The Coldplay lead vocalist made 'quite challenging suggestions' when Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were recording their seventeenth studio album 'Ghosteen' in his studio.
- Sep 25, 2022
AceShowbiz - Nick Cave altered a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song after getting advice from Chris Martin. The Coldplay frontman would regularly come in and every now and then impart his honest opinion on the songs when Nick and his bandmates recorded their 2019 LP "Ghosteen" at his studio.
Chris made them change one track "Waiting for You" from heavily-industrial to a traditional ballad. Nick and his band initially "weren't pleased" with the advice, but were thankful in the end.
Speaking to MOJO magazine, Nick said, "Chris is a very funny guy, with a perverse sense of humour, but he's also disarmingly forthright. He tells his truth, as he sees it, as a matter of principle. Mostly, he loved the stuff, really loved it, but occasionally he made what were quite challenging suggestions that, if taken on board, would have radically altered the song."
And so "Waiting for You" went from being a "very loud, super-aggressive" to a "fragile, old-school ballad." Nick went on, "We had never really questioned it, but when we played it to Chris, he turned to us and said: 'I love you guys very much, but is there any chance I could hear the song again without the f****** canning factory?...' "
Asked what they thought of the "Yellow" hitmaker's critique, he replied, "At the time, we weren't so pleased. We took away the industrial loop and what was left was a very beautiful, vulnerable song shimmering there on its own - a classic, old-school ballad, raw and fragile and unimpeded. So thank God for that!"
