Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Coldplay · S1 E5
Fierce Panda
The Brothers & Sisters EP on Fierce Panda Records, released in April 1999. 'Brothers & Sisters' gets proper radio play. A&R scouts from every major label start showing up at gigs. Parlophone, the label that signed The Beatles, wins the bidding war
A record shop in Camden, April 1999. A new EP called Brothers & Sisters sits in the Fierce Panda section of the new releases bin, and within weeks every major label in the country will be fighting over the four university students who made it.
Coldplay performing Brothers & Sisters. Raw, jangly, and full of the energy of a band that knows it's about to break through. This is the song that made every A&R scout in London start showing up at Coldplay gigs.
Brothers & Sisters -- Coldplay (1999)
The title track of the Fierce Panda EP that launched the bidding war. There is a roughness to the recording that no amount of polish could improve: the guitars cut through with a nervous energy, and Martin's vocal sits right on the edge of breaking. This is a band playing like the next gig might be their last, or their first real beginning.
The Bidding War
The Brothers & Sisters EP is Coldplay's first release with national distribution, put out by Fierce Panda Records. A&R scouts from BMG, Sony, Island, and Parlophone all start attending gigs. Parlophone's Caroline Elleray fights hardest to sign them, and she wins: Coldplay put pen to paper later in 1999.
TAP TO REVEAL: What did Coldplay demand in their contract that most unsigned bands would never dare ask for?
“We chose Parlophone because of The Beatles and Radiohead. If they could sign those bands, they understood what we were trying to do.”
— Chris Martin, from Roach, Martin. "Coldplay: Nobody Said It Was Easy." Omnibus Press, 2003
Brothers & Sisters -- Coldplay
The title track of the Fierce Panda EP that started the bidding war. Raw, jangly, and full of the energy of a band that knows it's about to break through. This is the song that made every A&R scout in London start showing up at Coldplay gigs.
Which legendary band was also on Parlophone's roster when Coldplay signed in 1999?
Parlophone sends Coldplay to Rockfield Studios in Wales, the same farm where Queen recorded Bohemian Rhapsody. Five tracks, a producer named Chris Allison, and a release called The Blue Room EP that will be their first step into the major league.
0 XP earned this session