Thom qui bouge!
état-civil Thomas Edward Yorke est né le 7 octobre 1968, un peu au nord d'Oxford, à Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
instruments voix (et quelle voix !), guitare, clavier, très occasionnellement batterie.
éducation Abingdon school; Anglais et Art à l'Université d'Exeter.
parcours il a joué dans TNT, un combo punk d'Abingdon, quand il avait 15 ans, et de la guitare dans Flickernoise, un groupe techno à Exeter
autres emplois a travaillé occasionnellement dans un hôpital psychiatrique.
mots clés Créatif, timide, sarcastique, lunatique, hyperactif.
influences Elvis Costello, Scott Walker, Japan, REM, Throwing Muses, Joy Division...
il écoute PJ Harvey, Faust, Can, Prince Buster, DJ Shadow, Laika, The Verve, Penderecki...
et en 2001 1. Freedom-Part One by Charles Mingus
Thom: "To be honest, everything on both records [Kid A and Amnesiac] is inspired by 'Freedom Song.' When I first heard that particular song it was a large implosion. It is the Blue Note version that you want. That is the genuine original tape. I got all his shit."

2. Headmaster Ritual, The by Smiths, The
Thom: "Comes from this place...."

3. Prelude II / Summertime / Prelude I by Original Cast Recording
Thom: "From an original stage production of Porgy and Bess, it was really amazing. So slow. (Sings) 'Summertime and the living is easy.' That song has been sucked dry now."

4. Electrolite by R.E.M.
Thom: "My absolute favorite. It is the shit. Why I didn't choose to sing that with them, I don't know."

5. Sad Professor by R.E.M.
Thom: "Their new one is good too."

6. Very Ape by Nirvana (USA)
Thom: "I really got upset by that record."

7. Open by Robert Lippock

8. Contact by Serge Gainsbourg
Colin: "That has live loops and Brigette Bardot, and a group of musicians playing a loop like 'Neu!' They are repeating four bars, drum and bass, keyboard, guitars, but it is changing a bit all the time because it is played live, not like samples."

9. Who Is It - (original LP mix) by Mantronix

10. I Am The Walrus by Beatles, The

11. Milkman by Aphex Twin
Thom: "The most stupid song ever written! (Sings) 'I wish the milkman would deliver my milk in the morning...' And if you really want to cheer yourself up in the morning put that one on. It is so fucking stupid."

12. Use Me by Bill Withers
Colin: "Just an incredible performance."

13. Superfly by Curtis Mayfield

14. I Loved And I Lost - (with The Impressions) by Curtis Mayfield
albums préférés de 2000 (Spin) 1. AUTECHRE, LP5: because nobody else in the whole world has made anything this year that sounds even close to this record. it sounds exactly like the daily chaos in my brain. it is a deeply troubling record but comforting. it sounds like somebody rummaging through the bin and finding shiny paper and fake jewelry then going out dressed in nothing except that.
2. CLINIC, INTERNAL WRANGLER: because it contains a feeling more violent than anything you can do with poxy fucking marshall stacks. not because the guitars are loud but because of what's going on in their heads. it sounds like your coked up uncle shouting at you through a cheap karaoke machine with the reverb turned up full. it's the sort of music i'd love to send though the speakers at one end of those new york charity gala events. or the oscars, maybe, at permanent hearing damage levels. because some of the band are still music teachers and the kids in the schools hate their music.
3. BROADCAST, THE NOISE MADE BY PEOPLE: because they write songs without having to strum guitars and sound so worried all the time. trish keenan's voice is neutral but what she sings about is not. it's a girlie record, very sensual, slinky. because they are stuck in a time warp -- the sound of 70's wife swapping parties with beanbags and unhappy children serving sausages on sticks. and it's pop.
4. SIGUR ROS, AGAETIS BYRJUN: because i can't sing that high. they are so romantic in a year of cynical emptiness. and it sounds like fresh linen on your bed or sitting in a land rover in frozen wastes with the heater blowing.
5. VARIOUS ARTISTS, SPLIT SERIES 1 - 8: FATCAT COMPILATION: because this contains the best 12 inch of 1999. definitely not soft or ambient, 'cause it's far too frightening and bitter, like lemon juice or salt water that causes the metal on your car to rust. samplers singing more delicately and confused than any human could. and when the rhythm breaks away and leaves you hanging for sooo long then comes back -- oh. that's the point when nigel godrich would alays run in the room like an excited kid going, "wow! what's this?" and i'd tell him, but he'd forget, so i bought him this record.
il lit/regarde Arthur, Marié deux enfants, n'importe quoi avec Joe Pesci ou Dudley Moore, The Medusa Frequency, Une nuit sur la Terre, En attendant Godot, The Italian Job avec Michael Caine
il aime Love, hope, passion, articulation.
il n'aime pas You tell me.
influences Lack of sleep.
notes Conduit une Fiat Punto ! N'aime pas X-Files. Pendant sa première année à l'Université d'Exeter, il portait un long manteau et un chapeau mou
allez, Thom, raconte nous une histoire ! Oh... ahhh... Je n'en connais pas beaucoup. Bon, d'accord, heu, c'est un type qui bosse à la maison, et il entend qu'on frappe à la porte de derrière, donc il l'ouvre, et voit un escargot... quelqu'un d'autre vous l'a probablement déjà racontée, non ?
matériel | œil gauche | voitures | fanclub
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Depuis quelques temps, j'essaie d'utiliser ma voix autrement, comme un instrument, plutôt que d'en faire quelques chose de sacré, du genre : C'est ma voix, je veux qu'elle reste ainsi. Elle avait une histoire dont je cherchais à m'échapper. Ma voix rendait l'écriture compliquée. Tous ce que j'essayais sonnait comme ce que j'avais pu faire auparavant. Au bout de compte, il s'agissait de la ramener à la vie, en se débarassant de sa portée émotionnelle. Elle avait cet impact-là auparavant. Se servir des mêmes ficelles à chaque fois, c'est tout simplement ennuyeux : on n'en tire rien, on se demande seulement pourquoi diable on le fait. Il fallait continuer à se mettre en danger. (Rock&Folk juillet 2001)

