Announcer: "...P3 Pop med Ika Johannesson."

[Announcer: "...P3 Pop with Ika Johannesson."]

Thom: "I didn't know what the fuck we were trying to do. I didn't understand. Um—all I knew is every time I picked up a guitar, nothing happened. Every time we set up, as a band, to play, nothing happened.

Ika Johannesson: "Thom Yorke, sångare i engelska Radiohead, om hur det var att börja skriva låtar efter den enorma succén med OK Computer. Jag träffade Thom Yorke efter Radioheads spelning i Globen i början av september och i den här exklusiva intervjun berättar han bl a om sitt dåliga självförtroende och om lyckan över att äntligen kunna vara stolt över sin musik. I den här timmen av P3 Pop så handlar allt om Thom Yorke."

[Ika Johannesson: "Thom Yorke, singer of British band Radiohead, about what it is like to start writing songs again after the enormous success with OK Computer. I met Thom Yorke after Radiohead’s concert at the Globe Arena at the beginning of September and in this exclusive interview he talks, among other things, about his lack of confidence and the joy of finally being able to be proud of his music."]

['I Might Be Wrong' plays]

Ika: "Radioheads väldigt mediaskygge sångare, Thom Yorke, har bestämt att han vill göra en radiointervju när han är i Stockholm och kring detta beslut dras en stor apparat igång. Managementet i England vill att intervjun skall göras i kombination med en tävling och skivbolaget i Sverige är mest upphetsade över att det just är i Stockholm som Thom får feeling på att prata. Alla är chockade och påtalar det mycket exklusiva med den här intervjun. Och jag får ont i magen av blotta uppståndelsen... Efter konserten på Globen leds jag in i betongkulvertarna backstage och in i en lite loge. Efter en kvart ungefär kommer Thom in i rummet eskorterad av en manager. Han har på sig mörka jeans, en brun stickad tröja med silverränder och är lite svettig under skäggstubben. Och så bär han ett glas champagne i handen... Vi slår oss ner i skinnsoffan och det står ganska snart klart att den notoriskt sure Thom Yorke är avslappnad och väldigt trevlig, något som känns väldigt bisarrt i jämförelse med all uppståndelse. Det som fascinerar och samtidigt irriterar många med Radiohead är att de struntar i att vara ett av världens största popband. De struntar i att vara trevliga mot media, de vägrar vresigt att leva i strålkastarljuset och istället för att följa upp mångmiljonsäljande OK Computer med ett kommersiellt gångbart album släpper de istället två skivor med långa låtar, med ohörbara texter och elektroniska experiment. Med skivorna Kid A och Amnesiac har Radiohead fört ut experimentell avant-gardemusik till de stora massorna. I pop-förpackning. Något som känns väldigt upplyftande om man ser till vad som prånglas ut dagligen från de multi-nationella storskivbolagen. Även på scen är Radiohead ett experiment. Både Jonny Greenwood och Ed O’Brien lämnar sina gitarrer under spelningen och mixtrar med olika maskiner och pedaler för att få fram nya ljud och effekter. Flera gånger under konserten i Globen hör man svenska radioröster bland gitarrerna."

[Ika: "Radiohead’s very media shy singer, Thom Yorke, has decided that he wants to do a radio interview while in Stockholm and around this decision a huge process is triggered. The management in Britain wants the interview to be combined with a competition and the Swedish record company are just excited that it’s here in Stockholm Thom gets the urge to talk. Everyone is shocked and expresses the exclusivity of this interview. And I just get a stomach ache from all the commotion... After the concert I am taken to the concrete culverts backstage and into a small dressing room. After approximately 15 minutes Thom enters the room escorted by a manager. He is wearing dark jeans, a brown knitted sweater with silver stripes and he is sweating a little under the beard-stubble. And in his hand he’s holding a glass of champagne... We sit down on the leather sofa and it’s soon quite clear that the notoriously morose Thom Yorke is relaxed and very pleasant, which feels bizarre in comparison with all the commotion. What fascinates and at the same time irritates many about Radiohead is that they don’t bother being one of the world’s best pop bands. They don’t bother being nice to the media, they peevishly refuse to live in the spotlight and instead of following the multi-million selling OK Computer up with a commercially marketable album they release two albums with long tracks, inaudible lyrics and electronic experiments. With the albums Kid A and Amnesiac, Radiohead have introduced experimental avant-garde music to the large masses. In pop wrapping. It’s very uplifting if you look at what is put out daily by the multi-national record companies. Also on stage Radiohead is an experiment. Both Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien drop their guitars during the gig and fiddle with different machines and pedals to create new sounds and effects. Several times during the Globe Arena concert you hear Swedish radio voices among the guitars."]

