Coldplay. They play to sell-out venues around the world, they sell albums (50 million record sales), they are one of the very few UK bands to win Grammys (seven), they headline Glastonbury, they turn down offers worth £52 million from Gap and Diet Coke to use their music in commercials (old-fashioned musical integrity) and (if you listen closely) their tracks are regularly used in the background music of the Today programme.
They don’t, however, do celebrity or play up to being rock stars. It’s not hard to work out why Martin goes to such great lengths to avoid hanging out in public with his wife (he’d prefer to be unrecognised than photographed by the paparazzi).
Any mention of Paltrow is usually banned from interviews with the band. But it’s worth a try. There has been much speculation about their marriage. The fact that Martin is rarely pictured with her and never talks about her has led to rumours of rifts appearing in celebrity magazines on a regular basis.
Martin has told me I am only one of three people to have heard the complete new album days ahead of its release. But some weeks ago Paltrow tweeted: ‘Who do I have to bang around here to get an advance copy of the Coldplay album?’
Does this mean Paltrow – mother of his two children, Apple and Moses – is one of the three? Martin shakes his head with a slight smile: ‘That comment created a few ripples. She’s very good on Twitter. But no she hasn’t got an album.’
He pauses. ‘She and all our wives hear things in their very raw form, on the piano or whatever. But the people you love, you don’t want to play them anything until you think it’s worth playing.’
I ask him whether he watches her movies when he is away on tour to remind him of her.
‘Well, she’s a good actress. I am biased but I am also right. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of her best performances.’
Just the day before we meet, Paltrow – who plays a woman having an affair with a married man in her new movie Contagion – hit the headlines by admitting to being a ‘romantic and realist’, adding: ‘I know people that I respect and admire and look up to who have had extra-marital affairs. If death by virus was a punishment for extra-marital affairs there would only be three dudes left in this world right now.’
It was a comment that sparked even more speculation about their marriage. To ask him about it is a true test of a rock-star ego. Many would storm out of the room.
Martin looks slightly stunned.
‘Did she say that? I don’t read any of these things.’
Then he pauses and grins.
‘Right, well, I’m a notorious love rat and I think that’s what she’s going on about.’
He laughs, to make the point he’s sending himself up. Scratch the surface and underneath you’ll find an eternal student who just won’t let himself fall down the celebrity well.
On stage they are gods; off stage they are determined to remain just four ordinary blokes. If they don’t (and Martin admits he is usually the culprit) he has invented a self-imposed punishment – getting horribly drunk on gin and Ribena. It was a measure put into place in 1999 when he tried to sack Champion.
‘I have my moments – usually twice every album – when I basically lose it. Someone gets through your armour and one of the guys pulls me back. We all know each other so well, we keep each other in check.’
Which is why, back at Coldplay HQ, rules are in place to make sure Martin – lead singer, husband of Paltrow, friend of Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna, the one everyone wants to talk to – is given the same treatment as every other band member.
Like REM and U2, Coldplay operate as a democracy; all profits are shared equally (though Martin writes most of the songs) and in photographs or interviews, Martin refuses to be singled out. You talk to the band together or not at all.
In this setting, with the three men he met aged 18 at University College London, he is entirely comfortable. He is bigger, more gym-fit than he seems in pictures, and he looks younger than his 33 years.
Martin and Buckland clicked when they worked as cleaners to get extra cash.
‘We bonded on a level of, “God, these sheets smell disgusting,”’ says Martin.
‘And, “Do I really have to clean this toilet?”’ laughs Buckland.
‘We were like, “Man, we’ve got to get a band together instead of this,”’ finishes Martin.
All four were middle-class, privately educated boys with a passion for music. This makes them sound cool. Martin laughs.
‘Not cool. Ever. I’ve never been cool and I don’t really care about being cool. It’s just an awful lot of time and hair gel wasted.
'At school I was a medium-clever geek. If you’re at public school (he was at Sherbourne) and you’re not that good at rugby, you spend quite a few important years of your life feeling like a real loser. We’ve never been about cool. What’s happened to us is more about showing that the geeks at school can get there in the end. And you have to stay true to who you are.
‘The root of all this is to do with our friendship. There’s a song on the album called Us Against The World, and that’s definitely the feeling at the moment. We’ve been though every single cliché that a band goes through, from addictions to film-star marriages.’
Addictions? This is a band with a rule that any member using hard drugs will be kicked out.
The handsome, chiselled Berryman volunteers: ‘I was probably the most extreme. We’ve done all those things, had a great amount of fun, but times are different now. We’re all a bit older and wiser.’
Martin shakes his head.
‘We don’t really talk about that kind of thing. But I always feel I’m three friends away from it being just me and my keyboard on a P&O ferry, so for me this has always been about keeping us together. Friends.’
Their friendship has of course been staggeringly successful. The band’s last album, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, was the best-selling album of 2008, and before that their three previous albums, from Parachutes to X&Y, have achieved the sort of dizzying worldwide sales figures that a band like Oasis could only dream of. However, they seem genuinely nervous about how the new album will be received.
Martin shrugs. ‘Normally any time we do something good we can rest assure there will be thousands of people who will happily tell us how bad it is.’
It is true. Coldplay as a band does get a battering from the cool crowd, from Liam Gallagher (‘I ******* hate Coldplay’) to Martin’s hero, Bono. They get accused of being too middle-class, too middle-of-the-road, too worthy (Martin is a vegetarian, the band off-set their carbon imprint and do huge amounts for Fairtrade and poverty charities).
‘There was even a joke on Peep Show about how millions of people like Coldplay and millions of people like the Nazis,’ says Martin.
Did it get to him? ‘Yes. I’ve got to be honest, it brings you right down.’
You wonder why on Earth he doesn’t just think of all his millions and shrug it off?
‘I think it’s part of being English, particularly if you are middle-class – you’re always looking to be reminded that you are no good and you are always actually embarrassed about being successful.’
Champion adds: ‘We have a British insecurity, like we’re doing all right but we could be doing better.’
‘And I definitely think people aren’t going to buy your record because your last one was good,’ adds Martin.
‘This could be our last album. It’s the distillation of three years’ work and right now I can’t imagine where another one would come from.
'Now we have Justin Bieber and Adele to compete with and they’re a lot younger. We have to have the energy to put as much effort into our work as they do. If it’s over, it’s over and I can live with that. The most important thing always is to proceed as if every album is the last and not expect anything more.’
So no chance of getting close to a 50th anniversary like the Rolling Stones? Martin laughs.
