Fridgebuzz: An Ode to Radiohead

To stage tribute concerts for bands who have finished performing, or just won’t play Australia, is nothing new. But when it comes to Radiohead, a band whose commercial success has compromised neither their artistic integrity nor the cult nature of their following, it’s hard to imagine the fans accepting anything that would dilute the experience of their music in any way. The answer: Find a way that such a tribute concert could bring an entirely new and unexpected depth of intensity to the performance of the songs. For example, by staging it in Old Melbourne Gaol.

“The seed of this idea started with myself and a pianist named Josh Cohen,” explains Anita Lester, one of those responsible for this audacious plan. “He asked me to sing No Surprises for a recital he performed. That got some positive feedback, so we decided we would go to Bennett’s Lane, and play an acoustic set of Radiohead songs. Really simple. It started getting around our muso friends… and within two weeks we had thirty different musicians wanting to be a part of it! I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

“After that we knew we needed a bigger venue. At first, we were gravitating towards the Chapel Off Chapel, then thought we might as well do it in a real church. While we were browsing through heritage listings, there was a serendipitous moment where we came across Old Melbourne Gaol, looked at each other and said: ‘Perfect’. We were there twenty minutes later, and something about the atmosphere made it really suitable for Radiohead… really dark, and resonating in a really appropriate way.

“It’s multi-layered, it’s so narrow, it’s so close… We’ll have three stages: A band on the first level, some strings on the second and a choir on the third. The acoustics are amazing, and the lighting will completely transform it. It’s like the first public gig that’s ever happened at the Old

Melbourne Gaol. It turns out the guy who runs it is a big Radiohead fan, which probably helped!"

It’s suggested to Lester that the venue might accentuate the darkness of some of Radiohead’s material to an almost uncomfortable degree; Imagine, for example, performing a song like Climbing Up The Walls in a place that has literally driven people mad. Lester smiles at me in an interesting way; a sort of apologetic-for-being-unapologetic way. “It’s funny, because we’ve actually kind of played up the fact it’s a really morbid venue,” she says. “And I think, generally, Radiohead songs are very dark anyway. We’ve noticed, since we’ve been deconstructing these songs, that a lot of them are about death. The whole thing just becomes this appropriate situation. Some things may end up a bit darker than they were originally, but I think if you’re a Radiohead fan, you’ll understand why Old Melbourne Gaol is so perfect when you get there.”

Lester and Cohen will also be breaking the mould of a typical tribute show in the way they balance the set list. “We decided that, instead of trying to create a chronological balance, where there’s a few songs from each (sequential) album, we would aim for a progression of feel throughout the evening,” Lester explains. “It starts quite slow and sombre, and grows to be a bit more energetic… the tension kind of grows over the night.

“There’s more new material than old. There are songs from Hail To The Thief, OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows, The Bends and one B-side… We don’t have anything from Pablo Honey, because that’s a fairly weak Radiohead album, by their standards."

And will these songs be performed in their original form, or with a new twist? “We’ve only changed the arrangements for about five songs, and they’re not particularly extreme re-interpretations. For Reckoner, we’re doing a classical arrangement – it’s got a really ‘alive’ string part in it. We’re getting a choir doing a really deep part, which is really beautiful and unusual. And we’re doing No Surprises with just piano and vocals. But the most obvious thing is that none of the three singers who are performing these songs sound like Thom Yorke. In that way alone, it immediately becomes a new interpretation of the song. But the essence is still there."

And what of the performers? Any names we’ll recognise

?

Lester takes a thoughtful breath. “We had the option of having a few significant names, just because the music community is quite tight-knit, and I happen to have a lot of friends who have some profile,” she says. (And she ain’t kidding – when Anita drops a few names off the record, my jaw does the same) “But if we got these high profile people in, we thought the show would become a series of moments that the audience would just be waiting for. We want a really fluid progression through the night, where no-one’s preoccupied with who’s performing what when."

“So we’ve got Andy Reed, the drummer from Whitley, Matt Borg, the guitarist from The Bastard Children, and Dave Havea, the singer from My Private Dinosaur. And bassist Pat Movella-Still, who plays in all these reggae-ish bands around Australia… I hope people won’t be deterred by the fact these musicians aren’t famous, (because) every one of them is a fucking virtuoso. They all have profoundly brilliant talents.” Lester laughs. “I guess I’ve found that’s hard to get recognised, sometimes!”

Anita might be referring to her own band Me And The Grownups, a trio whose fusion of folk melodies, evocative lyrical prose and classical composition (and absence of drums), though never commercial, nonetheless left critics impressed and audiences enraptured. As someone who keenly observed the young group’s rapid evolution – both collectively and in its individual members – I was disappointed but not entirely surprised to hear they had gone their separate ways last year. MATG’s guitarist-cum-one man rhythm section Adrian Sergovich is now preparing to move to Italy to further his classical studies, while composer and string instrumentalist Jonathan Dreyfus is employing his composition skills for television.

Sadly for Lester, though, things came to a head with her not being consulted, so much as merely informed of the new plans for her bandmates… and consequently, the end of her band. “It was even more traumatic than a relationship break-up, actually," she says, “because it’s, like, everything that you are. When you’re giving your art to people, it’s like you’re giving your soul to them… But it’s okay, I’ve got a new band now.”

So what should we expect of Anita’s new outfit, Lester Bangs? (Who, cheekily, share their name with the famed music journalist) “I guess it’s much darker and heavier, because I’m using drums and bass. It’s more like a traditional band line-up… still very cinematic, but not as classical, if that makes sense. I’ve always been into the old school singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell/Leonard Cohen kind of vibe. But I’m trying to make it a bit darker, because the other side of what I’m into is Radiohead or The National. I mean, I wrote all the songs in the other band, so this is a similar kind of vibe… but maybe more accessible.”

FRIDGEBUZZ: AN ODE TO RADIOHEAD goes down at Old Melbourne Gaol next Thursday November 25. Tickets through moshtix.com.au .