Coldplay’s Will Champion Reflects On Getting Kicked Out Of The Band

Since the beginning of Coldplay, the band’s lineup has been set: Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion (as well as creative director Phil Harvey, who the band officially considers their fifth member). There was a shift at one point, though, as early in the band’s life, Champion was kicked out of the group (before being invited back just a few days later). Now, Champion has reflected on how he felt at that time.

He was asked about his dismissal from the group in a Twitter Q&A today and he wrote in response, “It was a very difficult period for us as a band and needless to say it was very upsetting. But it was important that we dealt with our issues early on in our career. It left us in a stronger place to move forward together.”

Martin discussed booting Champion from the band in a 2009 interview, saying that incident kicked off a tradition of drinking too much vodka as a form of self-punishment: “It started when I had to ask forgiveness for sacking our drummer Will Champion ten years ago. Three days later, the rest of us were feeling miserable and we asked Will to meet me and our bassist Guy Berryman in Monkey Chews in Camden, where we asked him to come back. They made me have lots of vodka and cranberry juice in remembrance of what a nasty piece of work I was being. Now if I find myself making a big mistake, I have to force myself to drink that stuff to remind me not to be such an idiot!”

Berryman also answered some Twitter questions today, including one asking if he thinks the band would be successful if they stuck with one of their early names, Starfish. He said, “Whereas it’s definitely not a great name, I hope that the strength of our band is based on the music we make rather what we’re called. And Coldplay is almost as weird a name anyway.”

Check out the full Q&A here.

Coldplay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.