‘Maybe it would be Hawthorne Cider Presents… at some pub in Dorset, just not necessarily Wembley Stadium, but I think we’re all OK with that.’
It would be wrong, however, to entirely fall for the idea that Coldplay are the most humble band in rock. And while Champion describes them as ‘not being imprisoned by the trappings of fame’, Martin himself is happy to admit to enjoying flying by private jet.
‘It is actually awesome – but we do also do a lot of international flights. We are the ones in security taking ages putting on our shoes because we always wear ones with tons of laces and end up annoying everyone.’
Rihanna performs on the new album, doing the vocals for Princess Of China (Martin says he ‘spluttered like Hugh Grant’ when he asked her personally to do it) and Martin has become a new darling of the American music scene, working with Jay-Z and hanging out on yachts. He and Paltrow have been asked to be godparents to Beyoncé’s baby, which is due in February.
As Martin relaxes, he is more open about the glamorous side of his life.
‘Their fame is more a real thing. And with people like Beyoncé and Lady Gaga… well it’s different for girls. If you’re very attractive you get more attention, you need more attention – like Beyoncé. People would stare at her if she was a bus driver.’
He looks up, turquoise eyes widened.
‘I’m telling you, it isn’t like that for me – for us. People walk right past us. I’m not complaining. It may seem weird but I wouldn’t want it any other way.’
WORLD-conquering quartet Coldplay has made peace with the haters and embraced experimentation on their latest album, as JAMES WIGNEY reports.
He is a rock star millionaire, fronts arguably the biggest band of his generation and is married to an Oscar-winning actor, but a beautiful woman can still turn Chris Martin to jelly. On its fifth album, Mylo Xyloto, which is released on Friday, Coldplay has brought in a guest singer for the first time and front man Martin says that the prospect of asking R&B goddess Rihanna to do the honours reduced him to an awkward, bumbling mess.
Martin had originally written the song in question, Princess of China, with the Barbadian beauty in mind, thinking he would offer a song to her as he had done for artists such as Jamelia and his former girlfriend, Natalie Imbruglia. But after showing it to his band mate Guy Berryman, they decided it would be better done as a duo for the album they were working on.
So at a star-studded New Year's Eve bash in Las Vegas last year, Martin plucked up the courage, which was, as the self-deprecating Englishman acknowledges, not unlike asking the hot girl to the school dance. "That was exactly how it felt," Martin says with a chuckle, sharing a couch with guitarist Jonny Buckland in a New York studio. It was like in Four Weddings and a Funeral when Hugh Grant chases after the girl and goes 'do you think, um possibly if I didn't say, er, how would you feel about not not singing on this?' I was like a bumbling mess."
It might have taken him a while to get there but Martin says the inclusion of the duet, the embracing of new sounds from dance to hip-hop to R&B, and the decision to make Mylo Xyloto a concept album are all good indicators of where Coldplay is as a band in 2011. Having arrived with a bang more than a decade ago with the album Parachutes - and its monster hit Yellow - and following it up with the even bigger, multiple Grammy-winning A Rush Of Blood To the Head in 2002, Coldplay was having something of an identity crisis after the release of 2005 album X&Y.
It was around that time The New York Times labelled the British foursome "the most insufferable band of the decade" and as a band whose ascent coincided with that of social media and the blogosphere, the level of vitriol seemed far out of proportion to their achievements or perceived crimes. But from that baptism of fire came a revelation. "I think once you accept that hatred then you can focus on entertaining the people who like you or want to like you," says Martin. "But definitely for a period, probably around X&Y, when we hadn't yet learned how to switch off Google and you could put in Coldplay and see all the results. But I think everybody for a while was a bit overwhelmed by the mass of opinion."
The band emerged stronger from the experience, enlisting the help of sonic guru Brian Eno for Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends, which became the world's highest-selling album of 2008, with more than nine million copies sold. Buckland says the new album is very much a development from its predecessor and builds on the confidence and focus that Eno brought to bear. The band coined a term for the input of the man who first found fame with 1970s act Roxy Music and went on to produce seven albums for U2: "Enoxification."
"It's a description of how he fits into the process," says Martin. "It isn't producing - it's his own weird thing. He plays in the room as a band member - but it's so hard to explain what he does."
Buckland has a stab: "He allows us to feel free and to feel like it's OK to look stupid and to do things that maybe don't work. The main thing he brings is just an enjoyment of discovering new things."
Indeed, the seeds for Mylo Xyloto were sown just a week after the release of Viva La Vida, when Eno wrote the band a letter telling them they were on the right track - but could do even better. "I think if it was from anyone else you would tell them to f--- off," says Martin. "But because it's him - and he has done his body of work ... If he says 'I'd like to keep working with you because I think you can improve' then you would be a fool not to take him up on that."
Such was the band's ambition that the initial plan was to make two albums - one a more subdued, mostly acoustic affair, possibly as a soundtrack to an animated film, and the other a more upbeat, dance-influenced effort. The problem was that one kept intruding on the other and the band realised that creating some kind of false distinction between the projects was in fact holding them back.
"We have a song called Charlie Brown, which was the centrepiece of this other record we started first," says Martin. "We were playing the riff on an accordion and Guy came in one morning and said 'I'm afraid I have to put my foot down. I don't want to speak out of turn, but I will not allow this song to be played on an accordion - that has to go in with the Mylo bunch'. So then we thought - let's just make one album."
The solution to reconciling all of the disparate styles and sounds they had been working on came slowly. Elements of the soundtrack idea lent themselves to a concept album, which Martin initially described as "a love story with a happy ending". He is, however, quick to point out that it's a loose term without the "dragons and mountains" that can turn a concept into caricature and have given the format such a bad name over the years.
"It's a concept in as much as it is trying to make a small, tangible story out of the mass of confusion that is everyone's daily life," says Martin. "On the surface it is supposed to be two characters in a big, oppressive, urban atmosphere who are both a bit lost and find each other and take on the enemy so to speak. But really it's just a collection of personal feelings presented in that shell."
THE added bonus was to write something that was to be listened to in its entirety, a rarity in the age of digital downloads and custom-made playlists. Despite having had a string of hit singles from Yellow to Clocks to Viva La Vida, Martin is adamant Coldplay is best suited to the longer album format and arguing he could never write a single as good at Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. "People barely listen to whole songs any more, never mind whole albums, so we thought let's go the other way and make the best album we possibly can," observes Buckland. "We wanted to make the most meaningful and coherent 45 minutes of music that we could."
