December 20th
NEW ALBUM INFO!!!!!!
- The album will be out in June. - There will be singles and video clips. - 'Amnesiac' does contain songs recorded in the 'Kid A' sessions, but the band doesn't like to express it that way; they prefer the notion that they are new songs because people start to think of them as 'outtakes', which they are not. - 'Pyramid Song' (aka 'Egyptian Song') is on the album, to probably be the first single. -Touring to start as early as Spring 2001. - 'Amnesiac' is more like 'The Bends'. Ed said that "the mood is not constant like 'OK Computer' or 'Kid A'." Stay tuned for later updates on 'Amnesiac'!
'Kid A' was chosen #8 on Spin's 'Top 20 Albums of the Year' Congrats guys!
November 21st
Radiohead plan to release their follow-up to 'KID A' in March or April, 2001, preceded by a single. Of the new, as yet untitled album, Colin in the new NME is quoted as saying: "We've got to sort it out! But we're very happy about it, really excited. "(It'll be out in) March/April time maybe. We don't know yet but we want it to come out then. We've got enough music." He explained that some of the songs destined for the new album had emerged during recording sessions for 'Kid A', but that most were completely new.
October 3rd
KID A OUT TODAY!
North American release of the new Radiohead LP "Kid A" - 10 songs complete with limited edition hidden booklet behind the back cover jewel case. Songlist is as follows:
1 - Everything In It's Right Place
2 - Kid A
3 - The National Anthem
4 - How To Dissapear Completely
5 - Treefingers
6 - Optimistic
7 - In Limbo
8 - Idioteque
9 - Morning Bell
10 - Motion Picture Soundtrack
September 27th
Thom will be celebrating his 31st birthday on the 7th October. In order for
fans to be able to show their appreciation, instead of buying him anything,
there is going to be a move to donate money to charity, something which
Thom would very very much approve of - any amount to any worthwhile cause,
but maybe with the emphasis on Thom's favourite charities like Jubilee
2000, Milarepa or Amnesty International. For all the details and a mailing
list - go to http://digitalux.com/radiohead/thom.html and sign up. We are
working with w.a.s.t.e. to hopefully make it a surprise for him on the day
- so if you could pass this address on to people you know, without making
it too obvious, that would be great.
September 22nd
Nigel Godrich, producer of LP4, let some interesting information slip the
other night - despite there being some 'prog rock'-style comparisons
levelled against OK Computer, there is definitely no way that the next
album is going to be like that. Obviously time will tell, but with Ed
mentioning the Fall, Neu!, PJ Harvey, who knows...
Song titles that Ed has mentioned in his diary include :
Move Along, Lost at Sea/In Limbo, Everything Everyone, National Anthem,
Neil Young *9, Optimistic, Everything In Its Right Place, You And Whose
Army, Follow Me Around, C-Minor Song, Cuttooth, Up on the Ladder and How to
Disappear.
Nigel and Ed also mentioned that the very old songs like Big Boots and Lift
are not completely dead, just resting (the band have so much new material
they are, understandably, reluctant to dig up stuff that's over 5 years old).
September 12th
An LP on Mammoth Records entitled 'Morning Becomes Eclectic : Selected
On-Air Performance' has just been released in the USA. Among the live
performance by artists at the KCRW studios, track 14 is Brad Mehldau
playing a jazz interpretation of Exit Music [for a film] which he also
covered on his debut LP.
September 7th
The official web site, http://www.radiohead.com is being, for possibly the first time in its life(!), regularly updated. New features include a smart new message board http://www.radiohead.com/waitingroom.html for people to leave messages to the band and an ongoing diary from Ed - witness Radiohead turn into Neu! and the Fall and they rehearse their way through 12 new songs.
August 21st
Bravo (in the USA) will be airing a recent R.E.M. documentary called 'This
Way Up' on August 26th at 8pm (check listings for details), the documentary
is a bit like Meeting People is Easy, and for the Radiohead fans, Thom is
filmed in it rehearsing 'Be Mine' with the band which was eventually
performed onstage at the Tibetan Freedom Concert '98.
