Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has formed a new band … featuring Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not content with singing in one of the world's biggest rock groups, Yorke felt the need to recruit the Chili Peppers bass slapper to fulfil his musical vision. The band, which will play live dates next week, also includes Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.
"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 ... to see if it could work!" Yorke wrote on Radiohead's Dead Airspace blog. He also posted an admittedly rather tiny picture of the band.
Yorke admits they are still lacking a moniker – although Adam Buxton did recently suggest a few to him during an interview at Latitude festival, including Mr T, Thomosexual and Yorkie Fruit and Nut Bar.
It's not yet clear if the band intend to write their own material, or if they've simply been put together by Yorke to recreate the increasingly weird noises that fester inside his head. One thing is clear, though: for anyone who has ever heard Yorke's solo material and thought, "Interesting stuff Thom … but this abstract bleepy wailing could really do with some funky slap bass", it really is your lucky day.
The collaboration marks an interesting period for Radiohead. In August, Yorke said that his band may not release another album, focusing on downloads instead. Earlier this month, drummer Phil Selway became the third Radiohead member to embark on a solo route, following in the footsteps of Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. Selway's new project will be a collaboration with members of Wilco, singer-songwriter Lisa Germano and former Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Steinberg.