Je n'écris pas de chansons joyeuses. Cela dit, les émotions ne sont pas définies comme joyeuses et tristes, n'est-ce pas ? À moins que vous ne soyez dans la pub. (Melody Maker, 11 juin 1994)

We're a mess. But it's a great mess, a glorious mess... (Mojo, avril 1995)

The only gang I was ever in kicked me out! I had velcro buckles on my trainers instead of laces. They thought I was letting their cool down, bastards.

I went out one night and there was these blokes, townie guys, waiting to beat someone up and they found me. They said something, I turned around , blew them a kiss and that was it. They beat the living shit out of me. One was kicking me, one had a stick and the other was smashing me in the face. That put me off fighting a bit.

One new year's eve, i was walking home, and there was no artificial light anywhere, no light except the stars. and the wind was blowing very very hard. and i was absolutely convinced that i was being followed. so that feeling inspired the song. and if you look at the artwork for the album, there are always two figures, never just one.

I want nothing more in the world than to be a star. Nothing more. That's it. Period. (après la sortie de Pablo Honey)

People sometimes say we take things too seriously, but it's the only way you'll get anywhere. We're not going to sit around and wait and just be happy if something turns up. We are ambitious. You have to be. (Curfew)

life of a pop star?
Sometimes I get to sit in front of the television and get drunk.

I got into the music business thinking it was really radical, that it wasn't really a business at all, that it was a lot of people being artistic and creative. Not true, and it made me very depressed.

We write pop songs, As time has gone on, we've gotten more into pushing our material as far as it can go. But there was no intention of it being 'art.' It's a reflection of all the disparate things we were listening to when we recorded it.

It's easy to be miserable. Being happy is tougher - and cooler.

depressed?
It's just that I'm surrounded by a world of grinning idiots and I don't think I want to be another one.

Spice Girls?
I agree with whoever said they're soft porn. They're the Antichrist. I don't want any part of it, and if I had kids, I wouldn't want them to have any part of it, either. I'd move to an island where you can't get hold of any Spice Girls stuff.

If you want to be entertained, go and see Hanson.

I´m really, really worried that we´ve been going for too long, believing how wonderfull everyone tells we are.

Last year we were the most hot band. We were number one in all the polls, and it´s bollocks. It´s a complete headfuck. (Meeting People Is Easy)

If the media spotlight affects my work or represses what i want to say in the future, then it is bad.

I wake up on a normal day and I go out for a meal with my girlfriend but someone is sitting there watching me for a while. Then he comes up and asks me for my autograph and it's like 'Well, yeah, I could give you my autograph but, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going because I'm here with my girlfriend - this is my space and you're invading it'. I mean, I don't want to be seen as malicious or nasty but it gets too much sometimes.

I'm not afraid of computers taking over the world. They're just sitting there. I can hit them with a two by four.

Obviously there will be a backlash. If you believe the hype you have to believe a backlash too. Any criticism we get, is always stuff we´ve already criticised ourselves.If you read one bad review and a hundred good ones, the bad one always seems to make more sense to you. (Meeting People Is Easy)

I started singing into this little stereo mike tied to the end of a broomstick handle. Everyone just started falling about laughing, and that was that, that was my introduction to singing.

