Chris Martin leaves during interview
Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin simply got up and left in the middle of an interview on BBC Radio 4′s Front Row program, leaving presenter John Wilson and the band’s drummer Will Champion to carry on:
Wilson: Do you start with that idea, Chris… [sound in background] did you start with the song Viva La Vida, and the idea within that song of the deposed dictator looking back on his life… [voice in background] is that… could I just ask you just to move back in to the mike [garbled]
Martin: [off mike] ….I’m not really enjoying this…
Wilson: Aren’t you?…
Martin: [off mike] Yeah…
Wilson: Why?…
Martin: [off mike] [garbled] two minutes…
Wilson: Sure.. yeah… You feeling a bit under pressure?
Martin: [off mike] No. Yeah. I just don’t really like having to talk about things.
Wilson: Really? [long pause with muffled sounds and voices in back] Have I upset him?
Champion: I don’t think so.
Wilson: [slightly off mike] …I don’t think I said anything conscious[garbled]…
Champion: No, no, I don’t think so…
Wilson: Well, let me ask you [the interview continues on]
Then at the very end of the interview, Chris Martin returns for one last question:
Wilson: Chris, can I just attempt to.. to begin bringing you back by… reminding you of a couple of things you said in the… [Martin: uh huh] before the album was released, you said the process was about letting the garden grow unkempt, letting the bloodhound off the leash [Martin: uh huh] uh, so you were… consciously trying to… find new musical territory then…
Martin: Um… [clears throat] yes, yes, yes… exactly [pause]
Wilson: [Closing show] Reluctant pop star Chris Martin…
My transcription of parts of the full interview which you can listen to online.
Wilson had made some comments during the early part of the interview about Coldplay’s newest album being morbid, and Martin had disagreed with that, but it wasn’t entirely clear why Martin got up and left.
What’s interesting here is that this was not a live interview; the BBC deliberately left in the sequence I’ve transcribed above. I’ve noticed more and more mainstream media doing that – leaving in things from an interview which would have been removed in the past.
I wonder if it’s partly a response to the more free-wheeling podcasting of the internet and also the ability of bands (or anyone) to post the full transcripts of interviews to try and counter what they see as mainstream media taking things out of context.
Posted: June 18th, 2008 under Bad Recorded Interviews, Entertainment Beat, Musician Tips, Tips for Interviewees, Transparency.