12 Coldplay Months Of 2008: MARCH (Ten Leaked Webpages)

[busybeeburns]

Coldplay to play V Festival? Well... no!

 

One Republic had apparently let the cat out of the bag live on Radio One to confirm that Coldplay will be playing at this year's V Festival.

 

It was unconfirmed by official sources, but this news came as a surprise to many, and of course V Festival organisers who have already lined up The Verve and Muse as headliners. It was a surprise. Coldplay didn't play the festival after all.

 

Chris Martin In Kanye West's Upcoming Video 'Homecoming'

 

Kanye West showed no signs of slowing down with releasing singles from his 3rd solo record, Graduation - he was releasing yet another video (his 5th to be exact) for the nostalgia track “Homecoming” featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

 

 

Meanwhile it was rumoured that clean-cut actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who has eschewed extravagant Hollywood lifestyles to become a rather sensible North London mother-of-two, had at last revealed a naughty streak. She has acquired a rather cheekily-placed tattoo.

 

The Hollywood star had a tiny "C" etched at the top of her right thigh in London department store Selfridges last week. It may not be a match for Amy Winehouse's brash topless lady on her arm, but for thoughtful Gwyneth even this discreet gesture is a huge step, and a meaningful one. Gwyneth paid £60 for the discreet artwork, after tattooist Steve Flannery spent 20 minutes creating the design for the "nervous" actress. He said: "At first she was thinking about having a tattoo on her arm, but then decided that this might affect her acting work. In the end she decided on the top of her right thigh, and joked that Chris would have fun finding it. I asked her if the C stood for Coldplay, but she said it was definitely a C for Chris. "Compared to some designs I do, this was discreet and subtle, to say the least."

 

Michael Stipe on Chris Martin...

 

...from the April issue of Q magazine:

 

Q: In the past, you've baulked at the 'elder statesman of rock' tag.

 

MS: It just doesn't feel really appropriate to me. Or deserved. I don't think in terms of that. Y'know, Chris Martin is a great friend of mine and I think of him as a contemporary. We do the same thing. I don't think of him as someone who is...I don't even know how old he is. [Thinks] He's...31? He's...30. Which makes 18 years between us. But I don't think about it. Does the make me hopelessly immature or does it make me kind of level in the way I regard things? I don't know.

 

£1.2m ($2.4m) For Summer Sonic Appearance?!

 

Coldplay were reportedly being paid a whopping £1.2million ($2.4million) to play the Summer Sonic festival in Japan later in the year. If they gigged for 75 minutes on both nights, they trousered a jaw-dropping £8,000 ($16,200) a minute. News of their payday had been spreading around the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. One industry insider there said: “They say there is no money left in the industry but this shows the cash is still there for the top acts. It’s like football or any big business. The little people feel the pinch but the big boys get richer.”

 

Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival bosses were rightly chuffed with themselves, calling Coldplay "the ultimate blue chip act of our generation".

 

Pemberton Festival for... a little less

 

Billboard.com learned that Coldplay would headline the first-ever Pemberton Festival, set for July 25-27 in Pemberton, B.C. The festival would be produced by Live Nation and Good Boy Productions. Live Nation Canada CEO Shane Bourbonnais would spearhead LN's efforts on the event. Good Boy Productions is a joint venture between Coldplay manager Dave Holmes and Depeche Mode manager Jonathan Kessler.

 

Album Release Date Revised

 

Coldplay's LP4 now had a release date of 16th June 2008, according to HMV's online catalogue. It was previously advertised as 19th May. It was still called Prospekt however, despite February's updates.

 

Hi,

You asked us to let you know when Coldplay : Prospekt was ready to pre-order.

Good news!

Coldplay : Prospekt has just been added to our catalogue, so you can be the first to get your order in now.

Coldplay : Prospekt

CD £8.99 Free Delivery

Release date: 16-6-2008

Number of Discs: 1

Catalogue Number: PRERELCD

Label: PARLOPHONE

 

Muse On Coldplay | Gwyneth Paltrow On Chris Martin

 

From NME:

 

 

Have you launched a new era of contemporary stadium rock?

