My Coldplay.com

A record-label man doubles as an usher, herding a small, lightly shuffling group of music journalists into a listening room. “Sit anywhere,” he says, motioning to nicely stuffed chairs. “You can sit in the back too,” he says, “because we blew out the rear speakers at the last session.”

Coldplay, the band whose colourful hit rhymes with mellow, is now rupturing woofers? While I picture straws breaking camels’ backs, the lights go down and the album – with the two-minded title Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends – arrives with the rising swirl of Life in Technicolor, which mixes a strumming acoustic guitar and arpeggiated Baba O’Riley synthesizers. The effect is similar to the instrumental start to U2’s Joshua Tree, co-produced by same Brian Eno who co-produced this album.

[Read more]

Coldplay have added an extra date to the Birmingham leg of their UK tour after phenomenal demand for the first two dates.

The band, who have sold over 30 million albums and had a string of hit singles including Yellow, Don’t Panic and Clocks, will now play at the NIA on Wednesday, December 3, as well as December 1 and 2 as previously announced.

[Read more]

Big thanks to by maloudajave1 for these scans of this month’s Q magazine, which features a 12 page spread of COLDPLAY!

THREE years ago Coldplay singer Chris Martin told the Record their fourth album would be “the greatest piece of music ever made”.

Thirteen days from now the world will find out as Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends is released on a Thursday no less.

The last time a huge Brit band did this was Oasis in 1997.

[Read more]

Coldplay will be performing a very special kind of duet (with someone they’ve never worked with before) at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin has revealed that he has dreams about Radiohead and Westlife. “I dreamed about Radiohead last night and Westlife the night before,” he said. “Which is the perfect blend of what we’re trying to do musically. I always dream about other musicians. And they’re never interested in hanging out with us” (Q Magazine).

http://www.nme.com/news/daily-gossip/36968

I have always thought that coldplay’s music, eventhough it is totally mainstream , is a dumbed down, sugar-candied version of interesting indie rock; and I believe that their success collaborated in large to make indie rock more accessible to the mainstream public. They ease them in : It’s like slowly entering a pool of cold or hot water. Slowly…. to avoid being shocked ! Which is why I will always respect them and their contribution to the industry, but not necessarily like their music.

http://philgeekphil.wordpress.com

Coldplay in its new London studio: from left to right are Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin and Guy Berryman

NEW YORK — With its frescoed walls and waiters in white jackets, the Cafe Carlyle is like a Hollywood version of old-school New York sophistication.

It’s not usually a place to go looking for rock stars, but on Monday nights Woody Allen is often there, playing the clarinet with his New Orleans jazz band, and Chris Martin, the singer of the British rock band Coldplay, catches his sets when he can.

At a small table just inside the door, between bites of salmon and sips of a Bellini, Martin recalled why he was initially drawn to Allen’s films. “Everyone else was either too optimistic or too pessimistic,” he said. “He seemed to have it just right.”

It makes perfect sense that Chris Martin, 31, is a Woody Allen fan. He is possibly the most self-deprecating lead singer in pop history, saying things like, “I don’t listen to our records because it makes me break out in tears and sweat,” and, “We have a rule that only the four of us can ever be onstage because we don’t want to be upstaged by someone more attractive.” (“He’s always been like that, really,” said Guy Berryman, the band’s bassist.)
[Read more]

Bizarre’s Smart Gordon has been leafing through the latest issue of Q magazine and his observations on an interview the mag featured with the Coldplay frontman are thus: “Chris Martin has come out - as a fan of Oirish balladeers Westlife,” chortles the Sun man. Hilarious. Gays are so funny, as we all know.

But not as funny as Martin’s confession to Q, in which he reveals, “I dreamt about Radiohead last night and Westlife the night before. Which is the perfect blend of what we’re trying to do.” Man alive, Martin really likes to self-deprecate. Or rather he knows how to shoot himself in the foot.

Take, for example, his admission: “I always dream about other musicians. And they’re never interested in hanging out with us.” We salute your honesty, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, but a little mystique goes a long way in the world of pop.

The Guardian