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Man climbs a 1,999-foot tower to change a light bulb. It looks just as wild as you’d think.

You know those big giant antennas that look like they reach just below the wing of an airplane at cruising height? Well, someone has to climb them every so often to inspect them or change the flashing bulb. You’d think it would be easier to have a helicopter or something drop them off, but there’s probably a really compelling reason someone has to physically climb the antenna. If nothing else, it’s a good workout.

For Nick Wagner, climbing these huge antennas is just another Tuesday at the office. Wagner works for a company called National Tower Controls, LLC, and apparently, they do maintenance on these towers annually. I’m not sure if there’s some sort of process to decide who gets to be the one to climb the beast or if everyone that works there is expected to climb. But Wagner took everyone on his climb to change out the light bulb and inspect KDLT-TV’s antenna in 2015, and while the view is beautiful, I imagine it could also give you heart palpitations.


“Must not be afraid of heights” is likely in the job description multiple times, bolded, italicized and highlighted. It’s not like if you get a little wobbly you can just step down. You’d need an airborne rescue team or a parachute, which makes you wonder if that’s part of their climbing equipment. In the video, the climb itself took nearly 15 minutes and it’s not clear where in the climb Wagner started filming, but the view is so spectacular that you can practically see the curvature of the Earth.

What makes this whole process even more interesting is that if someone were to ask what he did all day, his answer could be, “I changed a light bulb.” Wagner can have those light bulbs and I’ll stick to the ones that require no more height than a kitchen chair.

Watch the incredible video below:

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‘The Walking Dead’ Daryl Dixon Spinoff Sounds Like It Will Have A Markedly Different Tone And Even A ‘Slightly Religious’ Vibe

You gotta feel for Fear The Walking Dead. The show finally hit its stride a few seasons ago, and a final season will premiere on Mother’s Day this year, but the franchise’s fans have largely moved on to thinking about the other spinoffs on the way. First up will be The Walking Dead‘s Negan and Maggie spinoff, Dead City, with an even more disgusting Walker take than fans have seen before now, and we’ve stomached the Meat Grinder scene. Then before Rick Grimes returns for his spinoff with Michonne, we’ll see Daryl In Paris.

Since we don’t really know the title of the spinoff yet, and Norman Reedus won’t get his wish of “Boom Boom,” god only knows what the title truly shall be. Perhaps I shall obnoxiously wish for “Can we get the man a crossbow and a Vespa?” From there, we know that French zombies aren’t as glam as they should be, and since I’m here to discuss any little tidbit available on this show, let’s circle back and revisit a gem dug up by Comic Book.

As Reedus has previously declared, he pointed towards how Daryl actually “smiled a little bit” in The Walking Dead series finale, and “and that tone kind of makes it into the spin-off a little bit.” Reedus also added, “The tone is much different, the [cinematography is] much different. The lighting’s different. We’re in castles, and the storyline has a religious vibe to it. Part of the story is me around a bunch of people speaking French. I’m trying to figure out like, ‘Is this gonna be a fight?’”

This actually sounds like high comedy in a way, although I’m not suggesting that this spinoff will be categorized as comedy. But it could be lighter, and if Daryl keeps smiling, so be it. Also, no way in heck does Daryl Dixon know how to speak any French at all, and that’s fine. It’s not as though he’s Emily Cooper heading over to France to take the marketing world by storm and intentionally doing so while not speaking the language.

As for how he gets to France, that detail remains a tantalizing mystery. AMC has revealed that he simply washes ashore and has no idea how he got there. As though he went exploring after the events of The Walking Dead and, like Bugs Bunny, took a wrong turn at Albuquerque or something.

However, the Dixon spinoff series does sound like a refreshing turn on the franchise. I have fingers crossed that he’ll venture into the catacombs because that would be wicked cool, and Reedus has explicitly promised, “We’re destroying the Louvre and stuff.” Reedus will be surrounded by French actors, including Clémence Poésy (The Essex Serpent, In Bruges) and Adam Nagaitis (Chernobyl, The Terror). So far, it doesn’t look like we’ll see Melissa McBride’s Carol, but Reedus has cautioned people not to draw conclusions on that note. Hopefully, we’ll receive a premiere date soon.

