[2015-12-04] Coldplay Interview on RTL 102.5 and Radiovisione

[Jedi Leo]

Guy " We always like to change our sound". Stargate fantastic pair of norwegian gentlemen :) Interesting to see what they could do with our music. A really nice collaboration. Rick keeps it all together, praise for Rick...

[Coeurli]

Our great member Daniela (what's your username again, D? :angry: ) has written the transcript and translation of the interview for us!! Thank you, Jonny and the Cake (if i remember correctly ohdear :lol: )

 

What changed between Ghost Stories and A Head full of Dreams

 

Chris: "Ghost Stories was a quiet album, it was silver and blue in its colours, when we recorded it, it felt like a catharsis to me, we felt open. Instead of going on tour we went back into the studio to record A Head Full of Dreams, we spent our last year and a half in the studio when since releasing Ghost Stories, it was a beautiful experience.

 

What's the message in the album.

 

Chris: The people that are happier are the ones that live in the moment and are greatful for everything, even for the bad stuff. The middle track of a Head Full of Dreams contains The Guest House, a poem that talks about these ideas, it was written by Rumi, that poem changed the way I look at the world. That's what inspired this album.

 

I read a lot of poetry, the Conference of the Birds is an amazing poem, similar to the story of The Wizard of Oz, basically everything we need is locked inside ourselves, we just need to find the key.

 

What About Everglow

 

Guy: Everglow is probably one of the simplest songs on the album, we didnt need to change it a lot, Chris wrote it on the piano and we just added a few things, it's probably my favourite song from the album.

 

About working with Beyonce

 

Will: If there's ever the opportunity of working with some of the best artists in the world we want to take it. She's amazing, a wonderful singer. On this album we wanted a different sound and different voices, she has the best voice on the planet, so why dont ask her?

 

About the choir heard in Up&Up and their kids singing on the album.

 

Chris: All of our kids are on a few songs, it began when my kids were in the studio right after school, and I asked their opinion on the chorus of a song called Up&Up, the last of the tracklist, and they started singing and we thought "wouldn't it be cool to have a lot of people singing on this track?", so you can hear our kids, but also other people, relatives, Beyonce, Brian Eno, Mary Clayton, she's known for the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter".

 

Will: We wanted to create this choir of people, it was amazing, it doesn't happen very often that we all gather around like this

 

So your kids know each other, they play together?

 

Will: Yeah, absolutely

 

Guy: We all see each other in different groups, but it's rare to see all of them together

 

How many kids are in Coldplay?

 

Will: About 10

 

Like a soccer team

 

Will: Yeah like a soccer team, that's our goal

 

About working with Stargate

 

Guy: we always like to try and change our sound, be different, surpirse people, prove ourselves we decided to work with Stargate, fantastic pair of norwegian gentlemen, they usually work on a different genre from us, mostly pop, we were interested in what they would came up with given that we're a band.

 

 

 

 

Was Brian Eno present during the recording of this album?

 

Guy: We met a couple of times, but he's always with us, like a ghost, he's aways in the back of our minds, he speaks to us. It was a wonderful collaboration, Rik Simpson too, he was with us as always, he's the man that keeps everything together.

 

Will: He knows us, he worked on our music more than anyone else, he knows how we like to work, he's incredibly fast and honest, he has an incredible musical ear, he's a brilliant person. We've known each other for so long that the work relationship is quite simple, efficient, he's kind and gives us space, like with Stargate and Brian Eno, it was a great team work.

 

About X Marks the Spot

 

Chris: The second part of that song (Army of one) is called X Marks the Spot, like an "x" on a map that hides a treasure, so we thought it would be to hide the song like it was a treasure hidden in the album.

 

Like your album title suggest, your head must be full of dreams

 

Chris: I have dreams when I'm sleeping that are just crazy, and i dream of song ideas, wondering how to fix this or that, all that for me is dreaming

 

How the events in Paris affected Chris Martin

 

Chris: What I think is that I dont want to give up, one of the things we talk about in this album is not to give up hope, there's always great people out there in the world. Of course when things like Paris happen, the "noise" of agression becomes louder, it's easy to get despondent, I don't want to do that. We're living in a interesting time, how do you find peace in these situations? When a group of people strongly believes in a certain thing and another group of people strongly believes in another thing, it's difficult to find a solution. I don't have an answer. We keep doing what we do, we don't hate anybody and we don't have anything against people. Everyone has the right to live and think freely.

 

What did you say to your children?

 

Chris: Good question, few days ago their mom flew to Europe and they were worried about her, asking me why she went to Europe. I told them that most people are peaceful and want to live in peace, but sometimes people are confused and unahppy. I don't know how to explain it, it's hard, now that you've asked me of it I realise how difficult it is to answer

 

About a possible tour date in Italy

 

Will: I certainly hope so!

 

Guy: Absolutely!

 

Will: We love it, we love Italy, we always have fun playing there, great crowds, great food of course and beautiful people

[Jedi Leo]

Like the little tidbit about x marks the spot :)

[gai]

thanks jonny and the cake!