WEBVTT - Ep 91: Ed O'Brien, Radiohead 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.760 I love being in Radiohead and contributing stuff like that, 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:08.360 but if I'm really really honest, for me, there was 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:12.080 something that's just missing Evening everyone. 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.440 I hope wherever you're listening to this, you are staying 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:19.800 safe and staying sane. Tonight's episode of the podcast was 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:24.560 recorded in the second week of January, which, with everything 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.000 going on I'm sure you'll agree now feels like a 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:32.000 lifetime ago, given that we're now into April and a 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.960 huge chunk of the world's population is living in lockdown. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.839 Ed O'Brien from Radiohead is my guest this evening, and 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.879 in recent weeks Ed has been unwell with what he 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:49.440 suspects was coronavirus. He had the symptoms. I was very 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.960 pleased and relieved to watch a video that he posted 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:55.520 on social media at the end of March saying that 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.440 he'd recovered and was feeling much better. So sending my 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.680 best wish to Ed and everyone else in fact who's 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.559 been affected by what's going on right now. Like I said, 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.720 this midnight chat was done before most of us had 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:14.000 even heard of social distancing. Recorded early in this new decade, 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.120 the very beginning of twenty twenty, Ed has made a 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:22.319 solo album under the name Eob. It's called Earth and 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.560 comes out on the seventeenth of April. We talk a 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.440 bit about why he's chosen, now thirty odd years into 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.480 the career of Radiohead to share this debut and so 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:37.399 much more. Thank you to Ed for being so immediately 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:42.080 warm and open, especially talking about his experiences with depression 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.160 and self confidence. I'm sure lots of big Radiohead fans 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.160 will be tuning into this, and Ed was forthcoming talking 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.040 about the band, but also I hope you'll get something 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.520 out of this, even if you're not. Ed Sheeran, Glastonbury, 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:00.320 male rock star cliches, and the age of authenticity. There 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.680 are his thoughts on lots of other topics during our chat. 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.120 If you're a first time listener to Midnight Chats, please 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.520 do subscribe wherever you're listening to this to get all 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.000 of the new conversations we put out. It's great when 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.080 people share links and review the podcast. Normally i'd stick 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:21.560 a plug in here for Loud and Quiet, the music magazine, 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:25.760 a website we make alongside this, But right now, like 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:28.680 so many of us small businesses, we are spending a 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.560 bit of time just figuring out what the hell we're 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.960 going to do so. In the meantime, there is now 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.080 a donate button on the website Loud and Quiet dot 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.520 com if you do want to support what we do. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.519 But on with tonight's podcast. This is episode ninety one 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:51.520 of Midnight Chats with Ed O'Brien. Ed, Welcome to Midnight Chats. 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:52.480 It's a pleasure to have you on. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:53.120 Thank you. 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.200 How has twenty twenty started for you? Has it started 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.280 in relaxed fashion or has it been busy from the outset? 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:05.280 Started off? It was a good Christmas. I if I'm honest, 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.919 I struggled as we entered this new decade. I went 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:14.520 through one of my kind of quite rare patches of 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.560 being sort of feeling quite despondent about it all. I mean, 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.160 and now I feel much better, And I don't know, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.960 maybe that's also you know, when you feel crap, that 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.520 can also be you've eaten too much at Christmas. But 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.480 I definitely felt you know, usually when you enter a 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:32.880 new decade, there's a big fanfare, isn't There's a lot 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.160 of the years ahead, but there's nothing of this, and 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.640 I think, you know, I'm definitely feeling what a lot 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:45.320 of people feel apprehensive, nervous, unsure. It's been a balance. 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.840 Come on, talking about the album that you're releasing, it's 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.040 actually full of quite a lot of optimism generally speaking. 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.600 But when you're going through a period like that, do 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:56.560 you have any kind of rituals to just get yourself 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.680 to sort of think more optimistically, kind of get yourself 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.320 out of that FuG that kind of negative thought cycle. 