Interview with Ed on March of 16th 2012

You return to Mexico. How was last time you were here? 

Ed: It was amazing. It was amazing because we hadn't been to Mexico for... Well, the previous time was in '94. We met on that tour, didn't we? And to come back to play el Foro? Is it? [It] is incredible. And what was interesting about it was that we realised, we had such a great experience... cause that was part of our South-American tour. So we went from Mexico down to Brazil then Argentina then Chile. What we realised was that Mexico is nearer to North America. So when we play North America, we should play Mexico, as well. And that was great to go, "OK, when we have our North-American tour, we can play Mexico City as well". Loved the spirit, we had a big party last night, it was amazing. 

Interviewer: Yes. 

Ed: You were at the party? It was a great party, wasn't it? 

Interviewer: Yes. Thom was DJing and he was like "Move over!". And he took over the... 

Ed: Yeah, he took over the decks. 

The first night in Mexico, the tour started and I understand you weren't so comfortable on stage yet. Does that happen every time you start a tour? 

Ed: Ummm, it's just... I think mayeb the size of it... It was kinda like a bit... you have to get into those things, it's quite a powerful thing to go on stage and have 50,000 Mexican fans, you know, giving their love and shouting... It takes awhile to get used to. Yeah, you know, the start of the tour can be... It's just a shift, you got from being a human being who is a father with children and a husband... And then, two days later you are on stage in front of 50,000 people, it's very, very different, they are very different worlds. So initially, at the start of a tour can be, you know... imagine any person in that situation... You know you've been there before, you get into it, but it's still a bit of a shock. 

Interviewer: How do you feel before starting a tour? Happy? Excited? Nervous? 

Ed: Well, this tour, the start of the tour was in Miami - three weeks ago - and the feeling was to just be very focused, you know you've got a lot of work to do. In Radiohead, you know, we do... For this tour, we basically have about 50-55 songs, so that's a lot of things to remember. You're trying to stay focused. I'm not really... nowadays, I don't get nervous the day before, or excited. I'm just trying to be focused and I try to be in the best possible mental and spiritual place, because doing shows is an amazing thing, but it requires you to, you have to forget... Not forget about home, but you've got to stop being a husband and dad and you've got to become a musician. It's usually relaxing, the day before your first show, just relaxing and just being, you know, being still and calm. 

Interviewer: After all these years, is every tour the same or is every single one of them different? 

Ed: Yeah, I was just with our manager Chris. And this specific tour is unlike any other tour we've ever done. And, when we toured, even "In Rainbows", but mostly in the early days, there's a lot of, you know the energy was very... You know you think about records like "The Bends", "OK Computer" and "Kid A", it's got a lot of dark energy, there's a lot of darkness, you know what I mean? You hear thatmelancholy. It's not like that. Radiohead is not like that anymore. And all I can say is like it's like love and light. And, from where I've been, these gigs are very, very different. And it's like really uplifting, these gigs are very light, they are full of love... it's like The Beatles, it's going back to what The Beatles said, All You Need is Love. It's true. And we, in a way, have found that and that's what we are bringing to our shows. And, all the shows are now, we've got such an amazing.... You know, the audience that we have... It's not like... When we do a show, it used to be like, us and the stage and the stage. It's not like that anymore. It's like there's this energy, we're all just spinning it around, and the audience are... That person in the audience is as important as me or as Thom, we just help facilitate it, you know, love, and it's really powerful. And it's been amazing, these last few weeks have been the best, the most different shows we've ever done, you know. And to me, these have been the best shows we've ever done because it's a very different spirit. 

Interviewer: What made the band to move to that direction? What happened? 