(Via ComicBook)

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Wednesday Narrate Casual Tragedy On Their Heady New Single ‘Bath County’

Wednesday‘s music is full of casual mayhem, especially in their latest album, 2021’s Twin Plagues. In “Cliff,” ashes are kept in a Dallas Cowboys urn; “Gary’s” begins with a screen door being ripped off its frame. Cigarettes and disillusion abound. Their forthcoming album Rat Saw God is sure to exist in a similarly chaotic world.

Following “Bull Believer” and “Chosen To Deserve” is “Bath County.” “I can walk on water / I can raise the dead,” Karly Hartzman begins the track singing. Quickly, it transforms into a whirlwind of twangy, heady indie rock emphasizing the seismic feeling of Hartzman’s hook: “Every daughter of God / Has a little bad luck sometimes.”

“This is a song I wrote on a porch in Bath County, Virginia when me and [lead guitarist] Jake [Lenderman] were visiting Jake’s moms hometown,” Hartzman explained in a statement. “It includes some imagery I saw on that trip as well as a description of a guy we saw overdosed in a parking lot early one morning on our way to Dollywood.”

About the video, Hartman added, “The video I made myself is an homage to PJ Harvey’s video for ‘Man-Size.’ I’ve never seen someone emit as much confidence as she does in that video. I wanted to pretend for a minute I possessed that attitude but it was harder than it looks! Endless respect for Peej.”

Listen to “Bath County” above.

Rat Saw God is out 4/7 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.

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Nas Unpacked The Meaning Of ‘King’s Disease’ And Identified Some Unlikely Dream Collaborators On ‘Colbert’

Nas is working on King’s Disease IV, according to 50 Cent, but the New York rapper is still relishing in King’s Disease III. The album arrived in November, and Nas is set to bring the trilogy to Madison Square Garden for one night only on Friday, February 24.

Ahead of the epic performance, which will somehow be his first time playing MSG, Nas returned to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert for the first time since 2018 on Wednesday night, February 22.

“It’s sort of surreal. It’s like a dream. I never thought I would be there. I thought about it when I got into music, and I thought, like, ‘I gotta play that place when I make it,’” Nas told Colbert. “And all the years escaped me because I got busy doing so many other things, and then I started releasing music again, so I said, ‘Now’s the right time.’”

Nas first dropped King’s Disease in August 2020, and King’s Disease II quickly followed in August 2021. The former won Best Rap Album at the 2021 GrammysNas’ first career Grammy — while the latter was nominated in the same category at last year’s Grammys.

With Colbert, Nas unpacked what King’s Disease actually means.

“Over-indulgence,” he said. “[The king] gets what he wants, and too much of that is not good.”

Colbert wondered if Nas has “ever had the King’s Disease,” to which Nas said, “I guess some elements of it. Here and there, you know. It’s a wake-up call. You wake up before it’s too late. I read about a lot of artists that came up in our time or before our time, and some of them were wild people. And I learned a lot from them, and it kind of gave me some of the guidelines in this business.”

“How do you cure the King’s Disease?” Colbert asked.

Nas continued, “You kill the ego, and you make it about the music. Make it about the art. And live your life.”

Nas followed his own advice by squashing his beef with 21 Savage, which was possibly a publicity stunt to promote their collaborative single “One Mic, One Gun” last fall.

Nas’ conversation with Colbert also touched on the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and which artists Nas would like to collaborate with, including Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. Watch it above.

