12 Coldplay Months of 2010: APRIL (9 Old Photos for Guy)

[BerrymanGirl1]

Sorry about thread title
anyway heres the review


April 01

Coldplay Launch Their New Fragrance! - Stinks like Coldplay Angst..



We're very pleased to announce that Coldplay have today launched their own exclusive fragrance, Angst by Coldplay.

"This is something we've wanted to do for a long time," said Chris Martin. "People like to smell nice and we thought we could help them out."

Martin was quick to point out that there are bigger and better scents available, but that the band are simply trying to make the best aroma they can, for their own pleasure. "If anyone else likes it," he explained, "then that's a bonus".

The core ingredients of the scent are listed on the Brian Eno-designed bottles as sangre, sudor and lágrimas (blood, sweat, and tears) , all of which have been sourced from Fairtrade suppliers.

Angst by Coldplay is available from today, April 1st, in the Coldplay official store, priced at £42.

APRIL FOOLS! Cheeky no?

April 02



What’s this about a Solar System?



I've talked before about differences between what I've experienced when touring with the band and work here at the studio. Mostly, it's the fact that you're not sure what's coming next. Touring is fairly repetitive; the scenery changes a great deal, but the daily routine is pretty much set in stone.

Here in the studio, it isn't like that. As you'd expect with a process led by the creative mind, there is a lot of jumping from one thing to another. It's difficult, if not impossible to anticipate what's coming next and what you'll be asked for.

It shouldn't really come as any surprise then, that within an hour of my first day back after South America, Chris comes up to me with the following: "I've got a little project for you". "I'm not sure whether to be excited or terrified", I reply.
"I'd like you to build a solar system..."
Oh well, I guess we're officially back now...
R42



April 06

‘Chris Martin: “Solo Album would be cringe worthy’

Chris Martin said he has no plans to release a solo album and thinks the idea would be 'cringe worthy'. Chris said he had been chatting to Natasha Khan from band Bat For Lashes about the thought of a solo album and decided that he is nothing without the band behind him. He said to UK's Q magazine: "This is going to sound cheesy, but what makes a great frontman is the great people behind him. I had this conversation yesterday with Natasha from Bat For Lashes, who's on tour with us, and we were talking about how if Bono or I were to release solo albums, they'd be cringe worthy."

Chris went on to say, "It's still the same person singing, but the gang aspect makes you acceptable. If you take me out of the band, I can't dance, I can't do what Beyonce can do. I'm only surviving on enthusiasm and collective chemistry. All frontmen become shit as soon as the perceived least important member of their band leaves."

A picture of Chris for your viewing pleasure






April 12

It’s Guy’s Birthday!! :

Happy 32nd!
We have no idea what he did on his birthday
Let’s see how 3 certain Brazilian Coldplayers celebrated the bassists’ birthday!




Passion fruit cake, passion fruit ice cream, and passion fruit juice

Thank you SarahSchmidt, Li_Cold, and PaulinhaColdplay


April 14

Roadie: My Life on The Road With Coldplay


Coldplaying got a sneak peak of Roadie Matt McGinn’s book that debut in May and Our very own Jenjie gave us a review:
As a Coldplay fan and an avid reader who'll try most genres, there was always a strong chance I was going to like 'Roadie'. Having said that, I have also read some pretty dreary autobiographies, which had promised to be interesting, so there was a chance I may hate it.

I knew from the moment I read the introduction that I was going to enjoy this book, and I wasn't disappointed. After all, a man who quotes one of my favourite scenes from 'Pretty Woman' can't be bad! Its not often a book makes me laugh out loud, but I did on more than one occasion. Matt's telling of a disagreement between Guy & Chris had me chuckling, and I could picture the scene in my head...