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.920 Well, I mean, I do a lot of things. I've 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:07.720 been doing a lot of things for quite a long 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:12.160 time that really really helped me. So for instance, a 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.000 big thing for me that I started seventeen eighteen years 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.440 ago as meditation, So that's kind of I have things 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.800 like that, and I ran and do exercise, and I 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.039 tried to eat while I've tried to eliminate sugars. There 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.680 are all these things that you know, twenty years ago, 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.680 for a long time, I suffered from depression, and I 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.200 realized that it wasn't like a chronic depression, but it 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:39.760 was like this low level depression. And I took out 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:41.680 a lot of stuff and that's when I gave up 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.320 drinking about seventeen eighteen years ago. That was the first 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.000 thing you got, Oh god, I feel so much better 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:51.400 already and then suddenly like, ah, certain foods and taking 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:53.120 out sugars was a massive thing for me. I had 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.080 this thing called Candida, which some of your listers might 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.679 know about or not have, and it's it's pretty that's 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.720 big links to depression there as well. So it's kind 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:05.719 of rare that it hits. So when it hits, and 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.080 it was, it was like going back, it's just And 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:12.719 so I think I've got to the stage now where 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.200 I think it's important, you know, to be a human 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.359 being on this planet. I think if I was to 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.200 go around going, oh, well, you know, it's all okay, 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.039 it's all going to be okay, it's like you're not 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.039 really feeling it, you know, and it is hard, and 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.640 it doesn't matter. Listen, and I keep on saying this, 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.440 you know, my life and the life that I lived, 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.440 I've won the lottery, you know, But I do say this, 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.760 if I'm feeling it, Christ knows what other people who 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.920 don't have the good fortune that I have and the 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.359 life that I've lived and the you know. And also 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:49.400 it goes back to the other thing. We are all 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.440 connected in this. It doesn't matter how you know, how 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.280 comfortable your life is, well, we're all connected to what's 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:59.960 going on, and there's no doubt that what's going on is. 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:00.560 A huge change. 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:04.320 There's a massive This period in history will be looked 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:08.240 at as a pivotal point in the history of humanity, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.080 no doubt about it. And so you need to feel 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.080 And for me, it was just like, okay, I need 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.000 to feel like, I need to feel this. I am 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.840 genuinely and generally an optimistic person. I do have incredible 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:29.080 faith in humanity human beings. However, there are times when 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:36.680 it just seems overwhelmingly shit and sorry to get so heavy, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.039 I have to be honest about this, and it's kind 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.920 of it, but I think it's important because it's important 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.920 to feel that. I think only through that can you 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.839 be empathetic and have compassion for people genuinely if you 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.680 feel that. So when you get this periods, that for 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.720 me is the moment to try and go for walks, 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.160 just simplify, you know, sit by a fire, read a book, bok. 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.320 I read an amazing book. I was very lucky I've been. 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.800 It's a book called The Over Story by Richard Powers, 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.680 which is the best book I've read for years, and 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.840 it's so prescient it's so now. And that was again 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:18.560 the timing of that was absolutely perfect. And I've sort 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.480 of finished the book, and as I finished the book, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.560 my sort of the darkness left. When you say what 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:26.960 are the things? There are many things, and there are 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.080 many things that I do to stay optimistic, to stay 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.640 just to stay hopeful, because I think again being hopeful 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.559 at this time is a really really important thing. Hope 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.160 is what we need because hope inspires you, It motivates you, 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:39.520 doesn't it. 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.200 I think it's interesting what you're saying about how you 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.280 have to engage, because not engaging and kind of pretending 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.600 it's not happening is to not be part of the 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.920 solution or move things forward. So what do you do 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.440 in those periods? Do you kind of do you find 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.160 you do have to back away from watching the evening 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.720 news or going on Twitter for a couple of days, 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.920 or just to sort of have this momentary quiet and 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:05.160 then jump back into it. 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.360 Yeah, I think you have to be good, as they say, 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.920 good gatekeeper. I mean I avoid Twitter anyway. I mean 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.920 I've got a starting a presence, but I first, for instance, 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:17.040 if it's social media, it would be Instagram. It just 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.600 seems to be the energy that it seems to be nicer. 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:22.720 So Twitter is a bit of a shit fest, and 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:25.840 I just I avoid it and the evening news and 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.680 the papers. So read the papers, I don't read it, 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.440 don't read them during the week. I might hear the 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.760 news on the radio. Again, you have to be careful. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.680 And I went through a period when I realized this 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.120 sort of twenty odd years ago that I had this 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.960 depression that had been and it got quite a cute 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.680 around the time of after you know, the touring of 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.760 Okay Computer and it was as much as well, it 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.520 was a crisis in the way I was living my 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:53.880 life and all that stuff. And these things can be 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.160 I look at them as opportunities as well, Like when 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.360 you hit a crisis, well, it usually means that there's 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.920 a reason you got You've got to change what's doing 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.840 so and I learned then to be a good gatekeeper. 