Green Plastic Radiohead

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke says he turned down the chance to discuss climate change with Tony Blair because the British prime minister has “no environmental credentials.”
The charity Friends of the Earth, for which the singer is an ambassador, asked him to meet Blair.
But Yorke said Blair had no record of championing the environment and added that dealing with the governing Labour Party’s “spin doctors” made him feel ill.
“I got so stressed out and so freaked out about it. Initially when it came up I tried to be pragmatic,” Yorke told New Music Express magazine in an issue out Tuesday. “But Blair has no environmental credentials as far as I’m concerned.”
“It was like talking to Blair’s spin doctors. It was all getting weird. It was just obvious there was no point in meeting him anyway, and I didn’t want to,” he said.
Yorke says the experience has soured him on political activism.
“I came out of that whole period just thinking, I don’t want to get involved directly, it’s poison. I’ll just shout my mouth off from the sidelines.”
Yorke is backing Friends of the Earth’s Big Ask campaign, which is calling for international cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
Radiohead will play a benefit concert for the campaign at London’s Koko Club on May 1. The band recently announced a club tour in England.
They have been working on new material for the follow up to their politically-themed 2003 disc, “Hail to the Thief.”
(from www.breitbart.com. Thanks to Wes.)

Radiohead will be touring the UK/EU in May, playing a short series of theatre shows before heading off on an American and Canadian tour in June (dates TBC). They’ll then play some European festival dates before headlining the V Festival in Chelmsford and Stafford in August.
The tour will be the first opportunity to hear a selection of brand new material that the band has been working on in the studio.
Other than for the festivals listed, w.a.s.t.e. will be selling a limited pre-sale allocation of tickets to w.a.s.t.e. members.
This pre-sale will commence at midday on the 22nd March 2006 at http://tickets.waste.uk.com/
To repeat American and Canadian tour dates are yet to be confirmed.
May 6: KB Hall Copenhagen
May 7: KB Hall Copenhagen
May 9: Heineken Music Hall Amsterdam
May 10: Heineken Music Hall Amsterdam
May 12: Empress Ballroom Blackpool
May 13: Empress Ballroom Blackpool
May 15: Civic Wolverhampton
May 16: Civic Wolverhampton
May 18: Hammersmith Apollo London
May 19: Hammersmith Apollo London
June 17: Bonnaroo festival
August 12: Sziget Festival
August 19: V festival Hylands Park
August 20: V festival Weston Park
August 22: Meadowbank Edinburgh
August 24: Marlay Park Dublin

Pitchfork has the scoop on the latest Radiohead news. There is mention of a Thom Yorke solo album and though there have been rumors for a while, nothing has been officially confirmed that Thom Yorke will be doing a solo record.

Richard Linklater, Keanu Reeves, Philip K. Dick, Thom Yorke. What do these people have in common? A movie, of course.
Verifying a rumor that has been floating around the interweb for months, Entertainment Weekly revealed last week that Radiohead will contribute music to Before Sunrise / School of Rock director Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s cult science fiction book A Scanner Darkly. The film, which stars Keanu Reeves, is due in theaters July 7.
Although the band won’t be responsible for the flick’s entire score, Warner Independent Pictures told EW that A Scanner Darkly will “feature music by Radiohead, including a brand-new track from lead singer Thom Yorke’s upcoming solo release.” We’re eager to watch Keanu Reev– wait, WHAT? A Thom Yorke solo album?!?! Since when did he go all Beyonce on us? Or rather, since when did he go all Jonny Greenwood?
Of course, Radiohead keeps its official news guarded like the Pentagon, so we’ll have to wait until some huge corporate magazine finds out what’s going on before we can give you more information on Thom’s solo jawn.
As for the new Radiohead album, we can only assume that’s what Yorke was referring to last week when he posted on Radiohead’s blog a week ago about “furiously writing, working out parts. cracking up. not much time left. unshure about everything.” Unless he’s coming up with a new soufflé recipe.
Yorke and Greenwood will perform at Friends of the Earth’s The Big Ask Live benefit concert at KoKo in London on May 1. The charity event is sold out, but scalpers are selling tickets online for obscene sums of money. Naturally, this makes the band, and the charity, very angry. Buy one of those, and you are an Enemy of the Earth.
Radiohead have also slowly started fleshing out their summer touring plans. They will perform at the Sziget Festival in Hungary sometime between August 9 and 16, at the V Festival at Weston Park in Staffordshire, England on August 20, and, of course, at Bonnaroo in Tennessee on June 16-18.
C’mon everybody, chant with me now: TOUR! TOUR! TOUR! TOUR! TOUR!

(thanks to Landon)

Head on over to Dead Air Space and check out the new photos posted by Colin. The most notable one is above, where the blackboard makes a return with some song titles listed. Since these songs appear under the word “Tour”, we would have to guess that these are the songs the band are rehearsing for their tour this Summer. Hey, and is that Ed with the short hair?
Here’s what is on the board:
– 5ths
– Bodysnatchers
– Videotape
– Open pick
– Bodies Laughing
– Trills
– Nude
– 15 Step
– Down is the New Up
– Bombers/ 4 Minute Warning
– Burn the Witch
– House of Cards
– Reckoner
– Mornin’ m’ Lord
– Go Slowly
– Arpeggi