[recording starts here]

[Plays 'Sit Down, Stand Up']

Gideon Coe: "From Hail To The Thief, Radiohead and Sit Down, Stand Up, and joining me now to field some listeners questions and one or two of my own are Philip and Colin. Thanks for dropping by.....

Phil: "Thank you for having us

Gideon: "...and being part of the 6 Music Selector, being the music selectors as it were. Are you fond of that track, Sit Down, Stand Up? I saw you play a fine version of it at Earl's Court as part of the tour

Phil: "Yeah, it's gone through many incarnations, actually. That was the song which I suppose went on....went on the biggest trip of the entire recording, really, because it was something that was in.... when we were rehearsing, doing all the production rehearsals, we really couldn't get an angle on it, and we tried lots of.....lots of different approaches. It wasn't until we actually fixed on a sound, on a sequence from...that Jonny wrote on his AS, that something, you know started really coming together there, and then it developed, and we went out and played live, and then again we went in to record, it was all processed, so it just really went through all these different....different guises really and then actually having to try and re-learn that to play live, it's.....it's been a song for all seasons

Gideon: "Rhythmically how would you describe it? A friend of mine said it was ambient bossanova building to mind blowing uber-bossanova

Colin: "(laughs)

??: "Are they still a friend?

Gideon: "(laughs) Would you agree or not with that?

Colin: "I dunno

Gideon: "It's difficult to sum it up anyway

Colin: "Drum and Mace

Phil: "Drum and Mace (laughs)

Colin: "It's like those old corner shops, do you remember, like it's not the actual spray

Gideon: "What about the overview of 2003 for you, what with the new record coming out and then with it culminating with the big tour, has it been good for you, Colin?

Colin: "Erm...it's been.... yeah it's been good. It's been about eight months and we did a big circle. We started in Dublin, I guess in May, and we ended in Dublin last, was it Thursday night? It was, wasn't it, on a Thursday night at the beginning of December, and so it was a big circle. It gave everyone a bit of tour vertigo to have the bus drop you off in the....in exactly the same hotel outside like from eight months previously, but it was great

Gideon: "And right slap bang in the middle you had the Saturday at Glastonbury, which was sort of set up for you, wasn't it, as in you know coming on on the Saturday night after Flaming Lips, but you scored, you played a blinder, and scored all the same, to use a sporting analogy, a very clumsy one. Fond memories of that particular show?

Phil: "Very good memories of it, really. We played in '97, and our experience this time was the complete opposite, really. I mean, that weekend we played in '97, it....you know, the elements weren't really with us, it was the weekend of the mud and the endless rain, and in terms of you know, weather, it was the complete opposite this time, and I think that spread out through the festival, the festival had this very....for want of a better term, “loved up” feel to it, and I think that definitely our performance was a lot more in line with that, you know, we didn't have that kind of strung out tension that we had in '97

Gideon: "And you'd agree with that, Colin?

Colin: "Yeah, definitely, yeah, it was part of a series of good shows that we'd done, like in Germany, and er...France and stuff

Gideon: "I want to crack on with some of the listeners questions before we have a session track from Jonny and Thom. These are random questions selected from several hundred, from twenty five different nations, from Six Music listeners, for example, Mel Sanders says....these could be short or long answers: What, if any, is Jeff Buckley's influence on the band?

Phil: "I don't think there's really an influence. I'm not aware of one

Colin: "I guess it's when you see like a band of people playing a song, but in a very sort of loose way, but creating a beautiful sound, but you know it's not like all tightly drilled, and that's what his group had, and the way that it complemented the voice, and the way the instrumentation struck harmonies off the voice, because it was such a beautiful voice, and you know, we're sort of lucky to be working with someone with such a beautiful voice as well, that it gives you that sort of......that sort of weight and stuff, so I guess that for me.....that would be the influence

Gideon: "Chris Birdsell says, corporate question: Having completed your EMI deal, what's next?

Phil: "Time off (laughs)

Gideon: "Is a good answer

Colin: "We get our golden handshakes, of course

Gideon: "Really?

Colin: "Subject to the shareholders' inquiries

Gideon: "What was the hardest album to create and why? asks Kieran

Phil: "Kid A, for me

Gideon: "Just a difficult.....