Ed: I think what happened was... I talked about his woth someone recently and what I realised was... We always keep moving and I think what happened was that... We entered, with "OK Computer", we entered this quite dark space, it was quite a dark era, it was like being in a tunnel. And that tunnel, we were in that tunnel for "OK Computer", "Kid A", "Amnesiac". "Hail to the Thief", we thought we were out, but we weren't. And "In Rainbows", part of the struggle was getting out of that tunnel. When we released that record, it we felt like we were out of that tunnel, it was dark, it was a dark place and we realised we didn't want to go back there because we've been there for a long time. You can be very, very creative, but it kills you as a person, it's very hard, we could've died in terms of... it takes it out of you, it's not a good place to be. And, musically, it gets boring as well because you make certain type of music. We're now in a much lighter place, creatively it's different, it's flowing. But in order to be where we are now we had to be in the darkness, so we can appreciate [this]. This is like a new era of Radiohead. And it has been probably for the last two years or so. 

Interviewer: But isn't the world a darker place now? 

Ed: Yeah, no, you're right, but sometimes in times of darkness, sometimes people see the light break, you feel the light. I think, in many ways, what we were doing, we felt the darkness. But now, what we choose to do is look... I don't read the newspapers, I don't read the news, I don't look at the news because the news just puts you in a bad place. My experience when I meet people is good. I don't wanna have the fact that, you know, Mexico, for the last 7 years, 50,000 people have been slaughtered, it's a terrible thing! But I don't want that to affect the way that I am as a human being, do you know what I mean? And it's not like I don't care, I really care, but if you read that news and you hear that, it affects the way you react with other human beings. I don't wanna walk around being scared of, I don't wanna walk around in Mexico City being scared that some Mexican drug gang is gojng to like... It was like when I first went to Brazil, people were like "Oh, Rio, fucking hell man, it's the scaries city, you're gonna get robebd, you're . Fuck that, I can't experience that. I wanna feel the love of the people, the joy of the people. Yeah, shit happens, but you gotta be sensible about it but I don't wanna be scared going in to a conversation with a Brasilian person, thinking he's gonna rip me off, do you know what I mean? And yes, the world is in a dark place, but when you're in a dark place, I've met a lot of people who are in the same place as we are and... there's a lot happening, there's a lot of people who are also alive. You've got a lot of people who see the other side of that. 

Interviewer: I'd like to think that there's something good coming. 

Ed: Yeah, we're just musicians and all we do is just... what comes out in the music is what we feel. 

Interviewer: Getting back to the tour. How do you guys decide what songs to play, how the band will sound, how the stage will look? 

Ed: Well, the lights and stuff are pretty immense on this tour. We had our lighting guy, Andy Watson, who's been with us since 1994. He decides, he came to us in Novemeber, he wanted it to be big and he wanted to reuse some of the lighting, the poles, the tubing. But we've also got this amazing wall of light at the back, and they are all made up of recycled plastic bottles, it's incredible. And then we've got these moving screens. So the lights, that's his department, he shows us what he wants to do and he "I think that's cool" and we're like "Yeah". 

Uhhh, song-wise... Well, song-wise it's about what feels right. And it's really interesting, there are songs, for isntance... Like, we are gonna play "The King of Limbs", that's what we are gonna do, because that feels right. A lot of "In Rainbows" feels really good. And then the old songs, it's been really interesting to see which ones work. So, for instance, from "OK Computer", what's really worked, "Lucky", we've played that for the last few nights, it's amazing, it feels right. "Paranoid Android", we've got Clive playing, we have another drummer on stage besides Phil, who's amazing. Now we've got Clive, "Paranoid Android"'s got this groovier, he's playing the shaker, it's joyful. We played "No Surprises" in the soundcheck, it sounded horrible, it's not right now. It's interesting what songs are right and what songs are not. "The National Anthem" off "Kid A", we always play that, and it doesn't feel yet. We have played it twice and we love that song and it's not happening for us. Whereas "Kid A" sounds amazing, "Pyramid Song" sounds amazing. We played "Packt Like Sardines" last night for the first time and that's sounding good. I mean, it's a little raw, but it's sounding in the right place. Where ware emotionally and spiritually as a badn informs what songs work. 

