- - Radiohead opens up about 7-year hiatus for the first time

KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY October 27, 2025 at 9:42 PM

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After a seven-year break, Radiohead will perform a handful of shows starting in November. The British band came back together in summer 2024 and fell back in love with their catalog of music.

Sometimes, you have to fall apart to come back together. For the five members of Radiohead, that meant taking a seven-year break from the band.

As lead singer Thom Yorke described it in an interview with the U.K.'s The Sunday Times that published Oct. 25, after more than 30 years together the group was, metaphorically, on the precipice of falling off a cliff. They last performed together on tour in August 2018 and in September announced a handful of European shows in November and December that quickly sold out.

"I guess the wheels came off a bit, so we had to stop," Yorke, 57, said. "There were a lot of elements. The shows felt great but it was, like, let's halt now before we walk off this cliff."

For Yorke – who's since pursued other musical ventures, including his other band The Smile – the time allowed him to finally process the death his former wife Rachel Owen, who died from cancer in 2016 in the midst of their last tour. They share two adult children together.

Philip Selway and Ed O'Brien of Radiohead attend the 34th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Barclay's Center on March 29, 2019, in New York City.

"I hadn't really given myself time to grieve," Yorke said.

Guitarist Ed O'Brien wasn't sparing in his words as he described feeling "over Radiohead" before they reunited last summer. But he admitted that getting back together to experiment with playing through their catalog made him fall in love with the band again.

They're back: What to know about Radiohead's first tour since 2018

"I enjoyed the gigs but hated the rest. … Look, success has a funny effect on people — I just didn’t want to do it any more. And I told them that," he said.

"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," he continued. "I met them when I was 17 and I have gone from thinking I can’t see myself doing it again to realizing that, you know, we do have some stellar songs.”

Schoolmates in Oxfordshire, England, band members Yorke, O'Brien, Selway and Jonny Greenwood, alongside bassist Colin Greenwood, formed Radiohead in 1985. Their most recent studio album was 2016's "A Moon Shaped Pool," which earned two Grammy nominations. In 2019 they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Radiohead members split on Israel, feel 'ostrasized'

O'Brien also alluded to the fact that though the musicians feel aligned musically once again, they seem to differ in some of their beliefs.

The guitarist, who's shared messages in support of Palestinians, told The Sunday Times he's "not going to judge anybody" over how his bandmates reacted to the backlash against Radiohead's 2017 concert in Tel Aviv. But he added, "The brutal truth is that, while we were once all tight, we haven't really spoken to one another much — and that's OK," he said.

Guitarist and keyboardist Jonny Greenwood has collaborated with musicians from across the Middle East, including Israeli singer/songwriter Dudu Tassa. In May, the duo canceled concerts over backlash and "credible threats" to venues where they were to perform.

Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead perform at the O2 Arena on Oct. 8, 2012, in London.

"The only thing that I'm ashamed of is that I've dragged Thom and the others into this mess — but I'm not ashamed of working with Arab and Jewish musicians. I can't apologize for that," Greenwood said.

"I spend a lot of time there with family and cannot just say, 'I'm not making music with you ... because of the government.' It makes no sense to me," he continued. "I have no loyalty — or respect, obviously — to their government, but I have both for the artists born there."

Yorke, for his part, said ahead of the October ceasefire deal that he would "absolutely not" perform again in Israel. He added, "I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime but Jonny has roots there. So I get it."

Drummer Phil Selway explained, "What (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) are asking of us is impossible. They want us to distance ourselves from Jonny, but that would mean the end of the band and Jonny is coming from a very principled place."

He added, "But it’s odd to be ostracized by artists we generally felt quite aligned to."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Radiohead doesn't speak 'much' over split views on Israel

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