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If you’re planning on watching the Grammy Awards this weekend, here’s a little nugget of information you might find interesting: You technically own part of a record company whose artist is up for Album of the Year, report tamethebear.tv.   Coldplay is a front-runner for this year’s Album of the Year, among other nominations, for their energetic and potentially plagiarized single, “Viva La Vida.” But here’s the thing: We all have a vested interest in how Coldplay fares this Sunday.   See, EMI, t

This year's leading Grammy Award nominees have more in common than you might think, but on paper, this year's Grammy powerhouses couldn't seem more different.   Lil Wayne is a street-wise rapper from New Orleans who offers wild glimpses of a wide range of scenes of urban life in America on his chart-topping album "Tha Carter III." Coldplay is an artsy rock band from England that offers well-heeled takes on international inspiration - from "Lovers in Japan" and "Chinese Sleep Chant" to "Cemeterie

With their creative straitjacket cast off, Coldplay are now playing their best ever shows whipping the stage crew at football. Smart arses.   Nineteen thousand thoroughly satisfied customers are still pouring out into the night after the first two sold-out nights at the Manchester Evening News Arena by the time Coldplay's bassist Guy Berryman is back at his hotel bar – import lager in hand, cadging a smoke on the balcony.   Only guitarist Jonny Buckland, who's “sort of from the North” according

It's written right there on the wall of the studio where Coldplay writes and records its hit songs under the title Band Rules: "6. Always keep the mystery. Not many interviews."   And it is rare for the multiple-Grammy nominated band to open up for the media, but front man Chris Martin bends the rules when he gives correspondent Steve Kroft a candid interview and lets 60 Minutes cameras into their private studio. The result is a unique look inside one of the world’s most popular musical acts th

Pitchfork media reports today that Coldplay have kicked Chris Martin Out... of the studio. It's OK. Breathe. They also write about Roadie #42's journal entry from yesterday, and Chris Martin's collaboration with a mystery artist. Here is their article:   Admit it: Viva la Vida, Coldplay's first trip into the Eno-verse, has held up pretty well. These guys are some of the last honest-to-God stars on the face of the Earth, and they would've been just fine if they'd just kept biting "Clocks" over an

On the eve of Coldplay's Australian tour, drummer Will Champion has come out fighting over allegations the band plagiarised a Joe Satriani tune.   Coldplay, who are being sued for copyright infringement by the guitar geek, have labelled the accusation as "ridiculous" and "totally unfounded". In an interview with Confidential about their impending Australian tour, Champion was initially reluctant to speak at length about the accusation (no doubt at the behest of the band's lawyers). "I don't real

Wonder if Gwyneth Paltrow can sing a mean version of Coldplay's Viva La Vida? She may have to at this weekend's Grammy Awards, MusicRadar reports today.   The reason? The lawyer repping Joe Satriani is sending teams of process servers to the show to hand Coldplay a plagiarism lawsuit. As we've reported in the past, guitarist Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for copyright infringement for their Grammy-nominated song Viva La Vida, claiming the 2008 track copies "substantial original portions" of his

While many of the nominees reinforce what we’ve come to expect, the 51st Grammy Awards roundup managed a few surprises with both the artists selected and the ones seemingly snubbed. Grammy’s former darling Alicia Keys is notably absent in key categories, and there’s a bare minimum of former “American Idol” contestants clogging up the works.   Last year’s Amy Winehouse sweep cleared the way for Duffy and Adele, each with her own unique set of retro pipes that rock the lush ’60s sound. Meanwhile,

Stepping way out of their comfort zone earned them big sales and an Album of the Year nomination - Coldplay's Album of the Year Grammy-nominated Viva la Vida, or Death and All His Friends is fairly remarkable, report MTV.   And not just because it was the most commercially successful rock album released in 2008 (it sold more than 2.2 million copies here in the U.S.), or because it topped the charts in something like 17 countries worldwide. Though, in today's doom-and-gloom industry, those stats

Jonathan Ross begged his Radio 2 producer for a trouble-free show yesterday - and was promptly stitched up by pop star guest Chris Martin, report The People.   Wossy, 48, and producer Andy Davies sparked fury a week ago with a sick joke about having sex with an Alzheimer's victim. So Ross began the new show by telling Andy: "Let's try and stay out of trouble - watch what you're saying."   But he reckoned without Coldplay idol Chris, who sang a song about the lewd messages to Fawlty Towers' star

Poor Chris Martin. He's been sitting pretty at the top of album and singles charts the world over in recent weeks, and yet he's still suffering accusations from inventive YouTubers suggesting his best-selling songs are rip-offs.   First came a fine piece of self-publicity by Brooklyn indie band Creaky Boards, who suggested Martin had come to see them and copied their song The Songs I Didn't Write for Coldplay's Number 1 single Viva La Vida. No one quite believed Creaky Boards, as it soon emerge

Amy Macdonald checked in with fans on her blog at MySpace on Wednesday (January 21), offering supporting words for one of her musical peers. The Scottish singer songwriter tells readers:   I’ve just been watching ‘Big Chef Takes on Little Chef’ on channel 4 and towards the end they played my favorite Coldplay song from their current album. The song is called ‘Life in Technicolor’ and the minute I heard it I fell in love. The only thing that dissapointed was that I was dying for Chris Martin to s

