Even rock stars get tired of talking about themselves eventually. Case in point: Chris Martin. The 32-year-old Coldplay frontman has spent the last year being interviewed by reporters far and wide about the band's gazillion-selling, chart-topping, Grammy-winning album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, writes the Winnipeg Sun.
And now that the awards are shelved, the sales are tabulated and the Britrockers' lengthy world tour is finally wrapping up in September, the last thing he really needs to do is another interview. But along with being fabulously rich, internationally famous, boyishly handsome, skinny and married to the equally fabulous actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Martin also seems to be something you don't always come across in the music industry: A gentleman.
So when Coldplay returned to Western Canada this week to make up for a series of concerts postponed from last year, Martin not only agreed to a chat -- he sat down with me in the front lounge of the band's tour bus on its first stop in Winnipeg.
Clad in a light purple shirt he would wear onstage later that night, a militaristic jacket (surprisingly, not part of the band's costumes; guess he just likes that stuff), a pair of dark blue warmup pants, multiple bracelets and peacock blue socks -- "That's not rude, is it?" he wondered about his stocking feet -- he slouched sideways on a couch with his feet up on the sofa opposite.
We were asked not to discuss his personal life and legal cases -- that would be claims by both Joe Satriani and Yusuf Islam that he plagiarized Viva la Vida -- but Martin was only to happy to weigh in on the current tour, the next Coldplay album and that weird dream he keeps having...
SUN: I'm kind of surprised that you're still doing press after a year on the road.
MARTIN: Yeah, me too. (Laughs). Well, we, uh ... yeah, good point. I know what you mean.
SUN: I would think you've already said everything about yourself you want. Plus, you're a rock star and it's almost showtime. Shouldn't you be off having yak tea or meditating under a pyramid?
MARTIN: I've already done all that. I just have to have some goat's milk and a French masseuse.
SUN: You kept us waiting a year out here in Western Canada over "production issues." Is that a euphemism?
MARTIN: Well, production issues was the official excuse. And normally when you say that, it's because one of you has had an overdose. But I think it actually may have been the truth. Hopefully in this case it's better late than never. Though some places we go, they would rather it was never than late.
SUN: Are we getting the 'been doing it so long it's streamlined and perfected' show or the 'been at it so long we're sick of it' show?
MARTIN: Well, this week we're building up to filming in Vancouver. So you're getting the 'band trying extremely hard to be great' show.
SUN: You probably don't have to try all that hard.
MARTIN: We do, we do. Of course we do. And we're lucky because we have the bug because no matter how tired you might be or no matter how many concerts you've done, someone comes in the room and has paid money for a ticket and we think, 'We'd better give it everything.'
SUN: Even after all this time, you don't take it for granted?
MARTIN: No. Especially not now. You asked why I'm doing press still. Sometimes that's a good way of communicating your gratitude for still being in the job.
SUN: You seem to do that a lot.
MARTIN: Well, we have a lot to be thankful for.
SUN: A lot of people in your position don't share that attitude.
MARTIN: I disagree with you there. I think most great bands -- at least most people that we look up to -- have that philosophy. That's where we learned it from, from Bruce and from U2 and from ... well, those two. Those two in particular, that's where we learned the work ethic.
SUN: You've been on this tour for a year. And it's not like you can change the set list every night ...
MARTIN: Well, we could. But it would be chaos.
SUN: Right. So how do you keep it fresh after a couple of hundred shows?
MARTIN: Well, between you and me and your millions of readers, if I ever question my motivation, I just try and find a muse. Normally it would be a pretty girl or the fact that your dad is there. There's always something that makes you think I'd better give my best.
SUN: I'm not allowed to ask about your muse.
MARTIN: You can ask anything you like, man; I just don't have to answer.
SUN: Fair enough. But does it feel like you're at the end of a marathon?
MARTIN: Well, I think we might not tour for a while after this tour. I think we see it as a solidification of something by going to all these places. You're showing you are real. I think when you become a big band, people somewhat don't think you are really real. So when you come to a town and play, it brings it all back to earth again. Because most of the time you read about a big band or see them on TV and it's all lawsuits and numbers and all these big things. It doesn't feel like there's real humans in the middle of it. The reason I love the fact that I can do one-on-one interviews or play a show is that it reminds me of why I do what I do. It's direct feedback and it's what it all boils down to; whether people want to sing along to a song or not.
