EARTH TONES
Radiohead guitarist scratches a musical itch with his new solo album
As one of the five members making up Radiohead, Ed O’Brien thought he’d scratched every musical itch he could have had strumming guitar for the legendary British art-rockers.
But close to a decade ago, in between 2011’s The King of Limbs and 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool, he started to feel something was missing.“With all the amazing stuff I’ve been able to do as part of Radiohead, I realized there was a little bit of a hole. But I didn’t know what it was and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t feeling fulfilled,” he said from the U.K. Decamped to Brazil, where he has lived periodically throughout the years, he started sketching out musical ideas in 2013 that would form the spine for Earth, his debut solo LP released under the moniker EOB. Just days before the coronavirus pandemic started to lockdown parts of the world, the 52-year-old spoke about how Earth reinvigorated him.
Q As part of Radiohead, I would have thought you could have brought any musical idea you might have had to the table. How did the need to strike out on your own first come to you?
A I obviously have had a great journey as part of Radiohead and I contribute there, but I guess it was never enough. There was a feeling that something was missing. As soon as the songwriting started in 2013, I realized what that was. That was what the hole was. I hadn’t been fully me and I hadn’t been my full, creative self.
Q When you were writing the songs that make up Earth, did you ever think, “This is something that might be better suited to Radiohead?”
A Initially I did think I could bring some of these songs to Radiohead. Then I realized when I listened to the demos that it was a different energy from Radiohead. Radiohead has a distinct energy and this comes form a different place. The energy you bring to something has a huge effect on the outcome of the music you’re making. So I quickly realized I needed to do this myself and bring in my own team. It’s very much about my energy and me as a person and how I walk the planet and how I am as a human being.
Q I read that at one point you considered having other people sing the songs, including Thom Yorke, your Radiohead bandmate. When did you realize you had to sing the songs, as well?
A I was lucky to be working with (producer) Ian Davenport on the demos. He asked me who would sing and when I told him I wasn’t sure he encouraged me to do it. I resisted, but we did about three or four sessions, and this was about a week before Radiohead reconvened to make A Moon Shaped Pool in 2014, and in that week when I was demoing with him, I listened to one of my vocals and I thought, “Maybe I can do this.” Then when I brought Flood (Mark Ellis) onboard to produce, he was supremely confident in my ability to deliver the songs.
Q Radiohead formed in 1985 when you were all still teens in Oxford. What do you think was the key to the band’s longevity?
A I think intentions and integrity and authenticity were the key ingredients. They guide you in a way that keeps you grounded. When we made OK Computer, there were people who expected The Bends 2. The same thing happened with Kid A, there were people who wanted another OK Computer. I think those musical responses were a result of us saying, “Where do we go next?” It didn’t feel right for us to repeat ourselves and that was an authentic response. The careerist move would have been to make a record that sounded the same. Listeners wouldn’t have had to make an adjustment and it might have been even bigger. That is a well-trodden route. But we took more of a (David) Bowie approach which was to say to ourselves, “Where do we feel is the right place to be?” So I think it’s good intentions, integrity and authenticity. I think if you really honour that and follow that then you have an interesting journey. It’s a journey that will have its ups and downs, but it’s a proper journey. I think that’s what Radiohead has had and I think that’s what happened with us all as solo artists.
Q Thinking back to that teenager who first started out in Radiohead, what would he think of where you are now in 2020?
A I think he’d be quite surprised. I wasn’t the most confident of people and I’m still not. The young Ed was just content to play the guitar. He’d look now at the older Ed and he’d think, “Wow, you’re singing? And you’re loving it?” I think that would really surprise him. But he’d like it.