[recording starts]

DJ: "Well, this is fun, we've been waiting for this for a long time, we've got KROQ listener Jack in the studio with us, and alongside him, guitarist of the band Radiohead, Ed O'Brien, lead singer, Thom Yorke have joined us back in the studios at KROQ, hey guys (applause), morning."

Thom: "Morning."

DJ: "We asked Thom if he remembered the last time he came in, I don't remember when it was, I think it was about six or seven years ago and he said 'not in the least'."

Thom: "Nope."

DJ: "'I don't remember that in the least'. How was the Hollywood Bowl, you'd never played there before, what did you think of it? Do you pay attention to the places you play, or is it just another place to play?"

Thom: "They just wheel us in..."

DJ: "They just wheel you in..."

Thom: "And wheel you out..."

DJ: "And wheel you out (laughs), and it kinda all gets to be the same?"

Thom: "No, not at all, no, it would all be the shame... it would be the same if it were like all SFX and we were playing sheds, wouldn't it, Ed?"

Ed: "Yeah, but it's a nice... you know, we kind of... I think we understand the cultural significance, even we understand the..."

Thom: "(puts on mock posh English accent) Yah, yah."

Ed: "...cultural significance..."

Thom: "Yah, yah."

Ed: "...of the Hollywood Bowl."

Thom: "Yah, yah, (laughs) yeah but you said..."

DJ: "Well, it's a beautiful venue, and you can't stand on stage and not think The Doors played here, The Beatles played here, I mean it really does..."

Ed: "Monty Python."

Thom: "Well, Tom and Jerry was the main thing really."

DJ: "Really?"

Thom: "Yeah, Tom and Jerry, you know, that cartoon, you know..."

DJ: "Sure."

Thom: "Where Jerry's playing the piano and shit. (laughs)"

DJ: "Right, sure."

Thom: "And then it falls apart..."

DJ: "You said you had some questions maybe about the show that you saw last night, here's our KROQ listener correspondent, I'm going to turn it over to you for a minute."

Jack: "What do you guys do when you're coming up with a setlist?"

Thom: "Er... we have things that work, and then we have things that don't work."

Jack: "And you pick the things that work, it's like you just guess?"

Thom: "Mostly. (everyone laughs)"

Jack: "You don't mind..."

??: "Not always."

Thom: "Not always."

DJ: "Are there any songs that are difficult for you to perform live, because there was so much work involved in them in the studio?"

Ed: "Like eighty percent... (laughs)"

Thom: "Nah, some of them are pretty tough."

??: "How different are they when you play them?"

Thom: "But it's not necessarily the case. Sometimes you find that actually it's relatively simple, it might be done on a computer, but you can still play it, because it's notes and ting."

DJ: "Well, you made that very... one of the guys in the band - I don't remember who - made that very funny comment in the Rolling Stone cover story recently that said: 'When we're going through and learning the songs to play on stage, we feel like a Radiohead cover band, like we're listening to our own records and trying to figure out how we can reproduce that on stage', and I've never really heard anyone describe it that way before, it sounded like a big task."

Thom: "Is that a big task, Ed?"

Ed: "It's a big task for about three weeks, and then we have some time off and we think about it and then we go on tour."

??: "Time off is really the key with you guys isn't it?"

Ed: "I think that a lot of... yeah, obviously you need time to think."

??: "Right."

Thom: "Inwardly digest."

??: "So now you're taking some time off, you got a couple of weeks off, what are you gong to do with it, you just going to go back and hang out?"

Thom: "Yeah, I'm going to hang."

??: "That's it?"

Thom: "I'm going to hang. I could read a book..."

??: "Yeah."

Thom: "Change some nappies."

DJ: "Well, I was going to say, especially in your case, Thom with the youngster just coming this year, it must just be awful for you to be away as long as you have been on this tour."

Thom: "Yeah. (clears throat)"

DJ: "It is? Ok, Ed, what are you going to do?"

Ed: "What am I going to do? Err... oh, I don't know, I don't know... what am I going to do?"

??: "How can you not know?"

??: "Oh, come on."

??: "It's all you have, this free time, for God's sakes, what do you do?"

