From The Guardian newspaper website. Excerpt:

In from the cold

Coldplay's debut album invents a rich new form of guitar romanticism. Dave Simpson meets their lead singer and tries not to mention Radiohead

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Dave Simpson
Friday July 7, 2000

...After the Gallagher model of boorish self-aggrandising rock-star behaviour, Martin's modesty is thoroughly refreshing. But he certainly doesn't lack for ambition. Coldplay want to make "timeless records, records that mean as much to people as our Beatles and Scott Walker records do to us". To this effect, Parachutes' rich mix of croons, pianos and Johnny Buckland's chiming guitars places the band in the rich tradition of guitar romantics the Smiths and House Of Love.

Martin, has "never heard" of the latter, but mention of Morrissey's maestros prompts him to bang the table, almost scuppering his career in a Spinal Tap-like flying salad knife fiasco.
"The Smiths, man! The Smiths woke me up to music," he explodes. "It was William, It Was Really Nothing. Johnny [Buckland, not Marr] introduced me to them. He doesn't play like Johnny Marr but there is something in common... melodies first."

There are other things in common, too, but before anybody hurls more copyism accusations, most of them are personal, not musical. Coldplay are "clean-living-ish" and, like early Morrissey, Martin is teetotal. He has emerged from a similar past of awkward, inglorious failure...

...A brief pause. "There's only one song on the album which is about a girl, and the rest are about... blokes," he reveals.

Blokes? "Friendship problems... Really, I've got enough girls' numbers to keep me happy." The grin returns. The most Martin will admit to is that he can be very moody and has been "a bit of a bastard" on occasion, although this is out of character. No doubt Martin - like Morrissey before him - realisies that a mixture of coyness and candour is a deadly narcotic...

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