Philip Selway on Finding His Voice and Radiohead’s Return to the Studio
Radiohead drummer Philip Selway’s solo debut, Familial, was a hushed, folky first step. Four years later, his second album, Weatherhouse (out now), is something entirely different: a sweeping suite full of moody psychedelic arrangements that aren’t so different from the music Selway makes with his main band.
“I suppose on this one I didn’t feel I wanted to avoid it, which I did on Familial,” Selway says, sitting in his 30 Rock dressing room before taping a Tonight Show performance with the Dap-Kings backing him. “It’s a big part of what I do, Radiohead, and it is very much part of me. So it felt very natural to draw on those elements.”
Selway recorded Weatherhouse over the last 18 months at Radiohead’s studio outside Oxford, England, working with multi-instrumentalists Adem Ilhan and Quinta. “We wanted it to sound like a band,” Selway says. “Getting something that felt authentically me down on – I would say tape, but it’s not tape, is it? But that was very satisfying thing.”
The drummer was only in the U.S. for a quick promo trip: Next week, he’s heading back to Oxford to rejoin the recording sessions that Radiohead have embarked on this fall. Read on for our full Q&A about Selway’s latest solo album, how he learned to love drumming again, and a status update on Radiohead’s next album.
Did you know from the start that you wanted to go in a different direction from your first album?
Absolutely. On Familial, I was basically starting from zero. I had no previous record [as an artist] apart from drumming. Then, taking the record out to play live shows –that was a lovely album to play, but it only worked in particular venues. It had to be very intimate places, or else it would get lost. There was a sense of being on stage and thinking, “Actually, I just wish it was something a bit more…expansive here.”
One big difference on this album is that you play drums – which you didn’t on most of Familial.
Glenn Kotche drummed on Familial, which was great. He’s just amazing. But on this one, Adem kind of coaxed me into playing. It was surprisingly enjoyable, actually. Before this record, I hadn’t heard my own drum parts on my songs. There was probably a little bit of trepidation there. But once I got into the whole process, I found it very liberating.