Ed: "I don't know, I'm going to sleep, I want to sleep, I'm thinking about sleep. (laughs)"

??: "Just get some rest because you haven't been to bed yet?"

Ed: "Yeah."

DJ: "Why did you guys make the decision to jump back on the treadmill and do a good sized tour this time around, was it just because you had had enough rest that you felt like you could handle it, or are you approaching it in a different way from the way that it happened before that was so crushing for you?"

Thom: "I... a good sized tour? Well, that wasn't the idea at all."

??: "For you guys."

Thom: "We thought it was small."

Ed: "Seven weeks."

??: "Well no, it's not two hundred dates or something, but I mean..."

Ed: "Yeah, that's pretty respectful."

??: "...yeah, you are going across the country a couple of times."

Thom: "Oh, ok, well, you know, it's because obviously, you know America understands us and we've always loved America, so we, err..."

??: "Yeah."

Thom: "What was the thing we had?"

Ed: "Basically our management entice us, playing these very beautiful places."

??: "Ah..."

??: "Do you do birthday parties, bahmitzvahs, anything like that, if somebody wanted to call..."

Thom: "Well, they'd obviously have to be rich..."

??: "Very, very rich."

Thom: "And extremely famous, and you know, want to advance our career in some way."

(everyone laughs)

DJ: "Would you mind if we take a few phone calls, if we..."

Thom: "Alright, I think you should."

DJ: "...have the listeners 1800 520 1067. Jack is asking you a question off air, and I'll take the embarrassment off of him and ask you myself for the listeners, because I thought it was a great question, and I was wondering too what you think of these bands that have followed in the wake of the success of Radiohead, who sound so much like you and, you know, I'm thinking of groups like Travis and groups like Coldplay, that obviously have been influenced by you, do you have time for them at all, or no?"

Thom: "See, I'm going to change the answer now, obviously."

(everyone laughs)

DJ: "I like the answer you gave when we were off the air, go ahead and give that one."

Thom: "Ok, well it's you know the choice between, you know machine gun or pistol by, you know, execution, isn't it?"

DJ: "Oooh! Oh, that's just not nice. (laughs) Do you not like their songs?"

Thom: "They're fine, you know, I mean... everybody's influenced by everybody else, we steal blatantly, and so why not, but, you know, I don't have their records in my house."

DJ: "Right."

Thom: "Do you have their records in your house?"

Ed: "No, I don't."

Thom: "There you go, so that's the honest answer."

DJ: "Right, good, fair enough."

Jack: "Where's your favourite place to play so far, is there any place you haven't been that you want to play, or what's your... what's the best venue that you've been to?"

Ed: "I'd like to go to South America."

Thom: "Yeah?"

Ed: "Yeah."

Jack: "South America?"

Ed: "Yeah."

Thom: "What, Brazil, Rio and that?"

Jack: "What percentage of the time do you come off the stage and say you were really happy with that show, that show was great, I really thought we nailed it tonight, is that... do you feel like that a lot, or not a lot?"

Thom: "Erm... the tour we've just been doing has been quite a lot of, sort of like you know, 'yeah, that was good', you know, but you know, when we were touring on OK Computer it was not like that, you know..."

??: "Not at all?"

Thom: "You'd come offstage and, you know, well, we'd never say anything about you know the gig because we just... err.. it... as I was saying like just before, you know, you get to a stage where you just stop listening, you just want to go home and you can play whole shows like that, and that sucks because, yeah people can say they've come to see you, but you don't want to be there, and in the end everybody loses."

DJ: "Well, I'm going to take some calls 1800 520 1067, if you want to get in and have a question for the guys from Radiohead on KROQ (sound of phone ringing). Say good morning to Eric in Longbeach. Hello Eric."

Eric: "Hi, yeah, now I was just wondering if you're planning to come around again and maybe play larger venues?"

Thom: "Larger?! Man, that was too large as it was."

Eric: "The last time you guys came, I tried twice to get tickets, both of those times unsuccessfully, it's just..."

Thom: "I'm sorry."

DJ: "Well, the truth is, it is tough for Radiohead fans, because you play places like the Santa Barbara Bowl, or at The Greek, or the Hollywood Bowl, and what people want is a chance to go see you, and not everyone can."

