CHRIS MARTIN is like a kid with candy. His irrepressible grin is rarely broken and his sparkling eyes betray an all-consuming enthusiasm for...well, everything. Things have been moving far too quickly for Chris to keep up with, but he's strapped in to the music industry roller-coaster, sitting back and enjoying the ride.

This time last year, Coldplay were bent over text books studying for their final year exams at University College London. A mutual friend hooked them up with NME hack and Fierce Panda guru Simon Williams, and within a few months they were playing Glastonbury and sharing a label with Supergrass, The Pet Shop Boys and Kylie Minogue. He can't believe it. 'It's been amazing. We've been very lucky boys,' says Chris in typically self-effacing style, not so much avoiding the trap of rock 'n' roll arrogance as it never having occurred to him. Chris is not, you see, the archetypal frontman. Slightly geeky, obviously intelligent, meticulously polite and ever modest, he is the boy next door who always helps old ladies with their shopping and whose Mum is dead proud of him.

He can't believe it. Really. He was on the toilet when he first read Simon Williams tipping Coldplay as the ones to watch for '99. He describes the band's ascent in terms of a school-boy fantasy and still seems shell-shocked that Parlophone should have been so keen to sign them. 'I think signing for a major label, you get a bit overwhelmed at first,' says Chris with touching naivety. 'There's a lot of stuff you have to think about that you never had to think about before.' He and guitarist Jon Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion have certainly seen a lifestyle shift since their student days. Playing Glatonbury was 'quite cool,' says Will, immaculately dressed and steeped in a nonchalance firmly denied to his frontman. There was an Easter support slot with Catatonia, a further Festival appearance at Reading and ever-increasing press interest. But typically, Chris steadfastly refuses to resort to self-eulogising as an explanation. 'We were very keen, and so were our record label, not to be one of those over-hyped new bands, just to build things slowly,' he states as if terrified someone might suggest their success is down to cynically orchestrated PR.

In fact, you need do nothing more than listen to their debut on Parlophone, 'The Blue Room EP', to see exactly why Coldplay are causing such excitement. Lead track 'Bigger Stronger' is an anthemic self-exposition swathed in Radiohead-eque guitar prickles and iced with Chris's gorgeous sage-like vocals. 'We live in a beautiful world,' he sings on 'Don't Panic,' at once encapsulating his own irascible love of live and the sinister undertones of the iherent sadness in Coldplay's music.

Within the boundaries of five songs, they seem to cover just about everything. Life, love, fear, hope and, er, pre-millenium commercialism. Coldplay are obviously a deep thinking band. 'We just sit there and play and see what comes out,' says Chris. 'Some songs are obviously more personal than others but all we really want to do is play stuff with conviction.'

Onstage later, Chris shuffles about uncomfortably infront of the two rat-arsed students and a lost pensioner who have turned up to see their Sheffield University gig in support of Bellatrix. He chats nervously, tries to make people laugh and comes across as utterly sweet, if slightly misguided. But with the start of every song the microphone is afforded complete attention as a sweat-drenched and utterly absorbed Chris flails in the majestic beauty of his music. 'We're not technically perfect,' he laughs impishly. 'We're always playing wrong notes and stuff, but we hit wrong notes with conviction.'

How refreshing. How Chris Martin. But don't for God's sake take his word for it. Coldplay are no shambles. As a live entity they are an enthralling blend of fizzing crescendoes and intimate desolation, a kaleidescopic swirl of atmospherics and emotions. The music industry roller-coaster has seen the potential and shows no sign of allowing Chris to disembark just yet.

When this debut national tour ends there's an album to record for release early next year, a slot on the NME Brats tour and a whole world of potential Coldplay converts to be reached. 'We'll be playing our hearts out all next year, convincing people that the passion on our record is not fake,' says Chris. 'Just every gig now we just want to get into it as much as possible. I love it. We all love it. It's just so exciting.' And on that most endearing note, the nicest man in pop bounds off to await the next adventure in his never never world. Guernica