Radiohead's first interview, as On a Friday, is reprinted in Oxford

The band's first interview, given to the Oxford magazine Curfew in December 1991 when they were still On a Friday, has been reprinted in EP Magazine, a free Oxford title. Ronan Munro, then Curfew's editor, wrote it. The interview counts 25 A&R scouts at the band's Jericho Tavern show that November, every one of them paying at the door. An end-of-October show there had drawn a decent crowd and someone from EMI. The reprint's new introduction notes that the Tavern, the Venue and Curfew itself have all closed since. The band, with “Just” their latest single, are touring the world with R.E.M.

The band had recorded a five-song session at Courtyard Studios with Chris Hufford. Colin Greenwood says Hufford came to a Jericho gig on a mutual friend's tip and was almost trembling afterwards, calling them the best band he had seen in three years. The tape was to sell at Manic Hedgehog for £3. A show at the Poly went less well, with a thin crowd, bad sound and a set cut short.

The band name Buzzcocks, R.E.M., the Fall and, possibly as a joke, Peter Paul and Mary as shared influences. Thom Yorke says Oxford shapes his writing heavily, and names “Jerusalem” and “Everybody Lies Through Their Teeth” as songs about the city.

We're not going to sit around and wait and just be happy if something turns up. We are ambitious. You have to be.

Thom Yorke¹