My Coldplay.com

Kasabian closed the first annual London iTunes Festival, which was held at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. I had a bit of trouble finding the venue. The actual entrance is on the other side of the ‘address’, which was a bit of a pain, but providential as I happened to bump into Ian Matthews - Kasabian’s drummer, who was on the way to their hotel, which was a bit of a result.

I met my friend Astrid, who is mad about the band and we waited outside, as they weren’t giving out tickets yet. Not long after, who should come along, but none other than Serge Pizzorno, who was carrying some bags, which apparently had some pillows it. I just thought he had a change of clothes or something. Also, Tom Meighan rocked up and quickly went inside after signing autographs/taking pictures. I missed Chris Edwards - again! Geez, that guy is elusive….tut tut…

When they eventually let us in - about 6.45pm we waited outside the theatre door until 7.15pm. The venue was so small - as small as Club Koko’s stage, which was excellent. There were only 400 tickets available. Also the gig was live on XFM and televised to be shown on Channel 4 this Friday.

Supporting Kasabian were The Dead 60s. They were quite good [a little bit punk a little bit ska] but there wasn’t anything exceptional about them. They helped pass the time though.

When Kasabian came on stage [about 8.45] they had us in the palm of their hand. They played another amazing set. They really are a fantastic live band and I love seeing them. I enjoyed every single moment of the gig and it was well worth the wedge of money I had to pay for the ticket [all proceeds going to Teenage Cancer Trust :D]. Serge did a particularly awesome and energetic solo, giving it his all. The band were tight and the rhythm section were just kicking it, especially during ‘Sunrise Light Flies’ and ‘Processed Beats’. Top stuff.

Setlist:

Shoot The Runner
Reason Is Treason
Sunrise Light Flies
Me Plus One
Empire
Processed Beats
Last Trip
The Doberman
Club Foot
Stuntman
L.S.F.

Afterwards Serge handed his setlist to me, which I thought was very nice and they were gone. There was no encore at all, which was a tad disappointing…

The performance will be on Channel 4 on 3rd August at 10pm. Some pix are here. I won’t upload my video as the sound quality isn’t very good.

Since I am a music junkie, my iPod is my constant companion. I plug in while commuting, travelling and in-between recordings. In fact, I just bought a new travel speaker that doubles up as an iPod charger.

Artists like Sting and Coldplay succeed in adding calm to Mumbai’s mayhem. Tracks like Fields of Gold and Brand New Day by Sting, and Yellow and Parachutes by Coldplay, are my all-time favourites.

Tracks by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the sound track of Metro are on my current playlist. I don’t usually listen to my own music, because I’d like to leave the listening to others. However, I do upload fresh recordings on my iPod, because it helps me reflect on my work.

MidDay.com

It’s Will Champion’s birthday today He’s 29 years old. Happy Birthday Will [awesome portraiture by Penny Howle of Coldplay.com.]

Some Will trivia:

Will Champion (born William Champion, 31 July 1978)

Will was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England where his father, Timothy Champion, is professor of archaeology at the University of Southampton. Having two teacher parents led him to be musically inclined. As a youth, his musical influences included Tom Waits and traditional Irish folk music. He grew up playing guitar, but also had experience on the piano, bass, and tin whistle. Before joining Coldplay, he performed in a band called Fat Hamster.

He attended the Cantell secondary school in Basset Southampton before studying anthropology at University College London, where he met his future bandmates and formed Coldplay, despite having no experience on the drums. The multi-instrumentalist picked up the drums quickly and earned fulltime duties on the band. According to lead singer Chris Martin, “Will is like a human jukebox, he’s more a guitarist than a drummer. Me and Will used to sit on the stairs at our halls of residence and he’d know more songs than anyone. You name it, he’d play it.”

In Autumn 2004, Will and Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman guested on a-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen’s first solo album, Past Perfect Future Tense.

Will was the first Coldplay member to marry: He married Marianne Dark, a teacher, in 2003. Their first child, a girl called Ava, was born on April 14th, 2006.

