[recording starts here]

Sander Kerkhof: "Radiohead's Colin, welcome to uh, our tiny studio."

Colin: "Thank you! Thank you very much."

Sander: "How are you?"

Colin: "I'm very good, yes, yes. I just got off a bus from Germany."

Sander: (laughs) "You've been playing a few uh, venues, and festivals, also, I think you were at Rock Am Ring, uh, a few days ago?"

Colin: "Uh, yes and Rock Im Park as well, I think, and, which was the day before...the day before yesterday. And, umm...uh, just been playing some beautiful places in Bilbao, and Vaison La Romaine in France, and Verona, in Italy. Uh, beautiful old amphitheaters, Roman arenas, and old bull rings, and it's been amazing.

Sander: "And also, those were also festivals? Or they were just Radiohead gigs?"

Colin: "They were our own concerts, with a DJ, uh, an artist called Christoph de Babalon, umm, playing beforehand."

Sander: "And, uh, is it, is it, ummm, difficult to switch in from doing that to this kind of thing where you have twelve buses in a row, in a festival, all that kind of set up?"

Colin: "Umm, well it's kind of on our way home as well, so it's all right, really, ‘cause we sort of started in the south, where it was sunny, and we sort of got more and more north, the food and the weathers got worse, and uh...sort of culminating in England, with like bad food and bad weather, so, you know..."

Sander: "I hope the gigs are still okay."

Colin: "Yeah, well they're saying that, it's not raining today, which is fantastic. It was raining in umm, Germany, unfortunately."

Sander: "Okay, you'll be playing tonight at 9 o'clock, at, umm, at the stage right here, which is called the South Stage. Uhhh...we've got questions from people at home. Uhh, the first on has a lot of umm, points, because people can...can also give points to other people's questions. And, uhh, that's the question, is there any Dutch band that you like?"

Colin: "Is there any Dutch band that we like...that I like, that I like personally...Uh, I'm afraid I'm terribly ignorant on Dutch artists, ummm, aside from the fact of...just in terms of Amsterdam having a very important place in my personal musical enjoyment with bands like Magazine, uh, playing there, and Joy Division, and stuff like that. So, despite the fact that I don't really know of any Dutch music, to hand, instantly, ummm, it's one of our favorite places to play concerts."

Sander: "So you, uh, actually went to Joy Division and Magazine concerts? Came from England to Amsterdam?"

Colin: "No, I'm only 32, so I'd have to be, about another...I'd have to be in my late...my late...my early forties, late thirties, to legally get away with being at the Joy Division concert.

Sander: "Well, maybe with, with an older brother, or with your father."

Colin: "Or an older sister, yes, that's true."

Sander: "We'll go to the question, then, that Case asks. What is the best festival?"

Colin: "The best festival is probably Glastonbury, umm, which everyone I expect would say, and which is not happening this year, which is probably a good thing because of the foot and mouth. But Glastonbury has got a special vibe to it, definitely."

Sander: "[Name and location in Dutch] here, he was saying exactly...exactly the same thing. Ummm...when will the new album...will be...when will the new album be released in Holland?"

Colin: "Today. It came out today. And it's called Amnesiac, and it came out today. And, phht, [voice goes in a out] it's uh, it's more songs from the same session...the same period, but it's, it's a very different record – excuse me, the hiccups – a different sounding record."

Sander: "And are you going to play a lot of songs from that record tonight?"

Colin: "Umm, I think we're actually playing more songs from OK Computer tonight, because I think that was the last record that people in Holland that people seemed to like. So, ummm, so you know, and it's a festival, so we don't want to be like contrary bastards, and we want to play things that people know.

Sander: "I think Kid A was very successful, and people liked the album a lot."

Colin: "Well, that's very flattering of you to say that, thank you."

Sander: "And it's true, too! Uh, when will be, uh, when...Are you planning to have a concert in Belgium soon?"

Colin: "Uhh, again, I mean Belgium is somewhere which we...I just...apart from one gig in Leuven, and this festival years ago, supporting the Choir Boys, which was terrible, ummm...we've ,we've just had a brilliant time, played the For?t National, and the Lunar Theater in the city. Uh, it's just...there are just fantastic places to play in Brussels. And we did, we did Tourhout-Werchter, actually Tourhout-Werchter is a good festival as well. Again, I don't know when, but we'd love to do it.

Sander: "And how does the rest of the...uh year, uh, go for you?"

Colin: "We're going to go to America, in, uhh, a couple of weeks time, and play more places of outstanding natural beauty, like the Gorge in Seattle, and Red Rocks and...uh, Hollywood Bowl, ummm, and...then we're doing our own show in Oxford, in July the 7th, in our local park, in front of around 40,000 people, with Sigur Rós and Beck and Supergrass, and...ummm, I always forget, there's someone else, it's a really cool lineup.

Sander: "Isn't the guy...that plays on Amnesiac as well...is also playing?"

Colin: "Yes, it's his eightieth birthday this month. So, umm, as part of the celebrations, he's coming along and playing a set of, umm, New Orleans-based, Louis Armstrong-style jazz. He's an amazing artist."

Sander: "Okay, for people who haven't heard the album yet, umm, by illegal ways, what does it...what is the song that he plays on? It's the last song on the album?

Colin: "Yes, it's called 'Life in a Glasshouse'. And Jonny is playing piano, and Thom is singing, and Humphrey Lyttelton is playing trumpet with, uh, Jimmy on clarinet, and drums and bass."

Sander: "Alright. Umm... can you tell me something about the new CD? And, about the special box, uhh... that you can buy here at Pinkpop? There seems to be a special edition of Amnesiac?"

Colin: "Uhh...a special box, I haven't seen it. I mean, we've got the special edition, which is a book... with a library card inside. Ummm, see the idea was, it's a like a book from a library that's, a book that's never been, that's never been published, uh, with, you know, it's like, you know, it's a collection of songs, that we didn't know we had another record, and a different record, and it was a different album, and, umm, so that's one of the reasons we called it Amnesiac. And, uh, we're really proud of it. And, umm, and uh, I think it's really cool."

Sander: "There's been, uh, a lot of...discussion about Kid A, there's going to be a lot of discussion about Amnesiac, about them being difficult. People talking about that, there's a question here about that. What was the general response to your change in musical direction? How did you, uh, perceive, uh, perceive that yourself?"

Colin: "I don't...none of us think we've changed in any musical direction. So I don't...I mean, if you look at every record we've done, you could say there is a kind of change in musical direction on every single one, really, I mean, so, it's sort of...it doesn't...sort of really mean anything to me. Umm, you know, things like Pablo Honey, to The Bends, to OK Computer, to Kid A...I mean, you know, it's all part...the important thing is the live concerts, and that we can play those shows, and, and enjoy them, and get energy from those.

Sander: "Okay, last question. What is your favorite song to play, at the moment, live?"

Colin: "Uh, I think my favorite song to play...at the moment...is...probably... well there's two, there's Morning Bell, ‘cause it's a nice bass thing to play, and National Anthem's good, and... Idioteque, because I get to play a bit of keyboard. And...I think those are my three favorites."

Sander: "Okay, thank you very much."

[recording ends]