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Pictures
(click
to enlarge)
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| Upstairs
above the studio. Two posters in a lounge- type room. |
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| Control
panel for the control room downstairs in the studio building. |
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| A
room upstairs above the studio which has tv, playstation, etc... |
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| In
the office building looking at one of the walls. |
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| When
looking at the control panel, turn 90 degress right and this
is what you see. |
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| When
looking at the control panel, turn 180 degrees and the guitars
are what is behind you. |
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| In
the studio itself, downstairs in the studio building. Many more
mics than these. |
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| Still
in the studio I believe. |
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| Yet
another wall of the office. |
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| Room
inbetween the studio and control room. |
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On July 11th,
I left ěNew Englandî in the States to vacation in ěOld Englandî as
well as other parts of the United Kingdom. I was in the UK for about
2 weeks and visiting many places around Britain. It was really a great
vacation as I found the English lifestyle and culture very appealing.
I wonít bore you with all the details of my trip, just speak of the
most important and memorable part of the vacation.
On July 20th, I spent the day in Oxford. Overall, Oxford was one of
my favorite places in England. After shopping around and visiting
the University during the day, I had the idea of trying to find Radioheadís
well-known recording studio outside of Abingdon, from an address I
had. It took about 20 minutes to get from Oxford to Abingdon. Finding
the studio from here took relatively very little time. (Two things:
The studio is not actually in the town of Abingdon, but outside of
it, and if you would like the address of the studio, feel free to
e-mail and ask for it.) The studio was fairly small. The town was
a very ěCotswalts (sp?)î looking town, and in the middle of it was
a white complex that looked extremely modern. There were maybe 8 different
rooms in this complex. But when I arrived the only section of the
building that was open was the exact address I had. I thought for
sure that it would be closed seeing how it was around 6 p.m. I made
my way into the two-story office and saw it to be a very busy place.
The inside of the office was a Radiohead rarity collectorís paradise.
The walls were not visible because of all the awards and plaques for
Radiohead. I can even begin to explain how overwhelmed I was at this
point. There were a dozen signed posters hanging up on the walls along
with those rare golden CDís that the record company gives to the band.
There were plaques of all sorts, most containing a CD and some sort
of award from the record company. Also on the walls were posters I
had never seen before with the bandís autographs. Beside me was a
large box full of letters for Thom, and there was a section in the
wall for mail for each member of the band. It was certainly an office,
cluttered with papers, magazines, artwork, drafts, letters, computers,
printers, printing paper, books, and so much more. But there must
have been at least a hundred items on the wall that were the rarest
Radiohead item you could own. Iím sure most would sell in the thousand
range. Luckily, I managed to take pictures of the office and all of
the awards and plaques, which I was permitted to. The headquarters
I was in also managed Supergrass, who I love, and their posters and
awards were up all over the place as well, just not the same quantity
as Radiohead.
Downstairs in the office, where I was standing in utter bliss, was
full of computers and maybe 3 people using them or the phones at the
time. (One girl in the office was speaking to her boyfriend I believe.)
There were wide stairs that went upstairs where some sort of meeting
was going on. It looked to be like a lounge upstairs. I must have
went unnoticed for at least a minute as I was at the entrance just
hypnotized by all the Radiohead rarities and awards on the wall. Then
one of the female employees working busily on the computer facing
away from me turned around and noticed me and asked if I needed help.
I just told her that I was in the area, had the address of the studio
and decided to stop by and see what was going on, if anything. She
was very nice and it appeared that the office didnít have many visitors.
I wasnít planning on digging for information about the new album,
so I just told her that I was a big Radiohead fan and just asked her
if there was something that I could have or buy just to remember my
trip to this studio. She was very understanding and was looking around
the messy office. I suggested any spare posters they might have, but
she told me that the band had all taken the new ones home recently.
But she then reached into a box full of maybe 10 shirts and said that
I could have one for free. The shirt was a dark blue sweatshirt that
was not fancy at all, just looked to be a promotional one. It was
maybe by a Canadian company, ěRoots.î The shirt had three lines on
it in medium size yellow print. The first line was ěRadioheadî, below
that ěKid Ehî, and below that ě2000/2001.î Iím sure most of you are
wondering why it said ěKid Ehî rather than ěKid A.î Well, since it
appeared to be a Canadian-made shirt it seemed logical to me, also
humorous. Many of you probably know that Canadians are known for always
saying ěEhî in their accent. I found the shirt to be very funny.
I thanked her so much for her time and thought that that was about
it for my visit to the studio. Iíd guess that most of you are wondering
where this ěstudioî is if all I was in was an office. I was wondering
the same thing so decided to ask her about it. I said that I thought
this place was a studio. She told me that the office that we were
in was the management center for Radiohead and that they owned a studio
that was next door. Now I understood. I asked if any of the Kid A
songs were recorded in there, which I knew they werenít but was just
trying to make conversation. She said that they werenít but many of
the Pablo Honey songs, songs from Drill, and some from The Bends were
recorded there. This studio was also were the band ědubbedî over the
tracks for OK Computer. She gave examples of songs recorded next door.
Some that she mentioned were High and Dry, and My Iron Long. Also,
a personal favorite b-side of mine, Stupid Car, was also recorded
there. Many other songs were also recorded there.
At this point a man cam down the stairs from what seemed like a meeting.
