Colin Greenwood on Pictures of Lily

Colin Greenwood talks to Lily Moayeri at Capitol Records in Los Angeles in 1995, three weeks after The Bends came out in Britain, and she plays the tape on her podcast 30 years later. It was her only interview with Radiohead, and an editor in San Francisco insisted she take it; she had not liked Pablo Honey and, whatever everyone promised, did not like the new album either.

He tells her how The Bends was made. Recording began, as he remembers it, in March 1994 with a plan for two weeks, five songs and a choice of singles, the album to follow that September. The pressure caused tension, eight or nine weeks went by without a finished record, and they had to leave for a tour booked beforehand. Back home, they finished eight or nine tracks in two weeks. “Planet Telex” was built in the studio by Ed O'Brien and Thom Yorke from old loops, “High and Dry” is a demo about two and a half years old, and “My Iron Lung” was recorded live at the Astoria in London. The album takes its name from the title track, “The Bends”, which he says is about the time it takes to adjust to a new place; he adds the story of a diver called Mac, connected to their management, some of whose friends died of the bends.

America is going well, partly, he thinks, because people took them for an American band. The day before, an open-air show at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco drew about 4,000 people, who stood so quiet they seemed asleep on their feet. Bands he knows of who play Mexico do one gig, in Mexico City; in October 1994 Radiohead played seven gigs round the country instead, “taking it to the kids”, and he has been told the only other band to do that was Marillion.

His memory is shocking, he admits: numbers and dates stick, but not what he reads, and meeting so many people he forgets their names. Forgetting one once got him sworn at by a woman, after ten minutes' talk. A week later she sent her apologies, having found out he was in Radiohead and not a groupie or one of the crew, and he found that sad. He will remember Lily's name, he says, because his cousin's daughter is called Lily, and the girl came to a show on the British tour two and a half weeks ago.