Chris Martin talked to Pitchfork about being a reluctant rock star, artists he admires, and having stage fright.
Pitchfork: Do you think it was easier for artists like Neil Young to be cool in the 60s and 70s than it is today?
CM: One hundred percent, yeah. To establish the legend of Tom Waits would be so much harder now with people taking camera phone pictures of him changing his gas or doing his laundry. Everyone has to do all this unglamourous stuff, but in the past it was easy to believe that maybe Joni Mitchell didn’t do all that and existed in this magic world. But technology has changed that.
Lady Gaga does a great job of trying to keep everything in her own universe, but then someone will find a picture of her by a pool somewhere, which makes me feel annoyed for her because I know that’s not part of her creative intention. It’s the same as if someone gets a clip of you tripping up or having a nosebleed. It’s tough, but that’s the way it is.
Pitchfork: It’s interesting to me how well you in particular can get away with those slip-ups, like on “Letterman”.
CM: Well, during a show, you can get away with one massive fuck-up. But then your card is played. So if something goes wrong, it’s fine, but then I am secretly a bit worried. An audience will forgive one tumble from the high wire, but if it happens twice, they’ll think, “You can’t even fucking do that.”
Pitchfork: I was at your recent “Colbert Report” taping, too, and you played the wrong chord at the beginning of “Up in Flames” and had to start it over. Is that just nerves?
CM: Yeah, everybody gets a bit nervous. And we had only played that song once live before. With TV, you don’t want to go in and be like, “We’re the fuckin’ greatest,” because you’re just the musical entertainment at the end of the show. You’ve got to know your place. If it’s our own stadium gig, then it’s a different thing. Did you see Radiohead when they played “Colbert”? Was that great?
Pitchfork: It was really good. They played a bunch of songs from their new album, though I feel like some people may have wanted to hear older ones. Bands like Radiohead and U2 are famous for reinventing themselves while maintaining a huge audience, which is an especially impressive trick to pull off. I feel like Coldplay kind of does that, but have you guys ever thought about going for a more radical musical change? Does that appeal to you?
CM: The way we differ from Radiohead– who are unquestionably brilliant– is that, at the end of the day, I’m still a slave to catchy songs. I love sing-alongs. And within the limits of that, we’ll try anything. But we’re in the middle because I love “Last Friday Night” by Katy Perry almost as much as “Karma Police”, and if you want to straddle that line, you have to take the slings and arrows.
Thom [Yorke] has a different philosophy, and that’s why they’re as great as they are. They’re a lot braver, in a certain sense. They always challenge the hell out of you. When Kid A came out, I listened to it once and was really angry. I was like, “Where are all the stadium songs?” And then, sure enough, it becomes your favorite. That’s so wonderful.
Reinventions like Kid A or Achtung Baby were natural, but we wouldn’t do that because it’s already been done. We’re trying to keep changing in our own way– we’re definitely a very different-sounding band now compared to the first album or the third album. I know we can never be in those guys’ spheres, but we have our own thing, which is OK. Do you think it’s normal for big artists to have haters and ups-and-downs?
Pitchfork: Yeah, how could you not?
CM: But with people like Bruce or U2, they’re quite rightly beyond that– they’re respected. Recently, I’ve adopted a Bruce line where he asks the audience a question. I kind of stole it.
Pitchfork: What is it?
CM: I don’t even want to say.
Pitchfork: C’mon…
CM: He asks, “Is there anybody alive out there?” I fucking love that. When I first saw him about three years ago, no one had told me about the way everyone says “Bruuuuce.” So, like everyone else, I was like, “Why the fuck is everyone booing him after every song?” [laughs] I’ve seen a lot of his shows since then.
Read more here .
Read Full Post »
Coldplay News 