black text: included in all three broadcasts
blue text: included only in the webradio broadcast
green text: included only in the second TV broadcast

Gijsbert Kamer: "So, uh, this idea of making a record on your own, how did it come about?"

Thom: "It was sort of, erm, a build-up of things and Radiohead decided to stop for a bit. I'd formally asked everybody if it was cool if I tried to do something on my own, not really expecting it to go anywhere, I just wanted to know what it felt like to... to work on... to take responsibility for the music in my own particular sketchy style. Erm, and I like the idea of having Nigel around, because it meant I'd have to make the effort to finish things and make decisions - two things I hate the most."

[position of this excerpt is assumed] Thom: "Also, we'd just had enough of being Radiohead. To this day I'm not quite sure why. It was just no one was really in the right headspace."

Gijsbert: "Six years ago there was a point where after touring the Ok Computer thing there was this..."

Thom: "Six or seven years ago."

Gijsbert: "Yeah, exactly... you came to this point as well where you had enough of everything and the 'How To Complete Disap...' (laughs)"

Thom: "How to ...completely."

Gijsbert: "'How To Disappear Completely' period. (laughs) And, erm... but at that point, er, at that point you said you were very depressed and where you had this writer’s block thing."

Thom: "Yes."

Gijsbert: "So, erm, weren’t you afraid that that might happen... yeah?"

Thom: "Yes, absolutely, that’s my constant fear. I mean it was, it was, erm... In a way The Eraser was the... doing that was a way of getting my confidence back and getting over that whole thing. Erm, and what was nice about it was it was out of context. It was out of any context. And it wasn’t sort of any like trying to prove anything or anything like that. It was just a fun way of re-engaging with writing again, you know."

Gijsbert: "Were you relieved? That things were..."

Thom: "Oh God, yes. I was so happy. I was like happy when, you know, things started coming together. I was happy and I was surprised 'cause it was like 'Oh, wow, you know, this is actually working.'"

[position of this excerpt is assumed] Thom: "And, and then there was really sort of weird periods during making it where like... Should I stop this and give... you know, should I stop this and ring everybody up and say 'maybe you should come down and have a listen to this, maybe we could do something'. And then just... ending up doing that on my own and... it just felt like the right thing to do at the time."

Gijsbert: "But isn't it also weird that your own record seemed to have taken very easily? It happened very easily, in a way? And then you went back with the boys and it's getting so difficult."

Thom: "Yeah, you know, that was really tough. It was tough for them as well, 'cause they could sort of see me enjoying myself and yet it wasn’t working out. Erm, but you know, the great thing is we sort of worked through it, and it could easily have been... if it wasn’t for the fact that we’ve known each other for... God knows, sixteen, seventeen years - whatever it is now, I don't know - then I'm sure that would have been enough to split the band up, but it wasn't, 'cause they understood that it was all for the... all for the good."

Gijsbert: "It was a bit like history repeating itself."

Thom: "Do you... what do you mean..."

Gijsbert: "Where you’ve all had enough of it and..."

Thom: "Yeah, do you mean like the Kid A thing?"

Gijsbert: "Yeah, yeah."

Thom: "Yeah, I mean... ultimately the thing that I'm most conscious of is that one doesn’t fall into the trap of delineating one method of working for one thing, and another method of working for another thing. And this is Ed, in Radiohead’s, big rant at the moment, erm, with me and with Jonny, it's like 'All these thing you do over here and over here: bring it to us. Don’t automatically assume that it's gonna end up somewhere where it doesn’t fit.' And I think he’s right. I think it was very important that I did sort of The Eraser at that point, because that was the time to do it, you know. But all that sort of particular energy, I really want to sort of bring it back into working with them. And the same with Jonny. All this mad orchestration stuff he does... it's like 'You know, wow, yeah, but what if you're doing all of that in the midst of this tune, here? What if we just had... what if we were working in that method with this?' You know, and it’s trying to bring it all back, 'cause that was one of the upsides of the Kid A period was trying... was, was, was not being able to split out and having to try and do all this stuff within the context of the band, you know? Um, whereas with The Eraser there was no, nothing to kick against."

Gijsbert: "No."

Thom: "The weird thing about doing The Eraser was being responsible for all the musical decisions. And it makes me realize how incredible sketchy I am. And actually, it’s the band that usually picks up the pieces and like goes..."

Gijsbert: "ya ya ya..."

Thom: "...puts it into a coherent form. It's quite interesting that."

[position of this excerpt is assumed] Thom: "The other thing I didn't... I failed to realize was that, um, when we're working with Radiohead, um... because we do a lot of rehearsal and knocking ideas around, the lyrics tend to come during that period. So when you're presented with a track that's basically de facto complete other than the vocal... [edit] ...it's a nightmare. I'm not used to that. I'm not used to having to write like that."

Gijsbert: "For instance, a song on 'Harrowdown Hill'..."

Thom: "Ok, that one..."

Gijsbert: "That... (laughs)."

Thom: "There's no getting away from that one."

Gijsbert: "(laughs) Perhaps, er, you can explain Harrowdown Hill, what, what place it is?"

Thom: "Harrowdown Hill is, um, where Dr David Kelly died and he was erm... uh... well, there's some debate whether he was the chief weapons expert on... in Iraq... on Iraq for Britain, but uh... anyway he died in mysterious circumstances, allegedly suicide. Um..."

Gijsbert: "Where was the anger? What specifically made you so angry?"

Thom: "What made me angry was the fact that, erm... I felt incredibly, even before the poor man died, I felt incredibly sorry for the way he was, erm... outed. You know whether... the way he was exposed to the media. And it made me very sad and upset that, that our intelligence community or at least the Ministry of Defence or whoever the fuck it was who did it... erm, felt that it was ok to do that. Even before he died, the Ministry of Defence felt - or rather the government itself - felt that it was ok to use this man as a scapegoat for the misgivings of the entire country, you know."