Radiohead are to play ten dates in the UK in September. They follow
the release of the band's new album 'OK Computer', due out at the end
of June.
They've also announced the b-sides for their forthcoming single
'Paranoid Android', whihc is released May 26. The various formats
are backed by 'Polyethylene' (Parts 1 and 2), 'Melatonin', 'A
Reminder' and 'Pearly'.
Radiohead bassist, Colin Greenwood spoke to NME about the single
and album last week. Commenting on whether 'Paranoid Android'
which is 6-and-a-half minutes long, would receive airplay, he said:
"We're not cutting it at all, they either a) play it, or b)they play
bits of it, or c) they don't play it at all. And I suspect 'C' is
going to happen. We'll have to wait and see. People played
'Bohemian Rhapsody' and then punk happened".
Greenwood also dispelled his previous comments in NME that
the album had a "stoned" feel about it. "This is a quote that has
come back to haunt me, just because I had too many Heinekens
in Belfast about three months ago. We didn't record on anything
stronger than Grolsch beer and cups of tea. We didn't play when
we were stoned and we certainly don't do anything else!".
He revealed that the band have at last come to a mutually
agreeable working relationship: "I think it's always going to be
quite fraught for us because of the way we work as a group, and
how Thom works. I wanted this album to be fun, and some of
it was fun. It was more fun that the last one ('The Bends') on
which we had eight weeks of hell and torture. A lot of the
stuff on this album was born out of a collective refusal of the
band to ever go through this again.
"It was interesting listening to the album after it was finished.
Every track sounds like a psycho-drama, you feel like you've
been through the ringer after every song. It's like a rollercoaster.
You feel when you listen to the album you should have a
safety belt".
"We've actually scrapped a few things because they were too
overblown. A few songs have a lot of things piled on them,
which I kind of regret now, songs like 'Climbing Up The
Walls', but people like that. A lot of the music is all live, it's
just all of us playing. There's more space and less
compression than on 'The Bends'.
Finally, Colin Greenwood also revealed Radiohead have been
approached by Massive Attack with a view to working
together.
"They sent us a tape of some tracks from the new upcoming
Massive record, and asked us if we wanted to contribute any
music to it. They sent us sketches of songs in a similar way
they did with Tracey Thorne and Nicollette. Time's the
problem".
Chez moi