My Coldplay.com - A Coldplay Blog

Here’s a very early clip of the band. Thanks to samdevos for uploading.

TMF aired a show the other day, called “Older Babes, Younger Guys”, highlighting older actresses and rockstars and their fit, young toyboys. Here’s a clip I’ve uploaded to YouTube, which features Gwyneth Paltrow and her ‘younger’ hubby Chris Martin. There’s a 5 year age gap between them [ooh!]. I’ve added grabs to the gallery here.

The first song that Coldplay ever wrote could be called “So Sad…”

It’s not a song that anyone will have heard of, as it wasn’t recorded. Debs Wild has a tape of very old stuff and their ex-managed Phil reckons this is the song, but it’s yet to be confirmed by the band.

Coldplay.com

Timothy ‘Tim’ James Rice-Oxley plays piano, keyboards, bass, and provides backing vocals for the British band Keane. He was born on 2nd June, 1976 in Oxford to Patrick and Margaret Rice-Oxley.

He went to Tonbridge school with his best friends at the time, Richard Hughes and Dominic Scott. He had been close friends with Tom Chaplin since birth, Chaplin having been born at the same time as Tim’s brother (also called Tom), and Tim would give him after school piano lessons.

In 1994, he began studying for a degree in Classics at University College London, along with bandmate Richard. While there, he met Chris Martin, who was creating demos at the time with Coldplay. Tim was invited by Chris to join, but refused in order to concentrate on Keane. In an interview in 2004 he admitted of being jealous of Chris Martin’s success with Coldplay.

During their stint in London, Tim shared a flat with Tom in Stoke Newington and they tried to get money for rehearsal time.

When Dominic Scott played lead guitar, Tim took on the role of bass guitarist and did fill-ups as bass was not really important in the songs they played. When Scott left the band in July of 2001, he started playing the piano, and ditched his ‘filling-up’ image to become the driving force of all Keane songs. He continues to play bass; however now the parts are pre-recorded and are sampled in live gigs through an Apple Powerbook.

Wikipedia

JON BUCKLAND - THE HOOK MASTER

MATT DIEHL: Would you call A Rush of Blood to the Head a darker album than Parachutes?

JON BUCKLAND: It’s a little darker, I suppose. But we tried to be uplifting with both records–we don’t want to depress people. We knew a little more of what we were doing with A Rush of Blood to the Head; before Parachutes, I’d been out of Britain only about three times in my life. And we wanted to be a lot more energetic. Fast songs are really hard to write. But Bob Dylan is really the influence [for] both records.

MD: What about Dylan is so powerful for you?

JB: He never bores you–he’s constantly surprising. Pretty much any album he’s done is really good, including the ones in the ’80s! [both laugh] What I love about Dylan is that sometimes it sounds almost like he hasn’t really taught the band the song–they’re just following him.

MD: Do you aspire to that?

JB: We aspire to be as ramshackle as possible. Chris has the amazing ability to come up with stuff on the spot. I’ve never seen anything like it–he’s able to write a song and sing it at the same time, making it up as he goes along.

MD: I read that you had nearly completed your second album, but then Chris listened to a George Harrison song that made him think, “Oh, we haven’t done anything as good as this.” Subsequently, you remade the album.

JB: Yes, that’s right. ‘isn’t It a Pity,” [from All Things Must Pass, 1970]. I think, was the one we listened to. And then Chris wrote “The Scientist.” Actually, that’s the song that really turned it around for us. Then suddenly “The Scientist” came out of nowhere in a day and a half. We thought it was the best thing we’d ever written.

MD: What’s next for you?

JB: We’ve written a lot of songs, but we’ve got too many for an album. We don’t really know where we’re going to go. But it’s good to have that kind of edge. This is why it’s exciting: We don’t really know what’s going to happen.

WILL CHAMPION - THE PACESETTER

MATT DIEHL: How did Coldplay come together?

WILL CHAMPION: The first time we all played as a band, I think it was in January 1998, in Jonny’s bedroom. We were all at university [University College London] together: Jonny and Chris lived together with two other guys up in Camden [Town], in north London. The first song we ever played was called “Ode to Deodorant.”

MD: Deodorant?

WC: Yeah. [both laugh] It was one of the first songs we ever wrote together.

MD: What was that about?

WC: Well, surprisingly enough, deodorant. It had a good ending and a good bass line, but it was a crappy song, and we played it for about two hours. I had the number of a local promoter; we phoned him up right after our first rehearsal and asked, “Can we have a gig?” And he said, “Yeah, but you have to bring 25 people.” So we just told everyone we knew. Two weeks later, we played our first concert and had 100 people there. It was pretty cool.

MD: And you played a 20-minute version of “Ode to Deodorant”?

WC: No, no! We played six songs; then they wanted an encore, so we played the second song again. [both laugh]

MD: How many of those songs showed up on Coldplay’s first album?

WC: “High Speed” we might have been played, and a song called “Panic,” which then became “Don’t Panic.”

MD: How did it go from “Panic” to “Don’t Panic”?

WC: I think we got more confident.

MD: How did the band at that first rehearsal evolve into the Coldplay of today?