And, for instance, the reason I believe a song like "No Surprises" doesn't work now, is when we wrote that song... It's a very sweet song, it's a very pretty, beautiful song. But where we were, we were very melancholy, we were in a dark place. So you have that contrast, the band is dark and the song is sweet, so it's a very interesting tension. Because we're in a good place, we are happy and full of joy, when we play that song it's like a sweet cake, it's like too much, you don't have that contrast because you've got this band who are in a great place and the sweet song and it's like "Ugh!". It's like eating something really, really sweet, it's like too sweet. So it's very interesting, seeing what works and what doesn't. 

Interviewer: Does all the band share this feeling? 

Ed: Yeah, I mean, I'm very, very vocal about it, I'm the one who will stick my hand up and say "There's big fucking love in this room". Because that's the way I am. It's not a very British thing but I'm not very British myself. Like I said before the interview, my grandmother was born in Mexico, you know. But everyone feels like that, you know, everybody is feeling that, yeah. Everybody knows this is quite a different tour and we are onto a good place... 

Interviewer: Why have you guys included so many B-sides on this tour? To surprise the fans? 

Ed: It's to surprise all the fans, but it's also nice to go... You know, we played "Meeting in the Aisle". And to go like, "You know, that's a good song". And that's appropriate to where we are now. We are very lucky because we are such a lucky band, we've got this big selection of songs, and we don't have to play "Fake Plastic Trees", we don't have to play "Creep", we don't have to play "Paranoid Android", we don't have to play "No Surprises". People who like Radiohead understand - I believe, they should've got the message by now - that we play the songs that are right, that we're not gonna bullshit you, we're not gonna say that this is the greatest hits, "Hey! This is the Radiohead Show!". This comes from us. When we come to Mexico City, this is what we bring. It's good, it's honest, it's real, that's waht it feels like. 

Interviewer: I imagine that when you do a show for 50,000 most people know that is Radiohead, but there's always some who go home sad because they didn't get to hear "Creep" 

Ed: We played it in Mexico. And the thing you cannot do is you cannot go on stage and be like "We fucking have to play this or we fucking have to play that" because then you're not being honest. When "Creep" works is when you go on and you go "This feels right". It's about feeling right. But if you go "Right, we gotta play this, this and this", then you're forcing it, you can't force music, it's a flow, you know. 

Ed: Yeah, but that's an interesting thing like, playing something as large as Foro Sol. What's "Foro" mean? Forum? The forum of Sun? Yeah, but that's exactly it. When we come there, we know that there's 50,000 people. And we'll play songs that span our life. But it has to be right, it can't be "Right, we've got to...", it's not going to be like the greatest hits set. It's not like when U2 were in this town, or Coldplay. It's not gonna be that. This is about where we are. And I think people understand that, and we're lucky like that. And, as you said, I hope not to disappoint people. No-one is going home disappointed from a Radiohead show because we haven't played "Creep". 

Interviewer: Let's go back to the songs for each concert. How do you decide? 

Ed: What we do is very, very simple: after we get into the venue, and it's very important, we kind of look at the venue. Half 1 [o'clock] we'll have some lunch, then after lunch Thom, Philip and myself sit down and do the setlist. And, you know, there're certain songs that we know work together. On this last tour, on this last leg, we've been mixing them around, but, you know, "Bloom" is a great opener for us, it gets us in the right head space, seems to be good, seems to send out... And we do what feels right that day. And we have a list of what do we feel like today, so we do a list of songs. And then we do a set and try to work as many of those in as we can. It's all about the flow of the set, it's all about what works, it's about a balance and it's about taking the audience on a journey. Thom, Philip and me, the three of us do it. Because if the five of us it, five people, it's too many. And it works well, because Jonny and Colin come back after the show, you know, and say "Yeah, that was good" or "Maybe that didn't work", make suggestions, but to have 5 people sit around is too many. It works weel with the 3 of us. 

