Born on October 7: Radiohead singer Thom Yorke has found his smile again!

The Northamptonshire (England) native is now 57 years old and has been chairing The Smile since 2022 but, surprise, he's reuniting with Radiohead this year.

In addition to the nine albums released by Radiohead between 1993 and 2016, Thom Yorke has pursued other parallel projects: three solo albums, the short-lived supergroup Atoms For Peace (featuring Flea, bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), and the almost peaceful but still vindictive The Smile, already responsible for two albums, including Wall of Eyes, released in 2024. A tireless activist, Thom Yorke never abandons any of the causes he has championed at one point or another in his life: Amnesty International, of course, Tibet, still in the hands of China, the welfare of people, and especially Greenpeace. Taking advantage of the resonance his status as an artist provides, Thom Yorke regularly transforms himself into an activist, always advocating for non-violence.

I had the chance to meet him in 1995 for the release of The Bends, Radiohead's second album. Creep's success had already taken place, but the singer was nonetheless attentive to the questions posed to him. A kindness tinged with humility that seems to have remained with him nearly thirty years later. Here's a seemingly innocuous, if not trivial, question that led to a most unexpected answer!

For the recording of this second album, you chose, for the most part, The Manor studio, not far from Oxford. Was this an important choice for you?

Thom Yorke: "It allows us to add to our repertoire a host of slightly spooky stories we learned there! Want to hear the one about the clock? I was staying in a room that turned out to be the most popular with the spirits. Just glancing in the mirror made my hair stand on end. One night, my girlfriend (Rachel Owen, who would become the mother of his two children) went to bed while we were still working. She placed a very expensive watch that her grandmother had given her on the nightstand. Her grandmother appeared to her in a dream, warning her, insistently, to be careful with the watch. When she woke up, the face was broken and the hands had stopped, pointing to 3am. Oooh!!"

It's not just Thom Yorke's songs that give you the creeps. His stories do too!

Just a few months ago, Thom Yorke was still professing unwavering interest in the band that had allowed him to attract a wide audience while remaining deeply honest. However, at the beginning of September, news of a completely unexpected Radiohead reformation spread like wildfire across social media. Since the band still has no intention of doing what everyone else has done, they will, however, be content with 20 European concerts, four nights that promise to be memorable in five carefully selected cities: Madrid, Bologna, Copenhagen, Berlin, and London. Like the Gallagher brothers with Oasis this summer, Thom Yorke's band also has no intention of offering us any new compositions. Unless they once again defy all expectations...

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Thom Yorke with The Smile on stage at the TW Festival in Werchter, Belgium, on June 25, 2022