Five albums in, Coldplay remains a strange mix of self-assuredness and insecurity. During this interview, which took place weeks after the band had delivered the finished album to the label but a month before its release, both Martin and Buckland admit to being nervous about how it will be received. "If you really care about something and you put everything into it - whether it's an album or a cake - you are a bit nervous when people are about to taste it," says Martin. "It actually gets harder because you hope things will be assessed for themselves and not too much because of your history or the way you are perceived."
That said, Martin and his band mates also seem more comfortable with where they fit into the music pantheon. Just a few years ago, as the band was entering its second decade, Martin said he felt acutely the pressure of producing something truly great and hinted the band could split sooner rather than later. The band to which they are most often compared, U2, was viewed as a yardstick both internally and externally, with Martin mostly admitting that Coldplay came up short. But their newfound sense of experimentation - and their enduring success - has also brought liberation and acceptance.
"I think if there is one thing that we have tried to avoid on our fifth record it's that feeling of trying to be somebody else," Martin says. "There are a couple of moments on the new record where you can't really hear what the influences are, which is possibly a good thing. I think that once you accept that you can never outdo The Beatles then you can relax a bit. No matter what happens you can never be the biggest band ever."
Chris Martin of Coldplay Asks: What Would Bruce Do?
Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, is one of the world’s biggest rock stars, a species for whom tardiness is all but a right. Yet he was full of apologies when he popped through the door of a Midtown Manhattan restaurant, no entourage in sight, for a recent interview.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he blurted, wearing a slightly stained “Don’t Mess With Texas” T-shirt and loudly colored sneakers, though he had no sunglasses, hat or any other means of celebrity disguise.
But Mr. Martin was actually five minutes early. And in a discussion about the band’s new album, “Mylo Xyloto” (Capitol), he focused on the “baggage,” as he put it, of being in Coldplay. For a man who has seen millions of faces and soft-rocked them all — his next appointment was flying to Brazil to perform at the enormous Rock in Rio festival — he seemed to know that rock superstardom is not what it used to be.
Having reached pop’s stratosphere just as the music industry was beginning its decadelong crash, Coldplay is perhaps the last in a line of great rock dinosaurs. Its uplifting, arena-filling hooks have helped it sell more than 40 million albums, a feat that scarcely seems repeatable today.
“They are one of the few bands of their generation able to transcend multiple radio formats: rock, alternative, Top 40,” said Tom Poleman, president of national programming platforms for the radio giant Clear Channel. “When you have that formula, it’s like striking gold.”
As baggage goes, that’s all good. But for almost its entire career, Coldplay has had to prove itself a worthy inheritor to the biggest-band title. Once that largely meant overcoming criticism that it was “Radiohead-lite.” Now, with the release of “Mylo Xyloto” on Oct. 24, Coldplay finds itself shouldering a strange burden as one of the only bands capable of sales to rival the juggernauts of pop — making the band’s success or failure freighted with symbolism about the commercial viability of rock.
And how do you make a great, old-fashioned rock album? If you are Mr. Martin — for whom the whole swaggering frontman thing has never come naturally — you start by watching Springsteen and Dylan videos.
“I was watching a lot about ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town,’ and a lot about ‘Blonde on Blonde’ and ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ and all these real albums,” said Mr. Martin, who at 34 still has the glow of a young man amazed by his good fortune. “And I realized that we had to make a decision. Even though the album is an endangered species, can we try and make a coherent and good one, even if it’s like making a horse and cart at a Nascar conference?”
In conversation, Mr. Martin is as cheerful as his songs are moody, though he hardly seems to finish a sentence without a self-deprecating remark. Joking about the paparazzi who chase his wife, the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, he claims he is so uninteresting that he gets mistaken for actors from movies he wasn’t in: “I get more people approaching me about how good I was in ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ than being in Coldplay,” he said with a grin.
Coldplay is a 21st-century band with 20th-century ambitions, and for the most part it has achieved them. The band has remained consistently, monstrously popular even as rock has receded from the charts and shrunk as a radio format. Its last album, “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,” nabbed three Grammy Awards and became the world’s best-selling album of 2008, once again setting up great expectations.
There is perhaps no greater 20th-century rock ambition than the midcareer concept album. “Mylo Xyloto” is Coldplay’s stab at it, loosely structured as a love story set in an Orwellian dystopia. But while “concept album” often implies “sales disaster,” “Mylo Xyloto” is filled with the soaring melodies, soft piano and twinkling guitar that Coldplay fans expect, along with some new territory for the band to explore. It even features Rihanna on an R&B-leaning track, “Princess of China.”
Kevin Weatherly, program director at the influential Los Angeles rock station KROQ-FM, said “Mylo Xyloto” is full of potential hits. But he also credited the band with keeping its focus on creating complete albums.
“We live in a singles world these days,” Mr. Weatherly said, “and there are very few artists who do what Coldplay does, which is deliver full records with quality songs from start to finish.”
“Mylo Xyloto” went through various twists and turns in the 18 months the band worked on it. Jonny Buckland, the guitarist, called it a distillation of two planned albums, one acoustic and the other electronic. The songs are also connected to an abandoned animated film project, which might explain cinematic touches like several atmospheric interludes.
For help the band turned again to Brian Eno, the revered producer of David Bowie and Talking Heads, who coached Coldplay in their big reinvention on “Viva la Vida.” Mr. Eno gets a mysterious “enoxification” credit on the new album, but it was produced by Markus Dravs, Daniel Green and Rik Simpson. (Mr. Dravs, a former assistant to Mr. Eno, also has producer credits on Arcade Fire’s album “The Suburbs” and “Sigh No More” by Mumford and Sons.)
“Mylo Xyloto” brings some new colors to the Coldplay palette, like the compressed electronics that set an uptight tone in “Hurts Like Heaven.” But you barely have to wait 30 seconds in that track before the arrival of a burst of classic Coldplay: Mr. Martin’s optimistic falsetto “oohs” and a big, warm swelling of guitar. “Up in Flames” has a boomy, mechanical beat, as well as a melody as tender as any the band has ever played.
To represent a fresh start, Coldplay wanted an “un-Googleable” title, according to Mr. Buckland, 34. “When you’re on your fifth album, you are going to be judged against all your previous work and expectations,” he said by phone from London. “In a small way this is us trying to break free of those expectations.”
Pressed about the title, Mr. Martin described a kind of mythical character signifying the wonder of artistic inspiration.
“Music comes from a place we don’t know,” he said. “It sort of comes through the fingers and toes. So we came up with the idea of, what if you had musical digits, like xylo toes.” He shook his head, irritated that he gave up the secret so easily.