Matt briefly fills us in on life before Coldplay & how he came to be a roadie, but he concentrates most of the book to working for Jonny Buckland & with Coldplay. There is plenty of material to keep you going: from the first time at Glastonbury; the transition from smaller venues to stadiums; life as a roadie and plenty more. For those avid fans (stalkers?), there's plenty of roadie name-dropping. With appearances from Dan Green, Bash, Hoppy & 42, and a great story about Jackie's crowd control techniques. There's plenty of inside stories about how the show works from the stage & what the venue looks like when you're the roadie on the stage pre-band. For those of us who are missing the Viva tour, there's plenty to bring the memories rushing back.

I loved it and recommend that its one book that no Coldplay library should be without.

Thank you Jenjie!
April 16



R#42 has been peeping at potential song titles...

Well, folks, it's been a while and how things have changed! As is very often the case with Coldplay, what was initially thought to be a solid plan and a sturdy compass turns out to be yesterday's news and a spinning wheel. There was a lot of discussion in Latin America and the plan hasn't so much been tweaked, as placed on a large pile of fireworks whilst the band retreat to a safe distance.

As I say, these seismic shifts in the planning landscape happen all the time here - it's one of the best things about working with these guys - never a dull moment. (Although in the heat of things it can occasionally feel more than slightly disturbing). It generally happens, though, because there is something so exciting that they can't resist throwing everything they have at it, regardless of what they said last week.

Now that the plan has been set (words to tempt fate...), there are some pretty wide open possibilities to be waded through and made sense of. Before we left for the Latin American shows, work in progress was represented by an audio file of songs in their present state. Now we’re back in the studio and following a new star, everything is once again up on the walls. In another effort to clarify and simplify all the possibilities, the names of every idea in the running for the record have been written down, each on their own piece of card.

Inevitably, there’s a huge number of song cards. From tiny moments that were played only once to things that the fellas have been playing for months now, they’re all up there. This helps clear people’s heads and relax the panic that ideas which once excited will be left forgotten. It does however produce a new problem. There’s millions of them.

In an effort to reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed by options, the cards are first arranged on the wall in terms of A, B and C. The A list is songs that *have* to go on the record. The B list are songs that might or might not. The C list contains things that are being left - not forgotten, but that are unlikely to be worked on immediately - they'll either find a home or they won't. Phil Harvey, ever the sportsman, suggests that every song on the A list should have a song on the B list which will step in if its counterpart is deemed “not match-fit”.

There’s still too many cards. It’s messy and too chaotic. Bravely and decisively, things are stripped to only the A-list songs. So here is the album in its current form:

It's decided that the C-list too, should be out of sight and out of mind. It prevents constant attention to things that aren't a priority. They’ll not be forgotten and they could be pulled out again at any time. Having them off the wall, though, means things are much more manageable. Rather than an explosion of more ideas than could ever possibly be finished, this now looks like a plan for how to move forward.

Much to Phil Harvey’s amusement, Chris has hidden the C-list up on a high shelf in the corner of the control room. When he refers to one of these songs for consideration, he has to stand on a chair in order to get to them. Phil dubs it “Chris’s secret stash of spare songs”.

It gets me thinking about all the things I’ve heard along the way that never found their way onto a record. I’d say Gravity is my favourite of the shelved tracks (although that did make it as a B-side). There’s so many songs that had a moment in the sun being played live: Moses, Ladder To The Sun, Animals, Idiot, Will’s Sweet Marianne - and the list goes on.

These are just the ones that I heard them play. Many made it to the demo stage and no further, meaning that the band heard them and nobody else. There’s enough in the unreleased vaults to outfit an entire career for a pretty successful band. It’d be an interesting project to one day pull out “all the songs that fell off along the way” - like rummaging through Coldplay’s attic.

All of this talk of abandoned objects and pieces from the past though, makes it sound as if there is nothing new to report, which genuinely couldn’t be further from the truth. The current project is easily the most ambitious thing I've ever seen the band undertake. Somehow though, the scale hasn't been intimidating as much as inspiring. Things are focused now and can be thought of in terms of the finished work.