August 10th
Work on the next LP is continuing. The band have been rehearsing upwards of
40 songs, and will in the next month or so, be deciding which ones to
record for the LP and B-sides. If everything goes to plan, the general
feeling is that something new will arrive around May 2000. Ed has said in
last month's Select magazine about the LP : "We haven't started it
properly. We've been allowed to be indulgent but I'm not sure if people are
going to hear all the stuff we've been doing. But we've done a lot of work,
so there's lots of stuff for future Radiohead box sets."
July 1st
Thom (supporting the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign on site) and Ed
went down to the Glastonbury Festival last weekend to wander around and
take in the sunshine and hot weather. Here's some of the column-filling
'gossip' the daily-published Select paper on site decided to write about
the band :
" Ed O'Brien of Radiohead arrived at Glastonbury with his usual problem -
no car pass. With his customary creditable modesty, he refused to approach
the festival authorities and say "I'm Ed from Radiohead and we headlined
here two years ago so sort me out" and instead secured the requisite
documentation by a process of furtive politeness. As always, total respect.
Prize for the most splendid mobile home on site must go to Thom Yorke,
whose vast white winnebago - replete with awning - dominates the backstage
camping area much like St. Pauls dominates the City Of London. "I've been
inside," said one of his neighbours, "and its pretty bloody roomy"
It seems that being billy-no-mates is the thing this year, with both Thom
Yorke and Steve Malkmus from Pavement wandering around backstage unfettered
by any friends. "
Michael Eavis also, speaking after the festival, confirmed it will go ahead
next year, and are chasing after Radiohead to headline with Oasis. This of
course is subject to the band accepting - they will definitely not do it
unless they feel totally confident. There is a possibility that it will be
one of the first times that they play stuff from the next LP live (much
like they did in 1997). As with all touring and live performances - the
band will start thinking about them as soon as the next LP is finished and
not before.
News compliments of Max.
June 17th
HOORAY!!!! The new official site is up at http://www.radiohead.com. Go check it out! Don't worry though, it's still as confusing as the old one. ;o)
House of Blues Digital is doing a webcast of highlights from the 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert on Sunday, June 20th @ 4 pm Pacific Standard Time. Thom Yorke will be featured as part of the highlights. (cool!) :o)
The link to the event page is:http://www.hob.com/live/events/990620tibet
June 15th
Some news about LP number four, direct from Thom :
The first song played at the Tibetan Freedom Concert (with Thom solo on piano) has no title yet - but does have the lyrics 'Nothing to fear / Nothing to die for' in it.
The recording of the fourth album is going not as well as expected, and it is not scheduled to arrive before Spring 2000.
The official website should be updated very soon!
About 40 songs were more or less rehearsed for the fourth LP, including one or two from the Pablo Honey era that didn't made it on OK Computer.
Finally, Phil has just become a father! His wife gave birth to a boy a few days ago. If you want to send something, you can do so to the w.a.s.t.e. address (PO Box 322, Oxford, OX4 1EY).
Thank you Max!!!!
June 14th
Thom and Jonny turned up to the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Amsterdam today and played an absolute blinder of a set (Thom on acoustic guitar, Jonny filling in with hammond organ and other guitars).
Setlist : New Song (Thom solo on piano), Street Spirit,
Wear it Proudly (Elvis Costello cover), Lucky, Karma Police, and Exit Music.
June 11th
Thom will be playing a solo acoustic set as part of the Tibetan Freedom Concert this Sunday (13th) in Amsterdam's Rai Parkhalle. He is scheduled to play from 17:55 to 18:20. Kink FM in Holland will be broadcasting most (possibly all?) of the concert on the Sunday (check listings for exact details). The official TFC website will be doing some sort of web broadcast, and putting up one song from all the sets for download later. Check http://www.tibet99.com for details.
Stanley Donwood has given ... news ... hehe about the lateness of the new www.radiohead.com.
not long now
!
only nine months late
thanks to you and all other 'unofficial' sites
for a grand job
when our site is online i am
going to have a pint
or maybe now
i am assured that online time is
very soon
mid june
arg arg arg
its like an overdue baby
hope birth goes as planned
sorry again
June 4th
The next new Radiohead material that you can hear will be aired in September, a purely instrumental soundtrack to a new BBC drama series Eureka Street - a four-part TV adaptation of the 1997 novel by Irish Robert McLiam Wilson. The band are big fans of Wilson's work and so agreed to do the project (Ed in particular cites Eureka Street as one of his favourite novels). The band are still recording their fourth LP in Gloucestershire.
