[2015-12-17] Coldplaying Asks Coldplay - The Batman Interview

[Batman]

Stephend2000 Note: Hey Guys, I’d just like to congratulate Thalia (Batman) on interviewing one of the biggest bands in the world!! Also thanks for making the expensive trip to Berlin to represent the site, we truly have the best team members ever! We are forever grateful to the wonderful Debs Wild and Phil Harvey. Phil set us up with Debs and she has been the most kind and helpful person that we could have asked for. Enough babbling out of me, enjoy the interview!

Coldplayers! We are absolutely thrilled to present to you the latest instalment of Coldplaying Asks Coldplay!

This time, we have an actual interview! In this thread, Batman shares her incredible journey and what it was like to interview Will and Guy from Coldplay! This interview is the result of many months of negotiations with the band. We tried our best to use the questions that were asked in the original thread.

At first, we did forward the most voted questions to the band, but they were not answered, for various reasons. We were eventually able to get a real interview, thanks to Phil and Debs, but given the limited time and the very in-depth questions, or the fact that some questions were management issues, we could not get all of them to the band. We tried our best and this interview is the result of all our combined efforts to give you guys an interesting and exclusive interview.

We hope you enjoy it. ;)

The Coldplaying Team

 

Hello everyone,

 

*takes off worn out shoes*

 

I've been quite on a journey the past few days

 

*throws off smokey smelling cape*

 

not to mention quite a spectacular one at that

*lays all kinds of electronical devices, cams and phones down onto the table*

 

 

and I really need some good sleep.

 

Like, a 3 day long lasting sleep..

*throws travel bag into the corner and sits down heavily*

 

 

…

 

 

*picks some flower confetti out of hair*

 

 

 

What can I say? As a few of you might remember, we have been collecting all kinds of questions from you guys. Questions for Phil to forward to the band and get them answered.

 

But we all know the band has been quite busy the past few months with the album and all so that little project kind of died down a little.

 

 

 

Or so we thought!

 

The Beginning

 

 

One nice day in november I logged into Coldplaying to see if any of you guys had been spamming up the threads with all kinds of random wonderfulness, only to discover I've got a mail from the Admin himself titleing „Arranging Coldplay Q&A“ stating the following:

 

 

I'm messaging you because your close (well, sort of ) and wanted to give you the first chance of meeting Coldplay and asking them questions for Coldplaying. Looks like they're gonna arrange a date and a place in Berlin.

 

Please let me know if you can do this.

 

 

As you can maybe imagine my heart stopped for solid ten seconds there, as did my breathing, and I was like whu

 

 

 

okay I mean yes I can totally do this heLL YES YOU BET I CAN

 

 

 

wait Berlin is like 6 hours away from me

 

 

 

uhh

 

*checks bank account*

 

 

 

*realises almost all of the money went to the recent concert tickets for Cold freaking Play*

 

 

Well darn it. If this band isn't gonna be my financial ruin I dunno what else is gonna be

 

 

 

let's GET SOME THINGS DONE and organize this monster of a journey, WHOOP!

 

 

 

So I did some things, asked some people, asked the admin that told me I had to go to Berlin alone because of management reasons, asked some more people how to come around in Berlin without paying a crap load of money, and then after a few stressful nights I had managed to book a cheap flight, a cheaper (and craptastic) hostel with no toilets in my room, and a rented car!

 

 

The only thing I didn't know was at which time the interview would start BUT HEY NO STRESS RIGHT LMAO. At least I knew this whole thing would happen on the 17th of December so that was settled then.

 

 

As the days went by and December was approaching, I asked the Coldplaying HQ if this was all indeed happening to ME out of all people, and they kindly reassured me that yes, it was. Okay, no reason to freak out, right? I'm just gonna meet Coldplay, sit down for a lil' talk, record the audio if I was allowed to, or write the answers down, and then get back home.

 

 

 

Ha, sounds simple, doesn't it?

 

 

 

Yeah?

 

 

 

No, I didn't think so, either. NO WAY IN HELL! I was SO not prepared for this.

 

 

 

The Journey

 

 

 

The night of the 16th of December was now finally there and of course I couldn't sleep. I tried to somehow prepare for this interview by imagining all kinds of scenarios, having Guy storming out of the room for a toilet break to Jonny coughing constantly to me having forgotten putting on any clothes. I had it all nicely layed out in my head. Still, my brain decided it was best if I didn't get any sleep at all so I would be constantly tired on interview day because why the frick not BATMAN DOESN'T NEED SLEEP

 

 

And then Debs finally messaged me and told me the interview was going to start at 3PM and I should meet her at 2:40 PM.

 

 

In the end I fell asleep at 3AM and got up at 4AM, got all of my stuff (2 phones to record the interview, one canon camera for extra audio recording, artworks and CDs to be signed, and everything else you need for living) hopped into the car and drove to Cologne/Bonn airport one car hour away.