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Please Don’t Ask Pedro Pascal To Do ‘The Mandalorian’ Voice For Your Kids

The world will soon be blessed with not one, but two TV series where Pedro Pascal plays a gruff but lovable father figure to a youngster. On The Last of Us, he’s taking Ellie across the country; on The Mandalorian, he’s going on adventures throughout the galaxy with Baby Yoda. I can’t imagine too many parents watching the HBO show where a fungal beast rips a dude’s head in half with their kids, but The Mandalorian is friendly enough for the whole family to enjoy. Just don’t ask Pascal to do The Voice if you see him in person.

“People come up to me and ask me to do the voice [from The Mandalorian] for their kids,” the actor said during an interview on The Graham Norton Show. “But I think it sounds inappropriate because it is a breathy, low register ‘bedroom’ voice.” Pascal added, “It is so creepy and doesn’t work in real life.”

As established, Pascal is Daddy (where’s that bumper sticker?), so pretty much anything he says could be considered inappropriate. “This is the way.” The way to what? The bedroom? Just leave innocent Baby Yoda with a sitter, OK?

The Mandalorian season three premieres on Disney+ on March 1.

(Via Variety)

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Indie Mixtape 20: Miss Grit Strives For Autonomy Their Debut LP ‘Follow The Cyborg’

AI is having a bit of a moment right now. Between the AI art app Lensa and Chat GPT, the future of robots and artificial intelligence is a hot topic — and it’s something musician Margaret Sohn (aka Miss Grit) confronts on their full-length debut album Follow The Cyborg.

Along with featuring subtle nods to popular robot films such as Ghost In A Shell, Her, and Ex Machina, Follow The Cyborg tackles topics like humanity and control with a witty, synth-pop angle. Songs like “Like You” and the title track are bubbling electro-pop bangers that unpack the similarities between robots and how we are perceived online.

Ahead of their new album, which was entirely self-produced in their NYC studio, Miss Grits talks dumplings, Björk, and Harry Potter in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Calculated, reserved, droplet, butterfly.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

Fondly.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

NYC.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Mother Björk because her work is limitless.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Shanghai Dumpling King in San Francisco (I framed their menu and hung it in my apt I love it so much).

What album do you know every word to?

Strange Mercy by St. Vincent.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Wilco.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

I like a good wide-leg trouser.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Patti Harrison @party_harderson.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

“The Last Time” by Taylor Swift.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

#bachelorinparadise Twitter

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

Nothing crazy, just some bunk bed situations that were fun.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

I don’t have any 🙁

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Billie Eilish.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Given birth to me.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

You’re doing great.

What’s the last show you went to?

Just Mustard.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

Harry Potter.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

I am telepathic.

Follow The Cyborg is out 2/24 via Mute. Get it here.

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Cardi B Gave A Rare Surprise Performance At GloRilla’s New York Tour Stop

For all of her extremely online moments and McDonald’s Meal-worthy cultural cachet, Cardi B’s public appearances have been relatively scarce lately. She’s been cloistered away with her family, working on her second album, and trying to keep up with her community service requirements, so it’s understandable she hasn’t had much time to perform.

But, it looks like she’ll make an exception for friends and proteges like GloRilla, whose Anyways, Life’s Great Tour stopped in Cardi’s hometown, New York, last night for a show at Irving Plaza. While Glo was accompanied — as always — by her crew of “ratchet ass friends” including Aleza, Gloss Up, K Carbon, and Slimeroni, the highlight of the evening for Big Apple fans was when Glo played her Billboard-charting anthem “Tomorrow 2” as the song’s guest, Cardi, appeared from backstage to vow to “always get my lick, boo.”

Glo also brought out another hometown favorite, her successor as this year’s apparent rap it-girl, Lola Brooke. You know she performed “Don’t Play With It,” her breakout viral hit. Lola is getting a lot of love lately, so don’t be surprised if she’s in Glo’s position this time next year.