And what about “Mylo”?
“It’s just a great name,” he said. “For anything.”
From the beginning, the members of Coldplay — besides Mr. Martin and Mr. Buckland, they are the bassist Guy Berryman and the drummer Will Champion, both 33 — have struggled to balance their roles as world-conquering musical populists and four nice blokes who just can’t believe their luck. They met as schoolmates in London in the mid-1990s, and found worldwide fame in 2000 with “Yellow,” a haunting love song that showed the young band had absorbed the best commercial instincts of U2 and Radiohead.
In those days Mr. Martin was too shy onstage to venture very far from his piano, but he soon obtained the ancient knowledge of the great order of rock ’n’ roll showmen.
“I’m still learning it, but I have such great teachers: Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Bono Vox,” he said. “The key thing I learned from them is to just go be yourself, no matter how ridiculous it looks. It makes the concert so much more fun when you flip that switch and say: ‘I don’t care how I look. This is just what I feel like doing.’ ”
The lunch meeting was a follow-up that Mr. Martin had arranged a day earlier, before another interview — at a TriBeCa hotel — had even begun. Fully engaged in the promotional cycle, he was eager to satisfy the access needs for “print media,” he said as he shook a reporter’s hand.
On both days Mr. Martin wore a pair of black and fire-engine-red sneakers, with pristine red laces and an oversize tongue flap, like a futuristic version of classic b-boy high-tops. His friend Jay-Z had just asked him about the shoes, Mr. Martin said, but he didn’t have any information — they had been picked out by a stylist.
He and Ms. Paltrow married in 2003, and the tabloids chronicle their every step, whether walks with their two children — Apple, 7, and Moses, 5 — or double dates with Jay-Z and Beyoncé. (With a smile and a few well-practiced words, Mr. Martin deflected questions about his marriage.)
With his bandmates overshadowed, tension inevitably grew, and Mr. Martin has said in the past that he considered going solo. Lately he has said that “Mylo Xyloto” could be the band’s last album. But he quickly backpedals on that question, and Mr. Buckland did not seem very concerned about Coldplay’s mortality either.
“We don’t think of impending gardening, or anything like that,” the guitarist said.
More than any other major band, Coldplay has had to contend with a large and vocal hater contingent, who, among other things, have mocked Mr. Martin as perhaps the least macho man in rock. (He doesn’t help himself in that regard, as he explains the hardships of his “woman’s workout.”)
But nothing quiets naysayers like survival. Having outsold and outlasted most of their contemporaries, Coldplay has gradually accrued a certain respect. One indication: once-popular Facebook groups like “I hate Coldplay so much it makes me want to cry” seem to have petered out.
“We are very grateful for our job,” Mr. Martin said. “Even in the time we’ve been around, half the bands we’ve seen come, we’ve seen go — even people who were massive on our first album. So the longer time goes by the more we’re like, ‘It’s amazing that we’re still together.’ ”
In the music business, there are a few things that can help sink any band, no matter how talented. One is not “playing the game” of making the promotional rounds at radio and television, a hustle that tends to grease all the important wheels.
This has never been Coldplay’s problem.
“A lot of artists who have sold a lot less aren’t willing to do the things Coldplay will still do,” Mr. Weatherly said. “It has to do with their work ethic and their commitment to their art.”
At Coldplay’s level, some of that hustling doesn’t sound so bad. On Oct. 26, American Express is sponsoring a live broadcast of a concert from Madrid on YouTube and Vevo, directed by Anton Corbijn, the filmmaker and photographer known for his work with U2.
All of that gives Coldplay an edge in the market, and the album’s first two singles, “Paradise” and “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” have already sold almost a million downloads.
The band seems likely to top the charts once again, but with all the numbers in the music industry diminished — the only unqualified blockbuster this year is Adele’s “21” (XL/Columbia), a dark horse in a world of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé — it’s no longer clear what a hit is. Industry estimates for the opening-week sales of “Mylo Xyloto” are in the 400,000 to 500,000 range — lower than the 700,000-plus the band has had for its last two records, but still enough for one of the biggest debuts of the year.
For Mr. Martin, the album is already a success. Thinking about the arduous process of recording, he cited a reward that plenty of bands dream of but few achieve.
“It’s challenging,” he said, “but only because you know the reward will be a field of people in Mexico singing along with you, which is such an adrenaline rush that it’s worth all the hours of, ‘Oh my God, this doesn’t work.’ If you get that bit, that the whole is bigger than its parts, then that’s your ticket all around the world.”
Looking out at 50,000 excited fans awaiting the arrival of their musical heroes is an unforgettable spectacle.
Special guests SFTW are side of stage at Cape Town Stadium as Coldplay prepare for their first ever show in South Africa.
And as with all their gigs, Coldplay are ready to give their all tonight.
After an hour of vocal warm-ups, the band are geeing each other up with just minutes to go.
Drummer Will Champion performs some eye-watering leg stretches before they gather in a hug. Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, Will, unofficial fifth member and manager Phil Harvey and, er, SFTW after Chris drags me into the huddle.
Then they run on stage to play new tracks Mylo Xyloto and Hurts Like Heaven.
"We're so happy to be here finally, after 12 years. It took us that long to get a visa. We apologise," jokes Chris to an ecstatic crowd who are being showered with paper butterflies.
All day the city's been buzzing about Coldplay. The customs officers at the airport ask: "Are you here for Coldplay?" while fans queuing outside the stadium are treated to a pre-show of sorts as the band arrive to do a sound check.
Urban
Cape Town is one of three spectacular Coldplay shows SFTW has witnessed this summer in the run-up to the release of fifth album Mylo Xyloto — the others being Glastonbury and Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.
It's been 11 years since the band — who all met as students in the late Nineties at University College London — had their first Top 40 hit, Shiver.
In the band's dressing room frontman Chris, 34, says: "We have been Coldplay all our adult lives. So when we re-emerge every three years, we realise pop stars are getting a lot younger.
"We forget we're getting older because we're together all the time. We've not seen each other grow up, we think we are the same age as when we started."
Coldplay's last album, 2008's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, was a real step forward for the band. Back then Chris told SFTW: "It's a bit of a risk because there isn't a Yellow."
Working with super-producer Brian Eno, they experimented. And the marching drums, spine-tingling atmospherics, strings and timpani all paid off.
The album became the world's biggest-selling album of 2008. But Chris explains: "Not in any individual country, which is funny. We were not the most popular band in any country... just the world!"
And so follow-up album, the unusually titled Mylo Xyloto, has been made by a band finally at ease with themselves.
