The Inquisitr » radiohead

Radiohead may not make another album as their last LP nearly “killed” them

Bang — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:00:25 +0000

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has revealed the band aren’t ready or willing to throw themselves into the “creative hoo-ha” of recording a follow up to 2007s ‘In Rainbows’.

He said: “None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long play record again. Not straight off.

“I mean, it’s just become a real drag. It worked with ‘In Rainbows’, because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going.

“But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us.”

The band – which is comprised of Thom, guitarist Jonny Greenwood, drummer Phil Selway, bassist Colin Greenwood and guitarist Ed O’Brien – is not, however, totally defunct.

They released a new track via their website last week in tribute to the last British World War I veteran to pass away, Harry Patch, who died aged 111 last month.

All proceeds raised from the song, titled ‘Harry Patch (In Memory Of)’, will be donated to the Royal British Legion – the UK’s leading military charity.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the song, Thom said: “I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on BBC Radio 4.

“The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me. It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death. It was done live in an abbey. I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.

“It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us. I hope we do not forget.”

‘Harry Patch (In Memory Of)’ can be downloaded from Radiohead’s website www.radiohead.com/deadairspace

Online Movie Premiere: Will It Work?

JR — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:59:16 +0000

Hollywood is following the path of television networks with plans for an Internet-based movie premiere. Michael Moore has announced he’ll release his new project, an election-focused film called Slacker Uprising, exclusively on the Web — and for free, too. Downloads will be offered at no charge via Blip.tv for the first three weeks of release.

Moore’s movie takes viewers along his journey through 62 cities in the 20 U.S. “swing states” that could heavily influence the November vote. Moore speaks to crowds to try to encourage young “slackers” to register to vote — and, not surprisingly, stirs up some controversy along the way.

It’s a risky move for Moore, whose last two documentaries were two of the three most profitable in movie-making history. So will it pay off? Well, financially, probably not. There doesn’t seem to be any major monetization or ad profit plan in place. While Moore does intend to eventually sell DVDs of the project, that certainly can’t compare to the box office cash it would have brought in.

Still, for a guy who probably doesn’t need the money, it may just be worthwhile in the end. As with Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want online album release experiment, the exposure and publicity may outshine any lack of direct income. That, of course, more than pays off down the road. With people already flocking to watch television online, the idea of a free Web movie release undoubtedly plays to a demographic’s video-centric habits — and love him or hate him, the outspoken jolly king of the documentary world may have stumbled onto a smart strategy. I suspect it won’t be the last semi-mainstream Internet movie premiere, but rather the first in a trend that’ll only move upward.