 

 

I've got there, went on the plane, got out at Berlin Schönefeld one hour later, hopped into my rented car that didn't work for an entire hour because the company forgot to activate my registration card, and finally drove to my friggn' hostel after I thought God had already abandoned me. Oh yeah, and finding parking spots in Berlin city is like trying to find a Coldplay fan at Wacken festival.

 

 

 

After 20 minutes of searching and being tired as hell I finally found a space, jumped out of the car and ran to the hostel because of bodily needs and because I really needed to charge my phone since I had 15 Coldplayers nagging every 10 seconds about where I was and what I was doing and if I was excited and if I already had pooped my pants and how I was anyway and did I dress nicely and oh do you know you're GONNA INTERVIEW COLDPLAY TODAY HAHAHAH GOOD LUCK THERE.

 

 

 

…

 

 

 

*cough*

 

 

 

anyWAYS

 

 

 

 

 

On my way to Coldplay

 

 

 

I chilled around the lounge of the hostel a bit, wasted some time until it was noon, got up and ate something for the first time of the day, and then decided I couldn't wait any longer and went outside to the train stations. And every time I slowed down for a bit, or stopped moving, I felt sleep kicking in and making my legs go all weak. Alright, so no time for rest, I have to keep my body working! I jumped into the next best train and headed for the location I was given. It was the building in which the German TV show „The Voice of Germany“ was being filmed, so I had to find the correct studio.

 

After 45 minutes on the train I took a bus, and got out at a street that was full of giant expensive buildings and studios. Okay cool, now where is my address....

 

 

 

after a little bit of walking through a cloudy, windy and wet day, I spotted my final destination, only to find out it was heavily secured by mean looking security guards. Approaching one of the men I cautiously asked if this was the right address and he just eyed me and said „I guess so? I don't know I just check if people wear THESE badges *waving one in front of my face* and if they do, they're allowed to get in“

 

Well okay then, Debs told me she would hand me out one of said badges once she was getting to me (I sent her a photo of myself prior so that she could get it printed).

 

I went back to the opposite of the building and waited under a canopy since I was one hour early (talk about being German =D) and let Debs know I was already there.

 

 

 

I spotted two women next to me talking, so I gave them a friendly smile, which they did as well, and they continued chatting about the people inside the building and what was going in there so I just eavesdropped on them casually without being too obvious. And then I heard some „Coldplay blah blah black van blah blah this side of the building? Blah maybe not bLAH“ and my right ear grew a few sizes larger HAHA. Then I took off walking again since they stopped talking and Debs happily replied she's gonna get me as soon as the Coldplay soundcheck was over. Ooooh so Coldplay was already in the building, nICE :O

 

 

 

It was really nasty outside so after checking the place out further I went to my little spot with the two ladies still chatting to each other. They were probably working there or taking a break or something. ANYWAYS I was a tad bit nervous since my brain finally realized I'm gonna interview Coldplay in less than an hour and I think my nervousness started leaking a little haha. Because the next moment a box of chocolates were shoved into my face and I followed the arm that was holding the box and at the end was the face of one of the women, smiling at me.

 

„What did I do to earn these ?!“ I asked her, bewildered.

 

„Yeah I thought you could use one of those, you look kinda nervous!“ She beamed and moved the box further into my face. I laughed and took one of the chocolates out and devoured it because damn, I really was craving for some energy!

 

 

I asked her what she was doing here anyway, if she was working and just taking a break and she downright laughed her butt off and said: „I wish! Nah I'm just here with my bestie (she pointed behind her to the other woman who happily waved back) to see some celebs!“

 

„So you're one of these infamous celebrity spotters huh?“

 

„Damn straight I am! So, what are YOU doing here then? Why are you so nervous?“

 

„Well I'm gonna uh, I'm going to interview my favourite band in half an hour“

 

„Hey that's awesome- wait, BAND you said? There's only one band performing on The Voice of Germany tonight!“

 

„Yes, Coldplay“ She gave me quite a stare.

 

„SORRY I was super lucky I ain't rich or anything D:“

 

„DUUUUUUUUUDE don't apologize it's alright HAHAHA damn gurl! Come here you need some more of that!“ and she put three more chocolates into my hands.

 

I walked over to her friend and we chatted a little about our lives when after a while I got two messages on my phone:

 

 

Debs:

Thalia where are you? We can't find you we need you here ASAP. Hurry!

 

Debs:

Hurry please! Literally, run!

 

 

 

So I quickly said bye to the two ladies and ran for my life to the front of the building, only to realize that Debs wasn't there. Then she even called me and asked me where I was and I told her but she didn't see me...

 

 

 

In the end, I talked to 3 different people on the phone, having all of them telling me to run around the building 2 times, while dodging and asking angry securities at the same time to let me through.

