Category: Radiohead

w.a.s.t.e is pleased to announce that Radiohead will be playing Summersonic Festival on the 2nd and 3rd August.
All information is currently on www.summersonic.com and we are awaiting information on International phone numbers for tickets.
Regards,
all@waste

Radiohead is still strongly rumored to play the Field Day Music Festival in Riverhead, NY. They are said to appear on the 6/7 bill, with the Beastie Boys on the 6/8 date. Other guests rumored include Sigur Ros, NERD, Beth Orton, Spiritualized, Liz Phair, My Morning Jacket, plus others.
But wait, things get confusing. Radiohead are also rumored to be headlining the Bonnaroo NE Music Festival with Neil Young, which is also in Riverhead, NY, on August 8-10.
Which one will it be? Or could it be both? Or neither? We should hopefully find out really soon…
(thanks to everyone who wrote)

We have more information about the recent leaking of Hail to the Thief:
Jonny confirmed once again that the leaked tracks are stolen recordings of an early promo. Green Plastic has been told that this promo was done back in the early stages of mixing. Some how the album got in to the wrong hands. Jonny summed up how he felt when he was on the official message board recently: “So it turns out the leaked music is a stolen copy of early, unmixed edits and roughs – so we’re kind of pissed off about it, to be honest. I see it like this (this is just me): there’s napster-style file sharing of released music, then there’s early internet distribution of what we at least consider to be a finished body of work. Then there’s this – work we’ve not finished, being released in this sloppy way, ten weeks before the real version is even available. It doesn’t even exist as a record yet…..
So yes, we’re annoyed – the songs are good on the recordings, which you can hear. But we worked on them after this point until we were happy with them. This is why we’re pissed off – we didn’t give up on them in February (which is what you’re hearing) and it’s just a shame that, to your ears, we did. So of course people will still download them and hear them, I can understand the temptation. It’s not you lot I’m pissed off about, it’s just the situation I guess. It’s stolen work, fer fuck’s sake.
What do you all think ? I know it’ll come out for real eventually, and it’ll all be fine, but I thought you all might as well know what’s in my head….”
Nigel Godrich also made an appearance and said, “Hey listen, Its not that it’s not mastered…….. It’s not mixed! Some of it isn’t even finished. comprendez?”
EMI and Capitol Records are serving cease and dessist letters to websites that are hosting the mp3s.
Also, all promotional plans that were put in place to promote HTTT have been abandoned and are being revisited.
In similar news, KROQ radio in Los Angeles has been playing “There There” and it’s reportedly the finished version and not the leaked one.
You can read more about this whole thing at the following sites:
Washington Post
Undercover
SMH.com.au

Nigel Godrich showed up on the official Radiohead messageboard ealier ago asking where he could download some of the leaked tracks. Less than an hour later, he came back and had this to say:

Its the rough mixes ….
some tracks not even finished.
aint that a bitch?
Not really what I’d want the world to hear, frankly.
boo.

So, the question still remains: are these tracks the final mastered versions? Max K told us that the pressing of the final press/radio promo CD’s for the album haven’t been made yet mainly because the artwork hasn’t been finished. The only promo that has been finished is the single promo. This leak is most likely from further back in the recording process. There was a version of the album circulating around record companies back in February and it’s possible that this is what was leaked. Whether that version was mastered or not, we don’t know.
An editor for CMJ magazine posted on the the CMJ Bulletin Boards that he had just received a mastered copy of Hail to the Thief and when he compared it to the leaked mp3s, said this: “oh guys also, i just downloaded the version that’s on the net. chicagomike is right, that’s not mastered. don’t judge the record by that; those are different, unmastered mixes from what appears on the final version of the record. the record sounds a LOT better than that. guess studio security ain’t quite what it should be these days.”
How is the band reacting to the leak? Jonny was on the official messageboard yesterday and was asked about how he felt about the situation: “Colin called and said it was up, so thought I’d check. I feel bemused, though, not annoyed….I’m glad people like it, most of all. It’s a *little* earlier than we’d expected, but there it is. There there it is ! hahahahaha.” He went on later to say: “Not angry no. Surprised, and still not used to it happening, even after all these years….. I worry more that stuff we do *won’t* get released for whatever obscure reason, and I hate the 3 month gap between finish and release. But not enough to leak it myself!”
Jonny was asked if he knew if these were mastered tracks: “Don’t know yet – I’ve only downloaded I Will and it’s hard to tell. I guess we’ll find out today. Well it sounds OK on my iBook speakers… Haven’t tried it on headphones… Are there any cross fades?”
Just a short while ago, Stanley Donwood made an appearance on the board as well: “oh well its not as if there arent worse things to worry about i mean do you remember that old ‘home taping is killing music’ thing in the 80s then record companies introduced cds and stopped making vinyl so they made a rod for their own backs there i really would like to know who leaked it though cos the fucking promos arent even out yet ha ha ha hail to the thief”
Phew!