\
‘WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN QUITE A SERIOUS BAND BUT HOPEFULLY WE'RE A BIT MORE PLAYFUL NOW'
attention. It can work very well in that context.’
Radiohead. as a group. have even attempted to address their own collective carbon footprint. given the massive energy and pollution costs incurred in taking a huge production like theirs around the world. They’ve also urged their fans to consider how they travel. advocating car sharing and public transport to get to their shows.
Such concerns are all symptomatic of the way the band has developed in recent years. While comparisons have been made in the past between Radiohead and Pink Floyd. the innovations l’loyd made in the l97()s were solely about their ‘art’. refining the scale. scope and design of their albums. concerts and films. Radiohead’s innovations have been in their engagement with the outside world: in politics. both personal and party. and
technology (the Scotch Mist webcast showcasing their album live at the turn of the year). fan remixes of single ‘Nude’ and fielding entries for an animated video competition for songs from In Rainbows. All of which makes the clichéd notion of the rock dinosaur seems very distant from this particular band of millionaires.
Radiohead have been been accused of being miserable bastards on plenty of occasions. Angst is something they’ve successfully traded in for many years. and be it the teen no-one- understands-me angst of ‘Creep’. the more
adult toying-with-my-own-mortality angst of
‘Airbag’ or the ecologically aware everything’s-bloody-melting-global-warming angst of ‘ldioteque’, they have managed to make displeasure very much their business.
The chirpy, self-effacing, optimistic, really quite bashful character on the phone from his (presumably) palatial pile in Oxfordshire doesn’t quite fit with the glum persona. Is there a chance he and his band mates have been misrepresented by the press all these years'.’
‘No. I don’t think there have been misconceptions about us really. The [miserable reputation] is a fair cop,’ admits Selway. ‘One of the big causes of that was Meeting P ’()[)/e is Easy [the 1998 documentary showing the band
RADIOHEAD
being downright glum on the OK Computer tour] and that was only ever kind of one part of that year. It was a very dominant part of the year but it did have its lighter moments as well. We have always been quite a serious band and hopefully we’re a bit more playful now; I think we’re getting there.’
Ultimately. there’s little at stake for Radiohead. Thom Yorke could stop tomorrow, go buy a hill somewhere in Wales, sit on top of it pondering the end of the world. and he’d still have a breathtaking musical legacy. While they’ve had their fair share of jack-it-all-in moments, not least during the making of In Rainbows. Selway is adamant there is still ample reason for them to continue.
‘Every record we’ve done has had its fair share of those moments. Especially at times when you don’t actually have much to show for the work you’ve put in. Then inevitably you do question whether you will have that kind of vitality about what you’re doing and whether there’s still that chemistry between the five of you but. having put 22 years of work into the band now, we’re not prepared to throw it away lightly. That probably gets us through the rather more lean periods.’
Radiohead play Glasgow Green, Fri 27 Jun.
19 Jun—3 Jul 2008 THI LIST 19