 

 

 

After being all sweaty and exhausted I ended up at the exact same spot I was in the beginning (lolwat) and saw Debs running out of the studio thANK GOD.

 

 

 

„I'm sooo sorry Thalia oh my gosh but we REALLY HAVE TO HURRY NOW come with me here's your badge keep it with you at all times and don't lose it WE HAVE TO RUN NOW“

 

 

 

So Debs was apologizing profusely to my left, and another management lady to my right was leading the way, while I was in the middle trying to process everything and just repeated „Yeah no it's cool it's alright hey no problem everything is ok“ over and over again.

 

 

 

Then Debs told me there were two interviews happening at the same time so I were to talk to Will and Guy only because Chris and Jonny were being interviewed by another person.

 

Alright then, half of the band is better than no band. And seriously, I wasn't to complain anyway EVER about this, I had no right!

 

 

So we ran past securities, lots of other people and straight to the offices where I already saw some Coldplay signs at the walls like „Coldplay Catering/Management/Warm up“

 

 

 

WARM UP!?

 

 

 

 

 

I was in the Coldplay Matrix holy crap °__°

 

 

 

Meeting the Band

 

 

 

Then there was a tiny office room with a „Coldplay Management“ sign next to the door and I was being led into it.

 

 

 

„You can put all of your stuff there and just settle down aND OH MY GOSH THALIA I'M SO SORRY“

 

 

 

After telling Debs that it wasn't that terrible that she chased me around the entire facility two times we both calmed down and laughed and talked about the interview questions. I had sent her a list beforehand but decided to add a few more questions the night before because I wasn't happy with the older questions. So I just told her to overlook the paper and blacken everything that wasn't okay to ask, or too personal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was what was left of it haha. Debs even apologized for how it looked like and I just said „it's alright it's just a paper!!1“

 

 

 

While I sat down on my chair my excitement level rose just a tINY LITTLE BIT when all the roadies walked past the door and Debs went in and out to check if the band was anywhere to be seen. I set up my two phones and camera (just in case) to record from three different audio sources in case two of them died. Better be safe than sorry!!

 

I also put everything I need close to me. Because I thought it would be nice to start the interview in good spirits I brought each band member a little Christmas present. Guy got a chocolate spanner, Will German gingerbread „Lebkuchen“, Jonny was getting a gingerbread man and Chris got his chocolate santa haha. I also printed out two of my Coldplay fanarts on nice paper and got 3 Coldplay Cds out to get signed.

 

 

 

 

 

Then Debs came back in and said „It's been very quietly have you noticed?“ and I just stared at her like YES I HAVE NOTICED THANKS and she got all excited and made clear that the band just came around the corner and she grinned at me like „alright let's GO“

 

 

 

 

 

Soo uhh

 

 

 

I heard Will saying something behind the door and there he freaking WAS, closely followed by Guy. They both wore their stage outfits and as soon as they saw me my face went like „BOOM LAVA“ and I just grinned like a fool and said, way too friggn high pitched, „HI“ and stretched out my hand. They both smiled at me and shook my hands and I just stood there kinda stuck between chair and table because the room was way to freakin small haha.

 

 

 

Then the following interview ensued:

 

 

 

((AUDIO))

 

a transcription of this interview is in the second post ↓↓↓

 

Needless to say Will and Guy were more than humble and friendly and I already expected them to be , but they were so super kind, especially Will. I honestly wanted to hug him so bad omg

 

 

 

 

 

I hope I did you guys justice with the questions and the way the interview went. I never interviewed anyone ever before, so this was new to me. I apologize for my horrible English and German accent, if you have any questions or didn't understand something, just ask and I'll try to help!

 

 

 

Batman Backstage

 

 

 

 

After they signed everything and took pics they left and I just stood there like „did this just happen or did I fall asleep somewhere at home and have some uber real dream right now?!“ combined with my lack of sleep this definitely didn't feel real. But then Debs said she had to go again to organise the event and hugged me and told me I could probably stay for the show and go everywhere with that backstage pass I had. Oh and she also told me she would take the artwork to the band to get it signed, and give it back to me later somehow.

 

 

 

And hell Will and Guy even signed it so I felt like I could go anywhere with that plastic card HAHAH

 

 

 

I was told where to stay and which rooms to avoid and what was ok for me to do and what not, and I won't tell you all of the details now because first I'm not allowed and secondly they're not very interesting either.

 

 

 

I stayed in the room a little bit longer to organise myself and to take pictures of stuff, when suddenly Miller/Roadie 42 came strolling into the room. WHAT A NICE COINCIDENCE!

