Do you need a hand?)
one might not entirely expect of a man who hits things for a living.
Certainly not in the cool crowd.
Coldplay’s drummer Will Champion explains the band’s songwriting process and how they’ve stayed together for 26 years.Anna Lee*
My school was quite rough, but there was a really good music teacher.
Do you still feel like youre tweaking that?Definitely.
But again, its like some sort of artificial intelligence.
The more data you feed it, the more accurate the output is.
And we recognize that were only as good as the four of us together.
She was very supportive.
The advice was, Just get your degree because you never know.
Thats very sound same advice as I would probably give my kids if they were going into it.
My parents are both archaeologists, and I really enjoyed anthropology.
And it also really teaches you to question the dominant narrative.
My family was always like, Well, clearly theres another side to this story.
Touring the world for 26 years that jot down of longevity doesnt happen to most bands.No.
I think its a mixture of a few things.
Firstly, I think its the strength of Chris melodies.
Its more about, What does this sound like?
Hows it making me feel?
Now were better musicians, were better friends, and were better at what we do.
We have fans who werent alive whenParachutescame out.
Its possible some of their parents have been playing these records to them.
[laughs]
Possibly.
Im very proud of that.
Speaking of, how was it releasingMoon Musicon QVC?Well, its kind of funny.
Traditional promotion doesnt seem to cut through anymore.
Its so difficult these days to try and reach people.
There are so many avenues that people receive their news slash music, whatever it is.
Its like, No, if youre going to come on, this is not a joke.
We need to sell some stuff.
You wroteMoon Musicwhile you were touringMusic of the Spheres.Yeah.
But Chris is obviously relentless, just never stops.
We always say after a leg of the tour, yo just rest a little bit.
And then within a day or two, theres an email saying, Hey, got this new idea.
So when you get an email with a new song from Chris, is it a melody?
Is it lyrics?Sometimes its a full song.
Its like, Okay, thats done.
And then you add your bits, and you all workshop it that way.Yeah, exactly.
Sometimes we just try not to fuck it up, try not to embellish it too much.
But part of the charm is its crustiness and imperfection.
Then you attempt to take it apart, analyze it, What is making it so good?
And you take it into the studio and attempt to recreate that, but sometimes it doesnt quite work.
But then other times, songs just appear.
Some of them are fully-formed, almost like the lyrics have written themselves.
I remember The Scientist was one of those.
And it was just, Okay, we need to record this immediately, not mess it up.
You mentioned earlier a refining of the mission over the years.
But I think the mission has a crystallized commitment.
As I said, weve been so fortunate to do this again and again.
We are standing on the shoulders of the giants.
One absolute seminal moment was seeing the Flaming Lips in 99 at Glastonbury.
Were you just out in the audience?Yes, in the audience.
And then just watching the production of the Flaming Lips was so wonderful.
Obviously they drew inspiration from bands like U2 doing amazing things on scale.
I think thats really where our band makes sense most now, is in the live arena.
The day an album comes out, are you nervous?
Do you have anxiety about it?Not at all.
I think once youve done that, theres not much you’re able to do about it.
You would keep tinkering and tinkering?Oh, fuck yeah.
Its problematic, eternal tinkering.
it’s possible for you to keep changing things.
You get to that point where we start to strip things away rather than add.
Thats the sign that were getting close.
And so theres a mad rush to do it wherever we are.
Which one?Im a Mountain.
It wouldve been though?I wouldve fought hard for it.
But then I dont know albums these days, its difficult to know what [they are].
But the way that lots of people listen to music these days is not that linear.
Is that true?Yes and no.
I think that Im quicker to say things.
And I get frustrated when that doesnt happen.
Im selfish in that respect.
Its a good start.
If its something thats not connecting with me, I tend to not be as enthusiastic about it.
To give a classic example Clocks thats an early one where I said, What?
Theres not even a song.
So sometimes Im guilty of putting my opinion down too early.
And Chris is very gracious about it.
Glastonbury was a high point.
I can remember coming off-stage thinking, That was either the worst show weve ever done or the best.
I had no idea.
Coldplay is only releasing two more albums.
You dont know when the tour is going to end, right?Not really.
I know were committed through to the end of next year [2025], which is amazing.
But then beyond that, I dont know.
Its always good to have targets.
And also, things have changed so much since we started making music, and started releasing music.
Its wonderful having teenage kids because they really give you a sense of how out-of-touch you are.
My kids send me music, and its wonderful.
You know what I mean?
They dont have to fight to find stuff.
They dont have to travel on a train to go to the record store.
To get anything resembling cool clothes, you had to get on a train.
How old are your kids now?Eighteen and two 16s.
The oldest has just gone to university.
[laughs] Well, theyve kind of grown up on tour ever since they were babies.
And they know were lucky because the core of our crew has been with us since our first album.
Yeah, which is amazing.Its wonderful.
And for [my kids], its like a happy place being on tour.
They love the feeling.
So yeah, Im lucky in that respect.
But then also Im really fortunate in that I fly quite low under the radar.
I can wander around and do my grocery shopping without anyone worrying too much.
Its a special skill Ive cultivated over the years to be completely anonymous.
[laughs] Once in a blue moon someone might come up and say, Are you Jonny?
and I say no and walk away.
Im a very literal person.
