Category: Jonny Greenwood

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Jonny Greenwood

Radiohead loves Ondes Martenot

Jonny Greenwood & Thomas Bloch
Jonny Greenwood & Thomas Bloch

Did you know that Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood is one of a handful of musicians around the world that can masterfully play the Ondes Martenot? Yep.

News24.com has an article about the instrument which you may like to read. Here’s a bit to get you started:

What do Olivier Messiaen, Radiohead and Mars Attacks the movie have in common? The Ondes Martenot, an electronic keyboard that has just turned 80 and is the prequel to the synthesiser.

The instrument dates back to 1928, the brainchild of Frenchman Maurice Martenot, a cello player and wartime radio transmissions expert determined to turn the screech of airwaves into music.

Contemporary composers such as Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Arthur Honegger and Andre Jolivet have all written for the Ondes Martenot, which produces one note of variable pitch along with weird and wonderful sounds perfect for sci-fi movies such as Mars Attacks.

But pop musicians including Radiohead and Gorillaz too are fans of the trailblazing instrument that resembles an electronic organ surrounded by several loudspeakers.

In front of the central keyboard, which produces vibrato effects, is a ribbon which the ondist plays by placing a ring on a finger, recreating the undulating frequencies of the musical saw.

You can read the full article at news24.com.

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Jonny Greenwood Radiohead Thom Yorke

A walk down memory lane

Here are two articles which you should check out. Both are on the awesome music and culture website, The Quietus.

The first is an interview with Thom and Jonny from 1996. It’s really quite a fascinating and humorous read. For example, Thom explains why he’s fascinated with car accidents (Airbag, Killer Cars, Stupid Car):

“Oh, OK. Why are there so many references to cars? Well, I’ll tell you why. It’s because when I was younger, my parents moved to this house, which was a long long way from Oxford, and I was just at the age where I wanted to go out the whole time. I used to have this one car, and I very nearly killed myself in it one morning, and gave my girlfriend at the time really bad whiplash in an accident. I was 17. Hadn’t slept the night before. Anyway, eventually, my dad bought me another car, a Morris Minor, you know, and when you drove around corners in it, the driver door used to fly open. Um, and I’d only do 50 miles an hour, and on the road that went from my house to Oxford, there was fucking maniacs all the time, people who would drive 100 miles an hour to work, and I was in the Morris Minor, and it was like standing in the middle of the road with no protection at all. So I just gradually became emotionally tied up in this whole thing.”

Check out the full interview to read more about what Radiohead was like in 1996.

The second article is from 2003 and follows Radiohead on tour in France. It’s also a great read. Check it out!

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Jonny Greenwood Radiohead Thom Yorke

Behind the scenes with Radiohead and USC + Kanye and Miley dissed

The USC Trojan Marching Band has uploaded an almost 9 minute video of behind the scenes footage of their Grammy performance with Thom and Jonny. It’s pretty interesting to see how it all came together and how excited the students were. Wouldn’t you be??

To see a more high-res and extended version, head on over to www.uscband.com.
In other, more ridiculous news, you’ve probably heard by now that Radiohead “snubbed” both Kanye West and Miley Cyrus at last month’s Grammys. We tried to hold back from even reporting this but finally caved in.
Read more about the Miley Cyrus “incident” here.
Read more about the Kanye West “incident” here.

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Jonny Greenwood Radiohead Thom Yorke

Radiohead Roundup: Grammy Edition

Radiohead at the Grammys
Here’s a roundup of some of the links talking about Radiohead’s performance at the Grammys last night, as well as their Grammy win for Best Alternative Album.

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Jonny Greenwood Radiohead Thom Yorke

Radiohead pick up “Best Alternative” Grammy, perform with USC

Radiohead at the Grammys
As expected, Radiohead (well, Thom and Jonny) performed “15 Step” with the USC Trojan Marching Band tonight at the 51st annual Grammys. Introduced by Gwenyth Paltrow who described them as “one the most influential, adventurous, and thoroughly artistic musical groups of all time”, the band took one of their more rhythm-driven songs on In Rainbows to the next level with the help of the added percussion. Ed and Colin’s parts were also filled in nicely by the marching band’s brass section.
Here it is incase you missed it:

Unfortunately, the band lost out on the Album of the Year award to Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. They did pick up the Best Alternative Album award, however. Stanley Donwood, Mel Maxwell & Christiaan Munro (photo below) picked up a Grammy for Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package for their work on In Rainbows. Congrats!
Mel and Christiaan
Though Ed and Colin didn’t perform on stage with Thom and Jonny, they were spotted sitting in the crowd. Phil, however, was nowhere to be seen.
What did you think of the evening? Please comment!

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Jonny Greenwood Radiohead Thom Yorke

More on Radiohead and USC Marching Band

Thom practicing for the Grammys
As we reported yesterday, Radiohead will be performing “15 Step” alongside the USC Marching Band tomorrow night for the Grammys. EW.com’s Pop Watch has a recap of how today’s rehearsal went. The photo above is from the same rehearsal.

When I walked in at 9 a.m., there were already tubas glinting under the shiny, American Idol-style metal gridwork of the space stage, the thunder of the rhythm section bouncing around like buckshot. They did a rough run-through with crew and directors clustered on stage, after which Yorke politely asked, “Can you make my voice sound a little less shiny? I like the idea that I’ve got to belt it out over these guys, you see.” Between takes, he beatboxed a bit into the mic; the band kids sat on the risers and mostly just grinned in disbelief. Yorke wandered down to the lip of the orchestra pit and asked a nearby stage manager, “Is it okay if I stand here?” Sure, said the guy, “but just so you know” — he gestured to the floor beneath Thom’s feet — “this is a wall that comes out of the ground.” Thom took a step back. “All right! Here we go! Standby!” said another stage manager, and the wall did indeed come up. The band members stirred with excitement. A stand-in who was not Gwyneth Paltrow began reading the intro off the teleprompter, and by the time she got to “Nominated tonight for Album of the Year…” the wall had lowered again to reveal Thom making a my-head-is-exploding gesture to Johnny, I assume because even Thom Yorke still gets jazzed about the Grammys. And then a snare drummer in the front row counted things off, the bass players raised their sticks, and the awesomeness began.

Read more…
You can view more photos of Radiohead’s rehearsal here. The L.A. Times has additional coverage as well.
In other news, there’s an amazing exclusive interview with Thom Yorke for you to read here.