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| Page 1 |
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| Thom Yorke's worried about Coldplay and the Strokes ...
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| "We did everything we weren't supposed to do" ...
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| Page 3 |
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| Yorke's not here to go to the supermarket or sign autographs for you ...
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| Radiohead: Hail To The Thief Photos
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| Radiohead, Beastie Boys, More Perform At Field Day
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There's an amazing scene in the 1999 Radiohead documentary "Meeting People Is Easy" in which Yorke is on set for the "No Surprises" video and there's a close-up of his head submerged in a tank of water. He holds his breath until his lungs ache and then he holds it some more. When he feels like his chest cavity is about to burst, he pulls a cord. The water immediately flushes from the tank, and Yorke is left gasping, coughing and sputtering with an expression of complete terror on his face. Then the tank is refilled and he does another take. And another.
Even when he's not nearly drowning himself, it's no secret that Yorke is an intense, dedicated guy, someone who has sacrificed relationships and emotional stability to present his musical vision. Somewhere along the line, however, he started to forget why he formed the band in the first place. Songwriting came to be a chore. The more detached he became, the more robotic his studio vocals on Kid A and Amnesiac began to sound. Then, just when he was beginning to feel hopeless, he had a revelation. As the band toured for Amnesiac, Yorke immersed himself in his singing to escape from the pressure of stardom, and rediscovered the power of song.
"It became the reason I was doing things," he said, rubbing his eyes with his palms. "It was the thing that kept me sane. So now music is a spiritual thing for me again and it hadn't been for a long time. It had been this thing that I had to do. I used to watch Michael Stipe [of R.E.M.] when we toured with him years ago, and you could tell every night it was spiritual for him. Not spiritual like 'I'm communicating with God,' just spiritual in the sense that 'This is why I'm here.' Not to go to the supermarket. Not to sign your autograph. I'm here to sing these songs."
Before 2001, Yorke's entire life was overwhelmed by Radiohead. As much as he'd try to escape by taking vacations, reading, supporting political causes or socializing with friends, the specter of the band loomed over his head. Then everything changed. On February 6 of that year, his girlfriend Rachel gave birth to their first child, Noah, and suddenly Yorke didn't have time to be so self-involved. Today, the singer would probably rather talk about his son than himself, and he's bemused by the fact that he's gained happiness by becoming the very thing he used to hate.
"Oh, God, I couldn't stand new fathers who went on and on about their kids," Yorke said. "I would be so bored. I'd just tune out while they talked and go, 'Oh, yeah, oh, really?' But it was a good thing for me to become a father because I lightened up. You cease to be the center of the world and that's good. And being a father helped make me get back into music. My son definitely plays a major role in me doing this and I want him to know that someday."
Yorke said that several songs on Hail to the Thief make reference to children's stories, and the video for "There There," which takes place in the woods and ends with Yorke turning into a tree, was modeled after some of the spooky fairy tales Yorke has read to his kid. For now, Noah is too young to understand the significance of the video. All he knows is that his dad makes music. And like most 2-year-olds, he manipulates his parents like Tony Hawk controls a skateboard.
"Whenever I go and play the piano, he tells me to stop," Yorke said, cracking a smile, "and I do." He thinks for a moment. "Then again, that's probably not such a good thing."
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Photo: Capitol
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