No longer worrying if they are perceived as cool or naff, Coldplay simply don't care as long as the music they make meets their own approval.
Guitarist Jonny, 34, says: "We've spent so long being solely bothered about what the five of us, Brian Eno and (producer) Markus Dravs think that we are happy with it."
Chris adds: "Each song goes through such a harsh selection process just to get recorded.
"It makes The X Factor seem like a walk in the park. We scrapped a full album before this. But we always do that." Will, 33, says: "We'd started an acoustic album but then we wrote Paradise and knew the acoustic thing didn't have legs."
Bassist Guy, 33, adds: "We've been brave and bold with these songs. There are more modern, urban and dance influences in there. We approached it with a lot of confidence."
The last few years have clearly been a learning curve for Coldplay.
Colours
Chris says: "I'll be honest. On the last album a few things happened that we'd never experienced before, like lawsuits and really vitriolic criticism.
"After all that hurt it makes you tighter and adds fire to everything. It was a closing of ranks."
Coldplay were accused of plagiarism three times for their song Viva La Vida. First by American band Creaky Boards and then Yusuf Islam claimed it was similar to his song Foreigner Suite.
Creaky Boards retracted while Yusuf declared he wasn't angry and would "love to sit down and have a cup of tea with Coldplay to let them know it's OK".
However, in December 2008, American guitarist Joe Satriani filed a copyright infringement suit against Coldplay, claiming Viva La Vida borrowed from his instrumental track If I Could Fly.
The case was dismissed in September 2009 by the California Central District Court with both parties potentially agreeing to an out-of-court settlement.
Chris says: "We got to a very low place on the last record where we felt not very popular. But it was refreshing as it made us start from scratch. A clean slate. So many people had made up their minds about us already that we had nothing to lose."
Mylo Xyloto is an album bursting with colours.
Paradise and Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall are up there with their catchiest of singles.
It's Coldplay at their poppiest with huge urban and R&B influences. And no more so than on Princess Of China, which features Rihanna. Chris says: "We love Rihanna's music. We love so many different kinds of music that there is really nothing to lose by reflecting that in your record." It's a concept album following boy and girl characters — Mylo and Xyloto — in a scary and oppressive world.
Will says: "They fall in love and try to escape together, the songs following what happens. Charlie Brown is about running away while Paradise is about feeling lost. The ending is very powerful and about love conquering all."
Jonny adds: "People listen to albums as a whole a lot less now, but we wanted this one to be heard like that."
Mylo Xyloto sees Brian Eno take on a bigger role with Coldplay. No longer just a producer, Jonny says he was "like a band member", joining them to play keyboards.
Chris laughs: "Last time he was a Dumbledore figure. He'd come in, do magic and then disappear, leaving cryptic clues to what we were supposed to do."
Guy adds: "But this time Brian was really doing what he loves doing best — sowing the seeds of ideas and letting them grow."
The album was recorded at their studio as well as on the road in Japan, Australia, LA and Chicago.Chris explains: "The morning of Lollapalooza we'd just finished the song Up In Flames. It was a Phileas Fogg recording session. Once Will agreed it was good then we knew we could hand the album in as he is our strictest member."
Chris says being away from his family — wife Gwyneth Paltrow, 39, and daughter Apple, seven, and son Moses, five — is hard but could be worse. He says: "It's not like being on an oil rig or being a soldier. We are talking about being away a week at a time and then you can meet them in Bognor or wherever you are going next. And I also buy a lot of Lego to take home."
After the show, we head off to a party at a club called Trinity.
The band don't have a party-hard reputation but they are still in good spirits. Magician David Blaine is there, showing off his tricks to the band's crew, family and friends.
Chris says: "Things have moved so fast for the band that we don't have a lot of time to reflect.
"We're so grateful for where we have got to, though sometimes it feels like a never-ending tour!"
Jonny adds: "But we luckily don't share rooms any more."
"But we still get changed in a van like the old days," interrupts Chris. "Granted it's on the way to an aeroplane, but if you can't see each other in your underpants every day then you are not a real band any more."
So have Coldplay grown accustomed to the fame, headlining huge festivals like Glastonbury or playing to 50,000 fans a night?
"It's never normal," says Chris. "But it's not as mad as it used to be. I only get recognised when I'm with my wife. And then they spot her, so that's great.
"I recently had a cab driver say to me, 'You look like that singer'. I said 'I am', and he just laughed.
"But I never think of this as real life. On tour everything revolves around you so getting home is a head-*******, but something you need.
"One day you're headlining Wembley and the next you're arguing with a mum at school about parking. Now that is real life."
Mylo Xyloto is out on October 24. Coldplay's UK tour begins in Norwich on October 27. Go to coldplay.com.
All three bands are nominated in this year's lineup, with awards handed out in Belfast on Nov. 6.
LONDON - Coldplay, Jessie J and Los Angeles-based duo LMFAO will perform at this year's MTV Europe Music Awards in front of fans in Northern Ireland on Nov. 6.
Fresh from the release of their latest album Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay are expected to play one of their new tracks, while Jessie J, the British artist who has racked up number one hits in 18 markets will play the EMAs for the first time.
"I can’t quite believe I’m nominated for three awards. It’s like a dream, I keep pinching myself. And being nominated for Best U.K./Ireland Act alongside artists like Adele, Coldplay, Kasabian and Florence is an honor,” said Jessie J.
LMFAO, whose ubiquitous “Party Rock Anthem” has dominated the number one spot on the iTunes chart in 19 countries, will also make their EMA debut.
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers have also been announced in the performing lineup in Belfast. This year's awards will be hosted by Selena Gomez.
Lady Gaga leads the pack of EMA nominees with six noms, with Katy Perry and Bruno Mars following closely behind with four nominations. Adele, Justin Bieber and Thirty Seconds To Mars are each up for three awards. Other EMA nominees include Foo Fighters, Snoop Dogg, My Chemical Romance, Jennifer Lopez, LMFAO, Jessie J, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Eminem, Arcade Fire, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Far East Movement, Kanye West, Linkin Park, Wiz Khalifa and Kings of Leon.
--Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion to sit down for a Q&A with SiriusXM subscribers during a two-hour "Town Hall" special to air on SiriusXM's The Spectrum channel --"Coldplay Radio" to launch on October 21
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Sirius XM Radio SIRI +3.31% announced today that Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion of Coldplay will sit down for a rare Q&A session with a select group of SiriusXM listeners at the SiriusXM studios in New York City.
