The Release: THE ‘BROTHERS & SISTERS’ EP 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

The Formats: GATEFOLD SILVER LAMINATE SLEEVE DOUBLE COLOUR BIOVINYL 7” SINGLE

The Pre-Sale Date: APRIL 26TH 2024

The Tracklisting:
Disc 1 (Blue BioVinyl)
‘BROTHERS & SISTERS’
‘EASY TO PLEASE’

Disc 2 (Pink BioVinyl)
‘ONLY SUPERSTITION’
‘THE STORY OF BROTHERS by SIMON WILLIAMS (FIERCE PANDA RECORDS)’

The Pre-Order Link: https://linktr.ee/coldplay_brothersxsisters_25

The Truth: Remember the good old 1990s, when things were so uncomplicated? Back then, four friends living in London (Guy Berryman, Johnny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin), released the ‘Brothers & Sisters’ EP on fierce panda on vinyl and CD. The April 26th 1999 release captured the essence of a young band (‘Yellow’ was but a twinkle in their creative eye) defining their sound and finding their fanbase. The three songs cost £450 to record. Those two formats would roar to number 92 in the hit parade. The singer, Chris, would be beyond delighted. Now, exactly 25 years later those original three tunes are set to be reissued on their original label home on a pair of special limited edition coloured BioVinyl seven-inch singles in a silvery-themed gatefold update of the original artwork to acknowledge the 2024 anniversary. As a curious bonus the fourth track on the EP is a new addition, ‘The Story of Brothers & Sisters by Simon Williams (Fierce Panda Records)’.

Doing exactly what it says on the label copy, this is a spoken word excerpt lifted off the audiobook of ‘Pandamonium! How Not To Run A Record Label’ by fierce panda founder Simon Williams. In ‘Knee-Trembler’ (Chapter 17, pages 159-168) he describes in raffishly intimate detail the hows, whys and wherefores of Coldplay’s early days shaking the timbers of the Camden Falcon, the Kentish Town Bull & Gate and Station Studios in Southgate, as well as being championed by Radio One’s Evening Session and getting their first reviews in the NME newspaper on their way to ‘Brothers & Sisters’, their debut release.

Things were so uncomplicated in the 1990s, when, broaching the Top 100 was seen as a blinding success (the single went straight in at number 92), pulling a 200-strong crowd in North London a total revelation and the concept of selling out six nights at Wembley Stadium was just a gigantically mental shot away. The Falcon and Station Studios, the Evening Session and newspaper NME are long since gone and the Bull & Gate has gone the ghastly way of the gastropub, but the Coldplay band and the fierce panda label – itself turning 30 years ago - live to fight another exhausperated day.