Thom Yorke interviews don’t surface often, but even more rare are lengthy, candid discussions with someone whom the Radiohead/Atoms for Peace frontman has natural rapport. This week, actor/Here’s The Thing host Alec Baldwin proved himself an exception to some of those awkward past pairings, talking to Yorke for an hour on WNYC about a wide range of topics spanning the early days of Radiohead, his longheld partnership with Nigel Godrich, learning digital recording after OK Computer, and his frequent thoughts about having the band call it a day (don’t worry, he implies it’s just a recurring phase). There are many highlights among the freewheeling chat, but a few personal favorites include his theory on singing (“Like Neil Young… He sings to this spot in his head. And what he’s singing, he’s already heard. You know what I mean? He’s hearing it come out. And the same with Björk. When she’s singing, she’s singing what she’s hearing so there’s no force. It’s a force in itself.”) and the pair riffing on American versus British pronunciation. Check out the full transcript here, but the interview in general — and particularly that latter bit — are best in audio form above.