Thom: "It's kind of insane to do it every night. I've been listening to some of the tapes of the gigs we're doing in America. Some of the stuff that happens um—before you start up is just fantastic... and, you know, it's just totally relaxed. And some nights the things coming from the radio are just appalling. But what he does is he... he uses an echo and a tuner. So whatever it is you can kind of tune it... try to make it musical. So...

Ika: "But do you prefer to have talk or music when...? Or does it matter?

Thom: "I don't know. I think he does—he has specific channels programmed in or something, I'm not quite... I've never bothered to find out, really. But uh—um... the stuff I prefer is definitely the music stuff because it's incredible how... um—you can make whatever music it is fit things, if you have a few little effects you can, you know... And it's nice to do that rather than having the same every night. I mean, you know, it makes you kind of a nervous wreck. Like ‘cause we don't really use... we've tried using, you know, regular samples and boxes. But the only samples that we use are just of sounds, you know? We don't use anything... because it's just so boring, you know, such a dull experience to have a loop running or whatever. When Jonny does “Idioteque”, um—that box that he uses to... to—the drum machine box that he uses—is a nightmare! It like... it goes in and out at time. It starts at one um—speed, speeds up through the track, it's like down, and drops out. It's just awful! Sometimes... sometimes...

Ika: "Why doesn't he change it?

Thom: "It's just... I don't know! I don't know what it is. It's the way it's built. It's to do with the voltage. If there's a voltage surge, or something it freaks out, all this sort of shit. And, you know... sensibly we... we... we'd really just sort of get lots of safe gear and do it safe, but... for some reason it makes more sense to, you know, if it's shit then... ‘sorry', you know. We've done, you know, we've just stopped “Idioteque” at the end and just go like ‘sorry, that was crap, man', and do the next one. And, you know, in a way that's... that's more fun. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't but then that's what we do when we record, you know? Suddenly, things fall into place and you... you find yourself really kind of moved... with it or something, you know? And that's sort of what music's about for us, really... it's sort of setting up in a room or whatever in front of people and just, you know, working at trying to find those moments, you know. I'd kind of forgotten that and then I went back and I... I'd forgotten how exciting it is when things click.

['Optimistic' plays]

Ika: "Förra gången Radiohead var i Skandinavien var i höstas då bandet gav två konserter i ett specialbyggt tält utanför Köpenhamn i Danmark. Förband var isländska Sigur Rós och Radiohead hade lagt väldigt stor tyngdpunkt vid att tältet skulle vara utan kommersiella loggor och skyltar. Merparten av konserten ägnades åt låtar från Kid A som ännu inte hade släppts och publiken fattade knappt något. Låtarna kändes väldigt ramlösa och konstiga."

[Ika: "Last time Radiohead were in Scandinavia was last autumn when the band gave two concerts in a specially made tent outside Copenhagen in Denmark. Support act was Icelandic Sigur Rós and Radiohead’s main focus was that the tent should be free from commercial logos and signs. The main part of the concert consisted of songs from Kid A that had not yet been released and the audience understood hardly anything. The songs seemed frameless and strange."]

Thom: "I think the only... probably the only thing different is that we're not fighting with them... as much ‘cause we're more familiar with them now. Um—and I think having played them in, as we say, you know? Um—people, you know, they get familiar with the records and it means more to them, I think... I think, you know, fifty percent of what goes on is down to, you know—when you do a live show—is down to the audience. And if the audience um—you know, when we did our first shows, like um... [Laughs]. We did the first tour. Don't ask me why ‘cause I can't remember that [undecipherable]. We did the first tour before anyone had ever heard anything, like actually had the record! Um—especially in Britain anyway. Um—we did like two weeks, where no one knew a note of what was going on, except from bootlegs and that was just bizarre! You know, trying to... trying to communi... you know, you launch into something like “Idioteque” and people are going ‘What the... fuck is this?!' [Laughs]. You know, it's just... nobody's got a clue! Um—and so it's nice to come back, and once people have got their heads around it, you know... That like... and that extended to the reviews and stuff, as well. Lots of people were just... you know... ‘Don't have time for this', you know... Which—which uh— really hurt, actually, at the time. But I think it feels really good to sort of tour, you know, go to America and play the shows and have lots of people really, really know the material. It's—it's sort of. Like, ‘Okay, maybe we weren't wrong after all', you know, ‘cause... But it kind of freaked me out quite a lot, you know, when Kid A came out, some of the stuff that was sort of said. It's just hardly... I didn't understand. [Laughs]. It didn't compute at all.

