Rolling Stone's cover story finds Radiohead rehearsing “The Reckoner”

Radiohead are on the cover of Rolling Stone issue 874, dated 2 August, and David Fricke's story catches them with a new song. At Bray Studios, a film complex on the Thames outside London, the band spent a late-May afternoon running nearly 30 songs from their last four albums for the summer tour, and tried out one called “The Reckoner”. Colin Greenwood says Thom Yorke has another, “Bring On the New Blood”, about these multiplatinum artists hooking up with the latest French disco producer to do their new record¹.

“Like Spinning Plates”, Fricke reports, is another unreleased song, “I Will”, played in reverse, and Yorke learned to sing the backward melody forwards.

Chris Hufford, one of the band's three managers with Bryce Edge and Brian Message, explains how decisions get made. When all five like an idea, it goes ahead; if two like it and three think it rubbish, it goes nowhere.

And Thom definitely has the veto.

Chris Hufford¹

After the shows in Europe and Japan, which run into October, nothing is booked. Hufford says the band plan six months ahead at most. The calendar is completely empty.¹ Jonny Greenwood says they will never give up playing live.

If we stopped playing live, we'd lose half of what we are.

Jonny Greenwood¹