Radiohead are "definitely" recording new album

Ed O' Brien will beat the winter cold by staying studio-bound
Ed O' Brien will beat the winter cold by staying studio-bound (Image credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis)

Remember when Thom Yorke said Radiohead were done making albums? Turns out that isn't the case at all. In fact, the band's co-guitarist Ed O'Brien says the group is booked to start recording a full-length disc this winter.

"We were misquoted," O'Brien says in an interview with NME, referring to a piece that ran earlier this year in which Thom Yorke said, "None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again...It'll kill us."

Although the group did release online tracks such as Harry Patch (In Memory Of) and These Are My Twisted Words, many took Yorke's words at face value.

O'Brien, however, states the case loudly and bluntly: "We will be making an album!" In fact, he says the whole group shares an affection for the tangible feel of physical CDs and vinyl.

Nothing like the real thing

"We love the artwork; that's really important, the physicality. And we all like vinyl. That's not going to go away" Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien on the band's plan to record a full-length disc

"We love the artwork; that's really important, the physicality," he said. "And we all like vinyl. That's not going to go away. I still like CDs as well. I got the Speech Debelle CD the other day - I nearly downloaded it from iTunes but I thought, 'No. I want the physical thing.'"

O'Brien doesn't go into specifics as to what kind of album Radiohead are going to make make (he says These Are My Twisted Words "could have been the darker side of In Rainbows"), but he laughs at the idea of the group recording in Oxfordshire during the harshest of months.

"Typical Radiohead," he says. "We're going into the studio in winter. It's always miserable! Are we at the whim of the seasons? We are! When you're in a studio in the countryside, the music you make is definitely affected by what season it is."

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.