IOL April 20 2001
We want to play outdoors in SA - Radiohead
Craig Canavan
Just what is it that makes Radiohead arguably the most-talked about, most-written about rock band in the world?
Sure, some of it is thanks to the fact that they are one of the few great and commercially successful bands in the world. Perhaps, even, the first ever radically experimental AND commercially successful group.
But, even more than that, they are a band who refuse to play by the music industry's outdated rules. There are many, many other bands who refuse to abide by conventional wisdom but seldom, if ever, has a band managed to stick by its ideals so thoroughly and stubbornly and still make money - lots of it.
The band - Thom Yorke (guitar and vocals), Ed O'Brien (guitars), Jonny Greenwood (guitars), Colin Greenwood (bass) and Phil Selway (drums) - confirm as much in every interview they give: they do what they do because they feel like it and damn the consequences
.
'There's no master plan behind our music'
"There's no master plan behind our music and the direction we take with each album," says the amiable Colin Greenwood on the line from London where he and other band members are supervising the shoot for Pyramid Song, the first video and single from the new album Amnesiac. "We just do as we feel and we're as surprised by our success as anyone else."
That attitude has seen the band produce some remarkable albums, from the angst-ridden grunge-ache of Pablo Honey through the anthemic rock of The Bends to the astonishing, epic concept album OK Computer. And then, most surprising of all, Kid A, an album so different from past work that some critics have called it a joke on the industry - and predicted that the new album will be a return to a more "traditional" OK Computer-era Radiohead.
"Not really," says Greenwood. "All we've ever wanted to do with each album is break our own mould. Our goal with each release is not to do what we've done before. There wasn't a mass amount of thinking behind Kid A; it was just a desire not to go over old ground."
So, a lot of the critics are wrong (and it ain't the first time) as they will soon realise when Amnesiac - another entry into the band's ever-growing list of great albums - hits the shops at the beginning of June.
Yes, the album does contain tracks like Knives Out, a song that could easily have been culled from the same sessions that produced OK Computer. But then, the album also features songs like the electronically landscaped acid-jazz workout Pull Pull Revolving Doors and a wilfully perverse, string-laden reworking of Kid A's Morning Bell, here titled Morning Bell Amnesiac, both of which sound nothing like anything the band has done before. Which makes them, ironically, immediately recognisable as Radiohead songs. Traditional anything, Amnesiac is not.
"What so many people fail to realise," says Greenwood, "is that the songs on Amnesiac were recorded at the same time as the songs on Kid A so our mindset is still pretty much the same on both albums.
"One of our ideas was to break out of the 'record album, release album then tour album' rut all bands fall into. So we recorded enough songs for two albums, released one, mastered the next and now we're ready to release the second. Then we will tour a bit.
"Elements of all the rumours are true I guess, although I don't think it's a more traditional album. There are elements of what we've done before with about five songs that are more straight-ahead but still not typical verse-chorus-verse rock songs."
There never has been anything typical about the quintet who took their name from the Talking Heads song Radio Head off that band's True Stories album. Thom Yorke and Colin Greenwood formed the core of the band when they befriended each other, sharing an affinity for Joy Division, Traffic and cross-dressing. Ed O'Brien joined soon thereafter and Phil Selway replaced the trio's drum machine. The quartet named themselves On A Friday and were joined by Colin's younger brother on harmonica.
Their budding career, however, was put on hold soon after as four of them went to University - Thom studied fine art and literature; Ed politics; and Colin and Phil English. Jonny used the time wisely, returning when the band reformed as fully-fledged guitarist-keyboardist.
When they did regroup in 1991, thankfully renaming themselves Radiohead, they took music a lot more seriously. Their first release, the EP Drill, sparked interest but not much else. That soon changed as along came song called Creep. Perceived as an anthem for the alienated, it rocketed them to stardom.
By the time of the release of the second albumThe Bends, the band had plenty of admirers, including REM and Alanis Morissette (who continues to perform Fake Plastic Trees off The Bends at live shows), both of whom invited the still-fledgling band to tour with them in America. That, in turn, helped to break them into the biggest market in the world.
