The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Radiohead solo:
Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, November 25
Having sold more than 30 million albums worldwide as the drummer with legendary English rock band Radio head, Philip Selway has played some of the most famous venues in the world including Glastonbury, the Radio City Music Hall in New York and the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
When the 50-year-old musician brings his solo work to James Yorkston’s latest Tae Sup Wi A Fifer at the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy on November 25, however, it’ll be to one of the most intimate venues in the country – and he can’t wait!
“James is someone I’ve got to know over the years and it’s extremely flattering that he asked me,” explains Phil in an exclusive interview from his home in Oxfordshire.
“It’s just the idea he curates these bills and brings all these really interesting musicians together. “I’m really looking forward to it.” Born in Abingdon-on-Thames, Phil has been with Radiohead since the band formed in 1985, hitting the sticks on tracks like Creep, Fake Plastic Trees and Street Spirit.
He has fond memories of Scotland including Radiohead’s first festival headline slot at T in the Park in 1996, playing King Tut’s in Glasgow, and also Dundee’s Caird Hall in September 1997.
It was “fantastic” to be back at Glasgow Green for the TRNSMT Festival last summer and, in addition to promoting the release of the band’s ninth album A Moon Shaped Pool, they defied critics, and supporters of a cultural boycott, to play a controversial gig in Israel in July.
“I think we see music as a place to open up the dialogue (about Israel) rather than close it down,” says Selway when asked about the furore which saw Lundin Links-raised singer Thom Yorke become embroiled in a high profile public spat with film director Ken Loach.
It’s material from his three solo albums, however, that will be central to his one-off gig in Fife, where he will perform alongside cellist Laura Moodie.
Swapping drums for vocals, piano and guitar, Selway will perform haunting material from Familial and Weatherhouse, as well as tracks from his recently released soundtrack Let Me Go. It’s the soundtrack to the film of the same name which is based on Austrianborn Helga Schneider’s memoir. In it, she tracks down her mother Traudi only to discover she was a guard in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
“I was completely taken with the screenplay and the emotional complexity in there,” he says. “It’s really well written with an important message about war crimes being normalised. It’s a timely warning especially when you see the rise of right wing extremism.”