Key Takeaways As A Musician From Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich’s Interview About ‘OK Computer’ By BBC Sounds And Reflecting On It
There are lots of takeaways to learn from other musicians, and their work and I think, part of the process of creating music is the influence from other artists and the learning process that is part of every musician’s journey.
It’s nothing but a constant learning process, whether it’s from learning and figuring out instruments to producing or singing or songwriting. As a multi-genre musician, and producer and composer, there are a lot of things that I aim to achieve with my music, but it can only be what it is at that particular time.
You have to respect the time the music is conceived in and the stage of your musical journey and the level you’re at, and the influences at that particular time of where you’re at when you make that piece of music. And I think part of the greatness of that piece of music is the reflection of those things.
You know, you have the technology and inspiration and events which are occuring in your life and around the world at that particular time, which is directly related to the music you’re creating.
Music has this uncanny thing or facet rather; it’s personal when you conceive it, and write and record it, and then when you release it, it becomes something for everyone.
It starts off intimate and personal i.e. only for the artist, but becomes part of a larger and broader thing, or the collective, greater than yourself and what it means to people who listen to it, and it also becomes personal to them in an intimate and subjective way.
That’s the beauty of music. It starts off with you randomly scribbling stuff in your notebook and then one day it’s helping some kid through his/her tough times or making them feel ecstatic or having your song played at their wedding because of how much they love it.
Music transcends so many different things and makes people feel. That’s something I really love about music. And that’s one of reasons why I began pursuing music.
So this weekend, I stumbled upon this really cool interview by BBC Sounds on 19th May 2022, with Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich as they uncover and breakdown Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’.
There are a lot of interesting takeaways from this interview, which I’ll list down in this piece.
Technology & How You Use It
Thom starts off the interview by highlighting how the technology you use and the way that you use it, is very much part of the process.
Thom says, “The technology you choose to use, and how to use it, is very much part of your art. And should be in your hands.”
Although I haven’t begun recording my debut singersongwriter/rock and roll album, I’m a firm believer in leveraging technology to create something unique.
At the moment, I’m using the technology I can afford and my set up is humble and what I have is just basic, but there’s so much gear and tech to really push boundaries and create something unique.
I want to explore alternative rock as well and really push myself to create something new which I’ve noted down in books, just scribbling ideas and stuff, but yea, how you use technology and it being in your control is quite an important takeaway.
You’ve Got To Hate What You’ve Done Before
As a musician who has begun his career by producing music as opposed to starting off as a singersongwriter, I often find that I hate the stuff I’ve made.
I have this severe issue of absolutely detesting the tracks I’ve produced. I have high standards, and I’m not happy with any one of my releases.
I spoke to another musician friend from my school about disliking my own work, and this is what he said:
So yeah, I’m actually glad that even the genius Thom Yorke feels the same when it comes to his work, despite creating world-widely acclaimed music.
In the interview Thom says:
“You have to hate what you’ve done before to move on to the next thing.”
That’s quite apt and that’s also very true.
You Never Know Who Will Respond Positively Or Feel Your Music
I touched upon this in the introduction of this article. Despite how much you might hate your own work or dislike a lot of it, like me, you never know how much it’ll mean to the listeners. There’s wave after wave of people who just love and vibe to your music, even if you don’t really like it.
In the interview, Thom talks about all the reception OK Computer got, and the letters from fans and how it revolutionized alternative rock, which at the time of recording they had no clue of.
Speaking about the reception to OK Computer Thom says, “And when people come up, after that(recording the album), and how they were affected by it, it’s really sort of amazing…..When people came up and said, “You know this record really helped me, etc.” We were like, okay. Thank you!””
Traditional Studios Aren’t The Best Option, Record In A Setup You’re Comfortable With
So this is something I got a bit of a whiff off when I was watching a documentary of The Doors. Basically about how Morrison and the band got fed up with the Elektra studio and the process and just walked out and then began recording in their old jam room.
That was the story of ‘LA Woman’, their last album and perhaps their best.
For OK Computer, Radiohead did the same thing. They had a label breathing down their neck and pushing them to create another hit single after ‘Creep’.
But Thom and the band decided to record in their rehearsal room.
In the interview Nigel says:
“I’d met them(Radiohead) in a studio in London which they found very difficult… It’s your second album, you’ve been told that you’re going to be dropped if you don’t lay another golden egg. What you really wanna do is get away, get somewhere really quiet, personal, private where you’re comfortable with and just work your method.”
“I absolutely feel the same way about studios, I don’t really like them… I’ve had so much success rolling into dirty old mansions full of crap, coming out some amazing recordings, vibes, feelings… But conversely going into the newest most, polished studios and you take it home and it sounds like crap.”
“So it’s all about spirit, it’s all about the feeling, you want to record where you feel comfortable.”
Creative Control
Another important point to note is full creative control. Although I haven’t dealt with a huge record label at this stage of my career, this was a great clause back in the ’90s so that Radiohead’s labels would only put out what the band liked and none of the stuff they didn’t.