Will is a fan of Southampton F.C. and he is a season ticket holder at the South Coast team.

20 Will Champion Quotes

A lot of the time there is a lot of melancholy in the lyrics.
Will Champion

A lot of times when we play in countries where English isn’t the first language we get accused of being melancholy and miserable.
Will Champion

As soon as we played together, it was much better than anything else we’d ever heard.
Will Champion

At the end of the day, we’re just trying to prevent each other from going mad.
Will Champion

Coldplay are just four friends trying to make great music.
Will Champion

I can’t do all that riddly diddly stuff. I’m not good enough. It’s all about not playing.
Will Champion

I don’t think it’s changed a great deal.
Will Champion

I think hopefully we’ve got enough brain cells left to decide if our music is really worth something.
Will Champion

I think I’m the best non-playing drummer in the world. No one not-plays like me.
Will Champion

I think people have difficulty judging and being self-critical and being honest about how good they think their music is.
Will Champion

It is worrying, but we feel as though our first album is a representation of our musical career of the first years up to this point.
Will Champion

Optimism is the key.
Will Champion

So, if we’re happy playing the songs we have written, for as long as we can, then that is sort of the proof that they’re good songs as well.
Will Champion

Some of the really early songs we don’t enjoy playing anymore because they haven’t stood the test of time to us.
Will Champion

The first time we all played as a band, I think it was in January 1998, in Jonny’s bedroom.
Will Champion

Two weeks later, we played our first concert and had 100 people there. It was pretty cool.
Will Champion

We started with 20 songs, enough for two albums basically, but we knew that there were no second chances-you don’t get a second chance to do a debut album-so it was a very specific selection process.
Will Champion

We’re also passionate about music and very critical about the music that we listen to.
Will Champion

We’re very thankful for what we’ve got, so God forbid we start taking it for granted.
Will Champion

Well, the stuff on the album we are a hundred per cent sure that we’ll never get sick of because that was a very careful selection process.
Will Champion

When you write something it has to hit the level that you accept as being good.
Will Champion

I have loved this song for EVER! I used to listen to it non stop and I think it was the most worn part of my Parachutes CD. I can truly say it’s an anthem of our times and a great song to sing along to, preferably at the top of your lungs like I did when Coldplay revived it at their 2005 Koko gig [we don't often hear it played live these days, so that was an extra treat]. Enjoy!

When I counted up my demons,
Saw there was one for everyday.
With the good ones on my shoulder,
I drove the other ones away.

So if you ever feel neglected,
And if you think all is lost,
I’ll be counting up my demons, yeah,
Hoping everything’s not lost.

When you thought that it was over,
You could feel it all around.
Everybody’s out to get you,
Don’t you let it drag you down.

If you ever feel neglected,
And if you think all is lost.
I’ll be counting up my demons, yeah,
Hoping everything’s not lost.

If you ever feel neglected,
And if you think all is lost.
I’ll be counting up my demons, yeah,
Hoping everythings not lost.

Sing out oh oh oh yeah
Oh oh yeah
Oh oh yeah
Everything’s not lost
Come on yeah
Oh oh yeah
Come on yeah
Everything’s not lost
Oh oh yeah
Oh oh yeah
Oh oh yeah
Everything’s not lost
Come on yeah
Oh oh yeah
Come on yeah
Come on yeah
Oh oh yeah
Come on yeah
Everything’s not lost
Sing out yeah
Oh oh yeah
Come on yeah
Everyting’s not lost
Come on yeah
Oh oh yeah
Sing out yeah
Everything’s not lost

Here’s a video of Problem Solving Week 2006 at GCUS Great Cornard Upper School & Sixth Form College. The students are painting their Music room / department wall painting with portraits of Keane [Tom Chaplin], Snow Patrol [Gary Lightbody], Coldplay [Chris Martin] and Radiohead [Thom Yorke]. The artists are Duncan Cornell, Luke Delves, Matt Kerr, Josh Lane, John Atkins and Chris Wilde. Good job!