SUN: You've been doing a lot of smaller cities lately -- places you haven't been before and places a lot of bigger bands don't play often. Do you find these audiences respond differently than those in bigger centres?
MARTIN: It's funny how a place can have a characteristic. If you go and play in Japan, say, there's enthusiasm. But it's expressed very pointedly and then everyone goes very silent to listen. So if you've just come from Italy, you think 'Oh God, this Japanese crowd hates us.' Or if you go to Mexico, there's craziness the whole time. So the more we go around the more we learn. And then you go to someplace like Des Moines for the first time and just try to get the measure of it. But the only thing we would take as a bad response would be a mass exit.
SUN: I'm guessing you don't get many of those.
MARTIN: Not for a while. Often in a dream I get that. I get a recurring dream where we can't quite get the song together and after about 15 minutes people start leaving. And I'm looking at my fingers and I can't remember what to do. It's terrible.
SUN: Have you shared this with a therapist?
MARTIN: Not with a therapist, but with Jonny (Buckland) our guitarist. He's the next best thing. That's his role.
SUN: Any other interesting dreams?
MARTIN: They're all interesting. But none of them can be shared in daytime news.
SUN: Is there anything about this tour you'll be glad to see the back end of? One particular song or element?
MARTIN: We've kind of weeded out the songs we didn't like. The great blessing of having some hit singles is that each time you get a new one you can drop something you didn't like. So gradually you can build a set you like from start to finish, five years after. For us at the moment, it's like touring in Cats. It's less of a gig and more of a show. There's something very nice about that. Because you know what's coming. It's a nice machine to be a part of.
SUN: There is a lot of production in this show -- a satellite stage, balloons, butterflies. Why go to all that trouble? At this point, you could come out and play on a bare stage.
MARTIN: And we will do that at some point. The bare stage thing would be good in a small theatre. But not in an arena. And have you seen our butterflies? They look f---ing amazing. That's why we do it.
SUN: I wanted to ask how much of that stuff is for us and how much is for you.
MARTIN: Something like that is for us. When you fill a room with neon butterflies, it looks pretty great. So we keep it. But the show all comes from us. It's what we think fits with the music.
SUN: Is that the kind of show you're a fan of?
MARTIN: Yeah, of course. I love the Flaming Lips more than anyone live. And they take stagecraft and gimmickry to the maximum degree. Compared to their show, ours is pretty light.
SUN: Will we be seeing you walking on the crowd in a giant bubble?
MARTIN: Well, I think that's sort of Wayne Coyne's copyright. There are certain things you don't steal.
SUN: But you're covering a Monkees song. What's the story with that?
MARTIN: We did a Neil Diamond tribute concert just before the Grammys with a bunch of other people. And we asked if we could play I'm a Believer, which most people don't know is a Neil Diamond song. And we played it the next night in our concert, and it got a bigger response than any of our songs, so we thought, 'Don't miss that trick.'
SUN: And you're giving away a live CD -- you guys just keep on giving.
MARTIN: We don't, really. It costs money to come and see us and it costs money to buy our records. Even McDonald's gives you a free toy every so often. It's just natural that if you can afford to make a live record and give it to people, why wouldn't you? If feels great to do it.
SUN: I would imagine it also defeats the purpose of bootlegging the show.
MARTIN: And it makes sure it's a good show out there. Though I don't think we'd have felt comfortable releasing a live album in a conventional way. I don't know if that would work in this day and age. So with this, it's part generosity and part a statement of where we're at.
SUN: So instead of a live album, you'll be filming for a DVD in Vancouver?
MARTIN: No, not for a DVD. Just for the annals of time.
SUN: Just to sit and watch in your basement?
MARTIN: When I'm old, maybe.
SUN: So what comes after this? A long break?
MARTIN: There are no breaks. We'll go right back into something. I can tell you that we're fired up and approaching the wrong side of 32 and we feel very hungry in a musical sense. And where we come from, everyone is always held up against The Beatles. And everyone falls short. So we feel like we have to keep trying to improve. So we might take a couple of weeks just to do some laundry, but then we'll see. I don't think what we do next will be a big extravaganza. But it will be something good.
Coldplay at the MTS Centre, Winnipeg (15th June 2009):
Pictures by jiggajayd @ Flickr
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