Thom: "Yeah, but I think that the... you have to offset that against the fact that a lot of the large venues are just not very good."

DJ: "They don't sound good?"

Thom: "Yeah, a lot of the time, you know, you pay to see someone and they're, you know... you're simply paying to see them, rather than, you know, it being a good show, or, you know, you feeling genuinely involved, or that sort of stuff. And we just have certain parameters that we're not, you know, that we won't compromise with, because it's got to be a good show, it's got to be the right thing, man, because you could tour forever and... but, you know, it doesn't do us any good (laughs), as you know, as a band. You only do it for a while and then you can't do it no more, because it does your head in."

DJ: "Sure. Thom, we've had the chance to ask Ed this in the past, but I want to pose the same question to you. I understand that these records that you made, that did deviate a little bit from the Radiohead sound that we were familiar with, I'm talking about the last two... Amnesiac and Kid A, they were records that you had to make, and records that the band enjoyed making and putting out, what expectations did you have for how they were going to be received?"

Thom: "Well, I think by the time that we finished them, it was like, well everything else was a bonus, you know, it was... they were so hard to complete, it really wasn't an issue (laughs) we really didn't care anymore. By the time we got to finish, it was like 'look everybody, you know, we managed to finish them, alright?' (everyone laughs) Everything else is sort of not really relevant."

DJ: "The end result was a record that you were happy with, and if it sold, that would just be a bonus, is how you looked at it?"

Thom: "Absolutely."

DJ: "Ok, I can understand that. (phone rings) 1800 520 1067 is the number. Let's take John's call from Santa Monica, because he's calling about some of the new music that you performed at the Hollywood Bowl. Alright, John, hello."

John: "Hey, how you doing, guys? 'True Love Waits' was just mindblowing, are you guys ever going to plan on recording that?"

Thom: "I thought that was a pretty good version (laughs), if you know what I'm trying to say... (DJ laughs) So, yeah, you know, it's not like we're going to suddenly put a bloody great big orchestra on it or something. So I don't know, you know, we've tried a million different ways to do it, and I think that's sort of the best at the moment."

DJ: "Now, it sounds like you're maybe hinting that there could be a live record in the future, could you elaborate on that at all?"

Thom: "No. Maybe just that song. I mean I thought that one from last night was pretty damn good."

(everybody laughs)

DJ: "(phone rings) Now shall we get a warm, fuzzy story from Jennifer? Alright, Jennifer, hello."

Jennifer: "Hi."

Thom: "Hi."

DJ: "Hi, you're on with the guys."

Jennifer: "Hi, I just wanted to let them know that I got engaged to 'Karma Police' yesterday... last night."

Ed: "What?"

DJ: "You mean while they were playing it on stage?"

Thom: "Really?"

Jennifer: "Yeah, my boyfriend got down on one knee during 'Karma Police'."

Thom: "Really?!"

Ed: "What, in the gig?!"

Thom: "You didn't sort of say 'shut up, I'm trying to listen to the song' or anything? (everyone laughs) That's wicked..."

Ed: "And did you accept?"

Jennifer: "Yes, I said 'yes'."

Ed: "Way! (applause)"

Thom: "Congratulations."

Ed: "Well done."

DJ: "Why at a Radiohead concert? Was there a significance for you there?"

Jennifer: "I'm a big fan, actually we're both big fans and we went to the Greek show and to the Santa Barbara show and I think he had just been kind of toying with the idea in his head, so 'Karma Police' came on and he starts talking to me about Karma, and do I believe in Karma, and do I believe that good things happen to good people, and then he got down on one knee and..."

Thom: "Awww... that's sweet."

Jennifer: "...and I was like 'what are you doing?!'..."

DJ: "And the guys from the band were like 'will you please stop talking, we're playing a song here! Security!'"

Ed: "Get him out!"

Thom: "That's great, that, no that's great."

DJ: "Congratulations, Jennifer."

Jennifer: "It was really special."

Thom: "Did you kiss then, later on and that?"

Jennifer: "Yes."

Thom: "Were you playing around for the rest of the gig? I bet you were..."

