Category: Ed O’Brien

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Ed O'Brien Radiohead

News for February 4, 2000

Alan Greenspan: #1 Radiohead fan

Well, maybe not. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Radiohead were mentioned in the same paragraph (who would have guessed!) in an article from smartmoney.com. Here’s an excerpt of this rather humorous bonding:

“OOH, THAT GREENSPAN is a trickster, isn’t he? In a move that shocked absolutely nobody, the Fed raised rates by a quarter-point and said in its policy statement that risks are weighted toward conditions that may generate heightened inflation pressures (translation: the dreaded old tightening bias). I never would have guessed it, but Greenspan must be a huge fan of the British rock band Radiohead. Their lyric, “No alarms and no surprises please,” could be Greenspan’s motto.”

Hee hee. If you care, you can read the rest of the article, even though Radiohead isn’t mentioned again, here.

Hey, what’s going on with the band? Relax guys. Ed’s diary has been updated and each one of band members has been sent to “time out”. 🙂

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Ed O'Brien Kid A Radiohead tour

News for February 2, 2000

Interview with Nigel Godrich

NigelRadiohead’s producer Nigel Godrich, who’s also produced albums for artists such as Beck, Pavement, and Natalie Imbruglia, is interviewed in this months Les Inrockuptibles, a French music magazine.

When asked about the upcoming Radiohead album, Nigel said,”We’re starting to have a better idea. We spent all 1999 looking for a direction, experimenting and, at the end of the year, we realized that finally had an great lead. I don’t know if we’ll get it to the end, but at least now we have a roadmap.”

He then went on to say,”During the recordings, we’ve been perturbed by external considerations. It’s been four years since we met together in the studio and, in this hostile environment, we felt uncomfortable and in danger. To relieve the stress at first, it was tempting to use the recipes we know work. Therefore, we had to unlearn and get out of the routine. The first step was to break the mould and find new working ways. Look at the Beatles: they reinvented themselves at each album – the only way to ensure longevity. An artist has the duty to always express new ideas, or else he stutters and drivels. Of course, sometimes, some explored ways were wrong. We once thought about not using any guitars on this album, but that’s was just a way to force ourselves out. Since they triumphed with a so-called complicated album as OK Computer they have an unbelievable freedom. They can try anything. But with so much room to maneuver has it’s bad side: we’ll have no excuses if we mess up. It’s frightening and fascinating at the same time. Our future is really in our hands, it’s our only responsibility.”

To read the full interview, click here.
(many thanks to Xavier)

Ed: “We are not playing this year.”
Ed stated in his latest diary entry that the band were not going to play at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. “There have been a few rumours flying around that we are, so we thought we’d better say something sooner rather than later. It would however be great to play it another year…”

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Ed O'Brien Kid A OK Computer Radiohead tour

News for January 21, 2000

Ed’s diary has been updated again. The band are back in the studio but Nigel, their producer, has had them working strictly with electronic equipment.

Nigel, who has been spending some time on the official message board lately, had this to add: “The works going well. Everyone had a good 2k and we’ve done a week back at our studio. Experimental electronica week it’s been. V interesting.” He also said, “We’re working hard on our new jazz funck direction which is and isn’t bringing forth goodies. Much fun stuff in the bag though I must say.”

Ed mentioned that “True Love Waits” has been given a new life, which is good news.

Radiohead made #4 in alapage.com’s “100 Best Albums of the Century” with OK Computer.

Muse’s singer Matt, had this to say in the latest issue of Rock & Folk Magazine: “I also think that our second album will/should relieve us from comparisons with Radiohead which, I think, are mostly due the John Leckie’s producing.” [thanks to Xavier]

Tons of rumors floating around that Radiohead will be headlining this year’s Glastonbury Festival. In the recent issue of Melody Maker, event organizer Michael Evis said that he thinks that there is a very good chance that Radiohead will play Glasto. He also said the only thing that will stop the band from playing there is if they turn it down. [thanks to Matt]

For those in the United States and Canada who have been searching for the coveted 7 Television Commercials video, w.a.s.t.e. had some specially made for ya! Go there now and consume.

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Ed O'Brien Kid A Radiohead

News for December 31, 1999

Well, this is the last update of the year, the decade, etc…

News brought to you today by Xavier.
Radiohead’s tour manager in France, Hilda Carr (she also manages bands such as Gomez, Ben and Jason, Pulp, and Supergrass), was recently interviewed on the France Inter radio show, C’est Lenoir. She mentioned that she visited Radiohead in their London studio a couple of weeks ago and was very pleased with the way the new album was sounding. She described what she heard as “pure marvel”, “positive and very surprising”, “made for alternative radio shows like this one”, and “not for mainstream radio, yet you know it’s going to be the greatest album of all.”