Head over to www.Coldplay.com to check out the new content which we’ve been adding to the timeline. Last week, it was a bunch of pictures from the ‘X&Y’ album launch gig at London’s Round Chapel in April 2005 and a rare video of Elton John making a guest appearance with the band in March 2003. This week, we’ve posted Prospekt’s latest diary entry, giving the very latest update on the recording of Coldplay’s fourth album (it’s made the news around the world, so it must be interesting!). Plus, we’ve also just added an entry about Coldplay’s tour supporting Muse in 2000.

COLDPLAY’S MYSPACE GETS A MAKEOVER

Check out Coldplay’s official MySpace profile - www.myspace.com/coldplay - to see its natty new look and to read the first ever MySpace blog written by a member of the band. We’ll also be rotating the songs on the MySpace player at the beginning of next week, so check back to hear which four tracks we’ve gone for. And if you’re more of a Facebook or Bebo person, then click on the links at the end of this email to join us at those.

See you next time.

www.Coldplay.com

Find us at:
Official: www.coldplay.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/coldplay
Bebo: www.bebo.com/coldplayofficial
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2426402276

‘The sights, sounds and flavors of Latin America and Spain have definitely been infused into this album,’ band says in post.

Coldplay’s fourth album is shaping up to be quite the affair: Brian Eno behind the decks, recording sessions at church altars and — apparently — a “strengthening Hispanic theme.”

That’s according to the bandmembers themselves, who posted a handwritten message on their site detailing the recording of their follow-up to 2005’s X&Y, which they’re working on in Barcelona, Spain. But before you get all excited for flamenco guitars and paeans to paella, remember, this is Coldplay we’re talking about.
[Read more]

Chris Martin and co talk about their new songs

Coldplay have revealed that their new album, currently being recorded by the band in Barcelona, has a “Hispanic theme”.

Writing on their website blog, the band sent an update from their sessions which have moved from inital recordings in London to Spain.

“The sights, sounds and flavours of Latin America and Spain have definitely been infused on this album. The band visited Argnentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico earlier this year,” they explained. “Chris [Martin] then came up with the idea of recording in Spain. The music and lyrics have begun to reflect the strengthening Hispanic theme.”

The band went on to explain that despite the Hispanic theme, there wouldn’t be any carnival-style instruments on the album.

“No maracas or castanets,” they wrote, “but a vibrancy and colourfulness that owes much to the atmosphere of Buenos Aires and Barcelona”.

The follow-up to 2005’s ‘X&Y’ is expected sometime in 2008.

NME

Media outlets have reported that UK band Coldplay have scrapped their entire upcoming album due to lack of inspiration and in-fighting - however, the reports fail to tell the whole story.

A posting made by band insider, Prospekt, on Coldplay’s official website has been selectively edited by some media outlets, with quotes manipulated to imply that the band members were arguing due to tension over the recording sessions.

The correct quote, as posted on their website on June 29, states:
[Read more]

Newton Faulkner played an amazing set at Union Chapel tonight. It was being filmed by T4 and will be on 4Music on 3rd August, so make sure you watch it!

This was the venue where I first saw Newton peform when he played the Little Noise Sessions last year with Chris Martin on the same bill. He blew me away then and he blew me away again tonight. The acoustics in Union Chapel are perfect for his acoustic offerings. His guitar sounds so clear, so pure. You could hear a pin drop as the audience were lapping up every ping and every thump he played. And his voice is so rich and I love it when he rasps it up for those funky bits.

If you have never heard Newton Faulkner perform, you simply must check out his MySpace. He has released 2 EPs and his second single ‘Dream Catch Me’ is doing well. His debut album ‘Hand Built By Robots’ is due out on 30th July.

Supporting him was MC Xander, who is a human beatbox [as good as Killa Kella] and his sings and raps whilst looping his beats. He was phenomenal.

Pix of the gig are here [not many, I'm afraid...]