I have this thing about my own voice on record. No matter what I sing, it sounds really serious, and I sound self-loathing or whatever, which was just driving me nuts because that's not what I was writing.

When I was much younger, I did this four-track demo and this girl, a really close friend of mine, listened to it and said 'Your lyrics are crap. They're too honest, too personal, too direct and there's nothing left to the imagination,' and I've had that in the back of my mind ever since.

songwriting?
Don't try... once you try, you're fucked.

Whenever I meet a beauty, I escape or hide in a corner. Not that I think they are intimidating, but they attract horrible people. Some guys really do their utmost to make these beautiful women believe how good they are. Beauty means power. And I'm a bit cynical towards all that. Honestly I've never met a beautiful girl that I really liked. You never get the chance to really get to know them. Result : I don't even take the effort now to try to meet them.

I feel tremendous guilt for any sexual feelings I have. So I end up spending my entire life feeling sorry for fancying somebody. Even in school I thought girls were so wonderful that I was scared to death of them. I masturbate a lot. That's how I deal with it.

Select: Do you find that, when you're out on the road, the lack of a creative outlet can be frustrating?
Thom: No. I find it more frustrating at home, cos I thrive on the movement on tour. The traveling around is a big part of it for me. There's lot's going on every day, and if you go home, you tend to obsess more. I do anyway.

Select: When you come off the road, do you suffer from decompression syndrome?
Thom: Mmmmmm. Mmmmmm. We all do. Ed's outbreak was the funniest, the last time. Did he tell you about that? It was excellent. He tried to adjust to coming off the road by getting blind drunk every night. After four days, the guy who lived in his house said, 'I've had enough, I'm off.' So he lost his flatmate.

Select: How does it manifest itself in you?
Thom: Oh, the same. Drunken, miserable git. A lot of it is down to the fact that towards the end of the tour you tend to drink yourself stupid all the time, and then you go home and carry on. 'Wa-hey! The end of the tour's coming up! Wa-hey! The tour's finished!'. It just carries on and you don't really know what to do afterwards.

Select: Some of the other members have said that Radiohead tend to think too hard. Something gets recorded, and then you want to try it again and again and again, only to return to the first version.
Thom: You learn. With this album, because we produced it ourselves we drove ourselves a bit nuts, really. I guess we were coming from the angle of trying to make it completely spontaneous... and then being panic-stricken about that. Running away from it.

Select: So how do you call time on the whole thing? That must be the hardest thing in the world.
Thom: Well that's exactly what we do. In the end we just called time. It could have gone on for anther year. Jonny came in, in January, into the studio one morning and said, 'Right, that's it. We have to stop now. We have to finish what we've got and stop.' So we wrote down what we'd done, and went, 'Yeah. OK.'

Select: Does that mean there's glitches on there?
Thom: Oh yeah. Hell, yeah. I'm actually amazed it got the reaction it did. None of us knew any more, whether it was bad or good. What really blew my head off was the fact people got all the things, all the textures and the sounds and the atmospheres we were trying to create. I figured it wouldn't happen like that. I was really amazed about how people described how it sounded as well. That was that I really thought it was great. I suppose that was the bit that was really exciting - doing something you've spent so long doing and you've really agonized about, really having this sound in our heads, like the sound of Ed's guitar on the beginning of 'No Surprises' or the way 'Airbag' starts. One sounds like a car accident, one sounds like a child's toy. And for people to pick up on that was a real great kick. Really cool.

Select: Was that the first time you've felt completely artistically understood?
Thom: (Uproarious Laughter) Next!

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Ed : The fucker can sing anything, he can reduce you to tears.

Ed : I hope I'm not sort of blowing our own trumpet, but I think Thom is probably the finest lyricist in the UK of his generation at the moment and he's always trying to progress, as we as musicians try to do ourselves. Theres this nice relationship between the lyrics and the music.

Ed : Thom's a really great guitarist. He plays terrific rhythm, but he doesn't like to talk about it because he thinks he sounds like Brian May. He grew up with Queen. There were times when we've been competitive, but we've got this really nice situation where if one guitarist doesn't play in a song, we're okay with it. We can really chill out and enjoy it.

Jonny : Toutes les chansons de Thom finissent par exprimer ses sentiments. (Vox, avril 1995)

Jonny : Like the rest of the band, Thom sort of doesn't have any friends, really - which is a bit weird. We got back to Oxford after touring... and it was really sad. We all got home, and I phoned up one or two people that we knew, who were away, and then we ended up sort of phoning each other up again.

20/3/00
[...] thom's got a busy old week this week........most of the finishing touches are vocal things. he's singing along to 'fastrack'. he's hyperactive as well....it's 1.30am..fantastic.. [...] (journal d'Ed)