Ika: "What part of it didn't you understand?

Thom: "Um...that people were so angry. Like... like other people in bands and shit... were really fucking furious... with what we'd done! It's like ‘What?! Why?!', you know? It was weird!

Ika: "När Kid A släpptes i oktober förra året blev det så klart folkstorm i England. Radiohead-backlashen var i full gång och redan innan skivan släpptes hade de som fått tag på bootlegs deklamerat att skivan var experimentellt skräp och omöjlig att förstå sig på. Så redan från början stod det klart för alla skivköpare att Kid A var elektronisk, experimentell och långt ifrån det vanliga Radiohead. Så självklart var det många som avfärdade skivan redan där, när den i själva verket var en självklar fortsättning på OK Computer om än med lite fler maskiner men inte mindre pop för det. Kid A retade i alla fall upp många, både recensenter och band. Bl a Oasis basunerade ut att Radiohead var fegisar."

[Ika: "When Kid A was released in October last year there was of course a public uproar in Britain. The Radiohead backlash was in full swing and already before the album was released those who had got hold of bootlegs declaimed that the record was experimental garbage and impossible to understand. Thus already from the beginning it was clear to all record buyers that Kid A was electronic, experimental and far from the usual Radiohead. So naturally many rejected the album already then, when it really was an obvious continuation of OK Computer albeit with some more machines, but not less pop. Kid A nevertheless irritated many, both critics and bands. Among them Oasis who proclaimed that Radiohead were cowards."]

Thom: "I think... I think, basically, they were threatened by it. So ultimately that's a compliment, you know? In the same way that every time Aphex Twin brings out a record and I'm threatened by that ‘cause I think he's a genius, and it makes me want to give up... you know. It's... I guess it's sort of... maybe a bit of that maybe... they really just need to take a break... chill out. [Thom says something away from the microphone].

Ika: "Were they people you respected?

Thom: "No. Oh, no... not at all.

Ika: "Then why did you care?

Thom: "I cared because it was sort of like... I just didn't... I was just really shocked that anybody would even bother publicly coming out and saying it... it was just... totally phased me out! It's like ‘Woo... woo!', you know? I don't... you know, I don't say stuff about that... normally... unless people deserve it.

['Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)' plays]

Thom: "The bands that sort of affected me when they played live... the bands like Sonic Youth. We played with Sonic Youth. We did some god-awful radio station bullshit commercial thing, which there's a lot of mistakes in it. You cannot play their show. Maybe you might consider possibly playing a record, but probably not. And Sonic Youth came on. And there's like a revolving stage thing in Hollywood. They came after Oasis. They were pretty good, actually. But they came on. And they just started playing before the stage revolved around, so you could see them. And they played um... Everybody had, like, a 20-minute slot. And they played one song. And it's, like, the best song on Washing Machine. Absolutely amazing song. And it was the most exciting thing I've ever seen, you know? I'd never heard the song before... nothing. But it was, like, everybody hated it! Everybody, you know... They were sort of furious, but... it was, like, so amazing to be standing right at the front and everybody going ‘Ah!' But they were so into it! It was so exciting! And it was, like, they didn't care at all! They just did not, you know? And the sounds they were making and stuff, was just... None of the people in this room are going to get this. And, I don't know, it's just... Which is—I think a live, like, you know... ninety percent of live music is all about pressing the right buttons, and everybody going home satisfied, you know what I mean? It's sort of like showbiz, and it's a bit um... You know, everybody feels that they got their money's worth and stuff. And—and I think, when we were doing OK Computer, that's where we were at. That's what we felt that we ought to be doing. And it feels so good to sort of, like, I feel we're beyond that now.

