Coldplay: “We Just Keep Working, Keeping Our Heads Down”

With Coldplay back on the road this summer for the final leg of its tour behind its most recent album — the Grammy-winning, multi-platinum Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends — Shockhound thought it was the perfect time to catch up with singer Chris Martin and find out how he’s holding up. After all, it can’t be easy touring the world while being married to Gwyneth Paltrow and getting sued by Joe Satriani. Or can it?

Even though the group has been replaced by puppets in its video for “Life In Technicolor II,” the frontman sounded fighting fit — as well as quite convivial — as he spoke to ShockHound by phone from a tour stop somewhere on the East Coast. Along with revealing that his band has already started working on its next album, Martin even asked us for some career advice — but only after we addressed more important topics like boozing, playing video games and making fun of Bono. Read the full article after the jump, you can also discuss this interview at the Coldplay forum here [thanks mimixxx]

SHOCKHOUND: How do I know I'm not speaking to your puppet?

CHRIS MARTIN: You might well be. You have no way of knowing if this is the real singer of Coldplay. Well, I have no way of knowing if this is really you.

<SHOCKHOUND: I think we have at least established that I’m not a puppet.

MARTIN: We’re all puppets at times, aren’t we?

SHOCKHOUND: You don’t drink alcohol or coffee, correct?

MARTIN: I don't drink coffee.

SHOCKHOUND: How do you get through the day?

MARTIN: A lot of oatmeal and chocolate. Sometimes, I don't know if it's because I've been listening to Appetite for Destruction, but I've got this new thing for Jack Daniel’s. But not in Slash-ian amounts. More like a thimble. So not really Appetite For Destruction, but more “Appetite For Tidying Up.”

SHOCKHOUND: What are you like when you’re drunk?

MARTIN: I try not to get drunk because I'm a very nasty and aggressive one. The rest of the band would kill me.

SHOCKHOUND: Are you worried that years from now all the stuff you’ve been suppressing is going to come out and it’s going to be ugly?

MARTIN: Yeah, I’m a little concerned, but we just keep working and we keep our heads down.

SHOCKHOUND: When was the last time you wrote a song?

MARTIN: This morning.

SHOCKHOUND: Do you actually write every day?

MARTIN: Every day. That's the way I can make sense of things. It's also very enjoyable.

SHOCKHOUND: Most creative people are a little crazy. How does your insanity manifest itself?

MARTIN: No, I'm normal.

SHOCKHOUND: You can’t write “Strawberry Swing” and be normal.

MARTIN: Yeah, you can. We just did a video for “Strawberry Swing” and it's going to be the best video we've ever done. It’s all lying down on the floor but filming it like you’re standing up. There’s all this animation and it’s pretty clever. I'm just really excited about it and I never get excited about videos. But it doesn’t sound like you’re that normal, either.

SHOCKHOUND: Let’s stick to the subject here.

MARTIN: I’m just trying to turn the tables.

SHOCKHOUND: When you’re stuck in traffic, do you play “Tap Tap Coldplay” on your iPhone?

MARTIN: No, but I've heard about “Tap Tap” and it sounds pretty great. I don't have an iPhone. But Phil, our fifth member, has that thing “Bloom.” It sounds pretty fun. Anytime we do those computer games and you try your own music, I always get a shit mark. I did karaoke the other day in Hong Kong and at the end of it the computer gave me 17 percent.

SHOCKHOUND: Actually, judging by the reviews Coldplay generally gets, that sounds about right.

MARTIN: It's the best review I ever got.

SHOCKHOUND: How do you rate Viva la Vida now?

MARTIN: I feel okay about it. I don't feel as embarrassed about it as I thought I might.

SHOCKHOUND: Why would you feel embarrassed about it?

MARTIN: Whenever we do a record I always feel embarrassed about it. But I'm very much enjoying singing those songs more than ever.

SHOCKHOUND: Did it feel good when Bono called you a "wanker" and "cretin"?

MARTIN: Well, he's called me worse.

SHOCKHOUND: I think you’ve thrown a few things his way over the years.

MARTIN: Yeah, I have. I was never famous enough for him to notice. Now I’ve arrived.

SHOCKHOUND: Does being a pop star beat working at a supermarket?

MARTIN: What do I think? The outfits are much more comfortable. The hours are more flexible. But I do miss the smell of fresh bread.

SHOCKHOUND: Your studio is a former bakery.

MARTIN: I see what you’re thinking. Good idea. We’ll get that set.

SHOCKHOUND: So what do you do next — where does Coldplay go from here?

MARTIN: You tell me. What would you do if you were us — 100 percent seriously?

SHOCKHOUND: Maybe I’d scale things back a little. It would be nice to hear the four of you in a room without the strings and saxophones.

MARTIN: That feels like a good idea to me. Like [bruce Springsteen’s] Nebraska? I think you might be right. That sounds good. When would be good time to put that out? Or do you think it even matters?

SHOCKHOUND: Next year. You have to stay in peoples’ faces.

MARTIN: The reason you get less records like that is because the cycle between records is so long you feel like you’ve got to do the big thing every time. But I like the idea of a big band doing a little record. We have a lot of songs. I’ve got some good ones, I’ve got to be honest with you. Good idea. What should it be called?

SHOCKHOUND: Let me get back to you on that.

Source: ShockHound

Picture: Coldplay.com