 

We both awkwardly greeted each other and I said „Hey aren't you Roadie 42, Miller?“ and he just stared for a moment, then smiled and said „yeah that's true“

 

Me: „So how are you doing ?“

 

Him: „Oh well everything is madness now with the tv show and the tour slowly starting so I'm tired and exhausted but it's alright“

 

Me: „Yes I'm tired as well haha. Soooo.... you might know about a big but quiet bUT BIG fanbase over at Coldplaying, waiting pATIENTLY FOR YOUR BLOGS“ ← insert reproachful bat stare here

 

Him: „Ahahah yes uh well ERM I have not forgotten about them! I might continue them one day but right now I'm super busy“

 

Me: *continues staring* „Well anyways, we'd love to read your blogs again, they're amazing“

 

And then he continued tinkering with a camera and I couldn't help pointing my camera at him and asking him if I could take a pic and he was like wAIT! And hid in his hoodie lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miller stop being such an adorable dork we know how you look anyway haha

 

 

 

And to proof it was Mr. 42 himself I have further proof:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then he went outside and continued taking pics of people sitting in a chair but I didn't bother him any further because he's a Coldplay Roadie and Debs told me to leave the Coldplay roadies alone.

 

And about 99% of them looked at me like they were to kill me in a second so I gladly followed Debs' advice and just smiled and nodded at them and left them the hell alone :3

 

 

While packing my stuff away and getting ready to leave the room I heard some noise coming from the corridor, so I looked up just in time to see Jonny walking past the door, followed by Chris who was moving rather slowly so I couldn't help myself and shouted "Hey!" and he looked at me, smiling, and casually said "Hey how're you doing?" aaand went past the door out of my field of vision lol. I just stared at the blank spot where CHRIS MARTIN just happened to stand and blinked a few times, when suddenly Will appeared in the same spot looking all adorable with a big cuddly black hat and seeing me, he gave me the warmest smile ever and disappeared as well.

 

hooooOOOO my God how was I even alive at this point I still cAN LITERALLY NOT believe it jesus

 

 

After that I went out of the room and headed for the catering since I was supposed to stay there and out of the „family and friends“ area since I certainly didn't belong there. And I honestly was trying to avoid as much awkward fan moments as possible *cough * I really didn't feel like interrupting any Coldplay family meetings oh Gosh hell naw I was outta there as soon as possible haha.

 

 

 

So I just sauntered between roadies and headed for a lil' snack and spotted all the famous Coldplay roadies we know by names, and they all eyed me suspiciously and I just pokerfaced right through them slowly, trying to take in as many details as possible for you guys without being too obvious. Gotta keep that Coldplaying fangirl hidden at all costs!

 

The most hilarious thing I saw this day was a couch made for 2 people being occupied by a pile of 7 sleeping roadies. They were just lying all over each other, reminding me of a pride of lions sleeping in the midday sun.

 

One of them glared at me so I continued like I wasn't totally staring at them and took one tiny little croissant from the buffet. Roadies everywhere staring at me yeah no I didn't feel out of place at ALL nu-uh I totally belong here hahah WHERE'S THE FUCKING EXIT

 

 

 

 

 

After asking about 5 different people I was finally heading into the right direction of the tv studio and to the front seats of the stage.

 

 

 

It was 3:30 PM at that time and Coldplay was on at around 10:30 PM or so.

 

 

 

It was very exhausting trying to stay up all that time with having not really slept at all.

 

Not much happened worth mentioning, so when Coldplay finally came on, the people didn't even notice at first! The band was almost already in the middle of the stage when people finally recognized that there were musicians walking around and only then started applauding.

 

The moderator of the show kept rambling on about useless crap and Chris was moving the entire time, ready to dance, but wasn't allowed haha. It was painful seeing him all pumped up and ready and swinging his arms and legs around waiting for his cue to start that took like, forever. But then the song finally kicked of and Chris flowed over the stage, with the band playing along. I grinned when I saw Guy and Will doing their thing and didn't even get my hopes up they'd see me, they were already in concert mode and Will was most definitely thinking about doing his laundry HAHAHAH. Oh, and the new confetti looked like this, which was lovely:

 

 

 

 

Anyways, when the show was over Debs kindly messaged me that the band was already on their way to the airport so they weren't at the aftershow party. That was great because that meant I could totally go back to the interview room and try finding the signed artworks that the crew left for me there.

 

 

 

I went straight back to the room and found my signed posters neatly hidden away in the closet there. Oh man how awesome was that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that I went back to my hostel, slept for another 3 hours and got up somewhere in the early dark hours and flew back home.

 

 

What a crazy day that was. I was like a constant stream of stress, nervousness, insomnia and awe.

 

I still live off that „juice“ of the experience and haven't really felt tired yet.

 

 

 

I'll be forever thankful for this opportunity and respect the band and management even more now for giving a random fangirl like me the chance to talk to them. I didn't feel like a stranger there but like I was invited to a family meeting of a good friend. I was being taken care of the entire time and everyone was super friendly.