GloRilla’s tour has three remaining dates: tonight in Boston, tomorrow in Philadelphia, and Saturday night in Washington, DC.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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Brook Lopez’s Remarkable Mid-Career Development Has Been Vital To The Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are a team built on getting the absolute most out of a player’s development.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the face of it all, going from a lanky kid who was drafted on the potential of his frame and raw skill set to an unstoppable force and two-time MVP who has exceeded any of the Bucks’ wildest dreams. Khris Middleton was part of a Brandon Jennings sign-and-trade in 2013, coming off a fairly unremarkable rookie year in Detroit in which he averaged 6.1 points per game off of the bench. He’s morphed into an All-Star and the ideal complement to Giannis.

Because the rise of those two into stars is often a focal point, the development story that is Brook Lopez can get overlooked, both in the impact it’s had on making the Bucks a perennial contender and in how dramatic and unlikely it has been. Lopez is in his 15th season in the NBA, and his career is a tale of two almost completely different players.

For the first eight years he spent on the Nets, Lopez was one of the game’s best interior scorers, averaging 18.3 points per game on his way to becoming the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, a title he still holds. Of his 6,826 field goal attempts over those eight seasons, just 31 were from three-point range. He made three of them. A whopping 68.7 percent of his attempts came from inside 10 feet. Lopez was almost an Al Jefferson-type scorer for the first half of his career, with terrific post footwork, a strong faceup game, and some surprisingly solid handles, all of which are on display in this 35-point outing from 2015.

By this point, you can see Lopez had started to move out a bit more toward the perimeter in pick-and-pops, but wasn’t going to the three-point line just yet and still spent a good bit of time in the deep post. In 2016-17, his ninth and final season with the team, Lopez saw the game changing in real time and made the pivot to fully extending his range, taking 387 threes (out of 1,172 overall field goal attempts) and making 34.6 percent of them.

From there, he was traded to the Lakers, where he let it fly from deep on similar efficiency. But head coach Luke Walton didn’t see the full value in Lopez’s ability to stretch the floor for the young squad, steadily chipping away at Lopez’s role until he was rarely a part of the closing lineup towards the end of the season. Lopez admitted this wore on him tremendously, and he soured on the Lakers going into free agency that summer, where he struggled to find a robust market on the heels of how things went in L.A.

Lopez inked a 1-year, $3.4 million deal with the Bucks, where his suddenly changing skill set meshed quite well. He immediately became a vital piece in Milwaukee, becoming a perfect frontcourt pairing with Giannis on both ends of the floor.

Offensively, his ability to step out to the three-point line and be a threat allows Antetokounmpo to attack a vacant paint or make defenders pay by flicking a pass to a wide open Lopez for three when opposing centers linger too long in help. He’s a tremendous screener, freeing up Antetokounmpo, Middleton, and Jrue Holiday to get downhill while he pops or rolls. Without a center that can stretch the floor beyond the three-point line — Lopez, who has earned the nickname Splash Mountain, frequently spots up from a few feet beyond the arc — the Bucks offense would be even more crowded and murky than it already can be in the halfcourt.

Equally impressive is Lopez’s defensive transformation, which is in part due to finding the perfect system to operate in under Mike Budenholzer. Lopez isn’t the strongest nor is he the quickest, which made him something of a liability with the Nets. While understanding defensive catch-all metrics aren’t the perfect measure of defensive quality, Lopez’s never posted a positive defensive box plus/minus with the Nets, but has done so in ever full season in Milwaukee (sans last year’s 13-game regular season sample), per Basketball-Reference. His three highest seasons of defensive win shares have all come with the Bucks, including this season’s 3.0 and counting, as he has become the anchor to one of the league’s best defensive units.

Somewhat ironically, his relationship with Antetokounmpo on the defensive end is almost the inverse of how they operate on offense. While Antetokounmpo has earned a DPOY for his efforts as a roaming terror, a big reason he can spend his time as one of the league’s elite help defenders is Lopez perfecting the art of being a drop defender. Lopez has become one of the league’s most feared presences at the rim, in large part because he is always in the correct position. He sinks back deep into his drop, happy to let opposing guards and bigs get off a midrange jumper or three-pointer over a late contest if it means he takes away the paint, which Budenholzer deems so precious. Milwaukee’s style for years came under fire for allowing teams to take so many threes by design because they asked Lopez to lord over the paint above all else, but since adding better on-ball pressure in the form of Holiday, the system has given opponents headaches and requires tremendous shot-making performances to beat them.

