The members of the band met at Ramsay Hall, a student halls of residence building at University College London (UCL) in September 1996. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland were the first members of the band, having met one another during their orientation week. They spent the rest of the year planning a band, with their efforts culminating in a band called Pectoralz.. Eventually Guy Berryman, a classmate of the two, joined the band without consideration of what musical direction it was taking. By 1997, Coldplay was performing small club gigs for local Camden promoters. By that time, the band had changed their name to Starfish. Martin also had recruited his erstwhile school friend Phil Harvey, who was studying classics at Oxford, to act as band manager. Harvey managed the band until the release of their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head.
Finally, on January 16, 1998, the band's lineup was complete when Will Champion joined the band to take up percussion duties. The multi-talented Champion had grown up playing piano, guitar, bass, and tin whistle; he quickly learned the drums, despite having no previous experience with that instrument. Eventually Tim Rice-Oxley, a mutual friend, gave the band permission to use the name "Coldplay", which he had rejected for his band as he thought it was "too depressing". Rice-Oxley also was offered a position as Coldplay's keyboard player, but he refused since he was already committed to the band Keane.
On May 18, 1998, the band released 500 copies of the Safety EP. Most of the discs were given to record companies and friends; only 50 copies remained for sale to the public. In December, Coldplay signed to indie label Fierce Panda. Their first release on the label was the three track Brothers and Sisters EP which they had quickly recorded over four days in February 1999. Released in April, the EP's initial run was limited to 2,500 copies. Interest in the band was slowly growing across the UK, helped by regular airplay from Radio 1's Steve Lamacq.
After completing their final examinations, Coldplay signed to Parlophone for a five-album contract in the spring of 1999. After making their first appearance at Glastonbury, the band went into studio to record a third EP titled The Blue Room. 5,000 copies of the EP were made available to the public in October, and the single "Bigger Stronger", which got airplay on Radio 1, was instrumental in establishing Coldplay.
However, the recording sessions for The Blue Room were tumultuous. Martin kicked Champion out of the band but later pleaded with him to return, and due to his guilt, went on a drinking binge. Eventually, the band worked out their differences and put in place a new set of rules to keep the group intact. First, the band declared an all-for-one approach: Coldplay was a democracy, and profits were to be shared equally, taking a page from bands like U2 and R.E.M. Second, the band would fire anyone who used hard drugs.
