The circle

The sixth member

Nigel Godrich

Producer & engineer

Has produced every Radiohead album since OK Computer (1997), after engineering The Bends. He plays in Atoms for Peace, and the band played twice on his studio series From the Basement.

In the studio13

Everyone between the band and the finished record, from the desk to the strings.

• Paul Kolderie & Sean SladeProducers · Pablo HoneyProduced most of Pablo Honey (1993), “Creep” included, and mixed most of The Bends.
• John LeckieProducer · The BendsProduced The Bends (1995), every track but “High and Dry”.
• Darrell ThorpEngineer · mixerEngineered Hail to the Thief, sharing the 2004 Best Engineered Album Grammy with Godrich, and assisted on The King of Limbs.
• Graeme StewartEngineerEngineered on Kid A and Amnesiac, recorded the first Hail to the Thief sessions (the tape loops on “The Gloaming” are his) and ran the In Rainbows pre-production.
• Sam Petts-DaviesEngineerRecording engineer on A Moon Shaped Pool (2016). He went on to produce The Smile's Wall of Eyes (2024) in place of Godrich.
• Bob LudwigMasteringMastered Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows and A Moon Shaped Pool at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine.
• Chris BlairMastering · Abbey RoadMastered the early run (Pablo Honey through Kid A) at Abbey Road.
• Nick IngmanStrings conductorConducted the strings on OK Computer (1997).
• John LubbockOrchestra of St John’sHis Orchestra of St John's played the strings on Kid A (“How to Disappear Completely”) and Amnesiac.
• Robert ZieglerConductor · orchestratorConducted the strings on “Codex”, and arranged a suite from Jonny Greenwood's Norwegian Wood score for the 2011 Film Music Prom.
• London Contemporary OrchestraStrings & choirThe strings and choir across A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), in Jonny Greenwood's arrangements.
• Hugh BruntConductor · LCOConducted the London Contemporary Orchestra on A Moon Shaped Pool.
• Sally HerbertStrings · In RainbowsConducted the Millennia Ensemble strings on In Rainbows (2007).

On the road5

The second drummer, and the crew who have been with the band for decades.

• Clive DeamerSecond drummer, livePlayed a second kit beside Phil Selway on stage from 2011 to 2018. He also drums in Portishead.
• Andi WatsonLighting & stage designHas designed the band's lighting and stage for decades: the all-LED In Rainbows rig, the A Moon Shaped Pool tour.
• Jim WarrenFront-of-house soundThe band's live sound engineer since the early 1990s, who also recorded and co-produced “High and Dry”.
• Graham LeesMonitor engineerMixed the band's monitors on the Hail to the Thief tour, whose sound was up for a TEC Award in 2004.
• Peter ‘Plank’ ClementsGuitar techThe band's senior instrument technician, looking after the guitars since the mid-1990s.

The look10

Stanley Donwood's sleeves, and everyone who put the songs on film or in a photograph.

• Stanley DonwoodArtwork & identityHas made every cover since the My Iron Lung EP (1994) with Thom, who signs his share Dr Tchock. The bear and the minotaur are theirs.
• Jonathan GlazerVideo directorDirected the videos for “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” and “Karma Police”.
• Chris HopewellVideo directorStop-motion director of “There There” (2003) and “Burn the Witch” (2016).
• Paul Thomas AndersonVideo directorDirected the “Daydreaming” video (2016) and Thom's short film Anima (2019). Jonny scores his films.
• Michel GondryVideo directorDirected the single-take “Knives Out” (2001).
• Garth JenningsVideo directorDirected “Lotus Flower”, and “Jigsaw Falling into Place” with Adam Buxton.
• Grant GeeFilm-makerMade the “No Surprises” video and the tour documentary Meeting People Is Easy (1998).
• ShynolaAnimation studioAnimated “Pyramid Song” and many of the Kid A blips.
• Wayne McGregorChoreographerChoreographed Thom's dance in “Lotus Flower”.
• Colin GreenwoodPhotographerPhotographed the other four from inside the band; the pictures became How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead (2024).

The machine5

The business side, from the two managers who have been there since 1991 to the band's mail-order shop.

• Chris HuffordCo-manager · CourtyardCo-manager from 1991, after he saw On a Friday play Oxford's Jericho Tavern; he also produced the Drill EP.
• Bryce EdgeCo-manager · CourtyardHufford's partner at Courtyard Management, and co-manager of the band with him since 1991.
• Richard RussellXL RecordingsHead of XL Recordings, the independent label that put In Rainbows on CD outside North America and has released the band since.
• Dilly GentVideo commissionerCommissioned the band's videos, and passed Jonathan Glazer's “Karma Police” idea to them after Marilyn Manson turned it down. She also produced Nigel Godrich's From the Basement sessions.
• W.A.S.T.E.MerchandiseThe band's own mail-order operation, sharing its name with the secret post in Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49.

Beyond the five13

Side bands and guest spots, and the people the five made them with.

• The SmileThom · Jonny · Tom SkinnerThom and Jonny with the drummer Tom Skinner, whom Jonny first asked to play in 2018. The band were first heard in 2021 and made three albums from 2022 to 2024.
• Atoms for PeaceThom · Flea · GodrichThom with Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco; they made one album, Amok (2013).
• JununJonny Greenwood projectJonny with Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express, recorded inside a Rajasthan fort (2015).
• PJ HarveyDuetSang “This Mess We're In” with Thom on her Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000).
• FleaBass · Atoms for PeaceThe Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist who anchored Atoms for Peace. Thom co-wrote and sings “Traffic Lights” on Flea's first solo album, Honora (2026).
• Tom SkinnerDrums · The SmileThe jazz drummer (Sons of Kemet) who completes The Smile.
• BjörkDuetDuetted with Thom on “I've Seen It All” from Selmasongs (2000), an Oscar nominee.
• Hans ZimmerComposerReworked “Bloom” with the band as “(ocean) bloom” for Blue Planet II (2017).
• Burial & Four TetProducersMade the “Ego” / “Mirror” 12-inch with Thom Yorke (2011).
• ModeselektorElectronic duoThom features on two tracks of their Monkeytown (2011).
• UNKLEJames Lavelle · DJ ShadowThom sang “Rabbit in Your Headlights” on their Psyence Fiction (1998).
• Mark LinkousSparklehorseThom sang on Sparklehorse's 1997 cover of “Wish You Were Here”, his vocal recorded down a hotel phone line.
• Robert Del NajaMassive AttackScored the documentary The UK Gold (2013) alongside Thom.

In their debt5

Musicians who have said in public what Radiohead meant to them. Most never played a note with the band, so they hold a red quotation mark instead of a tool.

• Michael StipeR.E.M.R.E.M. took a young Radiohead on tour in 1995; Stipe's advice to Thom, “I'm not here, this isn't happening”, became a song.
• Chris MartinColdplayTold the Detroit Free Press in 2005 that he sees Radiohead cutting a path through the jungle and Coldplay coming along behind to pave it.
• Matt BellamyMuseHas answered the Radiohead comparison since before Muse's first album. In 2004 he allowed it some sense, since Muse had worked with John Leckie, producer of The Bends.
• TV on the RadioBandTitled their 2002 demo collection OK Calculator, a nod to OK Computer.
• Sigur RósBandOpened European nights of the 2000 big-top tour and later shared a Merce Cunningham dance commission with the band.

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