Radiohead work on new songs while touring

Posted on July 2nd, 2008.

Even though Radiohead are in the middle of their World Tour, the band are still working on new songs. In an interview with A.V. Club, Thom Yorke and Ed O’brien talk about their current tour and their latest album ‘In Rainbows’ and how it brought their confidence back.

Thom and Ed also talk about the artwork, made with longtome collaborator Stanley Donwood - currently exhibiting in Amsterdam - who is always in the studio when the band are recording.

Ed: “He’s either in a little room adjacent or above us in the mezzanine, or in the shed at the bottom of the gully. He’s always with us, and we need him in that creative process. Not just for his artwork, but because he’ll say, “I know nothing about music, but that was fucking brilliant!” By being there, the music seeps into him. He listens to things the same we do, having it repeated over and over and over again. It gets in him, and the stuff in that—the mood of the songs—is conveyed in the artwork. He’s a receptor to that, and that’s great.”

Thom: “There can be some really difficult times in the studio, but most of the time, we have a laugh in it. A lot of times, when we’re doing the artwork and things, there is an element of comedy about it—I’ve been throwing wax at bits of paper! It’s not exactly the punk ethic, but we always end up taking a piss.”

Ed: “The last few records, Stanley’s started off with erotic imagery.”
Thom: “Right. His erotic topiary.”
Ed: “Erotic landscapes”

You have to look pretty hard to find landscapes erotic.

Thom: “No, no, not at all! I could tell you all about that. For days and days probably.”

AVC: Was there a different tone [when recording 'In Rainbows'] from the start?

Ed: “The first thing I heard in the first rehearsal was Thom playing “House Of Cards,” and I thought, “Hello there! Well, all right!” It’s very strong, and I was like, “Yeah! I’m feeling it too.”"

Thom: “It’s funny, because when I write lyrics and am using them in the rehearsal, people are like, “Well, I like that line, and I like that line, and blah blah blah” and usually, it’s the lines I’m on the verge of throwing out. [Radiohead multi-instrumentalist] Jonny Greenwood is the best for that. I was writing this song the other day, and there’s a line about voices down echo chambers, and I was literally about to delete it when Jonny goes, “That’s the line I like!” It’s the same thing on “Bodysnatchers,” there’s the line, “Has the light gone out for you? Because the light’s gone for me.” I was a bit unsure about it. When people respond positively to it, that’s what stays in.”

Radiohead have been soundchecking new material and premiered ‘Super Collider’ on the tour. AVC asked if anything new came out of the band since they’re touring.

Thom: “Jonny and I spend quite a bit of time going through half-finished things and deliberately forcing ourselves to finish them so we can get them to the others. I’m getting a buzz out of that—this thing, “Slave,” that I was playing for Ed the other day.”

Ed: “That’s right. It’s quite good.”

Thom: “I’ll send it home to Nigel [Godrich] tonight to mix. Honestly, I could probably use a full day doing it, but you’re in unusual places and want to get out. You don’t want to stay in the hotel all day; it becomes a little too much for me. It’s a little bit more than I can stand. In the end, when we’re back from this tour, I’ll probably think, “I really should have spent every day finishing stuff.”"
Ed: “He’s finished quite a bit, though.”
Thom: “I’m doing all right. I’m finishing what I want to finish.”

AVC: Sounds like fans might not have to wait another four years for the next record.

Thom: “We try to keep the momentum of the operation going. Lots of times, if you stop too long, there’s no momentum and it takes a lot to pick it back up again. We’ve had such a positive response to this. We’re human; we lose our confidence far too quickly. It’s nice to have our confidence. That’s the biggest influence on things at the moment, being reasonably confident for a change.”

Read the full interview over at A.V. Club. [thx Doug]

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