The date for the updated official website has been and gone - but the delay is not the fault of Stanley or w.a.s.t.e. - there are problems involving the new on-line ordering system for merchandise which are completely out of their control. The site should be up in the next week or so.
Sorry for the lack of updates... to be honest I've been very lazy lately. Won't happen again. ;o)
April 22nd
Thom will be playing a solo set at this years Tibetan Freedom Concert on June 13th.
I have just heard that the release date for Meeting People Is Easy has been moved up yet again to May 18th. I'm not sure if this is the case or not, though. The expected release for the new album will probably be in early 2000, as the band are now recording songs in Europe with producer Nigel Godrich.
April 19th
This year's Tibetan Freedom Concert, now in its fourth year, will take place Sunday, June 13, in Chicago, Ill. and in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Tokyo, Japan; and Sydney, Australia. This year the musical fest will be a 24-hour affair taking place on four separate continents, featuring a different lineup at each venue. It will be broadcast on radioworldwide June 14.
Participants this year include Radiohead's Thom Yorke, the Beastie Boys, Blondie, Live, the Roots, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Rage Against the Machine, former Clash frontman Joe Strummer, Neil Finn, and the Living End. More performers, as well as ticket information, will be announced in the upcoming weeks. More info as it comes.
"The four concerts will demonstrate the size of the international Tibet movement to the Chinese government," the organizers said in a statement. "We want the Chinese leaders and the leaders of the world to know that this is a global issue and that people everywhere support Tibetans in their struggle for freedom."
The Tibetan Freedom Concert schedule:
Chicago, Ill. Alpine Valley Music Theater (East Troy, Wisc.) Beastie Boys, Blondie, Live, Biz Markie, Outkast, The Roots, Otis Rush, Eddie Vedder
Amsterdam, the Netherlands AI Parkhal Ben Harper, Rage Against the Machine, Joe Strummer, Thom Yorke
Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Bay NK Hall - Audio Active, Brahman, Buffalo Daughter, Hi-Standard, Kiyoshirou Imawano, Kan Takagi, Scha Dara Parr (SDP)
Sydney, Australia Main Arena at Sydney Showgrounds (Homebush; pending approval) The Avalanches, Neil Finn, The Living End, The Mavis's, Regurgitator
April 5th
MTV USA's 120 minutes showed a scene from "Meeting People Is Easy" last night, from near the end of the film where the song Palo Alto is played. On May 2nd, the show will have an hour devoted to Radiohead showing more clips from the film.
April 4th
The band are still doing work on LP four with producer Nigel Godrich. They have been to quite a few European cities recently such as Paris and Copenhagen as part of the recording process. But, as always, there is no pressure externally to finish any time.
The new official website (http://www.radiohead.co.uk) will probably be delayed just a little bit longer. All of Stanley's work is finished, but
the w.a.s.t.e. section needs a little bit more sorting out, and they're going to be preparing a grand launch of the whole thing all at once, when they're completely sure that it is all working. Rest assured that people are working flat out to try and get it all finished as soon as possible.
Thank you Max...
March 19th
Meeting People Is Easy, dubbed the "Radiohead film" by many, has finally landed a release date. Both video and DVD versions of the
behind-the-scenes footage will be available on May 4, after a promotional tour that kicks off at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference in Austin, Texas, on March 20.
The film was directed by Grant Gee, who traveled with Radiohead for almost an entire year, documenting the release of the band's groundbreaking, Grammy-winning album OK Computer. The picture is full of live performances, interviews, and daily life, as well as previously unseen live footage of the band, and the early workings of some Radiohead material that has yet to be released.
After its SXSW debut, Meeting People Is Easy will travel to four major markets, with several screenings in each city, including showings at nearby college campuses.
Meeting People Is Easy tour dates:
March
March 20 SXSW, Austin, Texas
March 22 Egyptian Theatre, Los Angeles, Calif. (7:00 p.m.)
March 26 Laemmle Theatre, Los Angeles, Calif. (midnight)
March 27 Laemmle Theatre, Los Angeles, Calif. (midnight)
Week of March 29 UCLA and UC Irvine campus screenings, Los Angeles,Calif.