That gave them assurance that only the stuff they wanted to put out would be released.
As Nigel says, “Radiohead were also very smart, they had a clause that they had to have final say on anything and everything that was to be released. Which translates to full creative control. So they could go away and do things the way they wanted to do.”
So yea, this is a perfect clause to put into a deal with a major record label.
Spend Money On Gear As Opposed To Spending On Recording In A Studio
Nigel also elaborates on this point. After Radiohead decided to record in their rehearsal space, Nigel spoke to the band and went out and hooked up all the gear they needed for ‘OK Computer’.
That’s absolutely bang on point.
I’d also rather have more gear and a bedroom studio than paying for an expensive studio and producers imposing their ideologies and me using tech I have no clue how to use and just focusing on my own gear which I can buy, and on the music.
Something hilarious Nigel says is: “In fact it was money well spent, because (laughs) we still use the same equipment now!”
So yea, spend on gear. Forget the posh studio.
Songs & Material Can Sit On The Shelf For A Long Time
The first three songs of the OK Computer recordings were Lift, Nude and Big Boots. But none went on the album.
“They sat around for 20 odd years, I suppose the thing to remember is material can sit around for a while waiting for its window.”, says Nigel
Nude eventually got released after Colin wrote a brilliant bass line to it much much later. Lift only released in 2017. A good 20 years later!
So yea, songs have shelf life.
Which is why I’m seeing which songs I can put out when. I just write them when they pop up in my head, even if I’m half asleep, which is when a lot of ideas get in, haha.
But I really need a girlfriend who’s deeply into music and intelligent and well versed with music and has got a great ear for music to bounce my songs off.
Just like Tom Waits explains.
So let’s see about that.
Keep Notebooks
One thing I already have good habit of doing is keeping notebooks. I have like 8 or 10 of them. With poetry and songs. And I’m trying to see which songs pop up where or which lines can of one song can be used in another, and how to use my poetry in the music(which I haven’t done yet) etc.
Thom says in the interview that three lines from ‘Climbing Up The Walls’ came from a notebook of his from 1990. That’s 7 years before OK Computer!
So yes, he says: “The only thing I learnt from art college of any use at all was to keep notes…. because I couldn’t draw anyway”
Record As Close To Live As Possible
Another thing Nigel says that is very critical is that when they were recording OK Computer, they did multiple takes to get as close to a live feel as possible.
Even when I’m recording my covers, even if they’re for Instagram, I try my best to impart the feel to it. ‘Feel’ is perhaps the best thing to aim for during takes.
There’s this other blog post I wrote about the ‘Flow State’, which you can read up on.
So basically, for all your studio takes, try to get as live a feel and vibe as possible.
Imperfect Is Perfect
Another thing I’ve noted is that music doesn’t have to be perfect.
I’ve been grappling and pulling on the cables between certain aspects in my productions, one is trying to make it sound ‘musical’ which I think my music rarely sounds like, and the other two things I’m in constant battle with myself is making it sound ‘perfect’ when the end product is actually ‘imperfect’.
So I’ve learnt to appreciate the imperfectness of my music as my own niche rather. And the imperfections, just make my music more original and better, believe it or not.
Thom says, “We were looking for things that are distorted, things like the mics aren’t in the right place. It’s imperfect. Because all the music from artists we were listening to, sounded like they had that process”
So yea, I’m embracing the imperfectness of my music and the stage I’m at, currently. It’s been one and half or close to two years producing. But there’s a lot of time to go.
But yes, the imperfectness and mistakes is make niches.
In my latest single called ‘In The Shadows’, which I wrote a post about, I touched upon this imperfect thing because of this particular second beat in the track.
It’s imperfect but it stands out.
Preview
The rest of the podcast is about the OK Computer album and with music kicking in every now and then but the preview of the pod is this Facebook video below
You can check out the whole show on the BBC Sounds website.
Here’s the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0017rhn
Final Thoughts
These takeaways from the first 30 minutes of the podcast were really cool and informative. I’ve only begun my career in music and it’s going to be a long winding road into the unknown.
But I’m glad about a lot of things, how even the greatest artists go through similar thought processes and musical processes and how to respect the process and journey.
There’s an old TED Talk I saw years ago that said, you must ‘stand on the shoulder of giants’. So yes, read, analyse and learn from the best in whatever industry or line of work you’re in.
I’ve been analysing my favourite artists, to learn and improve, so you can check out my article about songwriting, breaking down Tom Waits’ songwriting.
My benchmark is definitely Radiohead. Thom, Jonny, Colin, Ed and Philip and Nigel, yes even Nigel. They embody cohesion, hard work, talent and teamwork and complement each other extraordinarily, and it’s no joke being perhaps one of the greatest & most innovative bands in the history of music and Thom & Jonny’s individual work is also really inspiring as well.
So yea, read, listen, learn and implement.
If you’re a musician, producer, artist or upcoming talent, I hope these tips help you out.
Cheers! \m/
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