Thom Yorke and Flea team up

[Stu Monty]

Read about this today and thought I'd pop it on here in case other people who might be interested haven't caught it. Yorke has put together a bit of a band to play some of his solo stuff and Flea is laying bass. They did a show at The Echoplex over in the US this week, and there's loads of pretty rubbish quality clips taken on mobiles knocking around on Youtube.

 

I think that they might be putting an album out but I'm not sure on that one. Be good to see some good quality clips or a couple of singles from them. Apparently The Clock was very good with Flea's bassy influence.

 

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[Paul]

Saw this about a week ago Stu and assumed you'd already be on it, so I didn't post anything. The thing I like most about Thom Yorke is the way he absolutely refuses to be fenced in by other people's expectations of what he should do, musically speaking. Paul Weller has exactly the same outlook.

 

That tune sounds fucking ace, too. Flea's bass is funky as fuck (obviously).

[King Emlyn]

Yorke is a genius.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

This excites me greatly. I'm also looking forward to the Josh Homme, John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl collaboration Them Crooked Vultures.

[Johnni]

Watched the whole setlist on youtube yesterday, they even got Godrich there, the gig was a warmup where they played tracks from The Eraser and about 4 new songs by Yorke which sounded very good!

[Paul]

Despite the crass and completely inappropriate comparisons between Flea and Jim Davidson and Bernard Matthews, this review of the gig is quite interesting:

 

Thom Yorke and Flea

Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles

 

 

Sophie Heawood

guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 October 2009

 

The news that Thom Yorke had come to Los Angeles and formed a temporary supergroup with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was surprise enough to most Radiohead fans. Most were intrigued, but for those concerned with rock credibility it was like hearing that the chaps from Peep Show were taking a break to write a show with Jim Davidson, or that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was collaborating with Bernard Matthews on a turkey burger.

 

Then, for those lucky enough to get hold of tickets for the suddenly announced shows (first a "rehearsal show" at the 600-capacity Echoplex nightclub, then two nights at the glorious 2,000-seater Orpheum Theatre) the even bigger surprise was in seeing what would happen when Yorke's solo album, The Eraser, was played in full by this new, nameless band, also featuring Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich on keyboards, Joey Waronker on drums and Mauro Refosco on Brazilian percussion.

 

Harrowdown Hill, a gut-wrenching work that queries whether the death of Ministry of Defence weapons expert Dr David Kelly was really suicide, has been described by Yorke as "the angriest song I have ever written". So who knew that what it really needed was a funky Chili Peppers bassline wriggling through it? Yet somehow Flea managed to take this most haunting and most English of songs and make it his own. The Clock turned into something between trip-hop and dubstep, thanks to the pounding tribal beat of Refosco's berimbau, an Afro-Brazilian instrument used to keep time in capoeira slave dances.

 

Skip Divided saw Flea, a gifted trumpeter, parping into a melodica, and on some songs Godrich provided backing vocals. Yet the biggest surprise of all was seeing Flea and Yorke share the front of the stage to dance together – Yorke wiggling his hips while an electric shock appeared to run through his arms; Flea doing his unique loose-neck limbo, like a swan that has mistaken itself for a woodpecker.

 

"This music was all about making a dance record, in my head, so if you want to sit there like it's a cinema that's fine," announced Yorke, "but if you want to get up ..." And with that, an audience that included Hollywood actors Tobey Maguire, Anne Hathaway and Woody Harrelson leapt to their feet.

 

Later, Yorke was left alone to play three new songs at the piano: Lotus Flower, Open the Floodgates, and Super Collider, the latter involving piano chords that looped from major to minor with an unadulterated sweetness rarely associated with Radiohead. Then the band returned for an encore of Paperbag Writer (dedicated to Colin Greenwood, the only Radiohead member in the audience), Judge, Jury & Executioner, The Hollow Earth, and Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses.

 

Lily Allen, recently annoyed by Radiohead's support for guerrilla music industry schemes, may be even more annoyed now. Not only did this show require a marketing budget of zero but rehearsal time was only three weeks, according to Yorke, "so I'd like to thank these guys for working their tits off".

 

The biggest cheer of the night came during Atoms for Peace. "No more talk about the old days," he sang, "it's time for something great."

[old skool tom]

thom yorke is the most over-rated,annoying & and cringe-worthy person on this planet.

if i seen tim cahill & thom yorke walking down the street? i honestly think i'd chose to twat mr happy! your a millionaire mate! smile you misserable fucking cunt!

[Paul]

Great. Yet another one of the piss-on-chips brigade. Thanks for that contribution mate.

[Karl_b]

I've still not fully got my head into Radiohead's stuff and have never gone near Yorke's solo work but that video makes me want to. Good stuff.

[Juniper]

Personally, I own all the albums (bar two) of Radiohead and also The Eraser and although I'm always interested in hearing their newest album I've never been a huge fan. Seems strange as Kid A is one of my favorite albums of recent times.

 

That video sounds really good though. The noise the whole band is making is definatly something interesting. Must admit, when i first read about this I didn't think Flea would suit the music. I'll look forward to seeing more clips in the future. I kinda have a love/hate relationship with thom

yorke. But I can appreciate his music.

 

By the way to be fair on him, from what interviews I have seen of him he doesn't come across as misrable as some of his music may suggest to people.