Colin Greenwood on BBC Radio Gloucestershire

Colin Greenwood has never given a talk to students before, and the BBC Radio Gloucestershire presenter catching him beforehand, at the University of Gloucestershire for BBC Introducing, gives him butterflies by mentioning students who look up to him. He is there to answer the things he wanted to know himself at 17 or 18. Getting a deal wasn't that easy when Radiohead were starting out, he says; it comes down to “determination and good music and luck, which is like what happens if you have the first two”.

In Oxford there were good promoters and gigs, and Ride, Swervedriver, Supergrass and the Candyskins to show it could be done. Asked to tip a star of the future, he admits he still listens to James Brown, then names Charlie Cunningham, guitar and voice, the opening act and his favourite performance of the Independent Venue Week night he put on at the Jericho Tavern three weeks earlier. As for the talk, he'll be fine, he says. He'll take the beta blockers.