In an interview with Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin said the reason they hadn’t toured to Australia for three years was a matter of perfection.   “For us, touring in your country is kind of exotic, so we feel like it’s kind of a treat. So we wait until we feel like we deserve to go to Australia. We don’t like to play in Australia until we’ve perfected our concert.”   Those fans lucky enough to have scored a ticket, and who live within access of the four tour cities

Coldplay will regroup in the studio to begin cutting material for a fifth album. ‘‘The plan, in an ideal world, is to have something finished by the end of 2009,’’ says Guy Berryman, in a recent online interview.   That would mark a notably fast turnaround for a band that’s been known to take its time between records, including three-year gaps between each of the band’s past three albums. And fans even got a treat in the interim: the recent release of ‘‘Prospekt’s March,’’ an eight-song EP featu

The end of the year is obviously a time of the year for people to reminisce on the music they've listened to these past 366 days, and invariably Coldplay's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends has popped up with a late year review on the blogs. Here's one such review, posted on the final day of the year:   Rare is the album that can strike the balance between a dominant hit and a larger piece that plays well throughout. However, Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is not on

IQ magazine’s December issue is now available in a free PDF format and contains a world exclusive behind the scene report on Coldplay’s Viva la Vida World Tour, entitled Life, Death And Butterflies. To save the online magazine, right click then save as here. You can also get the previous versions of the magazine (issues 1-20 also online here). Here's the synopsis of the Coldplay article:   Life, Death & Butterflies is a 16-page feature chronicling the Viva la Vida tour, sanctioned by Coldpla

Reviews are still coming in over Coldplay's recent concerts at London's O2 Arena. Here's one from News Shopper Online:   Coldplay have been churning out hits for what seems like an age, so it’s easy to forget just how talented they really are until you see them live in concert. The first time I saw the band perform six years ago was a rather muted affair, with Chris Martin spending most of the time glued to the piano and very little spent on production.   But when the lights came up on The O2 s

As we approach the year's end, it's worth recapturing the release of Coldplay's new album with a review we haven't posted before:   When you aspire to be the biggest band in the world, one of things that you need to do, if you’re following the U2 model anyway, is to hire Brian Eno. If Eno could stop Bono singing about bullets ripping the desert sky, then perhaps he could stop Chris Martin worrying about puzzles missing pieces? Quite how much input or impact Eno ultimately had on “Viva la Vida” i

Love 'em or loathe 'em, there is no escaping the fact that Coldplay's meteoric rise during the noughties was astonishing. Despite a poor critical reception last June, their current album 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends' holds the honour of being the most downloaded album in existence, topping the charts in a whopping 36 countries.   Back when this space was a horrendous dockside barn with atrocious acoustics, Chris Martin and chums played here while touring 'A Rush of Blood to the Hea

Last week, Coldplay fan Paul O'Brien came to London to see Coldplay at The O2, as his prize for winning the Lost? video competition. Coldplay.com gave him a shout to find out more about his triumphant video and his London trip.   Hi Paul. Congratulations on your win. How did you hear about the competition? I heard about it through The Coldplay Messenger, the email newsletter.   What made you want to enter? I'm a huge Coldplay fan! Almost to the point of being obsessive! But when I saw the detail

You can't have a Dublin concert without having an image of a green magic ball...   With just a couple of days to Christmas, Coldplay became one of the first bands to play Dublin’s newly revamped Point Depot, report State Ireland. The venue’s rechristening under the corporate banner of the O2 should have been a sign that Coldplay too, are now a huge corporate entity. Having easily sold out two nights in the O2 and with a huge outdoor summer show coming to the capital in 2009, tickets are being to

I guess if you've played every mega-bowl on the planet, the O2 arena must feel a bit pokey.   Maybe that's why Coldplay treated their concert last Tuesday at the old Millennium Dome like a Christmas knees-up down the pub (with 20,000 mates, that is). And even though Chris Martin can get right up some people's noses, you can forgive them a bit of fun at the end of yet another bumper year. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends set a new record for the most downloaded album ever; picked up a c

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has revealed that the band's recent single 'Violet Hill' was inspired by the Beatles, Gigwise are reporting today.   The singer said the song was named after a road in London that joins Abbey Road - a street which has now become synonymous with The Beatles. "'Violet Hill' is a street and it joins Abbey Road - so it's kind of a Beatles reference,” Martin told the BBC.   The singer added he didn't think he had revealed the songs inspiration “in public” before. 'Viole

It's the stuff dreams are made of... one of the biggest musical superstars of this generation walks over to you at a concert packed with 10,000 screaming fans and hands you one of his personal possessions.   But for nine-year-old Euan Bruce, it’s a reality. The Ayr Grammar pupil couldn’t believe his luck when his hero Chris Martin clocked him sitting in the front row of Coldplay’s sell-out gig at the SECC last Saturday night. And before he left the stage, the singer songwriter walked over to Eua

So British superband of the moment Coldplay is being sued in Los Angeles for plagiarising guitarist Joe Satriani in their hit Viva la Vida. Joe says that the song - also the title of Coldplay’s fourth album “incorporated substantial, original portions of Plaintiff’s composition ‘If I Could Fly‘.”   Read the actual court document detailing the case against Coldplay here [pdf... right click, save as]   The court docs were filed last week - 4 December - and so of course, the Internet being the extr