The first time we all played as a band, I think it was in January 1998, in Jonny’s bedroom.

A lot of the time there is a lot of melancholy in the lyrics.

Two weeks later, we played our first concert and had 100 people there. It was pretty cool.

A lot of times when we play in countries where English isn’t the first language we get accused of being melancholy and miserable.

We’re also passionate about music and very critical about the music that we listen to.

At the end of the day, we’re just trying to prevent each other from going mad.

Well, the stuff on the album we are a hundred per cent sure that we’ll never get sick of because that was a very careful selection process.

Coldplay are just four friends trying to make great music.

When you write something it has to hit the level that you accept as being good.

I can’t do all that riddly diddly stuff. I’m not good enough. It’s all about not playing.

I don’t think it’s changed a great deal.

I think hopefully we’ve got enough brain cells left to decide if our music is really worth something.

It is worrying, but we feel as though our first album is a representation of our musical career of the first years up to this point.

Optimism is the key.

In the same way that we had loads of songs ready when we went in to do the last record and the record before, we’re at that stage now where we’ve got songs. I think...

So, if we’re happy playing the songs we have written, for as long as we can, then that is sort of the proof that they’re good songs as well.

We’re trying to find somewhere we can set up and work. In all these years we haven’t got a HQ, our own studio or anything like that. We want somewhere that we can sort of...