Members of Radiohead walk along a shore in Somerset, England, in 2006. The picture was taken by bassist Colin Greenwood, whose photos of the band over the past 20 years can be found in his new book, “How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead.”
Radiohead’s bassist has taken behind-the-scenes photos for years. Now he’s sharing them with the world
Photographs by Colin Greenwood
Story by Radhika Marya, CNN
Published October 13, 2024
Members of Radiohead walk along a shore in Somerset, England, in 2006. The picture was taken by bassist Colin Greenwood, whose photos of the band over the past 20 years can be found in his new book, “How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead.”
Colin Greenwood plays bass in one of the world’s most acclaimed bands, but he doesn’t view himself as a particularly public figure. In some ways, he retreats even further from the public eye in his new book, a collection of photographs called “How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead.”
The title is a callback to a track on Radiohead’s fourth studio album, 2000’s “Kid A.” But while the book’s title was partially inspired by his love of the song, it was also inspired by the fact that Greenwood is barely featured in its pages.
“Holding a camera and taking pictures is a nice way of sort of hiding behind something whilst everything else is going on in front of you,” Greenwood told CNN. “It can act as a shield as well as a scope.”
“How to Disappear,” out Tuesday, features behind-the-scenes images of Radiohead over the course of their work on 2003’s “Hail to the Thief” through 2016’s “A Moon Shaped Pool.” Many of the photos haven’t been shared before, and Greenwood also uses the collection as a vehicle for a 10,000-word personal essay, telling Radiohead’s story in his own words.
Greenwood worked with editor Duncan Whyte to compile images that give “interesting insight into the creative flow of Radiohead.”
The images, shot on a range of film cameras, feature the band at work in its Oxfordshire, England, countryside studio, taking breaks in the garden, and killing time while traveling or rehearsing. These quiet, intimate and sometimes surreal images then give way to dazzling shots of stage lights and the band playing to tens of thousands of fans.
Greenwood was drawn to photography after college, in part through his friend, photography writer and curator Charlotte Cotton. The art form has become a way for Greenwood to express his curiosity about the world he finds himself in, which he describes as an “extraordinary bubble that bounces around between studios and stages around the world.”
“I enjoy putting photographs together that share ideas of privacy and intimacy with performance and public expression,” Greenwood said.
As a member of Radiohead, Greenwood acknowledges that he has unique access that allows him to capture the images found in the book.
“I can take pictures whenever. I don’t have to wait for an hour on a day off,” he said.
But he can be shy about taking photos. “I’m not there to take pictures and sometimes I find it tricky to navigate the distinct roles of musician and photographer,” he writes in “How to Disappear.”
The moments Greenwood captures onstage are usually snapped during portions of songs where he’s not actively playing his bass. “That’s when I pick up the camera and then take photographs of my friends who can’t object because they’re busy playing still,” he explained. “I’m taking advantage of my friends’ busyness.”
However, there are other times where he feels taking photos can be intrusive. While his younger brother and bandmate Jonny Greenwood is “always up for a picture,” the rest of the band members haven’t always wanted to have their photos taken.
“But then saying that, you know, I look back on it, and I’m very grateful to my friends for giving me the opportunity to photograph them whilst we were all working on the music in the studio and onstage,” Greenwood said. “With time, I reflect that they were all very supportive.”
In fact, when Greenwood showed the rest of Radiohead the photos and text in “How to Disappear,” he heard some “nice encouraging noises” from guitarist Ed O’Brien and drummer Philip Selway.
“That’s one of the things that I’m proud about with my band, is we’ve always respected each other’s artistic integrity and freedom to make choices we want to make,” said Greenwood, who has also been recording and touring with Nick Cave. (Both O’Brien and Selway have released solo projects in the last few years, while Jonny Greenwood and singer Thom Yorke have been working together in their side project, The Smile.)
“That’s something we’ve all done as a band … we’ve supported each other’s projects apart from Radiohead, whether it’s writing or photography.”
Greenwood has been releasing other photos of the band online since “How to Disappear” was first announced, and he says he would love to continue working on his photography.
While he thinks this particular collection will reinforce Radiohead fans’ “best hopes and worst suspicions” about the band, he hopes it will otherwise serve as a “beautiful” book to those who aren’t as familiar with them.
As for what’s next for Radiohead?
“We’re hoping to make some plans,” said Greenwood, who played old songs with his bandmates when they met up in June. “A lot of stuff got held back and sidelined obviously — like everyone’s lives — with coronavirus. So, we’re sort of catching up on all those things.
“We are talking to each other, and yes, we are hoping to make some plans.”
“How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead,” published by Mobius, is available for pre-order.