Ideas are once again firing off like a Catherine wheel (we're back to fireworks again). Things are moving at great pace and what's coming out of the speakers has everyone beaming and fired up. I'm thinking to myself how disciplined Chris has been in restricting himself to the few core songs on the A-list, thinking that normally he'd be fretting and fiddling with every tiny idea, ensuring that everything has been squeezed hard for every drop of potential magic.

Later, I give Anchorman a tour of the Beehive. We make it to the very top floor and he's seen the whole place. There is one more door before we retire to the kitchen and get the kettle on. I tell him it's just a tiny room that can only fit one person. "It's good for making private phone calls," I say, "Or if you want to be left alone to work on something". I swing the door open and find that there wasn't in fact only one set of "song cards". There were two.


Looks like squeezing for drops of magic hasn't been left behind. It now has its very own workshop....
R#42

Didn't that get you so excited for next year!?

April 20

Guy’s Art Project



Good afternoon. We have a mission for you - or rather, Guy does. Here's the info from the man himself:
"Hello. I'm looking for your help to find old photographs, for a personal art project. They can be good photos, or completely out of focus. They can be black and white or colour. The point is that they are pictures dating back to the 1960s and before, that have been thrown away and found again - rather than your own old family photographs. Thanks for your help. I'm really excited about this!"

In May, we'll be giving you the details of a PO Box address to send photos to - which gives you a few weeks to start rooting around your local charity/thrift stores and antique/secondhand shops. Unfortunately, we won't be able to return the photographs - but, as Guy says, he's looking for found/discarded photographs, rather than your own personal ones.

Happy old photo hunting!

Anchorman
Dont forget: One signed picture of the band per week to randomly-selected senders of old photos - and will be until the end of 2010.

So did you send your antiquated photos in!?

April 23

Coldplay help out Gloucestershire cricket team



Coldplay have emerged as unlikely sponsors for small Gloucestershire village cricket side Slaughters Utd, writes The Sun Bass player Guy Berryman has offered to fork out for new whites and kit for the club.
The band are all keen players. Frontman Chris Martin even used to play for another Gloucestershire side, Great Rissington. A delighted insider at the club said: "It's knocked us for six. Never in a million years did we think we'd have connections with one of the world's biggest bands. We heard Guy had invested some money in Stow Rugby Club so we wrote him a letter asking if he'd like to help us out too. He replied that he would happily provide kits. Chris is a decent player. We'd love to have him come down for a bat one day."


April 27

Glee Rumours



Coldplay have been considered for features on Glee next season. This comes just weeks after Glee creator Ryan Murphy revealed to E! News that Coldplay had refused permission to use their tracks.

But now, Murphy stated that while Coldplay initially refused to have their songs played on the show, they have reversed their decision. Murphy says the show's cast and producers only pick songs they like, and early on they wanted to sing some Coldplay songs; but Coldplay turned them down. He now says, "they changed their mind."

Doing this review was lots of fun!
I hope you guys like it and thank you for reading

[busybeeburns]

Great review! Now we know what the solar system was for...

[anita_hype]

im kinda slow on this....what was the solar system for????

[Tash]

^ The limited edition of Christmas Lights

Great review Amy!

[Raphaele]

thank you Amy

[BerrymanGirl1]

thank you guys!

[JackZ]

i still dont think that was the solar system, hate to be stubborn but i thought that was just a cool pop up design not intended to be anything specific... but still, i cant believe that happened all the way back in march!!!

[nancyk58]

Awesome review!
Thanks, AMY.

[Megalomania]

Great job, Amy!

I voted for the Roadie preview.

[PAULITA!!!]

hello there!! can somebody explain ..the purpose of the solar system??..I did not understand
thanks!!

[BerrymanGirl1]

The solar system was for the Limited Edition Christmas Lights CD

*Image belongs to Kris.W

[taameen**sparks**]

Thanks amy !

[jeremyy]

this solar system looks greatt!! thanks for adding..

[SarahSchimidt]

Loooved your review Am!
And I loved beeing in it!

[BerrymanGirl1]

thank you all!

aww Sar