My Coldplay.com

LET’S FACE IT: Max Roach, Sheila E., ?uestlove and Ringo Starr are the exceptions. Most of the time, the drummer goes unrecognized – a pair of hands furiously moving behind tall cymbals. They’re rarely the sex symbol – the waif guitarist is – and they don’t become icons like a lead singer.

Take Coldplay . Everybody with a pulse knows who Chris Martin is – he’s the lead singer, he’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s husband, he’s baby Apple’s daddy.

Special Offer! But throw out the name “Will Champion” at a party – or Google it – and you’ll get blank stares or a page of uneven results. It’s unlikely that he’ll be mobbed in a mall any time soon, but guess what? That’s fine by him.

“For me, my life as a drummer is great,” Champion said last month. “I’m in a band with my best friends, but I don’t get recognized too often. I don’t get hounded by the tabloids . I relish my anonymity, so it means I can carry on my life as usual.”

Right now, Champion’s life is focused on Coldplay’s worldwide tour in support of its latest album, “X&Y.” It appears it will be a while before he gets back to “life as usual.”

Almost instantly after Martin, Champion, Jon Buckland (guitar) and Guy Berryman (bass) met at the University College of London and released their first records, “The Safety EP” and “The Brothers and Sisters EP,” the press started gushing as if they had cured cancer.

This was in the late ’90s, and Coldplay didn’t even have a major record deal. In 1999 the group signed with Parlophone, releasing “The Blue Room EP” followed by “Silver” and “Yellow.” Their full-length debut, “Parachutes,” took their name beyond the U.K.

In November 2000, that album crossed the pond to America. ABC made the single “Yellow” the theme song for network promo spots. A 10-date tour of the States sold out. Rumors circulated that they were about to break up, and Martin suffered bad colds and exhaustion. Tour dates were canceled . Critics said the band would never rise to such brilliance again.

Yet Coldplay rocked on, releasing “A Rush of Blood to the Head” in 2002, which, again, popped band members into the stratosphere. “X&Y” came out in June . Now they’re being touted as “the most important rock band alive.”

For all the hoopla, they’ve found a way to work within the madness.

“We’ve actually found a good balance and good routine,” Champion said. “We don’t get too tired too quickly. Previous years we were burning out too soon. We carefully planned it so we don’t burn out too early.”

Yet just last week, Coldplay had to scrap some dates as Martin again battled a respiratory infection, but they’re back on track , Champion said.

“We’re just making sure we don’t do too many shows in a row . If there are more than three, we start to burn out.”

Keeping fans entertained would seem no easy feat for the band – after all, it’s not as if Coldplay makes party music. It’s cold, theatrical, slightly melancholic and relentlessly soft. Martin’s lyrics are self-reflective and sensitive, if not altogether mopey.

Coldplay has been criticized for producing elevator music; a critic from The New York Times described them as “the most insufferable band of the decade” and described Martin’s voice as “somewhere between a yodel and a hiccup.” Yet millions of people love them.

“If you’re really into music, then you have an open mind – you have an ear for all kinds of music,” said Kristi Michael, the midday disc jockey on Hampton Roads’ alternative station 96X. She has never heard anyone complain that Coldplay’s music lacks the fire of traditional rock ’n’ roll.

“Those people aren’t into music . They’re into aggression.”

96X gets more requests for Coldplay from men than you’d think , Michael said.

“Sometimes you want to hear something soft and meaningful and deep. It just goes to show you that people don’t want to just hear one kind of music on one station.”

But that chilly sound may change. Because of band statements to the press, Coldplay fan sites are abuzz with talk that the quartet could soon record something with, well, a pulse. The word “dance” has actually been tossed around . “It’s hard to describe your own music,” Champion said. “We just do what comes naturally. We don’t sit down and think, ‘We’ve got to do something completely different.’ We don’t want anything to sound contrived or calculated.”

Believe it or not, the band just worked with Hampton Roads’ uber-producer Timbaland. “It was the best fun I ever had,” Martin told the Houston Chronicle.

Is a collaboration possible?

“Who knows?” Champion said. “We only really just finished the last one. There’s a long way to go for ideas.”

In a way, Timbaland and Coldplay have already collaborated: He sampled Coldplay’s “Clocks” for Brandy’s “Should I Go.” It turned out brilliantly.

“We love that kind of stuff,” Champion said of the sample. “Some of the best hip-hop songs have taken a hook or break. Hopefully we’ll have more.”

HamptonsRoads.com