March 30 Life, New York, N.Y. (7 p.m.)
April
April 1 Angelika Theatre, New York, N.Y. (midnight)
April 2 Angelika Theatre, New York, N.Y. (midnight)
Week of April 5 NYU and Columbia campus screenings, New York, N.Y.
April 9 Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, Calif. (7 p.m., midnight)
April 10 Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, Calif. (midnight)
Week of April 12 UC Berkeley and UC Davis campus screenings, San Francisco/Davis, Calif.
April 15 Music Box, Chicago, Ill. (7 p.m.)
April 16 Music Box, Chicago, Ill. (midnight)
April 17 Music Box, Chicago, Ill. (midnight)
Week of April 19 TBA campus screenings, Chicago, Ill.
March 17th
To help kick-off a month long, five-city tour of the behind-the-scenes, multi-media collage about Radiohead, "Meeting People Is Easy," film...
* "Meeting People Is Easy" video director Grant Gee will chat on SonicNet Monday, March 22nd at 6:00 PM T/3:00 PM PT.
* Preceding the web chat, Broadcast.com will run a 15-minute excerpt for 24 hours, giving fans the opportunity to preview the film before the chat.
The preview begins on Sunday, March 21st at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT.
For more details go to Capitol Records.
March 14th
Just a few minutes into the Radiohead documentary "Meeting People Is Easy," bandleader Thom Yorke is shown onstage at the 1997 Glastonbury Festival in England asking that the house lights be turned on.
The black-and-white imagery suddenly brightens to reveal a sea of 100,000 fans -- some holding lighters, most cheering. This brief clip in Grant Gee's film documenting the English band's 1997-98 world tour is one of only a couple of moments in the film that suggest the glory of being in a rock band.
"Everything after [Glastonbury] has been a letdown," Yorke says later in the film. Describing his view of the crowd from the stage that night, he adds, "I've never felt like that, it wasn't a human feeling."
After watching "Meeting People Is Easy," you can see why Yorke would so clearly remember that moment of looking out into a brightly lit, adoring crowd. As the camera follows Radiohead around the world through their OK Computer tour, it zeroes in on the daily grind and grueling routine that rock success is rooted in.
Filmed when Radiohead were at a career peak, Gee's travelogue takes aim at the flip side of the rock 'n' roll life. It focuses primarily on the nitty-gritty of being a successful band -- the endless barrage of promotional appearances, interviews and photo sessions between performances and the sameness of the settings, from hotels to airports to roadways, that the band encounters as it moves from country to country.
"The production line of celebrity is very weird, the job of being a celebrity," Gee reflected. "I just want to have people say, 'Why do people do that?' Why does popular music have to be involved in that world?' And, 'If it were you, how would you deal with it?'"
Gee initially was hired to spend one week with Radiohead when OK Computer was released in 1997. Media outlets from throughout the world had gathered in Barcelona, Spain, where the band was doing promotion for the album (which eventually went multiplatinum). Gee was recruited to follow the band through its packed press days, but he hadn't planned how the footage would be used.
"It was the most insane thing I have ever seen -- cameras, microphones, everything pointed at you, journalists shouting, 'Love it! Love it! The record's astonishing! Tell us about it!' " Gee said of his first days with Radiohead.
The filmmaker was so struck by the media whirlwind surrounding the band that he wrote a proposal pitching the basic idea of "Meeting People Is Easy."
"The band's been [out of] the spotlight for a long time, and they're very shy, regular chaps anyway," Gee said. "And suddenly they come out with a new record and there's just a mass of people waiting there going, 'Tell us, tell us, tell us,' taking pictures, interpreting everything they say, all coming with their own opinions, all trying to find their own angle.
And it's like this band, they're really regular guys. I just thought, what's going to happen if they keep doing this for a year?" Helped by having "got on well with the band," Gee said, his proposal was approved, and he joined Radiohead for the tour. He also shot their video for "No Surprises" (RealAudio excerpt) a few months into the outing.
While "Meeting People Is Easy" tends to emphasize the dark side -- or simply the banality -- of fame, Gee develops that theme without neglecting the heart of Radiohead: their music. The film provides generous performance footage as well as extended clips of sound checks and in-studio sessions. Fragments of six new songs -- all of which follow in Radiohead's moody, textured rock style -- are included, as are such previously released songs as "Airbag," "Paranoid Android" and "Exit Music" (RealAudio excerpt), which appropriately closes the film.
