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Colin Greenwood names The Bends in Radiohead's eighth newsletter
The new Radiohead album is called The Bends, Colin Greenwood writes in the eighth W.A.S.T.E., the band's quarterly newsletter and information service. It is out worldwide in March, on the 13th in Britain, and some of its songs will be familiar from recent gigs. A double A-side of “Planet Telex” and “High & Dry” comes first, on 27 February.
The band are also putting together Answerphone), their first official information pack, with a poster, a badge and a booklet of lyrics, biography, discography and a feature on the new album. It costs £5, and ten orders drawn on the day the album comes out win a prize.
“My Iron Lung” came out on 26 September, reached number 24 and has sold 30,000 copies. On the British tour behind it, in Glasgow, Phil Selway was taken for Thom Yorke's bodyguard. Two days after the last night, at Shepherds Bush Empire, they were in Bangkok in front of around 4,000 fans who knew every word of “My Iron Lung”. On 17 October they flew to Mexico City, for what Colin says was the first Mexican tour by an English band. Thom filmed images there for the new album's artwork, and “My Iron Lung” went into the Mexican chart at number 11.
Thom and Jonny Greenwood then played as a duo for the first time, at the Mercury Lounge in New York, Thom on acoustic guitar and Jonny on electric. A lone request for “Creep” was shouted down by the rest of the room. More duo dates followed in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle, where someone threw a boot at Thom's guitar.
Phil and the crew flew home from Mexico on their own. About four hours out, the captain announced a fire on board, shut down two of the four engines and brought the plane down in Boston, where fire engines and ambulances were waiting. Their guitar technician, Duncan Swift, was woken and told they had lost two engines.
How careless!
Duncan Swift1
He went back to sleep. There was no fire; badly packed vegetables in the hold had given off fumes that set off the alarms.
Provisional dates, as printed
| Date | Venue |
|---|---|
| February | Liverpool Lomax |
| 12 February | Oxford Apollo, with Supergrass and the Candyskins |
| 9 March | Cardiff University (Terminal 39) |
| 10 March | Bristol University |
| 11 March | Truro City Hall |
| 13 March | Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall |
| 14 March | Sheffield Hallam University |
| 15 March | Aberdeen Lemon Tree |
| 16 March | Glasgow Garage |
| 18 March | University of Central Lancashire |
| 19 March | Middlesbrough Town Hall |
| 20 March | Manchester University |
| 22 March | Norwich Waterfront |
| 23 March | Northampton Roadmender |
| 24 March | London Forum |
from the record
High and Dry · The promo, directed by David Mould.· Radioheadwatch on youtube →