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Radiohead have spoken about their upcoming European tour for the first time and explained why they had to take a nearly decade-long break.
“I think we got a little off track, so we had to stop,” Thom Yorke told The Times of the band’s mood at the end of their tour in support of 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool. “There were a lot of factors. The concerts were great, but it was like we had to stop now before we fall off this cliff.”
“And I had to stop anyway,” Yorke added. “Because I hadn’t really given myself time to grieve.” This refers to the death of Rachel Owen, his former partner and mother of his children, who died of cancer in 2016. “[Meine Trauer] was expressed in a way that made me think: I have to do something about this now.”
“Music can be a way to find meaning in things, and the idea of stopping, even if it makes sense, because you’re not feeling well? Even at my lowest point? I couldn’t do that,” Yorke said of touring at the time. “I needed something to hold on to. But there have been times in my life where I’ve sought solace in music and played the piano, but it literally hurts. Physically. The music hurts because you’re going through trauma.”
Radiohead felt disconnected on their last tour
Guitarist Ed O’Brien added that by the end of the A Moon Shaped Pool tour, he had “practically left Radiohead behind him.” “The last round wasn’t great. I enjoyed the concerts but hated the rest. We felt disconnected, exhausted as hell. That happens. That was our whole life – what else is there? You see, success has a strange effect on people – I just didn’t want it anymore. And that’s what I told the others,” said O’Brien.
“I went through a very long dark night of the soul. I had a deep depression. In 2021, I hit rock bottom. And one of the beautiful things that came out of it was realizing how much I love these guys. I met them when I was 17 and I can’t imagine doing that again. I’ve come to the realization that we do have some great songs.”