"SiriusXM's Town Hall with Coldplay," the two-hour broadcast event, will air live on The Spectrum, channel 28, on Wednesday, November 9 at 12:00 pm ET. The special is part of SiriusXM's "Town Hall" series, an intimate gathering with an iconic musician and a studio audience of SiriusXM listeners. Previous "SiriusXM Town Hall" specials have featured Bruce Springsteen, the surviving members of Nirvana and Tom Petty.
The "SiriusXM Town Hall with Coldplay" will feature the band answering questions from the live studio audience as well as questions from listeners calling in from around the country.
"This is an unprecedented chance to hear an intimate conversation with one of the world's most popular bands," said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM. "The latest installment of our 'Town Hall' series brings the band and their new album, Mylo Xyloto, to their fans and gives them the rare chance to meet this already legendary group."
On Friday, October 21, SiriusXM will launch "Coldplay Radio," a limited-run channel hosted by the members of Coldplay. The channel will feature music from Mylo Xyloto, the band's latest album, scheduled to be released on October 24, as well as songs spanning the band's career and music by artists selected by Coldplay.
"Coldplay Radio" will also include a classic Coldplay performance, recorded in 2000, which will be broadcast as part of SiriusXM's "Live from the BBC Vault" concert series. "Coldplay Radio" will air through Sunday, October 23.
Mylo Xyloto was recorded in London and produced by Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Bjork, Mumford and Sons), Daniel Green and Rik Simpson, with enoxification and additional composition by Brian Eno (U2, David Bowie). Coldplay has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and won numerous awards, including seven Grammy® Awards, six Brit Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards. The band's last album, 2008's Viva La Vida, charted at No. 1 in 36 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.coldplay.com.
The Spectrum plays music spanning the past, present and future. Listeners will hear artists like U2, Dave Matthews, REM, Tom Petty, Coldplay, Wilco, David Gray, Neil Young, Counting Crows, Ryan Adams and more.
For more information on SiriusXM, please visit www.siriusxm.com.
11 October 2011 9:02 pm
#42 and the unexpected elephant heads
A few days after the Cape Town stadium, which was literally at sea level (any closer to the coastline and it would have been a wet load-in), we pull into the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg and are reminded by stage manager Gary Currier that we’re 1,700 metres above sea level. This means thin air, which in turn means it’s very easy to get out of breath. Still - at least we’re moving up in the world…
As is often the case, today we’re launched catapault-like straight from the airport into soundcheck. There’s the customary mad scramble to work out how to get the B-stage right, followed by further chaos on the main stage which I can’t say too much about at this point. The frenzy is suddenly multiplied by the fact that around the stadium, someone has mistakenly decided that it’s ok to open gates to the punters.
Little streams of punters start to gleefully race across the field towards the barriers in front of the stage. People have watched the soundcheck before, it’s no big deal. In fact back in the club days, I remember folks getting invited inside one day in Detroit, cos it was so damn cold outside.
Today though, is very different. What’s going on onstage is definitely not for public viewing.
There’s comical chaos as the band scurry off and Production Manager Wob Roberts strides about on the ramp to the B stage yelling “everybody out! NOW!”. Onstage, the crew are falling about laughing. The jetlag, the general promo-schedule exhaustion, the altitude and the hangovers fuse with the utter bizarre-ness of the situation at hand - and finally everyone is in bits.
Impressively though, the punters heed the booming voice and quickly the field clears.
I have to wonder for a moment how it looked to them coming down the field. Imagine that for years, you’d wondered if your favourite band would ever come to your country. Finally the day arrives. You’ve scored a ticket. You’ve lined up since the early hours. You hear the band soundchecking inside. The gates are opened and there’s that rush of excitement as you all surge inwards….
…Only to see your favourite band standing onstage in comedy foam elephant heads and gloves. Just as you try to process this unexpected sight, the elephant-band leg it offstage looking like a frightened Banana Splits and you get shouted at by a nasty man in black shorts, who makes it clear that you are NOT supposed to be seeing this.
I can only wonder whether these folks went back outside thinking that maybe this is what’s always going on behind closed doors in the world of Coldplay. I do hope so.
The gig itself goes superbly well. It’s another top audience. The altitude makes everything a little harder and indeed, Mr Champion requires oxygen once Politik finishes.
The elephant-heads make another brief appearance - doubtless prompting the hundred or so punters from earlier to exclaim “See! I told you!” - leaving just the remaining sixty thousand or so suitably confused.
All may be revealed in time - watch this space.
I manage not to miss the runner tonight and we head off to the hotel for an end-of-leg drink. The hotel it turns out, is a complex of cottages laid out on a mountainside. The convoy of people-carriers winds its way up the spiralling path into the clouds. We seem to be about a mile above the main entrance when we finally spill out onto the pavement and unload.
We still have the unicycle with us (don’t ask) and there’s much talk of holding races to see who can get the best time to the bottom of the winding track to the lobby. A better idea comes in the form of dumping bags and getting into the bar before they close. We raise a glass to an exhausting few weeks and the impending luxury of four days at home.
11 October 2011 5:52 pm
Band to record first ever US daytime TV appearance on 17 Oct
Good evening. On 17 October, Coldplay will tape their first ever US daytime television appearance, for The Ellen DeGeneres Show (with the performance airing on 27 October). If you'd like to attend the recording - which will be in the afternoon - in Burbank, CA, then click here to enter for the chance to win one of the 20 pairs we have to give away, before 5pm PST on 12 October. NB: You must be over 14 to enter, and the prize consists just of tickets (not travel or accommodation). Winners will watch Coldplay's performance, but not the taping of the rest of the show.
Series Of Exclusive Events And Access To The World Renowned Band Begins On Tuesday, Oct. 18
CBS RADIO stations across the country will feature three day’s worth of exclusive programming and content in conjunction with the release of Coldplay’s forthcoming album Mylo Xyloto, which debuts worldwide on Monday, October 24. Eager fans can get up close and personal with the band and their new music through a series of CBS RADIO programs and concerts across the globe. These special events, which will include over the air and streaming webcast concerts, fan questions and answers from the band, as well as hosting a national radio program, follow the band’s appearance last month on CBS Interactive Music Group’s flagship concert webcast series, Live on Letterman, where they played a nearly hour long set, (Late Show Video - Coldplay - CBS.com).
On Tuesday, October 18, the World Famous KROQ’s Kevin & Bean (weekdays, 5:00-10:00AM/PT) will host a live Coldplay webcast from the all-new KROQ Red Bull Sound Space at 7:30AM/PT as a part of the ongoing “Kevin & Bean’s Breakfast With” series. The band will perform and answer questions from lucky fans, who can only win their way into the show through the station. The intimate show will be streamed live for fans nationwide at www.KROQ.com and can be heard on-air, online and through the Radio.com app for a variety of mobile devices.
