Thom Yorke Will Debut New Band With Flea, Nigel Godrich in L.A.

Thom Yorke has recruited Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck drummer Joey Waronker and percussionist Mauro Refosco for a new live outfit that will make its debut this Sunday and Monday, October 4th and 5th, at Los Angeles' Orpheum Theatre, the singer announced on Radiohead's Dead Air Space Website this morning. The news ends weeks of rumors surrounding the usually reticent Radiohead frontman, who has been seen out gallivanting in Los Angeles recently, DJing at the Roosevelt Hotel and being snapped by paparazzi outside Nobu.

"In the past couple of weeks I've been getting a band together for fun to play The Eraser stuff live and the new songs etc. to see if it could work," Yorke writes. "We don't really have a name and the set will not be very long cuz... well... we haven't got that much material yet! But come and check it out if you are in the area." We here at Rolling Stone love Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, but the prospect of Yorke collaborating with Flea, one of the best in the game, is exciting. Yorke also recently called his new song "The Hollow Earth" a "bass monster," so Flea should help in bringing songs like that and Eraser's "Harrowdown Hill" from the studio to the stage.

Yorke has reportedly long expressed a desire to bring the textural Eraser to the stage, but so far his solo performances have amounted to him sitting alone onstage with an acoustic guitar. That should change with this new, nameless band.

It's been a busy, busy month for Yorke: On the heels of a pair of new Radiohead tracks ("Harry Patch (In Memory Of)", "These Are My Twisted Words"), Yorke released his own 12'' single last week, "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses"/"The Hollow Earth." As Rolling Stone previously reported, another new Yorke song called "Hearing Damage" will feature on the New Moon soundtrack.

Related Stories:
• "New Moon" Track List Reveals New Music From Thom Yorke, Killers, Muse
• New Thom Yorke Single "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses" Released
• Video Debut: Thom Yorke Covers Mark Mulcahy's "All for the Best"

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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