Lopez acts as the fulcrum the rest of the Bucks pivot around, and his steady presence allows Antetokounmpo and Holiday to be more aggressive both at the point of attack and in sending help at the opponents; best scorers, because even if you beat them, Lopez is never far from the restricted area. His long strides and long arms allow him to close down space quickly, meaning those late contests on pull-up jumpers and floaters have more impact than most would, and he also is as good as there is at staying down on shot fakes, trusting that his length will get him blocks not his leaping ability. As a result, he’s rarely in foul trouble (2.4 fouls per game in Milwaukee) while still making a significant impact.

Take his highlights from a recent win over the Clippers, where he flashes his value on both ends of the floor. On defense, he patiently waits for someone to drive into him as the Bucks guards and wings are aggressive in going over screens, knowing he’s always on the back line, ready to absorb contact from a driver and calmly turn shots away at the rim. On offense, he simply navigates his way into space, whether popping to the three-point line, on the short roll to the free throw line, or going all the way to the rim. On occasion, if a mismatch presents itself on the switch, he’ll give himself a post-up as a treat, a reminder that ability on the block is still there, just not always needed or called upon.

Without Lopez’s unique skill set, which changed dramatically in the middle of an already solid career, it’s unlikely Milwaukee reaches the heights they have over the past five seasons, particularly at a bargain of a price. What’s more incredible is that the player he’s become in order to be part of a championship foundation is almost unrecognizable to the one that was an All-Star in 2013. It is one of the great second chapters of a career that we’ve seen in this generation, and while those in Milwaukee certainly recognize that, it shouldn’t be lost on a national level how remarkable his career development has been.

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The National Unveil ‘New Order T-Shirt,’ New Order T-Shirt

One of the most highly anticipated albums of this year is The National’s First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, which features Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and Sufjan Stevens. After cryptic mail and password-protected websites, they unveiled the lead single “Tropic Morning News.”

The band is back today with the new single “New Order T-Shirt.” The song is a twinkly, wistful ballad that serves as a compilation of memories. “I keep what I can of you / Split second glimpses and snapshots and sounds / You in my New Order t-shirt / Holding a cat and a glass of beer,” Matt Berninger croons, the image as vivid as a real photograph.

“To me the line ‘I keep what I can of you’ means something about everyone I’ve ever known or loved,” Aaron Dessner said in a statement. “There’s a simplicity to ‘New Order T-Shirt’ that reminds me of our earlier records, but with the full maturity and experience we have now. It feels like a really important song for the future of our band.”

The National also teamed up with New Order for a literal, limited-edition New Order t-shirt, because why not? Check it out here.

Listen to “New Order T-Shirt” above.

First Two Pages Of Frankenstein is out 4/28 via 4AD. Pre-order it here.

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Philip Selway On His New Solo Album And The Current Status Of Radiohead

Philip Selway is the drummer for one of the world’s greatest and most famous rock bands. But when it came to making his third solo record, Strange Dance (due Friday), one of the first orders of business for this founding member of Radiohead was to replace himself behind the kit.

“I started off drumming, and I got about a day and a half into it and realized it wasn’t happening,” he explains during a recent Zoom call. The problem is that he hasn’t been playing drums all that much lately, as any Radiohead fan can confirm. (The band has not toured since 2018.) Fortunately, the album’s producer Marta Salogni recommended a worthy replacement: Italian percussionist/composer Valentina Magaletti.

“Valentina breathed this whole life into the record,” Selway enthused. “She works really quickly, and there’s a richness in her playing, and there’s kind of a narrative and a precision in it. But also at the same time, because she works quickly, there’s this real spontaneity about it. It’s almost improvised in a way. So, yeah, I think that was one of my better decisions, to kick myself off the drum stool.”

