Radiohead getting together in 2023, says drummer Phil Selway: “As far as I know, we’re still a band!”

Radiohead drummer Phil Selway has quashed speculation that the ever-enigmatic band is permanently on ice following the formation of The Smile, the trio Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood have launched with renowned jazz (amongst other things) sticksman Tom Skinner.

Radiohead’s last album, A Moon Shaped Pool, saw the light of day back in 2016 and their most recent live appearance took place in 2018 but Selway, speaking to Spin, said “As far as I know, we’re still a band! If anybody knows any different, I’d be very interested.”

Selway was speaking ahead of the February release of his own third solo album, Strange Dance, which sees him team up with guitarists Adrian Utley, best known for his Portishead work, multi-instrumentalist Quinta, Hannah Peel, drummer Valentina Magatelli and more. 

Elsewhere in the busy Radiohead diaspora, there’s The Smile, of course, while Ed O’Brien has been working on a follow-up to his 2020 Earth album and Colin Greenwood has been on live bass duties with Nick Cave.

But Selway, quizzed on the possibility of a Hail to the Thief box set to mark 2023’s 20th anniversary of the original release, revealed “We’re going to get together at the start of the year, and I’m sure we’re going to start looking at other ideas for what comes next. 

"Hail to the Thief — it’s a long time since that record, isn’t it?”

“For me, whatever we do, it all falls under that umbrella of the five of us,” Selway also said. “Ultimately, it all feeds into it.”

Watch this space…

Click here for the full Spin interview, and to learn more about Selway's Strange Dance.

Meanwhile, ICYMI, The Smile, most prominent of the Radiohead offshoots, last week released their contribution to the essential Tiny Desk performance channel. The three track performance, which you can watch below takes in Pana-vision, The Smoke and Skrting On the Surface, and sees the core Yorke/Greenwood/Skinner trio augmented by Robert Stillman on sax.