Thom Yorke on The Brit Awards

Thom Yorke talks to Mark Goodier backstage, introduced as one of the silent men of British music and not much inclined to change that.

The band were there for the Freddie Mercury Award, given for the War Child project they had contributed to. He is glad the one occasion they had to stand up was for that award, because amid the pomp, the ceremony and what he calls the general flatulence of the night, it seemed the only genuine thing happening. The award belongs to all the artists involved, he says, and it is being passed from hand to hand rather than kept at anyone's house.

Asked whether he copes with showbusiness, he concedes that he does not, wonders aloud whether they manage without it either, and admits he gets confused about what the evening is for.

On the follow-up to The Bends, they are taking their time, because as far as he can work out he needs to go through another period of decompression first.