Thom Yorke: ‘It’s not who you steal from, it’s how you steal’

by on October 7, 2011 with 16 Comments in Ed O'Brien , Radiohead News , Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke and Ed O’Brien were interviewed for NPR’s All Songs Considered on Radiohead’s latest album The King Of Limbs.

NPR’s Guy Raz asked how the band reinvents themselves every time and how the band approach every album. Thom Yorke: “We’re not trying to be experimental or anything. When I first started doing demo’s on my own, I was quite a good imitator. I see it in my daughter, she’s the same. You’re constantly learning from other music and then there’s that Lennon thing about it, ‘It’s not who you steal from, it’s how you steal.’ I’m constantly absorbing other music and that’s what stimulates me the most. And to have the ability within our group with Nigel to move around in all these different areas.”

“We had an initial session of about five weeks, and it was really like kids in kindergarten,” O’Brien says. “You had to simplify what you were doing — you couldn’t do loads of ideas. You had to listen to one another. Believe it or not, in a band you can lose that.

“Part of what you do is rejection,” O’Brien adds. “I think everybody finds it hard, but I think part of creativity is bouncing back from that. What’s great about the environment that we have is that no one ever says, ‘You can’t do that.’ You try it, and then it’s judged on whether it’s right for the track.”

“Almost every tune is like a collage: things we’d pre-recorded, each of us, and then were flying at each other,” Yorke says. “You get to a point where you think, ‘OK, this bit needs a big black line through it.’ It’s like editing a film or something.

“I don’t think we really genuinely thought anything would come out of it,” he adds, “certainly not an entire record.”

Listen to the full interview.


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  • cool dude

    Happy birthday Thom!

  • aw

    Thom!!!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!

  • brttrdmkr

    NOT IN AMERICA IT AINT HIS BDAY.

    also thom needs to be quiet more.

  • greeting from London

    Happy Birthday!!!! It’s supposed to be your bday, but you shared your bday gift with us, great interview!!

    :D

  • IntheBellyofaWhale

    Great interview!

  • monuko

    Happy Birthday Thomas!!!

  • reader’s digest

    This interview is deep, it takes some time to digest

  • Calin Petrescu

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THOM !!!!!!

  • Emil

    Happy birthday thom!!

  • Meike

    Happy Birthday Thom! Thanks for this interview!

  • sarancha

    Happy BI_R_THD_AY THOM ! GooD LucK !!!

  • Jack Banksia

    Thom is not a plagiarist. I would say that so far the most impressive inspiration for a Radiohead song is “Sexy Sadie” by the Beatles that can be found in the chorus of Karma Police.
    If somebody says that Flying Lotus is the main inspiration for songs like Bloom or whatever, it could be for the similarity of the creative processes, but still in a very remote way.
    Radiohead are a clever band who’ll always steal silently…

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  • inspired by you

    **** ‘It’s not who you steal from, it’s how you steal’ ****

    Shame on you, Thom, shame on you…..

    <3
    ;-)

  • muzzatron

    Does anyone know that exact quote regarding ‘It’s not who you steal from, it’s how you steal.’??

  • http://www.alexandermcqueensonline.com/ alexander mcqueen outlet

    f somebody says that Flying Lotus is the main inspiration for songs like Bloom or whatever, it could be for the similarity of the creative processes, but still in a very remote way.










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