In interviews throughout the documentary, the members of Radiohead -- Yorke, guitarists Ed O'Brien and Jonny Greenwood, bassist Colin Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway -- contend with the massive success of OK Computer and with suggestions they've reached perfection with the album. In one of the film's most compelling moments, Yorke tells an Australian interviewer,
"It's a supply-and-demand thing. It's like, 'Well, this is what they want me to do, this is what they want to hear, so I'll do more of this, because it's great, they love me.' "It's the demise of so many recording artists," Yorke goes on, "because
soon people start giving you cash and you're making money and you don't want to take any more risks because you've gotten used to this lifestyle and they've got you by the balls. You've got all this baggage and that's how they've got you."
On a few occasions during the tour, Gee took a few days to edit some footage to update the band on his progress and direction with the film. Though he said the band was pleased with those raw edits, Gee admitted he's not sure how they feel about the film now, in retrospect. "I keep thinking these days, they're probably wishing they hadn't let me do it," he said. "Just like anyone, you don't want to constantly be reminded of what you've been doing for the past year, so when it came to the final, they kind of watched it through once and said, 'Yeah, fine, bye.'"
"Meeting People Is Easy," released through EMI Music Distribution, will premiere this week at the South By Southwest music industry conference before showings at campuses and theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. It will be released on DVD and home video May 4.
March 4th
Found out that Meeting People Is Easy will be released officially in the United States on May 4th. Personally, I can't wait! Apparently, there will be screenings in big cities like New York and Los Angeles. More about that when I find out.
February 14th
Radiohead's own Jonny Greenwood will be contributing to the new Pavement album that's due out in June ... playing the harmonica! Nigel Godrich (OKC producer) asked Jonny to play specifically.
February 8th
New info about the 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert was released today and there will be 4 different shows. Two will be done in Chicago, Illinois USA, and one each will be held in Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Sydney. The expansion is due to the neglecting attitude of the Clinton admimistration to pursue human rights in Tibet.
The Milarepa Fund, which promotes awareness of the Tibetan plight, claims it is trying to provoke action from the US government. After last year's gigs it released the following statement: "We are truly disappointed with how little the Clinton administration has done for Tibet. In the next year, we will demonstrate to the governments of the world, to international institutions like the European Union and to the United Nations that the people of the world want the Tibet issue resolved."
Stay tuned to see if Radiohead will be one of the performers.
February 4th
The recording of the new album is starting now in France. Produced once again by Nigel Godrich, it will be finished in England.
Also for some wierd reason, 'Meeting People Is Easy' - the Radiohead documentary won't be released here in the United States until sometime in April. Ugh. Apparently this is the sole decision of Capitol Records, and I'm not quite sure what the reason for it is.
January 26th
For those of you expecting the release of 'Meeting People Is Easy', unfortunately the relase date has been moved up 2 weeks to February 9th. Not sure why, but I think it might have something to do with the ratings system.
January 8th
Radiohead has been nominated for yet another Grammy award, this time in the category of 'Best Alternative Live Performance' for their Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP. The other nominees are:
1. Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
2. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel
3. Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
4. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire
5. Radiohead - Airbag EP
January 4th
LP number four is of course now being written/recorded in the studio. Please do not ask about release dates or anything like that - an optimistic guess would be around Christmas time of 1999 before we maybe see a single. OK Computer took about two years to write, and they have to try and top that. The LP will be released when it is ready and not before. Radiohead are under no pressure at all from the record label to produce anything -
they can work at their own pace.
Songs which the band *may* consider for inclusion (again, remember that the tracklisting of OK Computer changed drastically about three-quarters of the way through the recording schedule) include old songs I Promise, True Love Waits and Motion Picture Soundtrack. Recently performed songs like Nude, How to Disappear, The Thief, Life in a Glass House and the new songs performed on Meeting People is Easy are likely to have a chance, and no-one knows about the lost Lift and Big Boots. Again all titles will very likely be different.
Expect a new official web site (http://www.radiohead.co.uk) to appear very soon - Stanley Donwood has finished all the work on it, and apparently it will be big!
Thank you Max K. for the info!