On Sunday, October 23, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland will host Acoustic Sunrise, a three hour program featuring acoustic renditions of popular Hot AC tunes, which is carried on a number of CBS RADIO stations nationwide. This is the first time in the history of the program that there will be guest hosts. Throughout the show, Martin and Buckland will play some of their favorite Coldplay tracks, as well as songs from their favorite bands. (Check local listings)
On Monday, October 24 – the same day as the album’s worldwide release, CBS RADIO will go international and host Coldplay Firstplay: Live From London, a live radio special on the band’s home turf, hosted by KROQ’s Stryker. Fans will be able to connect with the band and ask them questions via Twitter, which they will answer live on-air. (Check local listings)
Kevin Weatherly, Senior Vice President of Programming, CBS RADIO remarked, “CBS RADIO is in a unique position to offer fans and listeners an in-depth experience with some of the biggest bands releasing music today. First with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and now with another world renowned rock act – Coldplay, CBS RADIO is offering a platform for artists to connect in multiple and unmatched ways.”
Tune in to the following stations to get a first look at Coldplay’s long-awaited new release:
10 October 2011 3:25 pm
Watch Coldplay's show for the LA radio station wherever you are
Good afternoon. It's just been announced that Coldplay will launch KROQ's new Red Bull Sound Space with a live performance for the LA radio station on Tuesday, 18 October.
The show will be webcast worldwide via USTREAM. Southern California fans can listen live on 106.7FM KROQ, while the rest of us can view the globally streamed webcast via www.kroq.com/soundspace and www.redbullusa.com/soundspace. It begins at 7:30am PDT/10:30am EDT/3.30pm UK time (click to find out what time that is where you are).
10 October 2011 11:15 am
Coldplay to play University of East Anglia on 15 October
Good morning. It's just been announced that Coldplay will play a special show in Norwich on Thursday, 27 October, as part of BBC Radio 1's Student Tour. The gig will take place at the city's University of East Anglia venue, and will broadcast live on BBC Radio 1 (listen live on your radio in the UK, or online anywhere in the world).
Tickets, priced £20,will go on sale at 9am on Saturday, 15 October from the Box Office, Union House, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7NJ.
Tickets are available to all members of the general public. They can only be purchased in person and please be aware we expect high demand for these tickets so a queue is expected to form early.
Tickets are limited to two per customer. To avoid these tickets being resold at vastly inflated prices entry for these shows will be via wristband only. On 15 October a ticket voucher will be issued clearly showing your name and address. On the show day 27 October wristbanding will open at midday at the venue.
Ticket holders will need to return with their ticket voucher, photo ID matching the name on the ticket voucher and if they have purchased two tickets their guest must be in attendance with them. Each customer will be wristbanded and can then return to the venue in the evening for the concert. Doors open at 6.30 pm and the show starts promptly at 7.00 p.m. so please arrive early. Please note that any wristbands that have been obviously tampered with will be refused entry.
Princess Of China ft @Rihanna is now streaming free in iTunes Stores where Mylo Xyloto is out on 24 Oct (inc UK & US) Connecting to the iTunes Store. A
18 October 2011 7:33 am
Coldplay to perform on the Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live
Good morning. We've got a few big U.S. TV appearances to tell you about, which are broadcasting in the next couple of weeks. Here's a list of what's coming (remember, you can just turn up to watch the Today Show performance on Friday).
Wednesday, 19 October - The Colbert Report, Comedy Central, 11.30pm ET/PT
Friday, 21 October - Today Show, NBC, 7am ET
Thursday, 27 October - The Ellen DeGeneres Show, NBC, 3pm
Saturday, 12 November - Saturday Night Live, NBC, 11.30pm ET/PT, 10.30C
Anchorman
I think I'm gonna try and go to the Today Show performance. I'd just have to leave my house at, like, 4 in the morning.
18 October 2011 1:42 pm
A different track streaming every day on Coldplay's iTunes page
Good afternoon. Between now and Mylo Xyloto's release (24 October), Coldplay fans in most countries served by iTunes will be able to stream a different track every day, for free, via iTunes on their desktop. Just head to iTunes.com/Coldplay to hear the song (which is currently Princess of China, featuring Rihanna).
The countries taking part in the promotion are United Kingdom, United States, France, Canada, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Italy, Finland, Norway.
Coldplay have praised Kanye West for experimenting with different genres in his music.
The band credited the rapper with inspiring the way they created their new album Mylo Xyloto, which includes a collaboration with Rihanna, by not being confined to one sound.
Martin told Zane Lowe on Radio 1: "Don't you think that music now shouldn't fall into a particular box? I don't think anyone thinks like that anymore.
"You don't see so many goths, hippies, rockers and hip hoppers anymore. People like Kanye West are changing the way we all listen and the internet."
He added: "Look at Tinie Tempah. Just the song 'Pass Out' has about eight different types of music in it.
"This time, we're on our fifth record, we're all in our early to mid-30s so there's an element of, 'If we don't make it now we've got to give up'."
Meanwhile, Coldplay have confirmed that their new music video for current single 'Paradise' will premiere within the next 72 hours.
Mylo Xyloto will be released in the UK on October 24 and the US on October 25.
Considered internationally as one of the most inspired bands of both the rock and pop genre, Coldplay transforms the sounds of many genres with their note-defying, expansive instrumentation, and bittersweet lyrical storytelling.
The British band brought their iconic and intimate sound to the Red Bull Sound Space at KROQ, playing songs like “Yellow,”“Paradise,”“Viva La Vida,” “Charlie Brown,” “Fix You,” and “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall.”
Despite the early hour, lead singer Chris Martin met Kevin & Bean‘s quips with cheeky, self-deprecating humor and adeptly answered questions about their age and the longevity of their songs, whether they are going to “get fat like Axl Rose,” the quirky name of their upcoming album, how their original name Starfish first came about, and how a certain Coldplay song may or may not have inspired an impotent horse.
“I think it was one of our biggest blessings…We’d never have gotten to meet U2 without it,” jokes Chris Martin, the ofttimes tongue-in-cheek lead singer of Coldplay. “Anytime we have anything that’s even moderately successful we’re surprised because we’re English.”
Martin is speaking of Coldplay’s song “Yellow,” a song that is considered by many to be the breakout hit that made them internationally successful–despite the popularity of other singles from their début album Parachutes like “Trouble” and “Shiver.”
