Coldplay are suing their former supervisor simply weeks after he filed a lawsuit towards the group for “unpaid commission”.

The rock band need £14m, claiming Dave Holmes had a battle of curiosity when making an attempt to safe phrases for a Coldplay tour in 2021.

Their court docket motion comes after Mr Holmes filed his personal lawsuit for £10m in August towards band members Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion.

Mr Holmes claims he’s owed cash after organising recording periods and samples for the group’s tenth and eleventh albums, which haven’t but been launched, earlier than he was dismissed final 12 months.

But in court docket papers seen by The Times, the band say Mr Holmes allowed tour prices to spiral.

It’s claimed Mr Holmes secured $30m (£24.6m) in loans from live performance promoters Live Nation.

“To the best of [our] knowledge… Mr Holmes used monies obtained by the loan agreements to fund a property development venture in or around Vancouver, Canada,” the band mentioned within the submitting on the High Court in London.

And when it got here to negotiating phrases for a tour in 2021, known as Music Of The Spheres, the group say Mr Holmes nonetheless owed them $27.5m and this might have been a battle of curiosity.

“That would potentially or actually conflict with his obligations to secure best possible terms for [Coldplay],” the declare states.

Mr Holmes had a “personal interest” in holding the very best relations with Live Nation to make sure he would have leverage if he “required any form of indulgence by reference to the loan terms”, it provides.

Live Nation mentioned it “has a strong and longstanding relationship with Coldplay”, including: “Any past dealings with their management team were considered an extension of this relationship.”

The band additionally claims prices “escalated quickly” forward of their tour, with unsuitable tools that got here at a excessive worth.

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Asked concerning the counterclaim, The Times experiences a spokesman for Mr Holmes mentioned: “Coldplay know they are in trouble with their defence.

“Accusing Dave Holmes of non-existent moral lapses and different made-up misconduct is not going to deflect from the true difficulty at hand – Coldplay had a contract with Dave, they’re refusing to honour it and they should pay Dave what they owe him.”

Coldplay deny Mr Holmes’ claim “in its entirety”.

Their counterclaim says they did not extend his management agreement “following a interval of accelerating concern relating to Mr Holmes’s conduct”.