Strange Dance is the latest example of a Radiohead band member making music outside of Radiohead. Ed O’Brien produced his first solo effort (under the moniker EOB), Earth, in 2020. Last year, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood teamed up in the well-regarded side project The Smile, forming a power trio with jazz drummer Tom Skinner. Also in 2022, Colin Greenwood started playing with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

During the promotional campaign for Strange Dance, Selway has hinted that Radiohead might reassemble this year, sparking hopes for their first new album since 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool. But when I spoke with him, he seemed less committal, suggesting that the band is now a collective of sorts in which solo projects fall under “the umbrella of Radiohead.”

Very curious! What’s going on here? In our interview, along with speaking at length about how he made Strange Dance, Selway discussed the current status of Radiohead and shared his memories of making Hail To The Thief, which turns 20 in June.

Looking at your solo records, there’s an obvious progression in terms of musical sophistication. Does that reflect a growing sense of confidence working on your own?

When I first started on my solo work, I had it in mind that I would do three albums and see what ground I could cover. I knew there was a lot to learn. I felt I could write songs, and I felt I could do something that would connect with people, but it was almost like starting over again, really. It’s really expanded my musicality, in ways that I wouldn’t have expected.

Wait — you set out to make three solo records? What happens now?

That’s it. I’m going to start drawing my pension now. [Laughs.] No, it needed to feel manageable when I was setting out to do it. But I’ve got to this stage now and it’s the end of the first stage, and so that opens up a lot of possibilities beyond here. As long as I’m writing, and the ideas are coming, then I will carry on making music. So I haven’t dried up quite yet.

You’re in a band with a pretty phenomenal singer. How did you develop your own voice? Have you always been a vocalist?

When I started out, my main impulse was to sing. Because I couldn’t really play an instrument at the time, so singing was where any musicality came out. Then puberty happened and I sounded like a drain for quite a while. Once Radiohead was signed, my focus became drumming, and trying to get that up to speed and up to the standard that was required of what we were doing.

I am still very much finding my singing voice. I can look at it over the course of records and see how it’s developed. Like with this record, I’ve found that actually singing in a lower register really suits my voice. It’s a much more expressive register for me to sing in.

You said earlier that you wanted the sessions for this album to go quickly. And it made me think about how Radiohead albums are notoriously difficult to make. I wonder: Is part of the attraction for you guys making music outside of the band is that, in a way, it’s easier?

With Radiohead, every step of the way we’ve been learning the next stage, if you like. It’s not like we’re coming in with all our chops and saying, “Well, I had this piece which I’ve done before, and I think it’ll work really well in this.” Everything’s bespoke as we’re going through, so you’re having to learn how to do that each time. That’s partially why it takes a while to make a Radiohead record. There’s quite a natural struggle in that.

With this album, the bits where it was a personal struggle happened for me before I got to the sessions. It was a lovely process making this record. I mean, really, really enjoyable. I don’t know if it was easy. Well, it certainly wasn’t. I mean, it’s a lot of hard work doing it.

Let me ask the question in a different way. And feel free to dismiss this if I’m just being a music critic projecting an idea on to your work.

[Chuckles]

But everything that Radiohead does is endlessly discussed and scrutinized. And I wonder if working outside the band allows you guys to make music that doesn’t have all that Radiohead baggage automatically affixed to it. Does that make sense?

It does make sense. I think for all of us, that baggage comes with you regardless of what you’re working on. Because the first thing people will say in an interview or a review is, “Philip Selway, better known for his work in Radiohead.” So you’re aware of that. And I’m sure it must be the same for all the other band members as well. I mean, that’s a particular pressure that we put on ourselves in the band from even before we were signed. That’s just part of how we function.