Colin: "It was a long one

Phil: "Yeah, it took a very long time to make, and it was also.... you know, I think we were dealing with an awful lot of accumulated stresses and tensions from, you know from Pablo Honey through to OK Computer really, and they kind of worked their way out through that record

Gideon: "Mmm hmm. Amanda, now here's a nice open ended question for you: What are you most excited about right now?

Phil: "Colin? (laughs)

Colin: "Thank you very much

Gideon: "Philip's excited about passing the buck Colin's way

Colin: "It's a nice outfit I'm wearing, but I really wouldn't put it that strongly, but er....yeah. But er.....what am I excited about right now? Er....Personally?

Gideon: "I guess musically or culturally or.......

Colin: "Musically? Er.....excited about getting a list of top ten new electronic music things of the year from my friend's company in Manchester, to listen to and enjoy, and what else culturally? Er......a friend of mine doing an exhibition in Chicago of landscape photography with some very famous Japanese photographers.....er, that's it really

Gideon: "A final one before we hear a session track: Are there any of your songs that have come out purely from jamming? asks Anthony

Phil: "One that springs to mind is Dollars And Cents, that was when we were in Copenhagen at the beginning of recording Kid A, and although we didn't realise it at the time, quite a lot came out of that session, which ended up on the record, but.....so that was.....the whole idea at the beginning of those sessions was to actually loosen things up for ourselves......

Colin: "Yeah

Phil: "And so we did, it shows in the playing, you know, it was something that happened

Colin: "Not that we realised at the time, like you say

Phil: "No, no

Colin: "(laughs)

Phil: "But, you know, we just took the loop from that and built it up from there

Gideon: "Who would make the decision during the course of that, if you....if that has come together loosely as a jam in rehearsal, who is actually going to be the one who might say “we might have something there”? Do you collectively arrive at that decision?

Phil: "I suppose initially, Nigel has a good take on it, because he has a very good overview, Nigel Godrich, he's in the studio, but I think we all know, really, if there's something that's generated excitement between us when we're playing, then that's something that's good to follow on, really

Gideon: "Ok, more questions on the way, let's have a session track recorded by Jonny and Thom for Six Music

[Plays 'On The Beach']

Gideon: "It's Six Music and we have Philip and Colin here from Radiohead answering some listeners questions as part of 6 Music's Selector Radiohead all Christmas week. I'll move on to a question from...here's an interesting one from Jason Henderson: Will there ever be a B-side/unreleased collection, possibly in a box set form? That would be an exciting thing to compile, if there were.....

Colin: "Coffin shaped

Gideon: "(laughs) Would that seem like a wrong thing to do, a final thing to do, to sort of....that sort of pulling together? There's so much stuff, isn't there?

Phil: "B-sides, we've always spoken about a b-sides album, because for me there are a lot of tracks there which we've put a lot of time into that we... you know, we're pleased with the outcome of them, and we wouldn't want them to be completely lost. As for stuff that's not previously been released, we've really had to....we've really had to raid the vaults for b-sides, haven't we? Nothing there, I'm afraid

Gideon: "(laughs) There's a Mother Hubbard scenario. Josh and many others ask: What does the guy say in the Just video?

Phil: "(Yawns loudly and laughs)

Gideon: "It's a frequently asked question, what's your frequently given answer to that frequently asked question? People want to know. I think people should make up their own minds is what he said

Phil: "Yeah. Any good suggestions. I think we need some good suggestions now for new answers on that question

Gideon: "Anthony Holly asks: Which song varies the most when played live? Which one are you most likely to jam through, I guess

Phil: "I'd say it's probably songs like Everything In It's Right Place, or The Gloaming, because, you know, Jonny and Ed are capturing loops off what we've been playing......

Gideon: "So what do you guys do when they're doing that?

Phil: "Oh, you know, we.....

Colin: "Worry!

Gideon: "(laughs) Because people do wonder what it's like being, well to call you the rhythm section is simplifying it somewhat, but there you are, you are bass and drums and percussion, and therefore when so many things are going on, so much experimentation, so much technology's going on, sometimes do you ever get scared and wonder what on earth's happening now?