The band again blew all conceptions out the water with their third album, the passionate, emotional OK Computer, recorded in a 14th-century manor house belonging to actress Jane Seymour. "We recorded everywhere from the grand ballroom to the toilet and the hallway," they recall. That album swept them from well-respected status to superstardom, winning a slew of awards along the way and being voted, almost unanimously, as the top album of 1997 by various critics' polls.
And them came the somewhat infamous Kid A, a highly-produced, controlled, almost emotionless set of some of the most intriguing rock you'll ever hear.
The production side of creating music has always been important to the band and they, along with producer Nigel Godrich, are masters at it. Many a musician I have spoken to in the past has said they wished they could be a fly on the wall in the studio when Radiohead record.
So what would they see?
"Lots of people milling around sipping their tea nervously," Greenwood laughs. "It's nothing special, just a lot of hanging about listening to sounds. But we enjoy that, which I suppose a lot of bands don't, so we do it really well. We really leave pretty much everything in Nigel's hands, to tell you the truth."
Which brings us back to Amnesiac, an album that was again left in Nigel's more than capable hands. What sort of reaction are they anticipating?
"Who knows?" Colin blurts. "People say, 'Is your next album going to be more song-based?' and we're like, 'What were those 10 tracks on Kid A?' Okay, most of the tracks were not exactly classic verse-chorus-verse songs but they're still songs, you know."
Who can tell what reaction Amnesiac will cause - although I'm betting longtime Radiohead fans will love it - but one thing is for certain: 2001 promises to be just as groundbreaking, just as controversial and just as
excitingly different as 2000.
For a real trawl through Radiohead's often obscure psyche, visit the band's own website at www.radiohead.co.uk. And look out for the new video on MTV Europe on DStv - the channel started an exclusive week-long run of it on Monday.
As for the possibility of a South African tour sometime soon, the band say they would love to play here but they have a preference for outdoor venues graced with some of our special natural beauty. Music festivals, are you hearing this?
Craig Canavan
Just what is it that makes Radiohead arguably the most-talked about, most-written about rock band in the world?
Sure, some of it is thanks to the fact that they are one of the few great and commercially successful bands in the world. Perhaps, even, the first ever radically experimental AND commercially successful group.
But, even more than that, they are a band who refuse to play by the music industry's outdated rules. There are many, many other bands who refuse to abide by conventional wisdom but seldom, if ever, has a band managed to stick by its ideals so thoroughly and stubbornly and still make money - lots of it.
The band - Thom Yorke (guitar and vocals), Ed O'Brien (guitars), Jonny Greenwood (guitars), Colin Greenwood (bass) and Phil Selway (drums) - confirm as much in every interview they give: they do what they do because they feel like it and damn the consequences
.
'There's no master plan behind our music'
"There's no master plan behind our music and the direction we take with each album," says the amiable Colin Greenwood on the line from London where he and other band members are supervising the shoot for Pyramid Song, the first video and single from the new album Amnesiac. "We just do as we feel and we're as surprised by our success as anyone else."
That attitude has seen the band produce some remarkable albums, from the angst-ridden grunge-ache of Pablo Honey through the anthemic rock of The Bends to the astonishing, epic concept album OK Computer. And then, most surprising of all, Kid A, an album so different from past work that some critics have called it a joke on the industry - and predicted that the new album will be a return to a more "traditional" OK Computer-era Radiohead.
"Not really," says Greenwood. "All we've ever wanted to do with each album is break our own mould. Our goal with each release is not to do what we've done before. There wasn't a mass amount of thinking behind Kid A; it was just a desire not to go over old ground."
So, a lot of the critics are wrong (and it ain't the first time) as they will soon realise when Amnesiac - another entry into the band's ever-growing list of great albums - hits the shops at the beginning of June.
Yes, the album does contain tracks like Knives Out, a song that could easily have been culled from the same sessions that produced OK Computer. But then, the album also features songs like the electronically landscaped acid-jazz workout Pull Pull Revolving Doors and a wilfully perverse, string-laden reworking of Kid A's Morning Bell, here titled Morning Bell Amnesiac, both of which sound nothing like anything the band has done before. Which makes them, ironically, immediately recognisable as Radiohead songs. Traditional anything, Amnesiac is not.