When I made my first two records, Familial and Weatherhouse, I was very aware of Radiohead. With Familial, I made an album that couldn’t have been more different to Radiohead in some ways. Because I really felt, “Well, I’m doing this outside of that context, it should be something very different.” But for Strange Dance, I’ve had this sense that the reference points for it have been these musical relationships that I’ve built up over this past decade. So that sense of being in Radiohead was much more in the background for me. But it never goes away, which is a good thing. I mean, God, that’s a massive presence in your life. One I’m quite happy to have.

I’m fascinated by how bands operate. Especially a band like yours where you’ve not only been in a band together for decades, but you’ve also been friends since you were kids. And it’s the same five people, which is such a rare thing. Do you feel like the opportunity to make your own records, and the other guys making their own records, has added to the longevity of the band?

I think it’s been essential, really. We’re all aware that Radiohead works in a particular way, and that’s a really effective way, and are really proud of what we’ve done with that. But when you’ve been making music for 40 years, there are going to be avenues that you want to go down which don’t necessarily fit in that mold. I think it must be the same for all of us. For me, back in Radiohead, you really value what’s there. But you also really get a greater sense of who you are as a musician in your own right.

Did you see that Beatles documentary Get Back?

I did, yeah.

In that movie, The Beatles were back at work on a new album less than two months after the release of The White Album. And it made me think about how those guys never really said, “Let’s take a year or two off, make our solo albums, and then reconvene.” That’s something you see long-running bands do all the time now. I feel like one thing bands learned from The Beatles is how not to burn themselves out.

Yeah, I mean, there’s a big difference in that we’re in our 50s now. The Beatles weren’t even out of their 30s at that point. What they did in that decade, less than a decade, is just unbelievable. But it feels like they had to step out of that to find their lives beyond it. And, I guess, we have been luckier, that actually our lives outside of the band have been able to develop at the same time.

But The Beatles, I mean, that’s just such an exceptional circumstance, isn’t it? What they were doing musically, just in terms of being this global phenomenon and ubiquitous and just kind of fetishized, all of those different things. Then you watch that documentary and you see the poise that they handled it all with. And you just think, “Oh my God.”

I could not have done that at 30 in their place. At that age, we were just about to release OK Computer. It was hard enough doing that without all that history you had already accumulated, and without all of the expectation on what you were doing. I’m glad we’ve been able to spread it out over a number of decades rather than sorting it all into one.

Have you ever brought your own songs into Radiohead?

When I first joined, I brought material in. But actually, it’s really been about Thom’s songwriting in the band, and then how we interpret that and where we all take it as the five of us.

You’ve said recently that Radiohead expects to work together in 2023. Do you know when that might be?

We get together quite regularly, and we talk about what we might be able to do. But we also talk a lot about our own projects that we’re working on at the moment. Right now, it feels like all of those different projects are where our attention needs to be placed. Ed is making a solo album at the moment, and it’s going to be great. And Thom and Jonny are doing more work on The Smile, and it’s been brilliant watching that this past year. And then Colin kind of beats us all hands down, working with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Radiohead hasn’t toured in five years, and the band hasn’t put out a new album in seven years. Is it just assumed that you’re always going to be a band? Or has there ever been any doubt about that?

With all the other projects that we do, I look at it and think that it all falls under the umbrella of Radiohead. That’s the richness of what we do. And I still very much identify as a member of Radiohead.

So you’re like The Wu-Tang Clan at this point?

[Laughs.] I wouldn’t make that claim for ourselves, that might sound a little bit inappropriate for us. But there is that kind of collective sense of what we’re doing, yes.

Hail To The Thief turns 20 in June. What are your memories of that record?

Looking back on it now, it’s a very good bridge between Kid A, Amnesiac, and In Rainbows. It’s almost like two records in one, actually, which I guess is what Kid A and Amnesiac were. But very much there was the core of the band at one point in the Ocean Way sessions. Then you had tracks that are much more electronic, if you like. So you have the two hemispheres of the Radiohead brain coexisting in that record. And there are a lot of tracks on that record.

Wasn’t the original idea to work quickly after Kid A and Amnesiac took so long?

We started quickly. Then it … had more requirements.