 

[Matt Bellamy] “I hope there’ll be other bands coming through that’ll play large concerts. The old-school ’80s bands like Bon Jovi and U2 seem to be dominating that area and I think it’s time some other bands came through and had a go. I’m sure Coldplay will have a go when they come back, and there should be other bands coming through who can do this kind of thing…”

 

From The Daily Telegraph:

 

 

Being involved in a movie means facing the media again, but it doesn't mean Paltrow will field questions about Chris Martin - such as what it's like bringing someone as private as him into the acting world.

 

[Gwyneth Paltrow] "Oh, he doesn't like me to talk about him very much at all,'' she bats away. "I think we're basically, when it comes to our private lives, private. And I think he's probably even more so than me, and I just have to respect that. A relationship's a complicated thing, and to invite the whole world into it on purpose seems crazy. Jay-Z, whom I love, was being interviewed and was getting asked about Beyonce and he said: 'You know, a relationship is hard enough without telling 80,000 people about it.' I thought that was good.''

 

New Coldplay Site Uncovered?

 

New images of Coldplay's new website surfaced via their official web designers, SlenderFungus.com. In them, are confirmation that the album title has already been announced, as well a forthcoming signed Lithograph competition.

 

There is reference to lyrics from Yes! and image references to Death And All His Friends, Chinese Sleep Chant, and 'Viva La Vida' which was part of the short film previously seen during Coldplay's chronology timeline. There is also an article awaiting us from Chris Martin, who offers more on the new album, and says LP4 will be 'driving music'. The screenshots also give a clue to three new concert dates for the UK as 25th June at London's Wembley Arena, 26th June in Birmingham and 29th June at the Apollo in Manchester.

 

Could these screenshots have been a hoax? Were they meant to be visible on slenderfungus website? Did Coldplay find out or were they waiting for the screenshots to be 'discovered'? All your questions were answered... it turned out to be a design that wasn't used!

 

 

Coldplay’s New Album Title Revealed: Viva La Vida (Long Live Life)

 

It was announced that Coldplay’s fourth album would be called Viva la Vida.

 

 

 

 

Chris Martin chose it after seeing the phrase, which means “long live life,” on a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who endured polio, a broken spine, and chronic pain for decades. “She went through a lot of shit, of course, and then she started a big painting in her house that said ‘Viva la Vida,’” says Martin. “I just loved the boldness of it.”

 

Of course, Frida Kahlo will not be the first name that jumps to most peoples’ minds when they hear the phrase. “Everyone thinks it comes from Ricky Martin, which is fine. I have absolute respect,” says the singer, who gave Coldplay its original name, Pectoralz, and named his children Apple and Moses. “I’ve been through this before, naming something or someone and everyone saying that ‘That’s a terrible name’. But then saying, ‘Well, fuck you, that’s what it’s called, and I’ll be proved to be right eventually’. So when Viva la Vida came along, I was kind of annoyed because I’m going to have to try and convince everybody of this, but it just felt right.”

 

We asked you what you thought of the title. We had hundreds of votes and there were mixed results, both on the main site poll and on the forums. There were plenty of interesting comments.

 

• I personally love Viva La Vida. To be honest, WHATEVER it was called someone would have hated it and said it's cheesy [thanks Fixed]
   
  
• It reminds me of Live's 5th album...Ed Kowalczyk wanted to call it 'Ecstatic Fanatic', and the fans hated it so much that he ended up calling it V instead [thanks TracieMorgan]
   
  
• Viva la Vida isn't my favorite title ever, i'll definitely say that. but i can think of much lamer titles that we'd be bitching about more. and i'm just really happy it's not self-titled. that would have made me smack my forehead and roll my eyes [thanks ApproximatelyInfinite]
   
  
• I don't really care for the title, but the title doesn't really matter to me,as long as the music is good [thanks snowshine]
   
  
• I'm glad to finally know some details and yesterday was awesome due to the discovery of the new web site...but it would've been way more fun for Coldplay to tell us themselves instead of telling Rolling Stone...oh well... [thanks melanieau]
   
  
• Honestly, it's a title. X&Y is a rather shit title if you think about it. As long as it's not a shit album, too, I don't care if they name it Miss Pendlewood's Day Care For Dangerous and Special Children or something like that [thanks rayman]
  

 

 

Prospekt is back!

