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A-Ha were one of the most successful pop acts of all time, I'm sure Mags is fairly well off.

There was an article from around the time of the VLV tour that did describe him as taking sleeping pills with whiskey, which is probably not a very good idea though.

Sleeping pills are not what most people mean when they think of "drugs" though.

I don't know If I would go quite that far. While it is true that some people probably do develop an interest in the 4 members of aparatjik's musical projects based on their music, I'd say the number can't be that high as the album has had nearly zero mainstream exposure and the few live shows they've only played a handful of live shows. They have no label support so they're on their own as far as financing. At best, Aparatjik is recouping costs, but I'd say it's more likely that Guy and Mags are going out of pocket on the project. That audio visual cube can't have been cheap to build/operate. I wouldn't worry about Guy though, it seems he's doing quite well for himself in real estate investing these days.

I'm assuming this is for UK rights? Not sure how it works over there, but under U.S. publishing rules, they'd all have to get equal shares as they're all credited co-writers. Publishing rights also go by contract, and unless I've missed it, they're still bound by their original 1999 deal. It's peculiar on many levels, but if true, I'm sure they all agreed to it, none of them seem disgruntled or anything like that. That said, while Chris is undoubtedly the primary (in most cases sole) lyricist, both he and Will have stated on numerous occasions that Jonny is the primary musical songwriter., which I guess just makes the whole thing more confusing. EDIT: I just looked it up on ASCAP (which is the rough U.S. equivalent of the PRS for Music for those who may not know) and all four of the boy are still credited as co-writers with an equal split (though like I said above, as far as I know that's mandatory with ASCAP rights), so in the U.S. at least the equal split rule still holds true (or I'm reading something wrong which is entirely possible). I'm going to tak a nap now as this whole thing has confused me more the more I try to figure it out.

I could be wrong, but I think that particular clip is more a case of the video and audio synching up properly. Will is also playing out the same beat on the drums so if, guy stopped playing it would probably just sound like a weaker version of the same rhythm.

IDK, After listening to the actual interview, I thought he was pretty obviously being playful when he said it. That's Irish humor for you.:laugh3:

Apparently, there's 1 whole rack unit, just dedicated to the organ sound for that one song! (it's in the 2nd video clip posted above). My inclination is to say if it looks like they're playing something, they probably are, as we've seen with other songs (LiT etc.) that they see no need to create the illusion they're making the sounds if it's on the backing loop.

No Problem. :)

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid31183220001?bclid=31196924001&bctid=31268882001 Above is the link to the series of videos where Miller explains and demonstrates the keyboard gear. He explicitly says at one point that Jonny is playing the keyboard riff in VLV. Chris was using some sampled keyboard parts, but according to Miller in the clip, only in songs where he was playing something else.

With a high end sampling keyboard rig, you absolutely could produce string sounds. Not sure if that's what Jonny is doing live, but with the right gear and technical know how, it absolutely can be done.

It's a MIDI keyboard connected to a custom keyboard rig (there was a video on here awhile back that showed about 3 full racks of outboard units just for keyboard sounds. That means that where Jonny (or Chris or whoever) is playing on the keyboard has no bearing whatsoever on what sounds are produced. The sounds "assigned" to each key are controlled by the midi units in the offstage racks and are customized for each song as needed. That's what Miller's job primarily is, he builds and oversees the band's keyboard gear. It's the same principal with Will's bell for VLV he's actually playing the bell, but the sound is processed through midi to achieve a different/better sound than could be produced by the metal bell itself under stage conditions. Just because the sound is run through an effects loop, doesn't mean the band aren't playing their instruments.

Do a lot of stadium acts come to SA? You'd think it wouldn't be such a big issue if it were a known problem in the venues.

Exactly my point. Although I will also say that I've never attended a stadium concert anywhere that had what I'd consider truly good sound from the "bad" seats.

I'd be willing to bet there were bad sound spots in the venues of all those countries as well though. It is the responsibility of the band's sound crew to make sure the overall sound is the best it can be, but often in large venues (which generally speaking were not designed for concerts.) sound is not so good, especially in the back. Here in suburban Chicago, our 30,000 seat amphitheater has notorious sound problems because local ordinance requires that they have a sound system of significantly lower power than a venue of that size really needs. I don't know what the situation in SA is like, but I'd say there's a good chance the shows were never going to sound excellent in the venues that were played.

You don't think there are some Radiohead fans that would praise an album of Thom Yorke making chimp noises?

Maybe not. But I do remember people saying quite similar things about Speed of Sound when it first came out and now it's generally regarded as being in the middle range of CP's singles. When people wait for something a long time, a certain percentage do key themselves up to like it before they hear it.

I'm not sure that the consensus response to these two songs is that they are bad. By the poll here (which admittedly is not exactly scientific) the 7-10's greatly outnumber the 1-3's. Even if you account for vote stuffing (which both sides can do) I'd say it's a fairly positive pole result. Likewise, the Youtube video for Paradise has a much higher like/dislike ratio than the videos for many older, arguably more beloved Coldplay Songs. It's pretty rare to find any video with the number of views it has with such a low dislike percentage (which I believe is currently right around 5%). EDIT: It's actually just a hair over 3% As to people "over reacting" even if they do like it, I think this is normal as well. It's a new song which gives it a sheen that older songs may no longer have.

That's exactly why I have such a hard time believing the band would have ever "sold out" intentionally for commercial success. Chris is so eager to please people (and his fans) he seems like the last guy in the music biz to intentionally write something he knew they wouldn't like. He seems to be dealing with criticism better these days, but I remember the days when the slightest hint of criticism in the press sent him into such a public funk, that I have expected to read in the Sun the next day that he had attempted suicide or something.

But that's pretty much true of any band. There's a segment of the fanbase that will like anything the band puts out, because they feel invested in some way in the band.

Oh, I am an idiot, just not for that. :laugh3:

That probably true. Look, I just get kind of off put by the general tone of animosity that seems to be rising here lately and lumped him in as part of something he wasn't. I'll admit I was out of line. To you, and anyone else that was offended, I'm sorry. I'm going to delete my original post as well now.

I can't speak for anyone else, but the only criticism I took issue with is that which was founded around arguments that contained statements which were objectively untrue (ie. coldplay wasn't a massive, commercial band prior to 2008 or that Chris hasn't always had a love for pop music and expressed his love for said publicly and frequently), or who assumed that "no one" could possibly like Paradise or ETDIAWF As to why I like Paradise: -I find the bassline to be pretty damn awesome. -I prefer Chris' voice when he sings in his lower register -I like the string arangements and the way they gradually build to something that IMHO is pretty sweeping and majestic -I think that same sense of sweeping combined with the chanted para-para-dise chorus will make the song absolutely stomping when played live. It's not my favorite Coldplay song (and I think Charlie Brown and Hurts Like Heaven would have both made MUCH better singles), but I do like it.

Never stirred me up. I'll admit that I didn't know the guy personally, but right or wrong people had a tendency to get upset by his posts. Some of them got very upset. I'm sorry he got driven away, but It's just not true to deny that many users (particularly more casual ones) had negative experiences with him. And yes, he probably did do more for the forum than anyone here, that doesn't change the fact that some of what he posted caused hurt feelings and ill will.

For the record, I never said I was happy he was gone. Frankly, I never liked or disliked him. Nonetheless, he was (to say the least) a controversial presence who stirred up more than his fair share of animosity. Yes some people were sh%*@y to him, but he gave as good as he got.