(everyone laughs)

Jennifer: "We were annoying the people behind us."

DJ: "I'm sure you were, alright."

Thom: "Excellent."

DJ: "Thank you, Jennifer. Alright, let's take another quick break if you guys don't mind."

Thom: "Sounds like a good idea."

DJ: "We'll take a few more phone calls if we can squeeze them in. 1800 520 1067, and we'll come back with the guys from Radiohead next."

DJ: "Now who went to see Janet Jackson in concert recently?"

Ed: "(laughs) I went to see Janet Jackson."

DJ: "That was Ed. How was that, Ed?"

Ed: "It was very interesting (hysterical laughter in background). I've never been to anything like that in my life."

DJ: "It wasn't much like a Radiohead show, was it?"

Ed: "No, but it was actually... I went with Phil and Colin, and Colin left halfway through, because he was really hungry (DJ laughs), but Phil and I stayed right till the end, and we laughed, we spent a lot of time smiling and laughing and it was, you know, it's very, very professional, it's like a... it's like a sort of West End musical, it's very, very... there's loads of costume changes..."

Thom: "Costume changes?"

Ed: "...the band are going up on these rises, and it's... lots of dancing, and you know... Janet's pretty fit, you know, she's... (everyone laughs), I mean, she looks great, so, yeah."

DJ: "I mean, you guys do obviously a totally different kind of show, but it seems equally exhausting, I mean, it does seem like hard work the way you guys play in concert."

Ed: "Yeah, but nothing compared to Janet, man, she really sweats."

DJ: "You don't have to dance and sing at the same time, right?"

Thom: "No."

Jack: "When you get off stage, is it just as tiring as hell, or not?"

Thom: "Yeah, mmmm."

Jack: "I mean I imagine you're exhausted at least."

Ed: "Oh, last night, completely knackered, just, you know, because it's the end of the tour as well."

DJ: "Right."

Ed: "And there's the psychological thing that it's all sort of... the brain goes into meltdown after the third glass... (Thom laughs)... of champagne, or whatever."

DJ: "Thom's has gone into meltdown, I can tell you that right now."

Thom: "It did. About two o'clock last... yeah, it was two o'clock this morning, yeah."

DJ: "These guys are going right back to bed after this interview, can you tell?"

Thom: "I am, yeah."

DJ: "Let's take a couple more quick calls 1800 520 1067 (phone rings). I want to get to Will's question, I don't know if Will from HB knows something that we don't, but Will, good morning, welcome to KROQ, you're on with the guys from Radiohead."

Will: "Hi, I heard that throughout OK Computer..."

Ed: "Uh oh."

DJ: "Uh oh."

Will: "... you guys were smoking a lot of weed."

Ed: (laughs)

Thom: "No, nah, nah, nah."

DJ: "Not true?"

Thom: "It's illegal, you know."

(everyone laughs)

Ed: "Yeah, what made you think that, Will?"

DJ: "Why Will?"

Ed: "Yeah."

Will: "Well, in a book, I read it in some book..."

Ed: "You mustn't..."

Will: "Like in Virgin Records or something."

Thom: "Ah, you see, you can't trust those people, man."

Ed: "Yeah, you know..."

Thom: "Yeah, (sighs), no we just don't approve of that."

Ed: "Does it sound like a record of people who smoke pot?"

Thom: "Yeah. Does that sound like a record of people that people that smoke pot?"

??: "Yeah, it kinda does. (laughs)"

Thom: "Really? Well that's totally by accident."

DJ: "(laughs) Thanks for the call. Hey, I wanted to ask you a couple of other things, my man Kevin here is leaving for Ireland, he's going to see U2..."

Thom: "Oh yeah."

DJ: "...at the castle, the Slane Castle. Do you have much experience in Ireland, any tips you can give us on things that we must do or see?"

Thom: "There's a limit to how much Guinness you should drink on the first night."

??: "Yeah, what's the limit?"

Thom: "Three."

??: "Three? Oh..."

Thom: "Mmmm. Sounds like not much."

??: "It does, yeah, you're right, but it's..."

Ed: "But a Guinness is a meal in itself."

??: "Is that right? (laughs)"

Thom: "Yep."

??: "It's so much better there than it is here though."

