Chris Martin announces solo album + tour

[TraceOddity]

Actually, I'm sort of surprised they haven't been more solo project from all four of them. Usually after this many years in the same band working with the same people many musicians want to get out and try something new, more experimental. The guys must still really enjoy working with one another.:-)

[fakfak]

Actually, I'm sort of surprised they haven't been more solo project from all four of them. Usually after this many years in the same band working with the same people many musicians want to get out and try something new, more experimental. The guys must still really enjoy working with one another.:-)

 

In fairness, Guy does seem to have a full plate of non Coldplay projects, and Chris has written for a lot of other artists (though he hasn't in a while), so it's not as if there's a total absence of outside projects going on. I think the guys all just enjoy their downtime. It makes sense, they've all got young families and they don't need the money so why not?

[Sleep]

Every time a singer from my favorite bands decides to do a solo album, the next band album is never anything close to their previous works. (The Killers, Radiohead... especially the Killers ughh.) It's like the solo disease. Once they go solo, when they go back to their main band it still sounds like a solo album.

I have a feeling it would be different with Coldplay but I wouldn't want them to take that risk.

[fakfak]

Every time a singer from my favorite bands decides to do a solo album, the next band album is never anything close to their previous works. (The Killers, Radiohead... especially the Killers ughh.) It's like the solo disease. Once they go solo, when they go back to their main band it still sounds like a solo album.

I have a feeling it would be different with Coldplay but I wouldn't want them to take that risk.

 

I don't really follow the Killers post Hot Fuss, but IMHO Thom Yorke's solo album honestly sounds a lot more like the couple albums Radiohead made prior to it than it does the ones they've made since IMHO.

 

I'm actually of the opinion that it kind of helped Thom work out some of his electronic influences that the rest of the band wasn't as into. Sometimes that's the benefit of solo work.

[TraceOddity]

In fairness, Guy does seem to have a full plate of non Coldplay projects, and Chris has written for a lot of other artists (though he hasn't in a while), so it's not as if there's a total absence of outside projects going on. I think the guys all just enjoy their downtime. It makes sense, they've all got young families and they don't need the money so why not?

 

Creating solo albums seldom have anything to do with money. Trust me. I don't make any money off my band, lol. Sometimes a musician simply feel the need to explore other avenues that their band mates might not want to follow. Or they just need the feeling of being off on their own for a while.

[fakfak]

Creating solo albums seldom have anything to do with money. Trust me. I don't make any money off my band, lol. Sometimes a musician simply feel the need to explore other avenues that their band mates might not want to follow. Or they just need the feeling of being off on their own for a while.

 

True, but I was thinking more of bands who are successful, yet not successful enough for the members to spend large amounts of time doing nothing if the band goes on a lengthy hiatus. Only the most commercially successful musicians in the world can afford to take years off from gigging/recording at a time.

[TraceOddity]

True, but I was thinking more of bands who are successful, yet not successful enough for the members to spend large amounts of time doing nothing if the band goes on a lengthy hiatus. Only the most commercially successful musicians in the world can afford to take years off from gigging/recording at a time.

 

I don't really think that demographic or income matter. If the musician is driven to follow his or her creative path, they will do it, income or No. If an artist is unsatisfied with the direction his or her music is heading, they will change direction. It's just an indicator to me that the guys in coldplay it must still be happy with the music they're making and feel that they don't need to explore any avenues to get it out of there system, as it were.

[fakfak]

I don't really think that demographic or income matter. If the musician is driven to follow his or her creative path, they will do it, income or No. If an artist is unsatisfied with the direction his or her music is heading, they will change direction. It's just an indicator to me that the guys in coldplay it must still be happy with the music they're making and feel that they don't need to explore any avenues to get it out of there system, as it were.

 

 

In the case of Coldplay, I'd absolutely agree, but to say it's never a factor is untrue. I can think of numerous solo projects that were born in part or in whole as a direct result of band members needing some professional outlet while their main band was on hiatus, or to give themselves a commercial bulwark against said band's eventual demise. We've had similar conversations before, and I know you approach the matter from a different angle than I do but the fact is for a great many professional musicians the ability to keep generating an income from their musical endeavors does weigh heavy in the creative and decision making process, especially if it's how they've made their living for a good while. Ironically, it's bands who are the most commercial that become the most immune as at a certain point you've earned enough money that it becomes a total non factor.

 

I guess my point was, in a band like Coldplay, where all the guys have as much material success as they could want, there's really no reason to embark on a solo project (or indeed make any music) unless they felt led to do so, which they obviously don't.

 

In a way, I think that explains why Guy has been the most active one outside the band, as when you hear him talk about his influences, he seems into a lot of stuff that the other band members (probably) aren't, and which would never fit well within the Coldplay framework. For a long time I felt that way about Chris and his attraction to pop music forms, but the band seems to have encouraged him to bring some of those influences into the Coldplay tent so I think as long as they seem willing to try stuff like that, the band will likely keep all the guys creatively satisfied.

[TraceOddity]

Oh oh it's not to say there are those who do a solo project for the money. The most certainly are. And as for guy, I really wish the band would explore some of his R&B & funk influences in their group music. It would be a lot of fun.

[fakfak]

Oh oh it's not to say there are those who do a solo project for the money. The most certainly are. And as for guy, I really wish the band would explore some of his R&B & funk influences in their group music. It would be a lot of fun.

 

That would be kind of cool actually. I wonder if he can slap?

[Spider-Man]

For the sake of this thread, I'd like to create a setlist for if this ever did happen. It would be best to base this off his Hotel cafe performance. He would probably have his upright piano and 2-3 guitars. What songs would you want to hear him play?

 

Clocks - Piano

Atlas - Piano

Swallowed In The Sea - Guitar

Us Against The World - Piano

Wedding Bells - Guitar

Viva La Vida - Guitar

Yellow - Piano

The Scientist - Guitar

Paradise - Guitar

[lorepalma]

I thought this was a new rumour, I almost cried..

Hmm, I wouldn't like that idea, I can't imagine Chris without the talented and smiling Jonny Boy, the serious and confident Will and the handsome Guy