 | 01. | Just |
 | 02. | Nobody Does It Better |
THE VENUE : MTV STUDIOS - CAMDEN TOWN, LONDON
TIME/DATE : 18TH AUGUST 1995 AT 20:00 HRS
Armed with this information, we set about the task of blagging our way into the studios. So, with endless phone calls made to endless people, with endless promises of "We'll see what we can do", only 2 days before the show did we get the ok. After checking in, and an agonising wait, we were whisked through the labyrinth of corridors, catching glimpses of the ‘Rogues Gallery‘ of Rock N’ Roll has-beens and beauty queens, to finally arrive at the Most Wanted studio. Our first impression was the size of the studio. Hats off to the set designer's, how can such a tiny room (the size of a generous living room) look so big on TV?
Anyway - this wasn't the time to admire the scenery - Radiohead were rehearsing their songs for tonight’s show. We sat on the empty ‘clubbed‘ with Tim the Tour Manager (bloody nice chap) and a lady from EMI. The sound was superb - and very loud. After a run through of ‘Just’, they played the intro to ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond‘ - THE Pink Floyd track. I felt like a kid again. Whether it was the excitement, or the pre-MTV beer, l don't know, but l needed the loo - so off I hopped.
When l returned, l opened the studio door and let these 5 blokes out before l re- entered. The orange haired one was discussing the sound quality with the others, ending with “Blooming heck" or something similar. Mike and myself then decided to go for a fag, then hang around the ‘comfy area‘, with a view to having a chin-wag with someone. Colin walked past, then Thom, and l thought, “lntroduce yourself". So then, Ed was walking back into Hospitality when we collared him for a chat. It's time like these when you wish you'd brought your recording walkman and a camera. Anyway – Ed sat and talked to us for a good 20 minutes, about many things, such as new songs (we all really like ‘Lucky’) the ‘Just‘ video shoot, life on the tour bus. I didn't even have a bloody pen and paper - we just figured we‘d be shipped in for the performance, then out again. But here we were, asking stupid unprepared questions to big Ed.
Mr. O'Brien is a real interviewer's dream - he just talked and talked, making our ‘Job’ so easy. Not wishing to miss any of the show, or risk not being allowed back in, l decided to force myself to use the loo again. This time, the orange haired chap was ‘washing up’. Amused to see my Radiohead t-shirt, he chuckled and returned to his cubicle. Being a somewhat private location, l decided not to ask Thom anything, and duly left.
After the ‘guess-who-I-saw-in-the-bog’ anecdote, me and Mike returned to the studio, where we had prime position - next to the sound mixer. During a commercial break, the band ran through ‘Just’ to check the levels, camera angles etc, then returned to their room to await their cue. At the end of the show, they covered one o Thom's personal favourites - Carly Simon‘s ‘Nobody Does lt Better’ (from the 007 movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me‘ fact fans). What a way to end the series.
Afterwards, we introduced ourselves to Thom in-between his signing autographs for ‘club bed‘, then he kept himself amused by watching 'Beavis 8. Butthead‘ on the monitors before going back to the rest of the band for some light refreshments*. After asking Ray Cokes (who loves Radiohead) to sign a photo for my mum, we grabbed a kebab outside and made a return journey from Camden to Ipswich - still buzzing, knowing tonight we had witnessed something very special indeed. Special thanks to Rob Lewis, Katie Cinch and a whole host of other people that made today possible.
*They got pissed.