Hilda talked about one of the news songs she had heard while visiting the band. She said it was “an extraordinary song, so exceptional and outstanding.” It was the second time she heard it, she first heard it in February, but “at the first few bars, I recognized it. It’s that kind of song, once it’s in you head, it never leaves you.”

We can only speculate what song she was referring to.

Hilda went on to say that the band are looking to play smaller venues to support the new album, which is due to be released in six months.
On a side note, she says Nigel Godrich (Radiohead’s producer) became VERY wealthy since OKC, thanks to people such as Pavement, Travis, …
You can listen to the whole interview in French here.

There’s another article about Ed’s Diary and the sending of demos to air on future Radiohead webcasts, at the French site MCM Online.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

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Ed O'Brien OK Computer Pablo Honey Radiohead The Bends

News for December 26, 1999

Phew… now that I’m all stuffed up with Christmas treats, let’s continue where we left off…

Ink Blot Magazine just put up their “Best of the 90s” and guess what? Radiohead was an overwhelming #1 with OK Computer! You can see the other choices by visiting Ink Blot here.

Radiohead also did well in the French weekly culture mag Les Inrockuptibles, making it twice in their best albums of the last 25 years poll. OK Computer was # 3 and The Bends was #14.

Here’s what they had to say about Radiohead:

“OK Computer, or how an english band with a mixed rĂ©sumĂ© make the most of their third album to sublimate their every move, their voice, their feeling, their sounds. Both a comprehensive survey of rock and a brilliant concentrated.”
The Bends : “Before was the Pablo Honey album and its worldwide hit “Freak” [sic]. After will be the breathtaking OK Computer. Middle-aged, right below the surface, Radiohead craft The Bands, complex and ambitious rock collage.”

The Belgian radio station Studio Brussel is doing their “150 best songs of the last 40 years.” Radiohead were honored with multiple songs: Fake Plastic Trees (#120), Karma Police (#52), Paranoid Android (#25), Street Spirit (#22), and Creep (#6).

For those of you that have BBC America, there will be a rebroadcast of Radiohead’s performance on “Later with Jools Holland” on January 14 at 11pm ET.

The February 2000 issue of Select will feature an article about the upcoming album by Radiohead.

And the news wouldn’t be complete without some more articles about Ed’s Diary. Read them at:
music365 [http://www.music365.co.uk/autocontent/news_019578.htm]
Q Online [http://www.qonline.co.uk/news/default.asp?mode=link&ref=1648]
Spin Online [http://www.spin.com/noise/news/1999/12/20/1/index.html#item3]
[thanks to Sarah, Xavier, and Leen Smet for today’s news]

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Ed O'Brien OK Computer Radiohead The Bends

News for December 19, 1999

Ed’s diary has been updated once again with some wonderful news, especially if you missed the recent “Amateur Nite” webcast. Here is an excerpt:

“i have just had a thought……..still excited by last thursdays live webcast .and thinking about ways it could be developed……i think it could be very cool to play new stuff by unsigned bands, musicians, collectives (ie bands not on major labels – small indie is fine).if any of you are making music, have mates that are or you just think that this music that you are in to deserves to be heard then send it into me at our po box address, which is po box 322, oxford, ox4 1ey. i like all kinds of shit so please don’t just send in guitar band stuff. anything. spread the word. alright that’s enough for now. happy xmas… and a very merry millenium…..”

Jam Music has an article about it here.

Radiohead was was named twice in the 100 Most Compelling Albums of the ’90s list compiled by Nude as the News. OK Computer was honored with #2 while The Bends was #38.

OK, I know this is too late, but the French-German TV channel ARTE aired “Meeting People is Easy” last night. It was edited down to 52 minutes.

They apparently got the names of Radiohead totally wrong: “Oxford-based, Johnny Greenwood, Charlie May, Jerry Chater and Thom Yorke, a.k.a. Radiohead……” “As for Jerry, the bass player, …”)

Phew, it must be the end of the year… Entertainment Weekly recently named Radiohead #8 for Best Group in their online poll. You can see that and the rest in the current Entertainment Weekly which can be found at your local newsstand.

[many thanks to Leen Smet, Tony Raffini, and Xavier for their help with the news!]