Friday, August 5, 2011
Is there a future for Radiohead - or for the planet?
It was the night of Monday 1 May in the cavernous indie club that is Koko in Camden Town, and Disco Dave Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, was in the house. The occasion was The Big Ask Live, a benefit concert in aid of Friends of the Earth's campaign to persuade the government to enact a new law on climate change.
Thom Yorke had been doing his bit. The Radiohead frontman and his guitarist bandmate Jonny Greenwood had agreed to break two years of gig-silence to headline the show. Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals was on the bill, as was folk singer Kate Rusby, while curly-headed TV pop presenter Simon Amstell was the compere. Not that it mattered. The 1,000 people who had snapped up tickets for the charity event - some gladly hornswoggled to the tune of £150 by eBay scalpers - were only there to see the guys from Radiohead.
Interview with radiohead
When I spoke with Radiohead's 38-year-old bassist on the phone recently, he was lounging in his Oxford home, drinking a beer and enjoying Sheila and B. Devotion's campy 1979 disco hit "Spacer". "It's amazing," he gushed as if he was being introduced to the wonders of recorded sound at that very moment. Colin Greenwood is in one of the most accomplished and popular bands on earth. He has an appropriately classy fansite devoted to his unique charms called How to Be Like Colin Greenwood (step one: "be personable," step three: "enjoy a drink now and then"). This is the guy who gets to break out the intro to "The National Anthem" in front of thousands on a regular basis. (With thousands more to come soon: The band is set to announce the second leg of its North American tour next Monday.) He's got a great life. And, importantly, he knows he's got a great life. But he's not pompous about it-- instead, Greenwood wasn't afraid to rhapsodize about his band's quest for "emotion" and "soulfulness," slyly calling out his own faults and contradictions along the way. Here, he talks about the State of Radiohead, the increasing importance of communal spaces in today's society, and his affection for the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster.
Pitchfork: Where were you when In Rainbows was first announced?
Radiohead-Biography
Biography
Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The band is composed of Thom Yorke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, beats), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboard, other instruments), Ed O’Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar) and Phil Selway (drums, percussion).
Radiohead released their first single, “Creep,” in 1992. The song was initially unsuccessful, but it became a worldwide hit several months after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). Radiohead’s popularity rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their second album, The Bends (1995). The band’s textured guitar parts and Yorke’s falsetto singing were warmly received by critics and fans. Radiohead’s third album, OK Computer (1997), propelled them to greater international fame. Featuring an expansive sound and themes of modern alienation, OK Computer has often been acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s.
Radiohead released their first single, “Creep,” in 1992. The song was initially unsuccessful, but it became a worldwide hit several months after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). Radiohead’s popularity rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their second album, The Bends (1995). The band’s textured guitar parts and Yorke’s falsetto singing were warmly received by critics and fans. Radiohead’s third album, OK Computer (1997), propelled them to greater international fame. Featuring an expansive sound and themes of modern alienation, OK Computer has often been acclaimed as a landmark record of the 1990s.
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