Interviewer: You rehearsed 55 songs? 

Ed: Well, no. We did a lot of rehearsals on the ones we didn't know that well. And then we mayeb did four days of pre-production in London where we did long days and we did about, maybe, 50, 55 songs. 

Interviewer: One question some fans told me to ask you. Is The King Of Limbs a transition album? 

Ed: It's a real feeling album. Whereas "In Rainbows" was a very direct album, about songs, this has got lots of things in it. It's got things like, you know, Nigel and Thom had been DJing a lot so they brought a little bit of that disco vibe to it... 

Interviewer: I'm sorry, but is that why the album is so "beat-oriented"? 

Ed: Yes, I think so. And also... yeah, very much so. 

Interviewer: Upon hearing it, the first thing that I noticed was that the rhythm was the king of the record... 

Ed: Yeah, rythm is the king of limbs, yeah! The rythm dictated it and it was very important. 

Interviewer: Does that reflect on the show? 

Ed: Yeah, that's very important, we've been joking, calling this show The Big Rave, you know the raves? Yeah, the Big Rave, it's like a big rave. We're trying to get an ambient section in there as well. But it's, yeah, rythm is the king. It's all a reponse to what you've done. It's fun. Our manager Chris said "It's like a rave with guitars" and, it is great. We've got Clive, who's an amazing drummer, with Phil, and it's going somewhere else. We're very lucky, we are really lucky fuckers, really lucky. We are lucky because we find ourselves... we are just moving in this great way. It feels really... it feels exciting, man, it feels like the best it's ever been, and I know I've said it before, but that's a good sign. It means it's genuinely creative. It keeps... why are all doing this, like Thom said ast night on stage, is for the new material. It's wonderful having these songs that we did in the past, but they are not the thing that keep us going, we are doing new songs. 

Interviewer: Three as far as I know. 

Ed: Yeah, and we've got another one, we've got a fucking killer one called "Ful Stop". It's fucking rave, man. 

Interviewer: After releasing "The King of Limbs", you have released a couple more songs and now you're debuting these that haven't even been recorded yet, why didn't you included them on "The King of Limbs"? 

Ed: Yeah, because we didn't record them. The reason Daily Mail came about because we did this thing, this session called "From the Basement". And because "The King of Limbs" is like 38 minutes long... We had a show that's 55 minutes long, and they wanted more material. So we needed about 2-3 more songs. We got "Staircase" together, which was a song we kind of jammed and worked out during "The King of Limbs" [sessions], but we didn't take it from its basic stages and [didn't] develope into a full-blown song. "The Daily Mail" is a song we've had kicking around since 2005, and it hadn't worked for whatever reason. But then, literally, withiin 10 minutes that song was worked out. That song had been kicking around for ages, but because had to get another song together, we needed 2 more songs. Thom's playing nicely on the piano, Phil comes in there and how do we get the big ending without it sounding cliched? Oh, I know! We get this... we just ring these C-s on the guitars, just like "Bang! Bang! Bang!", just like really, you know... very simple, very in your face. I love the fact that... It drives... People know, people expect that from us. It's still got that spirit of... We do a song, and when we've done it, we release it. 

You know, we did it with "Lucky". And it went on "OK Computer" a year later. That's such a great thing, for all of us. Growing up... We were children born in the 60's and then grew up in the 70s. The Beatles were such a yardstick in that period of music, The Beatles and The Stones. You know, they would go into the studio, they would record "Paperback Writer" and the b-side "Rain", and that was out there, man! Two of the greatest songs ever! Was that on the Beatles' album? No! So The Beatles legitimised it for all of us to do that. And they are still gods! 

Interviewer: Have you guys discarded the idea of albums? 

Ed: No, I love THE ALBUM! 