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.080 I mean, for five six years in the sort of 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.680 the early noughties, I didn't read a paper, I didn't 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.200 see any news because it all became too much. And 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.200 i'd been sort of, you know, not a heavy activist, 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.000 but mild activism based to have gone the may daw rallies 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.560 and I think it was the two thousand and three 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.400 Iraq war that was sort of the It was around 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.640 that time that that was the sort of a watershed 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:31.160 moment for me, because there's a time when I gave 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:32.720 up drinking. It was a time when I had to 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.000 and I realized, you know, we'd had the whole nine 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:41.479 to eleven thing, and I realized how upset and disappointed 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.360 I was with our young government at the time and 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:50.120 the politicians and our political and business elites. That everybody 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:52.720 at that time, two million of us all and plus 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.880 those who didn't march, all knew what was going on 0:09:56.160 --> 0:10:01.880 about that Iraq invasion, the potential invasion, and the Prime 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:06.600 minister at the time, Blair and his inner cabal decided 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.840 that they'd already aligned with George Bush and we all know, 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:15.559 we know the story, despite his protestations, they declared. And 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:18.600 for me, and I'm a student as well, I studied 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:23.400 politics and economics at university, so I had a great 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.400 interest in politics and stuff like that. And after that, I 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.560 was just like, this is shit, this is absolutely bollocked. 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:29.160 So I stopped. 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.800 So again, I digressed slightly. I had a great trainer 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.400 about ten years ago and he said, Listen, you don't 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.720 help the world by going down your if your energy 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:42.160 is crap and you think you don't help the world, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.800 So you have to do You have to pull yourself 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.040 out and do those things that make you more buoyant, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.920 make you a human being that can help this planet 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:53.120 and where we are. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.920 What kind of hopeful things are you concentrating on? Then? 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.760 Is that things like looking at the young people around 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:00.959 me and you've got a young family, Like looking at 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.240 school children protesting against climate change and hitting the streets 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.440 of London in the autumn last year, you kind of 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.600 do do you zone in one of those things and think, no, 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.400 I'm going to positive, My positive energy is going to 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:11.280 join their positive edgy. 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.880 That's how I'm feeling, totally, boy, and lots of things. 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.920 Black lives matter me too. I mean, for all the 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.280 crap that's happening, and this is the thing that I 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:21.880 and this and it's not and this is the thing, 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.320 it's not holding onto it. What seems to be what 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:27.760 I think, But what seems to be happening is we're 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:32.440 going through this huge moment of change and this system 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:36.599 that we're all part of, you know, this current economic 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.880 structure and I'm not going to stay capitalism because that 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.439 immediately puts in the anti capitalism. You know, it's not socialism, 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.000 not this economic structure which socialism has been a part 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.000 of as well as well as capitalism. It doesn't work. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.120 This is the thing that people realize. It's it doesn't 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.560 serve ninety nine percent of humanity, and it certainly doesn't 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.360 serve the planet. So I think what's happening is this 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:04.320 is the moment that it's breaking up. So that's why 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:06.680 you've got all this change and all this chaos and stuff. 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.840 But there are amazing things like the Me Too movement, 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:15.400 like Black Lives Matter, like Greta Turnberg, like the schools, 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.520 these things, and this is powerful stuff, and it's got 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.280 a different energy from say when I was a student. 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.120 When I was a student, you know, in the eighties, 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:27.400 it was on the back of things like the minor 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.000 strike eighty four. I went to the university in Manchester 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:33.360 eighty seven. It was quite a politicized environment, but it 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.679 was all about the energy. It was really interesting and 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:38.000 it was what I grew up. It was all about 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.560 a fight. It's all about the struggle. And you know, 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.680 I used to go on these demos and anti war marches, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:47.120 and you know, I remember great Clause twenty eight march 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:51.200 in Manchester, which was the government was going to stop 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.120 teaching or I can't even remember, but I knew, well, 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.000 I knew it was anti it was anti gay. So 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.080 it's I got to stand up for you know, our 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.840 brothers and sisters, that community. And I think the difference 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.000 is now that the energy is different. I mean it's 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.760 different times, but it was always a fight. And I 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.760 think when you meet force with force, I've learnt this 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.120 in life. If you go into a situation and you say, 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.600 fuck you, I'm going to fight you, all you do 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:22.360 is you cause more you meet that other force and 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.240 it just gets bigger and bigger, and it then becomes 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:30.079 all about it's about how how much force have you gotten? 