 

 

[Batman]

Transcription of the interview:

 

 

 

Guy = G, Will = W, Batman = B, Debs = D

 

W and G enter a room where B and D were waiting.

 

B: Hello

 

W: How are you?

 

B: Nervous....

 

W: Don’t be! I’m Will, how do you do? Nice to meet you!

 

B: I’m Thalia

 

G: Hello!

 

B: Hello, I’m Thalia. How are you doing (G)?

 

G: Very well, how are you?

 

B: I’m a little bit stressed, i’m nervous. I’m a fan so i’m nervous.

 

W: Oh, don’t be. Well, you guys are all doing a wonderful job for us, so thank you! Are you gonna record this, have you got it going?

 

B: Oh, yes. I’m triple proofed! I have audio recording because I have, like, 50,000 fans on my (site) like, “you have to record this, you have to record this! What are they doing?!”

 

W: Alright then, let’s do it.

 

B: So I would like the interview (to start) with some presents because Christmas is just around the corner and I thought it would be appropriate to give you something to celebrate.

 

W: Aww, that’s so nice!

 

G: That’s very kind, thank you!

 

B: And I believe you (G) like to tinker with cars or mechanics in your free time?

 

G: Yeah, this is true

 

B: So I bought you something

 

G: Oh wow, look at that!

 

B: It’s not made of metal, its chocolate.

 

G: Chocolate spanner?! Thank you very much, that’s very thoughtful!

 

B: You’re welcome! And I think you (W) once said you’d like to come to Germany during Christmas because of the Christmas markets and the lebkuchen.

 

W: Absolutely! Tell me you’ve got lebkuchen! Yeah, super cool! Amazing!

 

B: And the rest of the band isn’t there but you will meet them probably. So, this is for Jonny. Unfortunately, no cap; I didn’t find any but...

 

G: He loves gingerbreadmen.

 

W: Mhmm

 

D: Is that true? Does he?

 

G: Yeah! He’s like the biggest gingerbreadman fan, ever!

 

B: Really? Yes!

 

D: I didn’t even know that!

 

B: I’m very glad. And I think Chris likes chocolate

 

W: I think you might be right.

 

B: So he gets this very nice Kinder milk chocolate, whatever!

 

W: That is so nice of you! Thank you. This is brilliant by the way. I’m gonna take these home to my children. Yummy!

 

B: And to top it off. Because i’m an artist and I like to draw. I don’t know if you remember this but your management or whoever posted this on your twitter or tumblr. And I would like to give one to you. And because its just Chris’s head I thought I might draw all of your heads so no one feels left out.

 

W: That’s fantastic

 

G: Cool! Nice work. Did you paint this?

 

B: Yes I painted it

 

D: You did that?

 

B: It’s digital paint, in photoshop. If you have the time, maybe you can sign? But I think because all the fans are like, “Thalia, where are the questions?!”, I shall start asking questions!

 

Okay so, if every record of your music were to be destroyed except for one, what is the one song you would want to survive?

 

W: That’s tricky! I think for me it would be a song, most people probably never heard, but its a song called ‘Don’t Panic’. Actually, no, ‘Panic’, sorry. Not ‘Don’t Panic’, ‘Panic’. Which is the first song I ever played on. So, it turned into a song called ‘Don’t Panic’ which as you know is on the first record. But the song ‘Panic’ was a song that Chris and Guy and Jon had written together and they needed some drums on it. And that was the first bit of music that I ever played with my friends. And so it would be that song and the amusing thing is that no one else has ever heard it!

 

G: And that’s the one you’d save?

 

W: Just because it means the most to me. It’d have to be on a tape, a cassette, 4 track cassette.

 

B: Very retro

 

 

 

W: Yeah!

 

 

 

B: And you Guy?

 

G: It’s probably quite random, but I’ll give you a song I like. From our second album, called ‘Daylight’.

 

B: I love the live version, from Live 2003 DVD version!

 

G: Yeah and that's a great song. It was never a single of anything, but its a really strong contribution to the album

 

B: I know a lot of people would love to hear the song live. A lot of fans, quite a lot. So maybe you can keep that in the back of your mind

 

G: We used to play that a lot live.

 

W: Yeah we did, around that time, 2002 until 2005

 

B: And now it’s almost 2016!

 

W: I know, its a long time ago isn’t it?

 

B: Yes, ha! Okay next question. What is the most important thing you learned personally or professionally from each of the other band members?

 

 

 

Guy: ...wow

 

W: Goodness, these are in depth questions!

 

B: It’s your fans! You have very intelligent and thoughtful fans!

 

W: We do these interviews all the time with newspapers and journalists and they don’t ask questions that are as interesting or as in depth!

 

B: We have 200, 300 people and they all fill their questions in and we pick them out and thought we would give you very hard questions.