 

Prospekt returned with a message:

 

Portland, Maine

March 19, 2008

Album should be finished by the end of the week. I'll write up a tracklisting once we've finally decided what it's going to be.

Prospekt.

PS - The actual title of the album is... 'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends'

We're finalising the tracklisting today.

 

 

Ambiguity 'rules the world...'

 

Prospekt caused chaos when he said this (notice the differences):

 

 

Coldplaying servers went belly up as you raised petitions, as well as Prospekt's heart rate. We published on March 19th:

 

Have Coldplay already made their mind up on 'Viva la Vida' given the Rolling Stone article from yesterday? Will they reverse their decision to 'Death And All His Friends'? Have they seen the reaction from Coldplay fans and the media so far... enough to change their minds? Did Rolling Stone release their article 24 hours too early? Were they supposed to even release it before the next Prospekt entry? What the hell are Coldplay doing in Maine, Portland? (we found out eventually)

 

And for those who didn't want Viva la Vida and preferred Death And All His Friends you joined the appeal to Coldplay and voted in your droves.

 

In the Studio: Coldplay

 

Rolling Stone were also back. They reported for the Coldplay populous:

 

On a Saturday night in late February, Coldplay are in their North London headquarters, listening to mixes of new songs. After spending months writing and recording with producer Brian Eno, the band is now painstakingly wrapping up its fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends. A few weeks ago, Eno jetted off to work on U2’s new disc, leaving Coldplay to mix, record overdubs and argue over which tracks to include. “I heard a Bono quote once that said, ‘Bands shouldn’t break up over money, they should break up over the track listing,’” says frontman Chris Martin. “Nothing could be more pertinent at this point.”

 

Earlier in the day, the group agreed on a core of six songs to anchor the album — and swore to finally stop recording and focus on mixing. While the other three members sit in a lounge listening to a mix of their new Afro-pop-influenced song “Strawberry Swing,” Martin bursts out of the studio and asks guitarist Jonny Buckland to recut some parts for “42.” The track — a thrilling three-part soundscape with multitracked pianos, swirling strings and looped beats — is one of the songs everyone in the band loves and is a front-runner for first single.

 

With a quick eye roll, Buckland follows Martin into the studio, where they spend the next hour trying increasingly heavy guitar parts. Finally, with Martin pushing Buckland for one more take, the guitarist pushes back. “I think it’s fine the way it is,” he says, before agreeing to give it one more try. “It feels like we’ve been finishing the album for six months,” Buckland says later. “The starting stage was enjoyable — there wasn’t too much hair-pulling. In the middle stage, suddenly you start thinking, ‘Well, we’ve got to figure out which songs are good.’ And this final stage, which has been going on for quite some time, is getting more and more intense.”

 

With Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends, Coldplay are making a sharp break from the piano-and-guitar-driven anthems that have been their biggest hits. “We felt like the first three albums were a trilogy, and we finished that,” says Buckland. “We wanted to do something different.”

 

The band plans to reintroduce itself with “Violet Hill,” which will be given away in a promotion before Viva comes out. It opens with a jagged, distorted guitar riff and settles into a stalking, bluesy beat. Among the biggest changes on the disc is Martin’s voice, which has largely shifted from his trademark falsetto into a deeper register. On “Yes,” over an irresistible North African strings-and-percussion arrangement, he practically moans, “If you’d only, if you’d only say yes . . . I’m just so tired of this loneliness.” “My singing teacher said that it got her aroused when I sang low,” says Martin.

 

Despite the 11 million albums Coldplay have sold, the singer sees Viva as a make-or-break proposition. “This could be our last shot at the big time,” he says. “It’s something in my head, as in artistic relevance. There’s a voice that comes at three in the morning with songs. There might come an age when you say, ‘Ah, fuck it, I’m going to go back to sleep.’ But I’m still at the point where I’ll get up and work it out. Tom Waits or Bob Dylan said sometimes these things bug you until you deal with them. I suppose it’s like the urge to masturbate.” Adds bassist Guy Berryman, “Great bands — Pink Floyd, the Beatles — they’re always exploring.”

