Jamming with Chris Martin!

An impromptu jam happened one night in Atlanta, Georgia in September 2002 whereby we in The Frames finished our gig in a modest sized venue and Chris Martin from Coldplay and Tim Wheeler from Ash jumped up and had a jam with myself on drums, and Joe Doyle on bass and others joining our ‘house band’ at different stages. We did covers of Georgia On My Mind, Lovely Day, Out On The Weekend, Dirty Old Town etc

An extra bonus gig with a couple of celebs for the die-hards who stayed on late into the night. These are the really special musical occasions I feel, because there is no pressure to perform, just to have fun. It's like being invited to a session in a musician's house where everyone is just hanging out and celebrating playing music and not being too serious about it. It's rare to have that kind of event in a proper venue.

The reason they came to our Frames gig was because the outdoor stadium gig they were doing was cancelled due to the terrible weather conditions! Chris Martin came across very non-rock star, down to earth, and self-effacing. Tim Wheeler actually helped carry my drums out after the gig! A singer carrying gear!! I nearly collapsed. Good slagging going on about that I remember…Tim has recorded a beautiful album called Lost Domain, dedicated to his Dad who was suffering from Dementia and I have so much respect for him for this, as my own Dad suffered from the same illness. Memories of great occasions are a precious commodity and we should celebrate them while we can.

Anyway, none of us really knew what was going on from song to song, and the gig audio is very lo-fi but it’s a cool semi drunken bash through some great songs. Special thanks to Ana for recording this on the humble mini disc player. She is one of many good friends we met over the years while on tour. Beth, Robin, Jenn, Andy, and many others. Thanks for supporting us in those early days! It is because of real music fans like you that we are where we are today, and that support was invaluable to encourage us to keep going.

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