Ed: That’s what I wanted it to be. When I came up with those chords I called it Olympik with a K after 808 State’s Cubik. It’s an homage to that. That’s the last song that was written for the album. It’s like, the rave: that’s what I’m after. That feeling. That’s what I want for the live gigs. I don’t know how it’s gonna go, but that’s what I’m aiming for.
The Face: It has that transporting oomph (for want of a better word) that Radiohead have at a couple of crucial points in your live sets. I’m saying: Everything In Its Right Place and Idioteque…
Ed: Totally. For me it’s a bit like the bastard brother or sister of, say, Weird Fishes on In Rainbows. My favourite Radiohead moments are those euphoric ones. I love when you can feel it, the wave. That’s what I was trying to do.
The interesting thing for me is that my frustration with rave is that there’s not enough light and shade. Sometimes you’re just fucking bored. And if you’ve ever gone to a rave and you haven’t done any drugs, it’s… [shrugs] you know? That’s why I wanted the darkness [on the album], the slower moments. So that it’s not just bang, bang, bang. It’s a journey.
Ed: Olympik and Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. Olympik is probably my favourite track on my record. And Weird Fishes is my favourite Radiohead track, and without fail whenever we play it live, I get this feeling… That and Let Down from OK Computer, they’re the two where there’s an emotion that just sits there. I really connect with that. They seem to comfort the audience as well.
Ed: That’s kind of my favorite song on the record too, along with “Brasil’ and “Cloak of the Night.” When I wrote it, it was the last song I wrote for the record, and I was so excited about its potential, because I wanted to create a kind of epic, cosmic, funk/dance track that had this kind of pulsating groove. I thought that was going to be the hardest song to realize. Actually it was the first one we created, and that was because of [drummer] Omar Hakim, [bassist] Nathan East, [guitarist] David Okuma and Flood and [co-producer] Catherine Marks. My house band for the first few weeks were these extraordinary musicians. That’s basically a live take with a few overdubs.
That track, to me, is like the mother of all the other tracks. Once we had that as the keystone, I knew we could get the others. That was like a sign saying, “We’ve got this. We can do it.”