Ika: "Medlemmarna i Radiohead har känt varandra sedan tonåren men man kan säga att bandet bildades "på riktigt" 1987 när de pluggade ihop på Oxford-universitet. Sättningen är densamma idag som då, Thom Yorke på sång och gitarr, Jonny Greenwood på gitarr och diverse maskiner, Colin Greenwood på bas, gitarristen Ed O’Brien och trummisen Phil Selway. Först hade bandet det föga klatschiga namnet On A Friday men det ändrades till Radiohead 1990 när de släppte första EP:n Drill. Tre år senare kom debuten Pablo Honey med hiten 'Creep' som gjorde Radiohead till Englands svar på grungebanden i Seattle, om än lite smartare och lite svårare. 1995 kom uppföljaren The Bends som är en indieklassiker av mått men det var med tredje skivan OK Computer som kom 1997 som förvandlade Radiohead till ett världsband. Skivan blev så ofattbart stor att ingen fattade någonting, allra minst medlemmarna i bandet. I den engelska tidningen Q utsågs OK Computer till tidernas bästa skiva någonsin och den har sålt multiplatina i över 50 länder vilket innebär många, många, många tusen. En evighetslång turné följde på skivan och i turnéfilmen Meeting People Is Easy får man se skakande bilder på ett band i bitar. Sönderdissekerade i recensioner och intervjuer och totalt utmattade. Speciellt Thom Yorke skadade sig själv svårt med den press han själv satte på sig. Så svårt att det nästan var omöjligt för honom att göra musik i flera år. Fyra år efter OK Computer, förra året, kom uppföljaren Kid A, och nu i år, systerskivan Amnesiac inspelad under samma sessioner som Kid A."

[Ika: "The members of Radiohead have known each other since their teens but you can say that the band was formed "for real" in 1987 when they studied together at Oxford University. The line-up is the same since then, Thom Yorke on vocals and guitar, Jonny Greenwood on guitar and various machines, Colin Greenwood on bass, the guitarist Ed O’Brien and the drummer Phil Selway. At first the band went by the not so catchy name On A Friday but that was changed to Radiohead in 1990 when they released the first EP, Drill. Three years later came the debut Pablo Honey including the hit 'Creep' which made Radiohead Britain’s answer to the grunge bands in Seattle, only somewhat cleverer and more difficult. In 1995 it was followed up by The Bends which is a huge indie classic. But it was the third album OK Computer released in 1997 that made Radiohead a world act. The album was so unbelievably great that nobody understood anything, least of all the members of the band. In the British magazine Q, OK Computer was voted best album of all times and it has sold multi-platinum in over 50 countries which means many, many, many thousand. A never-ending tour followed the album and in the tour documentary Meeting People Is Easy we see distressing footage of a band in pieces. Dissected into shreds in reviews and interviews and totally exhausted. Thom Yorke especially hurt himself badly with the pressure he submitted himself to. So badly that it was almost impossible for him to make music for many years. Four years after OK Computer, last year, the successor Kid A was released, and this year, the sister album Amnesiac, recorded during the same sessions.]

['How To Disappear Completely' plays]

Thom: "Every time you make a record, there are things you accumulate, that you have to get out, which equally have in OK Computer. With Kid A and Amnesiac, the trouble that we had... For about a year I had had such really, really serious writer's block, because um—from where I was sitting, no matter what we did next, we were damned. It didn't matter, if we'd done exactly... if we'd gone back to doing The Bends, like, you know, which, you know, sold—probably would've sold well. If we'd done OK Computer again, that would've sold well. You know, it would be nice, everybody would—would... But we just equally we'd been probably sniped off for it. It's like, you know, ‘dada dada'... whatever, you know. It would ultimately... nothing we could do would make those fuckers happy. I kind of just couldn't get my head around that. It took me a long time to sort of come to terms with having to just let go of what people thought. And I think it brought with it this really weird pressure, which made it very difficult for a long time to know what sort of state of mind we were trying to achieve... or where at. Because um—like when we did the initial sessions, both sessions were fraught with: one minute, incredibly amazing, exciting things happening; and then ten minutes later, um—I'm tearing it to shreds, and insisting that we move on to something else. Because I couldn't cope with: a) committing to something that, maybe, people would then pull apart, and cool.gif I didn't know what the fuck we were trying to do... I didn't understand. Um—all I knew was every time I picked up a guitar, nothing happened. Every time we set up as a band to play, nothing happened... or very rarely. You know, so it was like ‘What the hell are we going to do?', you know. But then, sort of out of it, this really, uh... much deeper thing started emerging, which really came from um—a landscape, and a place that I live, a house that I have—which I'm not gonna tell you where it is, but...