The women talked to him, verifying which songs were recorded there
and told him that the office had a visitor (me!). They then offered
me a chance to have a look at the studio. I accepted the offer immediately.
The studio was next door and was also 2 stories high. I was very neat
looking, and yes, I took pictures of the entire place, which I was
permitted to. She showed me around the entire place, and it was awesome.
Downstairs was a control with a control panel with thousands of knobs.
(Sorry that I am not very technical in the description.) In this room
were also guitars, posters, a couch and it was very dimly lighted.
On the other side of the hall was the actual studio, which was room-size
large. It was full of guitars, a keyboard, and dozens of microphones.
Upstairs, there are bedrooms, a lounge, bathrooms, and all rooms,
of course, and full of Radiohead items such as posters. They even
had Playstation in one of the rooms! During this tour of the studio
the very nice lady from the management team and myself engaged in
conversation about the new album. I cannot remember all the details
of the conversation, but I will try to tell you the important parts
of the chat. Here is some interesting information:
The management and band have a very large priority on security of
the album. She has listened to it but she said that there were only
a few copies of it made and that she didnít have any lying around
the office, which she would have let me listen to. They are careful
when it comes to security because they didnít want their album songs
leaking over the Internet and Napster. I told her that I have every
song from the album as a live mp3 except Treefingers and Idioteque.
She was surprised at this comment and thought the band had played
Idioteque live before. From how she said the statement, it appeared
to me that the band had intended to play Idioteque live but never
got around to doing it for some reason or another. She also told me
that she thought Idioteque was going to be a fan favorite and that
listeners would ease into that track more than others on the album.
She admitted that the band was looking for a darker look on the album.
She told me that the band hoped the music would be too radically different
from the previous material that listeners wouldnít fall for the album.
Treefingers was next. I asked her about this mysterious one and she
confirmed that it was an instrumental. She was surprised when I said
that many had thought it to be yet another name for Egyptian Song.
I said that Egyptian Song was a fan favorite and she replied that
it was in contention for Kid A but the band had decided to leave it
off. The band did make the song unlike Meeting in the Aisle. I would
expect to see a possible guitar solo from Johnny, but they have been
using an awfully large amount of computer help for the album so you
never know. I asked if it was similar in style to Meeting in the Aisle
and indirectly she said it was not. She asked me what my favorite
songs were off the album and I mentioned Optimistic, Morning Bell,
MPS, Kid A, and just basically I liked them all. I told her that I
knew that the studio for Kid A and Nigel would add all sorts of extra
bells and whistles to the tracks so you could not really get a full
representation of the tracks just from the live recordings. I then
asked which tracks she likes the best. She said first National Anthem
and then Everything is in its Right Place. She commented on those
songs being her favorite off Kid A. We discussed more about other
tracks. The only track that was never mentioned was In Limbo. To sum
up the information about the new album, I gathered that it was very
different sounding from the previous albums, had a darker sound, and
very few songs that stick out. She said there was going to be no single
or EP released before the album and that the album had basically no
ěsingleî quality songs. This is by no means to say the songs are bad,
just for radioís standards no songs from the album will stick out.
Personally, in the pattern of Radiohead evolution, I predict the album
to be a glorious one, but may turn away some fans. That was all regarding
the new album.
Guess what? Shortly before I arrived that day Jonny was in the office!
I wish I had come earlier. I asked her where the band was at this
point and she said most were back but some were taking an extended
holiday in Israel. They are all taking it easy for a while, since
all the hard work has been done. But that night (the 20th) the management
team was supposed to finish up the album leaflet. She told me virtually
all the artwork has been done, but that night they were going to finish
up the credits and fine print for the albumís leaflet. I wished I
had stayed around cause Iím sure I would have been able to meet whatever
members of the band were in the area to finish up the album cover.
She then spoke to me about Radioheadís upcoming touring information.
She described how the band was playing ěleap-frogî with their new
system of tent concerts. Each of these tents holds 40,000 people,
but takes week to set up. The band has two tents, and while they are
playing in one, they will be setting up the other for their next gig.
I asked her when the next time Radiohead was coming to the states
was. She said that in late October they would probably be doing two
gigs in America. One will be in New York City, and the other in Los
Angeles. Then they will probably do a more lengthy tour in the states
a few months later.
Thatís really all, and Iím sorry to all that feel I could have tried
to gather more information from the woman. I didnít even expect to
get into the studio, let alone have a tour of it. Of course in retrospect
I wished I had asked more questions, but I was just lucky for what
I did learn. Anyway, she had to go pick up her son somewhere, and
I thanked her gratefully. I then asked for her verdict on the new
album and she just said ěthat I would have to wait to find out.î I
went back inside the office to take some more pictures and saw a group
of men busily working on something, probably the album leaflet. It
was a truly wonderful experience, and I hope you all can see that.
I have a cool, maybe valuable shirt and a bunch of pictures that will
always remember for my trip to the studio. Also, the woman said that
hardly anyone has ever visited the studio. I was the first American
to do so, and there was an occasional Japanese person, but otherwise
no one visits the studio. So have a wonderful day everyone and thank
you for your time. If I forgot anything important I will post it later
on. Sorry for the very likely enormous amount of spelling and grammatical
mistakes I have made, as I kind of wrote this in a hurry. |
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