 

Back in the studio, close to 2 a.m., Buckland and Martin play the middle section of “42″ over and over, trying to create the perfect guitar line. As it turns out, the late-night overdubs were inspired by an offhand comment Martin heard about the song sounding like Radiohead. “There’s nothing wrong with sounding like Radiohead,” Martin says. “It’s just, when I hear it in my head, that’s not how it sounds. We have to make it right.”

 

 

REM: Chris Martin Named Our New Single

 

REM revealed that Chris Martin helped them name new single 'Supernatural Superserious'. The song, which was the first track to be lifted from new album 'Accelerate', was originally called 'Disguised' after being previewed at the band’s five-night run at Dublin's Olympia Theatre last summer. However, according to REM's frontman Michael Stipe [pictured], the track was renamed after a bit of advice from the Coldplay frontman.

 

He told Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1: "We were in London, in Soho, mixing the record and Chris Martin was working on the Coldplay record as well, and he's great friends with the band. He was listening to the song, and said 'It's a great song but a crap title, you have to change it'. He offered this title and we went with it."

 

Coldplay To Headline 13th Annual Summer Concert Series, 27th June

 

The Today show announced the lineup for the 13th annual Summer Concert Series. Headliners include Miley Cyrus, Mary J Blige, Chris Brown, Alanis Morissette, Ashlee Simpson (sans lip sync hoe down, we're sure), Kenny Chesney and... Coldplay.

 

I think you all know what happened for 25 lucky Coldplayers three months later... if not... check back on 26th December for the June review... ;)

 

Sad news...

 

It was revealed after a courageous, 11-month battle for her life, Toronto Sun writer Sherri Wood died of brain cancer. The Etobicoke native was two weeks shy of her 29th birthday. Here's Anastasia Saradoc (EMI Music Canada):

 

I was so incredibly saddened to hear about Sherri passing away. My heartfelt condolences go to her family, friends and co-workers. This fabulous girl will be so greatly missed! Sherri was so wonderful to work with -- she had a great energy and enthusiasm that not all journalists have. I will especially fondly remember our many Coldplay conversations and what a thrill it was for her when she interviewed Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland from the band in May 2005. Her genuine interest/respect for the band and her exceptional sense of humour easily made this interview one of the highlights for the guys during that intense promo visit to Toronto.

 

[but a dream]

Sad news...[/size]

 

It was revealed after a courageous, 11-month battle for her life, Toronto Sun writer Sherri Wood died of brain cancer. The Etobicoke native was two weeks shy of her 29th birthday. Here's Anastasia Saradoc (EMI Music Canada):

 

I was so incredibly saddened to hear about Sherri passing away. My heartfelt condolences go to her family, friends and co-workers. This fabulous girl will be so greatly missed! Sherri was so wonderful to work with -- she had a great energy and enthusiasm that not all journalists have. I will especially fondly remember our many Coldplay conversations and what a thrill it was for her when she interviewed Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland from the band in May 2005. Her genuine interest/respect for the band and her exceptional sense of humour easily made this interview one of the highlights for the guys during that intense promo visit to Toronto.

 

Awww that's sad :(

[rudy_o]

:cry:

[strawberryswinger]

that website design was cool!

[gotcheese2768]

I suppose it’s like the urge to masturbate.” Adds bassist Guy Berryman

 

hahaha that is funny!!!

[squareonefivesix]

Aw, great review - I missed all this speculation at the time, being busy with other stuff. Good read :)

[ApproximatelyInfinite]

i can't choose one best event :bigcry:

 

march was too awesome. that was the best week ever, the week of the 17th :dead:

[marie/pims]

"I suppose it’s like the urge to masturbate.” Adds bassist Guy Berryman

 

 

Guy has been hanging out with Chris too much...:)

[BlogApostille]

For you Coldplay fans out there, they’re offering a free download of the Thin White Duke remix of Viva La Vida… an interesting and upbeat version!

Just go to http://www.coldplay.com/song.html throw in any email address and click download

[BerrymanGirl1]

Guy has been hanging out with Chris too much...:)

 

:lol:aha