Ika: "But it's in England?

Thom: "Yes, it's in England, and it has this really fraught landscape, um... And uh—I spent, you know, hours and days just wandering around on my own, and stuff. And everything kind of figured itself out. And um, you know, the music really was coming out of the landscape, as far as I was concerned. And the words were coming out of the stones in the ground, and uh, you know, falling rock.

['Knives Out' plays]

Ika: "Radiohead är ett tydligt politiskt band. På sin hemsida uppmanar de just nu att man skall skänka pengar åt flyktingar i England. De undviker att sammankopplas med varumärken, förutom sitt multinationella skivbolag då... Och Thom Yorke har varit engagerad i Jubilee 2000-kampanjen tillsammans med Bono och Bob Geldoff. En kampanj vars mål är att övertyga världens ledare om att tredje världen inte skall behöva betala tillbaka sina skulder till västvärlden. Och Thom Yorkes texter är ofta politiska med sällan speciellt tydliga. På Kid A och Amnesiac där texterna är med mer packade med åsikter än tidigare beslutade Thom Yorke att inte skriva ut dem i konvolutet."

[Ika: "Radiohead is a distinctly political band. On their website they right now urge you to donate money for refugees in Britain. They avoid being connected with brands, other than their multi-national record company of course... And Thom Yorke has been involved in the Jubilee 2000 campaign together with Bono and Bob Geldoff. A campaign which aims to convince the world leaders that the third world should not have to pay back their debts to the western world. And Thom Yorke’s lyrics are often political but seldom very clear. On Kid A and Amnesiac where the lyrics are more filled with opinion than before Thom decided not to print them on the cover."]

Thom: "The reason I didn't put the lyrics on either of the records, is because um—I didn't feel it was appropriate. Um—because...

Ika: "Why?

Thom: "Because what would happen is people would've jumped from the lyrics, and would've misread them. Um—and I didn't think it was necessary, uh—to put across the sentiment that we were trying to put across. Um—I mean, in retrospect—it might've been a mistake—but I'm actually really proud of the fact that on Kid A there was a hidden booklet on some of the... you know. And that hidden booklet, um—to me, explained both records completely, without having to use the lyrics. Um—it's, like, um—all the—sort of—mania around what we were doing, all the stuff that woke me up in the middle of the night—and it's not just my writing, some of it is Stanley's, as well. And that's actually—as far as we're concerned—the thing we're most proud of, artwork-wise, over the two records, was that booklet. It's a shame we couldn't print it out... more. Um—because... I mean, it's very offensive [laughs], but it's kind of, you know, it was totally what was going on in our heads... when we were working. Um—but I don't... At the time, I didn't think it was a good idea, because at the time I didn't want people to... analyse them, ‘cause that, kind of, totally wasn't the point, you know? On OK Computer it was just ridiculous! You know, words that were supposed to be taken as a joke, were, like, chewed over and chewed over and it was just sick, you know? That's something else.

['Idioteque' plays]

Ika: "Is it important for you that people understand what you're singing about?

Thom: "Only sometimes. Because sometimes I'm not singing anything anyway. [laughs] Sometimes the—sometimes the words are absolutely incidental... like on “Everything in its Right Place”, the words are totally incidental, that's why I keep repeating them, ‘cause it's not the point. If—you know, sometimes words are just wallpaper. Sometimes they should just be wallpaper, but you can read things into them, and obviously I wrote them for a reason, but as I'm singing them and as I'm putting them in the music, they're to be treated as wallpaper, you know? And then other times, words that just fly by, that don't seem to mean anything—like “Idioteque”—are, like, the words that I'm most proud of... of all the stuff on both records, because um—that goes into the, sort of, mania thing that was happening at the time. So, I think it's just—it's very easy, I think, you know, the fucking post-Freudian rubbish, you know, people just tend to jump on. The thing with music is, you know, with songs, the words are only part of the deal... they always are. Even if you're bloody Bob Dylan, they're only part of what's going on, you know? Even if you're a rap artist, they're only half of what's going on, you know?

