September 03, 2008

Coldplay Will Issue EP Of 'Viva La Vida' Leftovers In December, New LP In 2009

By Chris Harris (MTV.com)

Little more than two months ago, Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends hit shelves, sold 721,000 copies in its first week and bumped Lil Wayne's million-plus-selling Tha Carter III to #2. It has become the best-selling rock record of 2008, cementing Coldplay's position as one of the world's biggest rock bands. To date, that record has sold more than 1.6 million units and remains one of the year's best sellers.

But fans who thought they'd have to wait years for more Coldplay won't have to wait much more than a few months. In an interview on BBC Radio's 6 Music show, frontman Chris Martin said the band will release an EP to be titled either Prospects March or Prospects Songs on December 26 "or something like that."

During the radio program, fellow guest Michael Stipe was the one who asked Martin about long-circulating rumors that the band's sessions with Viva la Vida producer Brian Eno yielded much more than the 12 tracks that actually made the cut. Martin said the EP will feature several leftover tracks, including "Luna," a song the British rockers worked on with Kylie Minogue.

Martin then revealed his band's intention to release an album of fresh material by the end of 2009. "I've said it very quietly, as we're not allowed to announce the album. We're [going to] have another record ready by November 2009 to end the decade," Martin said.

No word yet on whether Coldplay plan on abandoning the dingy military/ marching-band uniforms they embraced during appearances to promote Viva la Vida.

"We felt like we got to a point where we wanted to change a bit, and so for us, that's a bit of a revolution, I suppose," Martin told MTV News. "It's important for us to change because it keeps us really hungry and excited, and we always sort of felt we never deserved the job we got given, so we're always trying to improve and validate our position."