"What so many people fail to realise," says Greenwood, "is that the songs on Amnesiac were recorded at the same time as the songs on Kid A so our mindset is still pretty much the same on both albums.
"One of our ideas was to break out of the 'record album, release album then tour album' rut all bands fall into. So we recorded enough songs for two albums, released one, mastered the next and now we're ready to release the second. Then we will tour a bit.
"Elements of all the rumours are true I guess, although I don't think it's a more traditional album. There are elements of what we've done before with about five songs that are more straight-ahead but still not typical verse-chorus-verse rock songs."
There never has been anything typical about the quintet who took their name from the Talking Heads song Radio Head off that band's True Stories album. Thom Yorke and Colin Greenwood formed the core of the band when they befriended each other, sharing an affinity for Joy Division, Traffic and cross-dressing. Ed O'Brien joined soon thereafter and Phil Selway replaced the trio's drum machine. The quartet named themselves On A Friday and were joined by Colin's younger brother on harmonica.
Their budding career, however, was put on hold soon after as four of them went to University - Thom studied fine art and literature; Ed politics; and Colin and Phil English. Jonny used the time wisely, returning when the band reformed as fully-fledged guitarist-keyboardist.
When they did regroup in 1991, thankfully renaming themselves Radiohead, they took music a lot more seriously. Their first release, the EP Drill, sparked interest but not much else. That soon changed as along came song called Creep. Perceived as an anthem for the alienated, it rocketed them to stardom.
By the time of the release of the second albumThe Bends, the band had plenty of admirers, including REM and Alanis Morissette (who continues to perform Fake Plastic Trees off The Bends at live shows), both of whom invited the still-fledgling band to tour with them in America. That, in turn, helped to break them into the biggest market in the world.
The band again blew all conceptions out the water with their third album, the passionate, emotional OK Computer, recorded in a 14th-century manor house belonging to actress Jane Seymour. "We recorded everywhere from the grand ballroom to the toilet and the hallway," they recall. That album swept them from well-respected status to superstardom, winning a slew of awards along the way and being voted, almost unanimously, as the top album of 1997 by various critics' polls.
And them came the somewhat infamous Kid A, a highly-produced, controlled, almost emotionless set of some of the most intriguing rock you'll ever hear.
The production side of creating music has always been important to the band and they, along with producer Nigel Godrich, are masters at it. Many a musician I have spoken to in the past has said they wished they could be a fly on the wall in the studio when Radiohead record.
So what would they see?
"Lots of people milling around sipping their tea nervously," Greenwood laughs. "It's nothing special, just a lot of hanging about listening to sounds. But we enjoy that, which I suppose a lot of bands don't, so we do it really well. We really leave pretty much everything in Nigel's hands, to tell you the truth."
Which brings us back to Amnesiac, an album that was again left in Nigel's more than capable hands. What sort of reaction are they anticipating?
"Who knows?" Colin blurts. "People say, 'Is your next album going to be more song-based?' and we're like, 'What were those 10 tracks on Kid A?' Okay, most of the tracks were not exactly classic verse-chorus-verse songs but they're still songs, you know."
Who can tell what reaction Amnesiac will cause - although I'm betting longtime Radiohead fans will love it - but one thing is for certain: 2001 promises to be just as groundbreaking, just as controversial and just as
excitingly different as 2000.
For a real trawl through Radiohead's often obscure psyche, visit the band's own website at www.radiohead.co.uk. And look out for the new video on MTV Europe on DStv - the channel started an exclusive week-long run of it on Monday.
As for the possibility of a South African tour sometime soon, the band say they would love to play here but they have a preference for outdoor venues graced with some of our special natural beauty. Music festivals, are you hearing this?
Labels: Amnesiac, Colin Greenwood, interviews, Radiohead
Radiohead’s bass player has been interviewed endlessly. One added weekly.
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