Ika: "I den lilla foldern som följer med vissa utgåvor av Kid A har konstnären Stanley Donwood och Thom Yorke under pseudonymen Tchocky satt ihop en liten minitidning i fanzine-stil med lösryckta citat från låtarna. Bl a kan man läsa rader som ”I’ve lost my way”, ”Washed out to sea”, I’m lost at sea”, “Come back to me”, Don’t bother me”. Man kan ofta bli lite trött på musiker som gnäller på att det är så jobbigt att vara kända och i allas blickfång. Och när det gäller Thom Yorke är det just att han är motvilligt framgångsrik som i alla fall jag tänker på först. Under intervjun säger han gång på gång att han bara vill göra sin musik i fred och framföra den för den som vill lyssna och när han kommer in på det sjunker han ihop i soffan och blir väldigt liten."

[Ika: "In the little folder that comes with some editions of Kid A, the artist Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke under the pseudonym Tchocky, put together a mini-newspaper fanzine style with isolated quotes from the songs. You can read, for example, lines like, “I’ve lost my way”, “Washed out to sea”, I’m lost at sea”, “Come back to me”, “Don’t bother me”. One often gets tired of musicians complaining about how hard it is to be famous and in everyone’s eyes. And regarding Thom Yorke it’s that he is reluctantly successful that comes to my mind first. During the interview he says over and over that he only wants to make his music in peace and perform it for whomever wants to listen, while he sinks into the sofa and becomes very small."]

Thom: "They try and, sort of, find the story that matches, you know? And then they just... they just hammer that story. Even though you don't agree with it. Everything... they'll just write stuff to make it fit, you know? And they've done that to lots and lots of people. They did that to Richey from the Manics. They did that with Kurt Cobain. And eventually, you know, you start to believe stuff. And you just go [undecipherable]. And you follow it around by this person. You go into, like, a bookshop, and they'll have the music biographies and every fucking one of them is, like, commits suicide or, you know... Like the John Lennon section, you know, is horrendous! It's sick, man! You know. And if you try to, sort of, think about it in those terms, then um—you just go absolutely round the bend. What was I going to say? Oh, yeah! And that was the weird thing about um—that was the weird thing... Towards the end of Kid A and Amnesiac, I did the session with Björk, and the session with Polly Harvey... for their records. And um—that's what we talked about... when I met both of them. And it was amazing how um—it was something that's hurt Polly badly for ages. Um—and Björk's had it as well, you know. And Björk's learned to deal with it. And Polly's learned to deal with it. And they've got their ways of dealing with it. It was really inspiring to sort of, you know, see people who've sorted themselves out... other than Michael, as well... Stipe. It's possible to do it, but I think it's—it's just one of those things—as far as I'm concerned—what I think is wrong with it—the music industry—is that, you know, it tends to wipe out people that it should be looking out for. And it tends to...

['This Mess We're In' plays]

Ika: "Do you really care as much about what other people think? You keep returning to it. And I keep reading about it. But somehow I didn't think it was true. Somehow I thought it was, like, a newspaper hoax—that you cared so much.

Thom: "Yeah, I think—I think, basically, I think that it just came from a complete lack of confidence. Like when we finished OK Computer I absolutely hated what we'd done. I hated the way we ended up. I hated, you know, like the R.E.M. song, “Sad Professor”, I hate where I wound up. That was just absolutely it for me. Um—I couldn't believe anybody would write that. ‘Cause that was just... that was my life, you know. I couldn't bear uh—for so many reasons—and so I jumped upon... the, you know, the criticisms, because these are the criticisms that I said, you know, I felt like, sort of, saying to people: ‘Listen, I agree... I absolutely agree with all you're saying', because I've had this fucking voice in my head for years saying exactly the same thing. But now I don't—I'm sort of getting over it, you know. Because um—now I think we bloody earned the right to get over it, you know. Um—so, I think you have to have it happen to you in order to get over it. [laughs] You have to have people turn on you in order to understand what it was you were trying to do in the first place, really. So, I think I'm—I've got my head around it now. Which is a really nice feeling. Kind of means I can go back to, you know, channelling it—what it was that I couldn't channel into for so long... when we were trying to do Kid A and Amnesiac, you know.