 

W: Nice. Well, I’ll answer this on behalf of the band. I think from Chris: probably I learned to persevere. I think he’s got such great confidence and optimism that even when things are difficult he pushes all the way through to the end and sees things through and has this great ability to hang on to the ideas. Sometimes I get too easily dissuaded form things so I think that's a great quality of his. From Jon I would say he has a great ability to speak volumes by not saying anything! You can tell what he’s thinking. It's more important what he doesn’t say than what he does say; an economy of speech. And from guy. I think I wouldn’t know anything about keyboards or synthesizers or anything to do with the studio if it wasn’t for Guy because he seems to have a great understanding of these things. Whilst we’re good at our instruments but Guy seems to be able to understand everything that’s going on in the studio in general, the sort of technology stuff. He’s very brainy in that world

 

G: A nerd? Are you basically calling me a nerd?

 

W: An uber nerd! Absolutely

 

G: And I think Will is very good at standing your ground. And that you’ve got an opinion that doesn’t always need to be walked over. I think Will is very good at not always going with the general flow, which is important!

 

W: Obstinacy?

 

G: Yes, yes!

 

W: Interestingly, my name, William, „Wilhelm“ in German means ‘resolute defender’.

 

 

 

B: Fits I guess!

 

 

 

W: So I think it’s fitting.

 

B: What was the song that caused the most arguments during this era/album?

 

G: I think the title track ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ was the song that song which we tried many times and never agreed on. I think there are 5 different versions of that song. But we finally got it somewhere that we all agreed on. But we don’t really have our arguments. I think nobody’s really got enough energy to really be bothered with arguing!

 

W: No, but we’re much better at communicating now. We don’t need to get into arguments anymore.

 

B: That’s healthy.

 

W: I think we’re slightly more grown up, slightly more relaxed and at ease with ourselves and each other. We tend to avoid the arguments by speaking about stuff before they get to that point.

 

B: What does ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ mean to each of you? I’ll start with you (G), because the fans always, ALWAYS, complain that you’re not talking enough!

 

W: Yes! I agree!

 

G: I don’t really have much to say that’s the trouble.

 

W: You do, Guy

 

G: It means, y’know, it’s an important part of our journey; I think it’s one of our best albums, I really enjoyed making it. I don’t really get into the whole philosophy behind what something might mean. I’m far too sort of scientific and technical for that. So to me it represents a new chapter, perhaps a closing of a chapter before we try something else. I think it’s a great representation of where we are as musicians and as friends. So you know, all of our albums are a real sort of milestones in our lives really.

 

W: To me it represents us sort of relaxing into ourselves a bit more and being okay with allowing other people to be involved with the record collaborating. It feels like quite a communal record. Everyone has tried different things, everyone’s done new things that they haven’t done before and we’ve worked with people that we haven’t worked with before. I think traditionally we’ve always had such a tight grasp on everything and you never want to let it out of the core of the four of us, but I think we’re at a point now in our band, the life of our band, where we feel that its okay to do that and we want fresh influence and we want to make it interesting for a whole new bunch of people.

 

B: What is the album or artist that inspired you to pursue music?

 

G: I think for me it’s really a lot of Motown and James Brown and all of the kind of real early dance records, really bass driven music. The Stax label. That’s what made me want to be a bass player. That was definitely the first wave of music, but there has been many waves of things that have come along since that that have inspired me. But that was the first.

 

B: I really like your bass work on this album because it stands out very strongly. I just want to say I really like it. Especially in the single in the segment 2/3rds in where Chris is singing and then there’s this ‘wub wub wub’ and then the whole song comes back in. And I've just got these new bass head phones and I was like „Whoa, that sounds nice!“.

 

W: Guy’s been excellent. He’s taken the bass to a whole new level.

 

B: And you (W)?

 

W: Oh yes, we used to listen to a lot of folk music. My mum was big into Irish music and so I listened to a lot (of it) in the car. We used to drive all over the place on holiday and we used to listen to a lot Irish folk music. I think what is consistent in those kind of songs is the sense of melody and the importance of a tune and I think it’s really what I love about music more than anything is the melody. So that was the first thing that I was exposed to that made me think, I’m really getting something from this. And then just learning to play various instruments and always having music in the house. So it wasn’t so much one particular band just a more of a general exposure to music. Classical music, folk music, rock music, pop music, everything was played in our house.

 

B: You can play a lot of instruments can’t you?

 

W: I can play a lot of instruments badly, haa.

 

B: But at least you can play them

 

W: Yes, I can play most things badly, haa

 

B: Alright, oh no, you scratched out my favourite question! Grr

 

W: Has Deb been vetting your questions?

 

B: Yes!

 

W: I’d be interested to know what it was that was vetted. You can ask, but we don’t have to answer it!

