After weeks of speculation about whether Radiohead will show up for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Thom Yorke has confirmed that he won’t be attendance for the March ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Speaking to Variety about the Rock Hall nod, Yorke admitted that the concept of the institution is foreign to the band, and while he is honored by the induction, he can’t partake in the ceremony due to a scheduling conflict.
When asked if he’d attend the induction ceremony, Yorke said, “I know I can’t, because of these piano pieces that I’ve written”; the singer crafted piano works for Katia and Marielle Labèque that will premiere at Philharmonie de Paris on April 7th, days after the Rock Hall induction.
“The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame… we’ve always been very blasé about that stuff. So we don’t want to offend anyone. We just think that we just don’t quite understand it,” Yorke added.
“We’ve had it explained to us, so it’s cool. But we don’t really understand it as English people. I think our problem is essentially that every awards ceremony in the UK stinks. We grew up with the Brits, which is like this sort of drunken car crash that you don’t want to get involved with. So, yeah, we don’t really know what to make of it.”
Although Yorke can’t attend the Rock Hall induction, he’s keeping his calendar clear for the Oscars on February 24th; his Suspiria song “Suspirium” was shortlisted in the Academy Awards’ Best Original Song category.
“I mean, I hope it gets nominated,” Yorke said. “That would be great, because it was a year and a half in my life, and I worked bloody hard on it. So, you know, sometimes it’s nice to be recognized. Sometimes, if you understand what it means.”
Despite recently releasing his two-LP Suspiria score, Yorke still plans on releasing a solo album in 2019. When asked whether the still-unreleased songs that Yorke performed during his recent Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes tour will appear on his next album, he said, ” Yeah, they fucking well should. They really, really better be. Really soon. I’m desperate now… I expected to have done it all (in the fall), and it just didn’t happen like that. I’m going to stop beating myself up about it. It will happen.”