That may not be a nice thing to say, but Radiohead pretty much brought that kind of talk on itself. Two years ago, the five-piece English band had modern rock fans crooning along with singer Thom Yorke's self-deprecating refrain: "I'm a creep/I'm a weirdo."

The band has followed up with "The Bends", released in March on Capitol Records, and a full U.S. tour that comes to Manhattan tonight.

And Radiohead's members have been enduring all the deflating phrases that get tossed at bands with successful debuts: one-hit wonder, sophomore slump, and other cheery things.

"We've been hearing quite a bit of that," drummer Phil Selway said recently. "It's inevitable that people look at us like a one-hit wonder, because that's all they know of us. But Creep came along eight years into our existence; we've always been progressing. I think The Bends puts Creep in its proper place.

"I'm sure there were some record company people who would've been happy with an album of Creeps. But we've always been pretty diverse with our music."

Right from the opening organ riff on "Planet Telex," it's readily apparent that Selway's words aren't just wishful thinking. "The Bends" is a solid, varied work, with some nifty lyrical themes running through the music. Singer Yorke, guitarists Jon Greenwood and Ed O'Brien, bassist Colin Greenwood, and Selway have married funky drumbeats and keyboards with swirling guitars and Yorke's distinctive vocals to create a sound not unlike U2 or the London Suede. Standouts include the title track, a reference to the band's steep ascent in the rock world, with lines like, "Who are my real friends? Have they all got the bends?", the first single, "Fake Plastic Trees," and the hardest rocker on the album, "Just."

"In making this album, it was very much a case of refocusing on what we enjoyed musically after all the hype and insanity from the first album," Selway said. "When that all died down, we found that Thom had written a terrific bunch of songs, and we wanted to do them justice."

The hype and insanity from 1993 would've kept them out of a smaller club like Tramps; Selway said Radiohead prefers the cozier atmosphere of the clubs the band will be playing this tour.

"Last time we toured the States, we were on Arsenio Hall, Conan O'Brien, all these big shows," he said. "But I don't think we actually appreciated what was going on. We just want to take everything in this time round."