Colin: "You just ask for it not to be in your monitor, don't you, frankly, I mean it's bad enough that the audience have to listen to that dreadful arrhythmic racket

Gideon: "(laughs) The rhythm section sticks together

Colin: "That's why I stand so close to Phil

Gideon: "Well you do!

Colin: "If I like venture beyond two metres, I haven't got a chance, have I? It's an exclusion zone

Gideon: "I've noticed that

Phil: "It's a jungle out there, isn't it?

Colin: "It is

Gideon: "Keep it real, you two. Do you go back and listen to Pablo Honey, and what do you think of it now? asks Britney

Phil: "No, and well it was a debut album really, wasn't it? (laughs) obviously, but you know, there was potential on it, in the record, especially coming back to tracks like Creep now, but I don't think we'd really found our true voice at that point

Gideon: "And what do you think of The Darkness' cover of Street Spirit? asks Sally

Phil: "I've not actually heard it

Gideon: "I think you have to see them live to hear it, I mean I don't think it's been committed to record yet

Phil: "Right. The only chance then would have been at Glastonbury

Gideon: "Jamie Cullum's version of High And Dry, have you heard that?

Phil: "(laughs) No

Gideon: "It exists in live form

Colin: "Jamie who?

Gideon: "Well, that's show business

Colin: "He's the jazz person, isn't he?

Gideon: "Yes, he's the young kid on the block of the jazz world

Colin: "Ah, great, that's very flattering

Gideon: "And he does High And Dry

Phil: "It is very flattering, and we don't play it any more, so at least we're making some PRS out of it (laughs)

Gideon: "Ok, Kevin Hodgeson asks: Would you release singles or rare material online for free? There's not a “please” at the end of that, but it's just a general question as to whether you'd consider doing that

Colin: "Well it's the kind of thing that magazines do when they give something away to like sell you the like.....some of those sort of Marshall Cavendish knitting installment magazines, isn't it? I don't think we'd do that, really, probably not, no

Gideon: "We're not talking about a flexi disc as such, but that'd be nice

Colin: "Who for?

Gideon: "Well, no, no, that'd be a nice thing to think of in terms of.....

Colin: "What? Promotional device? I don't know

Gideon: "Bring back the flexi disc

??: "What's in it for us? For free?!

??: "What are we going to get out of that?

Colin: "I was reading the record vinyl sales, and they've sold a lot more vinyl, like up from fifty, seventy odd to two hundred thousand this year, or something, so I think, yeah...so to answer your question, yeah so anything in vinyl would be great, wouldn't it, yeah

Gideon: "Ok, I think we're done for the listeners questions, I might have one or two of my own, actually, one thing I wanted to ask about, of all the towns you've played, do you remember which town it was which had the worst clap along when it came to We Suck Young Blood?

Colin: "(laughs)

Gideon: "Who actually.....who went out of time on that? Did it ever happen?

Phil: "That was me every night, I'm afraid

Gideon: "Again, that's a thing to be thrown at you, well Thom says, “I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but I want you all to clap along”, and lo and behold, everybody does, for the rhythm section, you think they're putting it in the hands of several thousand amateurs

Colin: "No, that's the people on the stage

Gideon: "(laughs) Come on......

Colin: "No, basically everyone except the audience

Gideon: "There's a very special connection with the audience, I think, which I know you've always had to some extent, but even more so on this tour from what I can see. Were you getting that on stage, were you getting that sense of excitement from every sort of first chord, every first note that you were playing?

Phil: "Yes, admittedly some nights more than others, but I mean it has been, you know, a wonderful sight to see every night, really

Colin: "There's been a lot of warmth

Phil: "Yeah

Colin: "It's been great, especially like Newcastle was really good and Scotland was brilliant and Dublin was really good. It was all really good

Gideon: "And onstage as well, without wishing to put the mockers on it, I've rarely seen a band look so happy with each other and themselves

Colin: "Yeah

Phil: "We've been practicing that one

Colin: "(laughs)

Phil: "We dig deep

Gideon: "Well more power to you. We'll hear your contributions throughout the week here on Six Music, but for now for fielding those questions, thanks to Colin and thanks to Philip

Phil: "Thank you

Gideon: "And here are Jonny and Thom once again in session for us

[Plays 'Karma Police']

[recording ends]