WC: I don’t think it’s changed a great deal. Coldplay are just four friends trying to make great music. As soon as we played together, it was much better than anything else we’d ever heard. At the end of the day, we’re just trying to prevent each other from going mad.

GUY BERRYMAN - THE ACE OF BASS

MATT DIEHL: What roles do the various Coldplay members play? Chris Martin once said that the rhythm section is the ultimate filter: You and Will refuse to play bad songs.

GUY BERRYMAN: [laughs] Well, that’s kind of true, I suppose. But Coldplay’s a complete democracy: We all have equal say. It takes only one person to disagree with something for it to be vetoed.

MD: But does it get hard sometimes with the media putting the spotlight on Chris?

GB: Yeah, there’s an emphasis on Chris at the moment, but it’s part of his role. I mean, look at U2; it’s always about Bono, right? And Chris is very good at handling the attention. I don’t really want to be in a spotlight at all.

MD: As a band you’ve taken a strong stand on the issue of making world trade fair. Tell me about your position.

GB: People are too afraid in this day and age to stand up and believe in something. We don’t really attach ourselves to any [issue] other than making trade fair. It’s common sense, really: Dumping excess crops grown in the Western world on other nations isn’t a fair deal for third-world farmers–it undermines their economy.

MD: What did you do before joining Coldplay?

GB: I was a musician since the age of 11. I went to college with the rest of the guys, but I didn’t finish. My dad was an engineer and I needed to choose something to study, so I thought I’d have a go at engineering. I absolutely hated it, so I dropped out. I worked in a bar in London while the rest of the band finished their degrees. As soon as they graduated, we started our first tour.

MD: What would have happened if you’d actually ended up an engineer?

GB: There was no risk of that happening whatsoever. [both laugh]

Interview Aug 2003

This is a story about ambition. About four people who formed a band not to become famous or provide fresh soundtracks for TV ads, but because they wanted to write great songs, to make music with real honesty and passion. ‘We were trying to say that there is an alternative,’ says singer Chris Martin. “That you can try to be catchy without being slick, poppy without being pop, and you can be uplifting without being pompous. Because we’re sometimes playing quieter stuff, it’s hard to sound like we’re trying to change things, but we wanted to be a reaction against soulless rubbish.”

It seems quite a few of us were ready for this alternative. Coldplay’s debut album, Parachutes, was a collection of direct, soulful, utterly beautiful songs stripped right back to expose the raw emotion underneath. Showing that you don’t always have to shout to be heard, it has sold nearly five million copies worldwide, it also won a bunch of NME and Q awards, two Brits in 2001 and the Grammy award for Best Alternative Album in 2002. The album also found its way onto many Canadian “best of” lists in 2000. “Yellow” the band’s first single went to #1 in at Rock Radio in Canada according to BDS.
[Read more]

Coldplay never intended to become England’s favorite rock & roll sons when their signature rock melodies ruled the charts throughout 2000. The Brit-rock quartet — composed of Chris Martin (vocals/piano), Jon Buckland (guitar), Will Champion (drums), and Guy Berryman (bass) — yearned to mess around a bit, plucking their own acoustics for fun while attending the University College of London. All had been playing instruments since their early teens and had been influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, the Stone Roses, Neil Young, and My Bloody Valentine.
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“Another Ode, Ode to Deodorant. It’s my favourite hygiene, it keeps me through the day”.

These are the lyrics of “Ode To Deodorant”, the first song performed by Coldplay as an ensemble, in 1998. It was released as a double A-side demo cassette tape for local concert promoters by Phil Harvey, the band’s original manager. The second A-side, “Brothers & Sisters” went on to become one of Coldplay’s early staples.

Ode was recorded in the same sessions as the Safety EP. In total they had 8 songs recorded in that session, some of the others are High Speed, Don’t Panic, and possibly Spies / Brothers & Sisters.
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AskMen.com feature on Coldplay that includes pics, pictures, biography, video, related news, vital stats, commentary, and cool facts.

why we like them?

In a music industry overrun with senseless, jarring noise or vacuous glitter pop, it’s refreshing to have a band with a knack for rich melodies and great lyrics. Our need for a British rock band whose members are actually cool was long overdue.

why are they famous?

Their first album, Parachutes, was an immediate hit, selling over five million copies worldwide, and their second offering was an even bigger success. With a devout following in every continent, a basketful of awards, and songs so great that each one merits airplay, these guys just might be the biggest Brit band since the Beatles.
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Thanks putainfromage!

“a very long long long time ago i got on a train from exeter to london. i had just been to the dentist and he had given me braces; big, heavy, metal things that couldn’t help but catch the eye. i felt like a cross between robocop and the worlds ultimate nerd™. i hid as far away from everyone else as possible and tried to eat a sandwich; (which as anybody can guess, proved very tricky) all the while hoping i wouldn’t see anybody i knew. it was more than terrifying. then, when we pulled into castle cary, and i realised that this was the glastonbury train. about 50,000 of the coolest kids on the planet started getting on. ‘oh shit’ i though, as i tried to convince an old lady next me to hide under her shirt, ‘i will never make it to bristol.’

[Read more]