Ed O’Brien has addressed the uncertain future of Radiohead, revealing that the band is not currently active and has no plans in the foreseeable future.
In an interview with The Line-Up Podcast, O’Brien acknowledged that, “There’s no Radiohead at the moment.”
“It might happen, but the other thing is… it might not,” O’Brien responded when asked whether the band would eventually reconvene. “And does that matter?”
“There’s a truth to what we do,” the Radiohead guitarist went on to explain. “So we’re not going to be one of those bands that gets together for the big payday.”
“The thing with Radiohead, we could do something in a couple years. We might not,” he added. “But I think what it has to be, it has to be five people going, ‘I really want to do this again with you.’ And I think at the moment, because we’ve done it for so long, we’re all reaching out and having different experiences. And that should be allowed, and that should be encouraged.”
Ultimately, O’Brien believes fans have not yet seen the last of Radiohead. “We love one another. We’re brothers. We probably will play together,” he said. “It could be that it doesn’t happen. I’m sure it will do. I’m almost certain that it will do. But you’ve got to also be able to be fine with it not happening again.”
Radiohead released their last album, A Moon Shaped Pool, in May 2016, and last toured together in 2018. Since then, O’Brien released his debut solo album, Earth, in 2020, and he has another record due out later this year. Meanwhile, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood recently released their debut album as The Smile, A Light for Attracting Attention, and are set to tour North American tour this fall (get tickets here).