Ed: "Ah, yeah."

??: "Here it's awful, I think."

Ed: "Over there it's fantastic."

??: "It really is good."

Thom: "Actually, deliberately... they deliberately poison the stuff in Britain, don't they?"

Ed: "Yeah."

(everyone laughs)

Thom: "Which is understandable."

DJ: "Let's squeeze in another phone call (phone rings). Let's say good morning to is it Mira?"

Mira: "It's Mira."

DJ: "Mira, hi, you're on with the guys."

Mira: "Hi."

Thom: "Hi."

Mira: "Ed, I was wondering if there's any chance of you singing lead vocals on a future Radiohead song, instead of just singing backup."

??: "Yay!"

Thom: "What?!"

Ed: "I bloody hope not... (laughs)"

Thom: "Ed? Is that Ed? Yeah, no there's a very good chance."

Ed: "(laughs) Not from my angle."

DJ: "Can you sing?"

Ed: "Not really."

Thom: "There's this track that R.E.M. did, you know Life's Rich Pageant, the album? Remember that?"

DJ: "Sure, sure."

Thom: "'Superman', where Mike sings the lead vocals, it's brilliant, yeah, we've got to do something like that."

DJ: "Well, for every example like that though, there's the awful Police albums where they used to give each of the guys who wasn't Sting a track on the album, and that's always the one that you fast forwarded through on your cassette."

Ed: "'Behind My Camel' by Andy Summers (everybody laughs), was not a particularly good number on Zenyatta Mandatta..."

DJ: "Right, so sometimes they guy who's the lead singer is the lead singer for a reason."

Ed: "Absolutely. (laughs)"

Thom: "Awww..."

DJ: "Now, after this tour is over, are you going to take a long, long hibernation, or what do you think will happen next?"

Thom: "Yep. Long hibernation. Very long. Very, very, very long."

DJ: "And by very, very, very long, what are you talking about?"

Thom: "Oh, at least six months."

DJ: "Six months?"

Thom: "Six months. I'm going to get a book, I'm going to sit down and change some nappies, that's about it. (laughs)"

DJ: "It was such... it was such good news when the Radiohead Rolling Stone cover story came out a few weeks ago, to read how optimistic, no pun intended, how optimistic everybody is about the future of the band, and how after all you've been through that seemed difficult, everybody's in a happy place now, you're delighted with the music you're making, you've managed to figure out a way to balance your personal life and your professional life, and there's no reason why Radiohead shouldn't stay together for many, many years."

Thom: "I know. Revolting, isn't it? (laughs)"

DJ: "I mean it's good, I mean that's... we're happy about that."

Thom: "Sickening."

DJ: "We're happy, we're happy to see that, because..."

Thom: "Bleaugh."

DJ: "It sounded like for a while that you guys were just so miserable you just didn't want to do it any more."

Thom: "Err... yeah, now we're sickeningly, revoltingly happy. Disgusting, isn't it? (DJ laughs) Absolutely foul. I feel sick myself."

DJ: "Ed?"

Ed: "Yes."

DJ: "Do you feel sick, yes?"

Ed: "Erm, err... no, great, really good, yeah (Thom laughs). We're in a nice place."

Thom: "We're in a happy place, (sings) a happy place, happy place."

DJ: "Well that's a nice way to end the interview, in a happy place, so..."

Ed: "Yeah."

Thom: "Awww... Really? Is that over?"

DJ: "Unless you want to hang around and take some more phone calls."

Thom: "Oh..."

DJ: "It's up to you."

Thom: "Well, I... no... whatever, yeah, sorry."

DJ: "Listen, if you want to stick around, we'll certainly... we've got time."

Thom: "Err... it's ok."

DJ: "He's just being difficult, now he's realising that's the last thing he wants to do (Ed laughs). Coming off of working last night, and you've got to fly today, we really appreciate you squeezing this in right in the middle. We know it was a lot to ask, and it was very cool of you guys to stop by, and we really have enjoyed catching up with you again, and it's been cool. Thank you."

Thom: "Cheers."

Ed: "Thank you."

DJ: "Thom Yorke, Ed O'Brien, thank you."

[recording ends]