Ika: "Is that also saying that before—that you couldn't—like Radiohead was a part of you all the time, and now that you can take a step out of it? Take a step out of Radiohead?

Thom: "Yeah. Long enough to know what's good about it. That's all. Um—long enough to appreciate how good this band is... for me, you know. And I totally...

['The Trickster' plays]

Ika: "Det är så tydligt att Thom Yorke mår mycket bättre idag är för några år sedan. På scenen i Globen skrattar han och skojar med publiken och i logen backstage är han avkopplad och långt ifrån den sammanbitne och plågade man som man så många gånger läst utländska intervjuer med. En del av det har att göra med att han äntligen börjat tro på musiken han gör och känner sig stolt över den. Och en annan del av tillfredsställelsen beror på att han ganska nyligen blivit pappa."

[Ika: "It is so obvious that Thom Yorke feels much better today than a few years ago. On stage at the Globe Arena he laughs and jokes with the audience and in the dressing room backstage he is relaxed and far from the resolute and tormented man we have read so many foreign interviews with. Part of it has to do with that he has finally begun to believe in the music he makes and feels proud of it. Another reason for the satisfaction is that he quite recently became a dad."]

Thom: "Yeah, he's cool now. He's seven months old, actually. Yeah.

Ika: "But how has that affected you?

Thom: "Um—uh, I've—I'm less willing to tear things to shreds. ‘Cause I don't have time and be... You know, there's this incredibly beautiful thing that I come home to every day, which is my own son. Obviously he's the most beautiful boy that's ever been born [laughs]. Naturally. And so uh—you know, it makes things a little bit easier, really. Kind of makes you realize what it is you wanted from music in the first place. That's what's happening for me anyway. You realize why you love it so much, sort of thing.

Ika: "So having a baby makes you realize what you want from music?

Thom: "Yeah. Can't explain why, but it's true.

Ika: "Jag bad Thom Yorke att välja ut en låt som betydde mycket för honom när han jobbade med musiken på Kid A och Amnesiac. Han tänkte länge och väl och gick t o m iväg för att hämta öl för att kunna komma på en riktigt viktig låt."

[Ika: "I asked Thom Yorke to choose a song that meant a lot to him while he was working with the music for Kid A and Amnesiac. He thought long and hard and even walked off to get beer to be able to come up with an important song."]

Thom: "I'd say the one that was most um, influential—for me—is called “Freeman, Hardy and Willis Acid”, and it's by Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin. And it was from a—it's from a commemorative Warp album. I heard it on John Peel when I was driving and I had to stop the car, ‘cause I was going to get into an accident. And uh—um... uh—it's basically—it just basically completely changed the way I thought about music. There's a couple of things that—there's a few things in my life that have just completely changed the way I thought about music, and that was one of them. Another one was, you know, Mingus, and another one was hearing Queen when I was ten, you know. And that was—that was one of those times. I wouldn't say it was any particular emotion attached to it, other than seeing God, really. You know, when you... when you hear music, in particular, that is sort of, you know... it's sort of like you believe in God sort of thing. Anyway, it sounds really wanky but it's true. You know. It's so violent. This track is so violent, and it's so destructive. And it's so uh—frightening, in like a really weird way. Um—and that sort of fright was basically what stook[sic]—it stayed with me when we were trying to do Kid A and Amnesiac... that level of fright.

Ika: "Does that mean that you wanted Kid A and Amnesiac to have some sort of level of fright?

Thom: "Yeah. Oh, yeah, because fright was what I heard anyway. And it was sort of like, you know, I need it, you need to hear something—something you need to hear like with The Smiths, or... you know. You needed to hear The Smiths in order to make it alright; to feel that thing that you were feeling in that particular moment. That you couldn't make coherent. They managed to do it. And therefore, it's alright. Same Joy Division or Sibelius or, you know, something makes you just go, ‘Fuck! It's alright!' [Laughs]. You know? Um—and that's what I had with that tune. It's sort of—it's okay to, to—to want to drive...

['Freeman, Hardy and Willis Acid' plays]

Ika: "You know what it was in this song that gave you this feeling? Like, was it a bass line? Was it a, like, some sort of sound?

