Radiohead in Melbourne!!

On a day that is normally reserved for the mourning of Richey James' dissapearence, the sun was shining, and Radiohead were in town... The following is a section of the Radiohead feature in Issue One. Interview between Nicci Foster and Phil Selway.

How did the audience last night compare to the average audiences you get?

It was a really good audience last night actually. If you'd noticed, we'd put signs up about crowd surfing because some of the shows we'd done recently people have been getting quite hurt, and everybody was just totally cool about it. Everybody just respected that and was really into the music, which is the most you can hope for. It was great.

Have your audiences changed much with each album, or do you still see the same people turning up?

I think we've definitely got a broader range of people coming, in terms of age groups, and different styles. I mean that is true to some extent, but I think we've always had a wider appeal. Going back a bit, We got a letter from a 44 year old guy who said we'd switched him back onto music. He said that we were the first band he'd seen since Led Zeppelin, which was very flattering.

The band, especially Jonny did not seem to pleased with Pablo Honey or The Bends. How do you feel about your past releases?

It's a lot easier to feel good about them now... well feel better about them now. They have their definite place in our development. Pablo Honey, it was a debut album, we did it in three weeks, and we weren't too sure about what we were doing. As a debut album, it's a reasonable effort. But for me, listening to it, it isn't that representative of how we sounded at the time. The Bends, we were starting to find our feet. Performances concerned, a little wooden. I mean you can see, we've been signed now for 6 or 7 years. The level of our musicianship and our ability to actually relax while performing, has come on quite a lot, and that is very noticeable.

Did the success of OK Computer, particularly in the polls, surprise you?

It had a very good reception when it was released. I was very flattered by all the polls, especially the readers polls, as they mean an awful lot. I think the biggest surprise came with it's release, and the initial reviews.

And the Grammys?

Oh, yeah, that was a big surprise (laughs)

On an interview disk, Ed said that you record a lot of the tracks with just acoustic guitar and vocal. Does this give you more inspiration, when you have that beautiful vocal to work with?

It gives the song a definite direction from the outset, and also, there's always something in Thom's performance and vocal that you can really respond to. It can also be difficult. With a track like Fake Plastic Trees, everything we put on had to enhance it. You are very aware that what you have is very fragile and you could spoil it very easily.

Songs like Exit Music and Climbing Up The Wall. Every instrument is in it's perfect position, and there are little tricks on all of them. For example, your drum sound in Climbing Up The Wall is stunning. How did you achieve it?

The really distorted sound of it was actually taken from a microphone which Thom had on one of his acoustic guitars. It was one of the songs that we'd been playing live a lot and we were happy with the arrangement. Then we went into the studio, and worked with the different atmosphere of a house, and played around with different things. To me that song shows how your recording can take on the atmosphere of the live performance.

You must enjoy touring in other countries, but do you feel more pride playing in the UK?

It's quite petrifying playing in the UK actually. I mean the last tour we did, we were playing arenas, and so there's a real sense of expectation. Plus all your family and friends come to watch you which has it's nerve wracking element. I mean growing up in the UK, you see bands, and when they start playing at Wembley, you have these assumptions, like they must have reached a certain level.

Then you get there?

Yeah, I mean we don't have the lifestyle, but we're here.

Richard Ashcroft said recently that he would rather one person listen to his music rather than a million. because he would be guaranteed that that one person would understand and love it totally. Can you see sense in that?

Yes... yeah... I can see sense in that. That whole thing about one person listening to it and actually being moved, rather than one million people listening to it because it was a recommended album or something. So, yeah, I can see sense in that. We have always wanted to connect with people and move people in some way.

Living in Oxford rather than London, and releasing The Bends in the middle of Britpop, must have been a scary step.

Yes. That's one thing about living in Oxford. You're outside of all the little cliches. We managed to avoid the Britpop thing, thankfully. In fact because we were doing lots of touring for the album, we weren't really in the UK that much. Being part of that scene was very much being seen in the right pubs, and we weren't in the country so we couldn't do that. That's a good thing, we've always been outside the 'scene'.

With OK Computer, Ed suggested that you went into the studio wanting to record a chirpier, more pop album. It obviously didn't come out this way, and do you think this type of album is in Radiohead?

No. I don't think we have a bright and breezy album in us. In 12 years of playing with each other, it's something that hasn't come out. It's not something in the chemistry between the five of us. I don't know, maybe it will change. I can't see it though.

So no dancing around the stage in pink suits?

(laughs) We could start doing our versions of Yellow Submarine, and Shiny Happy People!

OK, when can we expect the fourth album?

We're going to start one later in the year. We'll start rehearsing in September, but beyond that, it will take on a life of it's own, as OK Computer did. I mean it might happen very quickly, but then again, it might not.

So something for the new Millennium?

It would be nice to get something out before then. It would be nice to get something out next year. It will also be nice to have a break, but we also want to move on as a band. I mean, there was a sense as we were coming to the end of OK Computer that we'd taken it as far as we could. You actually have to put something out so that you can leave it behind you and move on again.