Jonny Greenwood tells B-Side The Bends grew from demos and first takes

The Bends was made the way “Creep” was, Jonny Greenwood tells B-Side, from throwaway demos and first takes, with “My Iron Lung” recorded at a live show.

It all happened again, but 12 times over, which is part of the reason it turned out as well as it has, why we're so happy with it.

Jonny Greenwood¹

“High and Dry” is the clearest case. The band demoed it about 18 months earlier and forgot it, and it was their manager who revived it, though they thought it weak. Greenwood says it reminds him of Wings' “Mull of Kintyre”, a single he calls horrible in a good way, and he hopes people will play it when they first learn the guitar.

Thom Yorke calls John Leckie a genius whose job was to cure the band's fear of studios. Greenwood says Leckie demystified production, mostly let the band take charge and calmed them when they got out of their depth.

Yorke says this is the first time they have properly enjoyed being in a studio, and the record is more intimate than the debut, neither brash nor punk. He remembers a moment at the Manor when they all sat there feeling they had found their own sound.