Thom: "Um—it was everything. I mean—specifically—it had like a million high hats going in different places, um—which I thought was amazing. I mean, it was sort of like a drum ‘n bass track, but just so not a drum n' bass track. It was—it was, sort of, everything I hoped drum ‘n bass was going to be but it never was... well, at least not initially. I mean, it's still going. You know, when I first started hearing drum ‘n bass, I thought ‘this is it! This is punk again. This is—this is...', you know. I went to a couple of drum ‘n bass clubs in Bristol and it was just fucking amazing! Brilliant! And then they all—I don't know—they were really happening. Because I think I sort of think that it never, you know, it never crossed over the edge enough, for it to—for its power to really being used to its full potential. I mean, if that had been like, you know—for like early drum ‘n bass, it got on properly got onto the mainstream radio, it would've been, you know, like a bomb going off. And it never happens. We got garage.

Ika: "And then 2-step.

Thom: "Nice! [Laughs] That ain't punk!

Ika: "Are you—have you started writing new material at all?

Thom: "Um, bits and pieces. There's lots of stuff floating around but I think um—I'm actually trying to take a break. [Laughs] I'm trying to take a break from music, um—generally. Because um—I think it will be good for me. [Laughs]

Ika: "Why?

Thom: "Because—because uh—last time around, you know, we had like a black [undecipherable] with all the unfinished ideas on it, and there's about sixty or seventy of them. And it was just absolutely a nightmare. And I really... The temptation is like, you know, you do this for a living, so you do it for a living. You get up in the morning and you work... all through the day. Don't think about what you're doing at all. That's, you know... Even though you hate what you're doing, I mean, you still do it. And that's, sort of, what I did for too long, I think. So I'm trying to sort of, you know, just chill out. Of course, Jonny's working like a fiend at the moment. [Laughs] But I'm just, you know, I just need to take a break, I think. I used to be militant about, sort of, trying, you know, just working all the time. Um—whereas now I'll play a song whenever, and I'll work on something, but I'm not, you know, stressing about it. Because... You know, a lot of time when I listen to stuff that we do, I just get more stressed.

['Morning Bell' plays]

Ika: "How do you view the band today, and yourself within the band?

Thom: "Well, I'm actually sort of proud of what we've done for the first time. [Laughs] You know. That's my [undecipherable] to be at, really. You know, I'm sort of proud to be in this band. It's better now, so... that's good.

Ika: "But what are you going to do next... music-wise?

Thom: "Um...

Ika: "Since you're having a break from music...

Thom: "Well, yeah... Jonny's doing a film thing apparently. But he's in charge. It's brilliant! It's totally his rap. I'm taking no responsibility at all. It's totally his bag.

Ika: "But you're going to be in it as well?

Thom: "I might do some stuff... yeah. Yeah but, you know, it's his thing. Um—that's it.

Ika: "What kind of movie is it?

Thom: "It's all, like, old footage of the body, or something. It's very strange. I don't quite understand. Anyway, it's totally his thing. But that's kind of what's happening next, which should be nice because it's a project where, you know, I don't feel in any way responsible for. And uh—I can totally chill. [Laughs] I'm not sure if this is a good thing, you know, ‘Thom chilling' and I'm not sure. Maybe it's all going to go badly wrong at the start of that. [undecipherable] is rock and it's all going to get really shit! [Laughs] Oh, dear! [Laughs]

Ika: "[Laughs] ‘The last of the great.' [Laughs]

Thom: "Yeah. ‘Oh yeah, I'm [undecipherable]. You got all mellow. Agh!' [Laughs]

['You and Whose Army?' plays]

Ika: "'You and Whose Army?' från Amnesiac avslutar den här specialtimmen med Thom Yorke, sångare i Radiohead. Om du vill höra den här timmen igen kan du göra det redan på söndag kl 19.03 då det blir en extrasändning istället för ”Singel”. I P3 Pop nästa vecka kommer The Plan på besök i studion. Tekniker ikväll är Kalle Wahlström. Jag heter Ika Johannesson och efter nyheterna så blir det 'Nattliv'."

[Ika: "'You and Whose Army?' from Amnesiac concludes this exclusive hour with Thom Yorke, singer of Radiohead. If you want to hear this hour again you will be able to do so already on Sunday at 19.03 when there will be an extra broadcast instead of “Singel”. On P3 Pop next week The Plan will visit the studio. Technician tonight is Kalle Wahlström. My name is Ika Johannesson and after the news there will be 'Nattliv'."]