 

B: It was a random question. About that island. To each member of the band, which other member of the band would you like to be stranded on a deserted island with and why?

 

W: I think it’s sensible to vet the question! We’ll go and discuss it with the other guys later and get back to you.

 

B: Do you have individually a favourite track on the new album?

 

W: My favourite track at the moment, which I’m looking forward to people hearing more of is called ‘Army of One’. I think it’s great.

 

G: Birds, I like Birds.

 

B: It’s my favourite song off the album.

 

G: Birds is? Is it?

 

W: Good for you!

 

B: I like the way Chris’s voice sounds on the vocals. When he stretches his voice, his voice becomes an instrument. And I like how it sounds. It doesn’t really matter what he sings because I can switch out the English meaning because it’s not my mother-tongue and just hear noise. And it has a really nice rhythm in there. Can’t wait to hear it live. I think people will be stomping, haha

 

G: Stomping sounds good!

 

B: What was the last album you listened to?

 

G: I just listened to the Jamie XX album a few days ago.

 

W: I listened to an album by a friend of ours called Jim Ward who is in a band called Sleeper Car. And he’s sent me their new record and I think it’s going to be wonderful.

 

Timer goes off

 

B: I just heard a noise, is the interview over?

 

W: Go on, I’m sure it’s fine. Coldplaying, c’mon!

 

B: Yeah! Okay, being older and wiser and having a lot of knowledge and experience, if you got the chance to rewrite one song which one would it be and how would it sound?

 

W: Interesting. That is another good one. Although we feel like there are certain things that i’m sure we would change, if we said ‘we’d change this’, and then someone says that, but oh, that was my favourite song, I loved it like that. Then I’d feel like I kind of hurt that person.

 

G: The only thing that we sometimes talk about is not necessarily a song. We sometimes feel that we put too much, too many songs on X&Y and that it was a bit long. A lot of those songs come in well over 5 minutes which is something that we weren’t really focused on. So I think if there was a bit of editing or redoing to be done anywhere, it would probably be on that album but it wouldn’t’ necessarily be rerecording songs. It might just be taking a couple off that might’ve been used as b-sides or elsewhere. And maybe just shortening a couple of the songs that are already on there.

 

W: I think that's fair enough

 

 

 

B: Alright

 

 

 

W: *whispers You can do one more (question), haha.

 

B: How do you feel your live shows have evolved over the years? Do you feel more comfortable on stage as a result?

 

W: I would say we definitely do. If you’ve had seen some of the very, very first shows we ever did. We were all terrified.

 

D: I’m not saying anything.

 

W: Yeah, Debs saw them. We were like little children. Rabbits in the headlights. We were definitely nervous on stage. And it took a while for us to feel confident. Now I feel much more confident in front of 80,000 people than I do in front of 500. Those small shows are still terrifying partly because you can feel the people so close. Partly also I think because it reminds me of the days when I would just be so nervous before going on. Obviously we’ve improved; we’ve been playing out instruments together for 18 years so there’s that side of it; the comfort level of playing instruments. But just that feeling of, I don’t know maybe something is going to go wrong. Not having the same kind of control we would drive our amplifiers, drum kit in a little taxi, we drive it to the gig and lug it up the stairs and plug it in its not working. Chris would always break a string before going on stage tuning and just so many things that could go wrong. So I think we’d definitely relaxed. When things are going well even in front of the biggest crowds, I feel very relaxed. I think about doing my laundry. That’s the sign that you’re in the right mind, like driving a car, like it’s the most natural thing to do, like, here I am in front of 80,000 people playing the drums. You don’t have to think about it, when you have to think about it, that’s when mistakes happen. When you’re just relaxed, everything happens completely naturally and you feel calm and it’s just like when anyone’s doing whatever they love or whatever they’re really good at. That’s the feeling you get: complete calm.

 

W: Thanks Thalia nice to meet you. Lovely to meet you. Say thank you to everyone at Coldplaying for us. You guys are doing a wonderful job!

 

[stephen]

Listen

Listen and Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes: (Also available on all major podcast platforms)

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Download the MP3:

https://mega.nz/#!pF8W3SiT!0LRg4KpgRc8FDRkTA6nGlsE6U5tOsmSCPQ24lYHHKyw

 

Listen on Soundcloud:

[MEDIA=soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/coldplayingpodcast/interview/[/MEDIA]

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Watch on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIlSULzJZbw

Mobile Link: https://youtu.be/UIlSULzJZbw

[stephen]

It's here!!!

[Stephie]

This is awesome! Thank you so much for the interview, but also for letting us be a part of your exciting journey! So happy for you, Batman! :)

[Christa42]

WOOOHOOOO!

[grids]

YEAY

[gai]

hey! it's out! good job batman! you make us proud :)

[AMDB9]

That's so great that you got to do that, Thalia....thanks!!!!

