Radiohead “had to stop” performing together because “the wheels came off”.
The group announced last month they will be returning to the stage in a number of European cities later this year for their first gigs since 2018 and frontman Thom Yorke has now shed light on why they haven’t performed together since their A Moon Shaped Pool world tour came to an end in 2018.
He told the Sunday Times’ Culture magazine: “I guess the wheels came off a bit, so we had to stop.
“There were a lot of elements. The shows felt great but it was, like, let’s halt now before we walk off this cliff.”
Thom admitted he was also struggling to come to terms with the death of his first wife Dr. Rachel Owen, who passed away in December 2016 at the age of 48.
He said: “I needed to stop anyway. Because I hadn’t really given myself time to grieve.
“[My grief] was coming out in ways that made me think, I need to take this away.
“Music can be a way to find meaning in things and the idea of having to stop it, even when it makes sense to, because you’re not well? Even at my lowest point? I can’t. I need something that I can hold on to.
“But there have been points in my life where I have looked for solace in music and played the piano, but it literally hurts. Physically. The music hurts, because you’re going through trauma.”
Guitarist Ed O’Brien admitted he was “nervous” about performing with the Just hitmakers again because he was “effectively over” the band by the end of the last tour and the group felt “disconnected” from one another.
He confessed: “I was nervous going into rehearsals because I was effectively over Radiohead [in 2018].
“It wasn’t great on the last round. I enjoyed the gigs but hated the rest. We felt disconnected, f****** spent. It happens.
“This has been our whole life – what else is there? Look, success has a funny effect on people – I just didn’t want to do it anymore. And I told them that.”
But Ed ultimately realised his love for his bandmates and their music.
He added: “I went through a very long dark night of the soul. I had a deep depression. I hit the bottom in 2021. And one of the things that was lovely coming out of it was realising how much I love these guys. I met them when I was 17 and I have gone from thinking I can’t see myself doing it again to realising that, you know, we do have some stellar songs.”