And they owe it all to the Jerky Boys. Not really, but the title of Radiohead's debut album, Pablo, Honey, is lifted from the now (in)famous tapes of tasteless, phone-call pranking that have inexplicably seeped into popular counterculture. And while that title may have its roots in the pits of obnoxiousness, the band is anything but. Lead singer/third guitarist Thom Yorke is somewhat amazed by the United States on his - and Radiohead's - first visit ("Everything's tall in New York," he says) and by the band's apparent success. This is a man (and a band) seemingly still mildly starstruck by all the excess baggage that goes along with the musical end of the business (interviews, etc... ). Yorke is affable, though a bit of uneasiness creeps into his voice; maybe he hasn't fully adjusted to the world of press days/tours, p.r. schmoozin' and things of the like. Maybe it's jet lag.
He relates how weird it was to go from nowhere to the verge of the murky world of alternapop stardom virtually overnight. "We'd done 10 gigs when we were all in Oxford. Well, one was in a place called Bath. And we signed to EMI and released the first EP, Drill, that didn't do very well at all. And that was Christmas before last. So when we signed there was this three-or four-month period where we were completely freaked out. I mean nobody knew who we were at ALL, and there we were signed to this big corporation and stuff, and we just sort of tried to get our heads 'round it. I still haven't got my head 'round it.
"I mean it's still really strange. The press in Britain are always talking about it, saying, 'How come EMI signed a good band?'" he says.
Fortunately, for audiences on this side of the Atlantic, the music press here is far more concerned with how a band sounds than which label is putting out its records. Well... it's a well-tempered mix of vaguely ethereal, always dynamic arrangements and occasionally biting lyrics that envelop you but still kick up a storm when necessary. Yeah. Subversive pop. Radiohead is a live band, and Pablo Honey is a record that begs for a live audience in order to properly translate its full power. Three guitars all playing different parts (no doubled-up rhythms here), along with the prerequisite pounding drums and bass add up to a wash of sound (and occasional fury) almost betrayed by the album.
Yorke is listed as playing "inaudible guitar" in the band's press kit because, he says, "by the time that you get to the third guitar it's a bit difficult to find a place in the mix for it, it gets mixed down." That spark of live performance spontaneity didn't quite make it to plastic, as Yorke explains: "We had a real problem putting it down on tape. In some ways we're getting better at it, but in some ways we're also getting bored with it: 'Hey let's get the live sound - ugh.' But if people are listening to it and saying, 'Wow, I bet they're good live,' that's great, but it's a shame we really couldn't put that across better on tape. Hopefully when we do the live shows and that material people realize that we're not completely certain what's going to happen from night to night."
That spontaneity evidences itself in the form of new material the band works into the set each night. Yorke happily explains: "Before we flew out we had three weeks of writing new stuff, so we've got about three-quarters of the second album sort of ready to demo. Which is really good for us, 'cause we've been touring so hard that we really needed to try out some new material. So we're quite excited about that. I mean we're quite excited about being able to do two things at once. As far as I'm concerned, the new stuff is better and will go on tape better as well."
New stuff aside, much attention has been focused on two Radiohead songs receiving substantial airplay - "Creep" and the fabulously titled "Anyone Can Play Guitar." The former is a slow number that builds to multiple crescendos of guitar power that drive the chorus home. This is one of the songs the band reinvents live, as primary guitarist John (sic) Greenwood does the human-riff bit, strangling and attacking his instrument and the song; his onstage antics alone make Radiohead's live show worth the price of admission. "Anyone" is a straight-ahead pop rocker, but it takes an interesting stance. Yorke says, "It's kind of a song about being in a band. Sort of all the positive and negative sides at the same time. And also, it's a reaction against, um, hair bands. People that wear leather trousers and therefore think that when they come offstage they're entitled to a blow job because they're in a band and all that sort of thing. We still meet people in bands who are living out this rock and roll legend thing that just DIED years ago. If people are still living it out then they obviously need to go into therapy or something. So there's all that side of it. But there's also the really positive side of being in a band, and, just really honest, we really enjoy it."
Hey, if they're enjoying it...