 

But I have to ask, did anyone else reading the transcription read it in Will and Guy accents?

 

And Guy likes Birds and Daylight!! Just one more reason to like him haha

[atlas2000]

Yes!

[alisbe]

This is unbelievable! I've just read your description of the journey and it sounds amazing! Now it's time to watch the interview!

[Jonny and the cake]

this was awesome, seldom bands have such relationship with their fanbase

 

what coldplaying has is quite rare and impossible to these days

[gai]

This is unbelievable! I've just read your description of the journey and it sounds amazing! Now it's time to watch the interview!

sadly, only audio recording. no video allowed this time.

[oldiefan]

Thanks so much to everyone involved.... especially Batman - great interview. I would have passed out in your position.

[cheeetaz]

Awesome stuff thalia. Also thanks for the last question of a fan pre-sale even though they blacked it out. Probs for trying!

Bet you had quite a time experiencing all that.

[MosesTheMarshmallow]

Wow excellent interview! Thanks for all your work Batman. :)

 

Curious to hear Panic.... :lol:

[Fraetes]

As I told You before, well done, Batman!

 

Thank You for bringing us so close to our favourite band!

[Guest LiquidSky]

<3

[Guest diogo_sg]

You did so well, Thalia! Loved reading about the whole journey (I couldn't stop smiling and laughing at the craziness!). The interview was really good and they did seem very nice and happy and kind. I just have something to point out: when Guy mentioned the X&Y b-sides, I couldn't help thinking that you should've asked about the b-sides for this era. But oh well, I'm sure you had a lot more things to think of then. I absolutely loved their reaction when you showed them your artworks, specially Debs'. She must have looked like this -> [emoji79][emoji7]. And the Christmas presents were such a sweet idea!

You're such a lucky Coldplayer! I'm so very happy for you! Congratulations for this, Thalia; it was very well deserved (and one hell of a Christmas present!). And, of course, thank you Thalia, Coldplaying and Coldplay for making this possible. You're the best! [emoji6]

[Sparky]

Awesome detail Thalia. Really enjoyed this :D

[I ran away]

Thanks for the interview Batman ! It was really a nice read !

 

One question though: What happened to the winning question of our voting, what the 1998 version of Coldplay thinks about the 2015 version of Coldplay ? I see that time was very constrained but hey, of all the questions why was the winning one left out ?? (Although I hope that all four members will answer it, maybe in written form, on a later time point)

[AMDB9]

I still can't get over how great this is. Will and Guy were so nice and were so pleased at the great questions we all came up with!

[Guest LiquidSky]

Thanks for the interview Batman ! It was really a nice read !

 

One question though: What happened to the winning question of our voting, what the 1998 version of Coldplay thinks about the 2015 version of Coldplay ? I see that time was very constrained but hey, of all the questions why was the winning one left out ?? (Although I hope that all four members will answer it, maybe in written form, on a later time point)

 

"This time, we have an actual interview! In this thread, Batman shares her incredible journey and what it was like to interview Will and Guy from Coldplay! This interview is the result of many months of negotiations with the band. We tried our best to use the questions that were asked in the original thread.

At first, we did forward the most voted questions to the band, but they were not answered, for various reasons. We were eventually able to get a real interview, thanks to Phil and Debs, but given the limited time and the very in-depth questions, or the fact that some questions were management issues, we could not get all of them to the band. We tried our best and this interview is the result of all our combined efforts to give you guys an interesting and exclusive interview.

We hope you enjoy it. ;)

The Coldplaying Team"

[alisbe]

sadly, only audio recording. no video allowed this time.

That's OK. I enjoy listening to it! I thought it was a video when I saw the link to YouTube but I realized it was only audio as soon as it started. Anyways, fantastic job! Thalia did a great job interviewing them. I can hear they felt relaxed and comfortable answering the questions. Thanks for this Christmas gift and congratulations to the Coldplaying team and thanks for giving us the opportunity to feel so closed to the band.

[I ran away]

"This time, we have an actual interview! In this thread, Batman shares her incredible journey and what it was like to interview Will and Guy from Coldplay! This interview is the result of many months of negotiations with the band. We tried our best to use the questions that were asked in the original thread.

At first, we did forward the most voted questions to the band, but they were not answered, for various reasons. We were eventually able to get a real interview, thanks to Phil and Debs, but given the limited time and the very in-depth questions, or the fact that some questions were management issues, we could not get all of them to the band. We tried our best and this interview is the result of all our combined efforts to give you guys an interesting and exclusive interview.

We hope you enjoy it. ;)

The Coldplaying Team"

 

I did read that, and don't get me wrong I really appreciate what you all did, but still - what was the point in deciding what the best question is if it the one and only question that most people voted for is simply left out then ? It was not even crossed out by Debs, so it would have been allowed to ask !

Let's say I'm a little sad about it.