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Coldplay · S1 E2
Guy and Will
Guy Berryman, a Scottish engineering student, and Will Champion, who studies anthropology, complete the lineup. Champion has never played drums in a band before. Martin tells him he can learn. He does
A rehearsal room in Camden, 1997. A band currently called Pectoralz has a singer and a guitarist but no bass player, no drummer, and a name that even its own members can't say with a straight face.
Coldplay performing High Speed. Listen for Guy Berryman's bass driving the track forward and Will Champion's drums pushing the whole thing skyward. This is what happens when a singer convinces two strangers to join a band that doesn't have a name yet.
High Speed -- Coldplay (2000)
One of the most drum-forward tracks on Parachutes, built on Champion's propulsive rhythm and Buckland's shimmering delay. The bass locks in underneath with a melodic quality most indie bassists of the era lacked entirely. Four people playing together like they've known each other for decades, when in reality they met in a university hallway.
“Chris said they needed a drummer. I said I'd do it. I'd never played drums before in my life.”
— Will Champion, from "Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams" documentary, directed by Mat Whitecross, Amazon Studios, 2018
TAP TO REVEAL: How did Will Champion go from zero drumming experience to recording a debut album?
The Fifth Member
Phil Harvey went to Sherborne School with Chris Martin. He is not a musician, but Martin considers him so essential to Coldplay that Harvey is credited as creative director and listed as the fifth member on every album sleeve. Every band needs someone who believes in them before anyone else does, and Harvey believed first.
High Speed -- Coldplay
A deep cut from Parachutes (2000), and one of the most drum-driven tracks in the early catalogue. Will Champion attacks the kit with the energy of someone who taught himself the instrument out of sheer determination. Proof that not knowing the rules is sometimes the best thing a musician can bring to a band.
What was Guy Berryman studying at UCL when he joined Coldplay?
The band needs a name, and Pectoralz is not going to cut it. A fellow UCL student has a band name he doesn't want anymore, and when he offers it to Martin, it sticks: Coldplay.
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