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:31.880 You know, if you've got the if you're the government 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.440 or your paws me, you've got more force. So that's 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:39.320 how it always ends. So after the march on Iraq, 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.400 I sort of I didn't. In fact, this year with 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.600 extinction Rebellum was the first time. So however many years, 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.319 what sixteen years, the first time i'd sort of gone 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.400 out and gone out on the streets because again I 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.520 was like, antie this thing, and what did that achieve? 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:00.320 What did that march achieve? Absolutely nothing? Absolutely nothing, a 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.560 moment of solidarity with a lot of people. I read 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.360 this quote and it was from Mother Teresa and she said, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.000 and it's a very subtle thing, and she said, I 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.560 won't go on any anti war march, but I'll go 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:16.400 on every pro peace march. And I was like, Oh, 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.920 what's the difference. No, there's actually a big difference, because 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:24.480 one is by antis meeting forces force That's where I'd 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.840 come from. The pro piece thing is no, this is 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:29.920 the vision, this is the thing that I want, This 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.080 is the and that's the energy that I'm going to direct. 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.200 Does that make sense? And then I'm like, oh, and 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.720 I think that's what the new. So when I I 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.920 went last year, I was like extinction of bell and 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:44.760 I this is it, this is and the way they're 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.400 doing it was beautiful and brilliant and it was I 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.920 went to see some of them in their offices that 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:52.840 were offices, you know, their rooms. 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:54.280 It was really interesting. 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:58.600 The energy was so different and very lots and lots 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.720 of kind of if I can say, female energy, which 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.360 a lot of the old activism seemed to be very 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:09.040 male and it was stuck in that kind of again 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:13.680 struggle fight, and it's different these I think what's really 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:17.440 interesting now is the is the activism is taking a 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.440 far more enlightened form. And you know, and I think 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:24.640 the emergence of again fam to what I'm trying to find, 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.360 but that feminine energy, it's like it's more enlightened. The 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.840 guys tend to result to, you know, that kind of 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:33.040 you know, again, you look at all the crap that's 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:35.200 going on in the world. You know, it's a very 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.800 basic thing. If you do statistics, it's all young men. 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.200 It's fucking all men, you know, I mean, you know, 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.120 I know it's a really obvious thing to say, but 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.400 you know, after years of studying politics and you look 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:50.000 at it, it's usually men. You know that what's going on? 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.400 That general who was just blitz by an American cruise 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:58.640 missile or whatever or drone, he was a warmongering Iran engin, 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.360 Who's the presents a man. I don't want to get 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.360 too much into it, but I am hopeful because I think, actually, 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:09.920 again another bigger pictures, the world needs more females. It 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.040 needs more, you know, it needs more you know, and 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.720 it has been a patriarchy for thousands of years, there's 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:17.960 no doubt about it. But for me, it feels like 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.480 it's changing and people are waking up to that. 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:23.520 These are causes. Some of the causes that have kind 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:27.600 of almost come into that have developed into bigger conversations, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.960 say the last couple of years, we're talking about climate change, 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:35.400 for example, music declares emergency, extinction, rebellion. These are topics. 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.880 These are areas that you've kind of been banging the 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.400 drum for for quite a long time, like in terms 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.280 of your own activism and radio head as well in 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.440 terms of the charities and people that you've chosen to 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.720 work with over the years. So in that sense, you 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:49.880 just please to see some of this rise to the 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.200 surface and just see some encouraging signs on that front 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.160 because you were out there on your own, perhaps doing 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:54.720 it for a while. 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:56.720 You know, I don't think we were out there on 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.480 our own. I think it was just bloody obvious. It's 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.920 just like you just have to have an like make 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.120 trade fair and all this stuff and green peace, and 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.720 it's just it's not rocket science. I mean, we didn't 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.399 discover this stuff. We were just reading about it, and 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.320 we you know, and you notice what's going on in 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.800 the world, and you go, this needs to be changed. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.480 This seems incredibly unfair, This seems unbalanced, This doesn't seem right. 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.720 So I don't think we were particularly No, I just 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.160 think it's I know, I just feel like, I don't 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:32.360 know whether I'm happy. I'm just I think it's inspiring 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:36.080 to see so many young people. And I think that 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.399 is the big thing this generation, the millennials, even in 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.359 the Generation z's as they call them, and then the 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.920 kids to follow. They're different and they're you know, and 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.159 you hear all these cliches about people like saying, oh 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.080 the kids are they're in But I think there's so 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:51.879 much truth in that. 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:52.720 I really do. 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.080 They're different and maybe you know, we grew up so 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.320 I was born in sixty eight. Britain in the seventies 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.600 was a pretty you know, even I grew up in 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.600 middle class Oxford, it was there was a lot of darkness. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:05.320 You know. 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.399 You might you know, you might have you had material company, 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.320 like there was food on your plane and stuff like that, 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.680 but you didn't have I think emotionally, as a society 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:19.879 we've developed a lot more kids weren't your emotional needs 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.800 weren't met. I came from a split family. Nowadays, if 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:28.520 you had split family, there would be concern about the kids, 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:30.520 and the kids might even have someone to talk to. 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.639 Back in seventy eight, when my parents split up, I 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:35.840 had one uncle who gave me twenty quid. 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:38.359 And said, I feel you feel for you, Eddie. So 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:40.639 I think it was. 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.760 But I think the kids nowadays, you know, obviously there 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:45.560 are a lot of kids who have a lot of shit, 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.320 and particularly in the cities and particularly on you know, 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.960 the ones living below the poverty. But in terms the 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:55.280 middle classes, I think their emotional needs are a lot 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:59.119 better met. Parents give kids a lot more attention now is, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.800 and I think that means that they grow up having 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.399 a sense of self and knowing and feels feelings secure 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.680 in themselves, which we never did. And they don't spend 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.159 the first thirty years of their lives going around like 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.040 headless chickens like we are, like fuck, I'm fuck, I'm 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.240 gonna drink'm gonna drugs, you know what, to fill a 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.360 kind of an emotional hole, whereas kids now like go, yeah, 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:20.199 I don't need I feel good, I'm pretty, you know, 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.239 and that's great, and that's really good. So I think 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.000 there's a I think that's a big change. And it 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.920 was interesting when when the occupy stuff happened. My wife 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:30.920 and I used to we had little kids, so we 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.480 couldn't you know, but you know, got to know someone 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:34.920 and said how can we help? Well, we took down 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.000 some calor gas gas canisters for their cooking down to 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.159 where they were down in Saint Paul's. And what was 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:43.639 really interesting like the woman that I got to know, 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.359 she's like twenty seven twenty eight, and the relationship and 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.880 she was so cool and and like a millennial and 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.800 like really like again her energized like it was like 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:55.200 you know that horrible thing that people say you seem 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.920 wise beyond your years. Well, I knew very few people 0:19:58.000 --> 0:19:59.920 twenty seven twenty eight who had her kind of wiz 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.600 to them and her kind of but it was interesting 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:05.160 because she has an amazing relationship with her parents where 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.160 and I talked to about it and she'd go like, well, mean, yeah, 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:12.080 like they take an interest in my emotions that like, ah, 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.640 maybe there's this correlation. I'm you know, amateur psychology. 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:17.199 There the fact that we're going to talk about a 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.800 new album that you're releasing is not even connected. But 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:21.880 it's not all the stuff that we just talked about, 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.320 because thematically there are many levels to it. There is 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.720 the personal, but there's also this very much the sense 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:30.560 of the bigger picture. I mean, the album's called Earth, right, yeah, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.199 so the minute shy of kind of human relationships and 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:35.879 the things that are close to you on a day 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:38.439 to day basis, and then something much bigger. There's a 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.880 sense of something much bigger going on, which is exactly 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:42.840 what we've just been talking about, isn't it. I suppose 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:44.600 the first question on the subject of the album is 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.280 kind of an obvious one that you know, having been 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:49.640 in the band, haven't been in Radiohead for thirty five 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.479 odd years now, nine albums done? Why now to release 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.040 your debut? So no record. 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.640 That's a good question because it doesn't make a lot 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.200