Interviewer: But does Radiohead work thinking about albums, EPs, singles, songs? 

Ed: The thing is with an album is that it involves a certain mindset. And it means you gotta get down and record a collection of songs. And it involves a level of focus and a level of commitment that's good but it's not a very easy thing to do. When we do "The King of Limbs", let's focus on that. And the music we are doing between album is different, it's a different kind of attitude. Oh we'll do a bit of this. "Supercollider" is very different from "The Daily Mail". "Supercollider", dunno if you know that one, but that was for Record Store's day release. It gives you the opportunity, it's like the old b-sides. We love that b-sides mentality. You know, when we were doing b-sides on "The Bends". We did, sort of, "Bishop's Robes" and "How Can You Be Sure?". And then on "OK Computer" there was "Polyethylene", "Killer Cars" and "Maquiladora", all those songs. And that's really... B-sides are really important because it's the time you are free... Cause making the album is quite heavy, it's quite a weighty thing, you know, you've got to be really on it. 

Interviewer: I'm gonna go back to the transition question. I think that the people who asked me about it feel like there's gonna be a big change in Radiohead starting with "The King Of Limbs"... 

Ed: It's Radiohead mk III. We've been in transition. 

Interviewer: What was mk II? "Kid A"? 

Ed: Yes. mk I was "Pablo Honey" through to "OK Computer", mk II was "Kid A" through to the recording of "In Rainbows", and then mk III has been the transition, the last two years, the transition from where we were, mk II, to... And now, we've kind of reached... We are not in the heart of... It's about love, it's about joy and love and lightness. And that's where we are, Radiohead mk III. 

Interviewer: You talk a lot about that. Is it easier to be Radiohead now than it was 10 years ago? 

Ed: Totally. It's a nice place to be. It has always very natural, you know, it's always where we are, not forced. Ten years ago was hard. But that wasn't necessarily the band, it was also where you are as human beings. You change, you evolve. It got dark, and that was fucking hard, and that wasn't a lot fun, but life is like that at times, it gets dark and it's not a lot of fun. But what you do is you hold on and you don't let go. When you know that something's worthwhile... Anything you do in your life, anything of validity or anything worthwhile, it gets hard sometimes, fucking hard. And that's the time you hold on. What I understand about life is that it doesn't stay hard, you know, you hold on. That's when you show your strength and character, you hold on. Then it changes, it doesn't stay like that forever, it's just a moment, it passes and then it becomes easier. And life is just like that, it's cycles, and that's not about music, that's about life, I believe, you know. And that's what it was like in Radiohead. So Radiohead now, we're enjoying the fact that we are in a great place and it's flowing, the shows are different... It's just new, it's just a different feeling. 

Interviewer: The people around you like your producer or, for example Andi, your lighting engineer, who has been with you for almost 20 years now... Do they sense this new mood and use it on their work? 

Ed: Andi is creative, he's a master, he's amazing. He will have had a conversation with Thom. But also, it's a very intuitive thing with us. He sees where we're coming from, he feels... He's got a very strong intuition. It's not like we hang out a lot, it's not like we're all together, hanging out, but we did this shows in New York, he would've got the feeling of where it is. And we could've mentioned things like "the big rave" and things like that. So he understands. And what he brings is beauty and colour and drama. And it evolves. He starts somewhere. I guess, over these 3 weeks, he started somewhere, where we were and also what kind of a set we were doing. He's tweaking it and changing it a bit. It's all very, very natural. 

Interviewer: At the end of the tour, what's left? A very tired band or the best show of the tour? 

Ed: Well, it's evolving. I mean, you're always trying to make it better, you are always... not forcing it, but trying to move it... It's not like that, it's not linear. It doesn't go like the first show is worst and the last show is the best. It doesn't work like that. It's not about us, either, it's about the audience, the audience play as big a part... What the audience comes in, what they come in to that gig with when they arrive plays as big a part as what we are doing when we play.