A song over a decade old and with a plethora of other songs in Coldplay’s catalog, “Yellow” is still both one of the most requested and most memorable songs written by the band.
Drummer Will Champion, considered by Martin to be the voice of “sonic reckoning” in the band, told Kevin & Bean that regardless of the age of “Yellow,” the song “still means the same thing…Like Chris said, it helped us immensely when we first started out.”
Just as they ostensibly started their career with the song “Yellow,” Coldplay also started their set at the Red Bull Sound Space with the same song. A song about unrequited love, “Yellow” still sonically swells with an innocent hope, perhaps an entreaty of acceptance to their then-new audience.
Even though they started out as appealingly naïve and girl-crazy young lads at university, these days the members of Coldplay seem more accomplished as both artists and adults. Age has served them well as artists and the band jokingly said that they plan to live it up while they can.
“We’re all between thirty-two and thirty-four now, so we only have a limited time with our bass player being so handsome,” quips Martin. “We can go painting and rock climbing when we’re a lot older.”
Known for his light-hearted sarcasm on stage, Martin is charming albeit a bit nebulous when talking about the meaning behind the title of Coldplay’s upcoming album Mylo Xyloto. Martin apologized for the confusing name, but not without a wink.
“It’s a strange title. I agree and I’m sorry for that…But it had to be called that. Maybe it’s because it couldn’t be called anything else…Like Dr. Pepper, or Coca-Cola or Google.”
In fact, Martin recently gave another equally vague answer to the New York Times, saying:
“Music comes from a place we don’t know…It sort of comes through the fingers and toes. So we came up with the idea of, what if you had musical digits, like xylo toes.”
And according to the same article, Mylo is “just a great name for anything.”
Regardless of the name of Coldplay’s fifth studio album, the cohesive, almost cinematic album full of what Bean described as musical “vignettes” is also heavy with single potential–like their second single from the album, “Paradise.”
“We are really trying to make albums like we’re putting together movies,” explained Martin. “We try to make it like journey and a story from start to finish…not just a collection of singles in a row.”
“Paradise” creates a sort of musical portamento with their first single “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall,” even containing a tie-in lyric with “the wheel breaks the butterfly, every tear a waterfall.”
For their second song of the morning, Coldplay performed “Paradise,” an anthemic Coldplay ballad with viscid strings, expansive guitars, and fluid piano.
Despite what Kevin & Bean insinuated as their British penchant for “self-deprecating” humor and tongue-in-cheek humility, Martin said that although many consider them to be the “biggest band in the world” that “it really doesn’t feel like that when you’re in the middle of it.”
“Like this room feels very similar to the first room we’ve ever played in.”
Life is still very much the same for the band who still gets a “rush” when they hear people singing along to their songs; still gets “tingly” when they hear their songs (even if someone else is singing them); and still loves hearing heart-warming stories about their fans such as the pair of Coldplay fans that met at a Coldplay gig, walked down the aisle to a Coldplay song, and named their baby “Chris Martin.”
Martin said sincerely: “We’re just so happy to have our job at this point. If somebody doesn’t like us, we don’t care. We only care about the people that do.”
And the self-deprecating humor is not an act, more like a way to turn unfortunate life circumstances into more agreeable ones.
“I think we’re interested in turning negatives into positives. Every kid is trying to do that at school…if we talked about it, it’s only to say that when people are really mean to you…don’t let that distract you from your vision,” Martin explains.
“In life, it’s good to learn how to take negative stuff like that and turn it into positives. Every time something happens like that, we just flip it around.”
“Have you seen Kung Fu Panda 2? Po learns how to turn that force around and send it back twice as strong.”
Which is essentially the message behind the next song Coldplay played this morning, the Frida Kahlo-inspired “Viva La Vida.” One of Coldplay’s most extensive storytelling songs, “Viva La Vida” jumps from grandiose instrumentation to gossamer vocals.
Mylo Xyloto was also sparked by artistic sentiments. Bassist Guy Berryman explained that the album is “very much inspired by street art and graffiti in ’70s and ’80s New York….to find these kind of splashes and color and expression in these otherwise kind of grey areas was very fulfilling to us.”
Coldplay’s fourth song of the morning, “Charlie Brown,”alluded to that shimmer of color and light in the dark moments of existence, like the expressive street art of New York.
A fiery, uptempo dance-jam with hints of ’80s pop, “Charlie Brown” brandishes evocative lyrics like “all innocent and wild, we’ll be glowing in the dark.”
When the band was “innocent” and, perhaps wild, their first name was Starfish, a name that barely lasted and which Martin joked was the product of his dad’s encouragement over breakfast sausages at a “railroad worker” café. A joke, of course.
In fact, what one might not ascertain from listening to a Coldplay song is that Martin’s comedic timing is almost equal to his lively stage presence.
When an audience member asked him what the “best story” he had heard from a fan that affected him was, Kevin & Bean were afraid he’d get too “gooey and emotional.”
Martin blithely retaliated with “we heard that there was a guy who couldn’t get his horse to breed probably and he played ‘Fix You’ and low and behold sexual intercourse took place and now he has the most expensive stud farm in Britain.”
“It’s not true of course. “
What is true is that the fifth song of their set, “Fix You,”has touched many of their fans around the world.
So many of them that they are able to see past their personal differences in an effort to continue vivifying their audience and regardless of an early tendency to tiff. Guitarist Jonny Buckland explained:
“We’re quite nice to each other. I think that helps. We have good lawyers…We had quite a lot of fights early on but learned to get over them…We’re not the best musicians…but we have the chemistry of each other.”
Competition within the band seems to have quelled and friendly competition with other artists like Kings of Leon, U2, Arcade Fire, and Adele keeps Coldplay on their toes, although the band cites artists like Lana Del Rey and Aloe Blacc as some of their favorite new artists.
They would also love to see what Kevin & Bean described as a “fat Axl Rose” perform with the original Guns ‘N Roses again. Martin explained:
“I think one of our dream things if we could ever make it happen is if we could get the original Guns ‘N Roses line-up to get back together. How can we do it?”
That prospect certainly seems unlikely, but with performances like Coldplay’s sixth song of the set, “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall,” music fans will have plenty to keep them entertained. They will just have to live with “Paradise” instead of “Paradise City.”
Will Coldplay be performing while in their older years as they wish Guns ‘N Roses would?
“It all depends on our hips,” jests Martin. “Whether they can withstand the pressure.”
OH BOYS!
I 'll be able to watch them live 
