EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE

With his debut solo album released this month, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien welcomes TG into the London studio where the album was recorded, and talks in depth about his creative process, the vast array of guitars and gear he uses, the influences that shaped his new music – from electronica to Keith Richards and Rush – and his role in one of the world’s most important guitar bands...

- Amit Sharma

“It’s magnificent... Like an old Rolls Royce,” says Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, pointing to the Cadac desk which once belonged to his main band and ended up being sold to producers Alan Moulder and Flood. It was here at West London’s Assault & Battery Studios, with Moulder and Flood, that O’Brien recorded and mixed parts of his first solo record as EOB. Prior to that, the analogue console had resided at Wessex Sound Studios and was used to track some of the greatest rock albums of the late 70s, including the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bollocks, The Clash’s London Calling and Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack. This old console has earned its place in history – and the same could be said of O’Brien himself.

As a founding member of one of the most important guitar bands in popular music, O’Brien has been the recipient of countless awards and accolades, although he chooses not to dwell on such merits. Instead, he is the kind of musician who prefers to live in the present – you quickly get the impression he only measures himself on what he has in front of him right now. Over an afternoon of walking TG through the guitars, amps and pedals used on Earth, plucking through Beatlesy closer Cloak Of The Night on his Martin during our photo shoot, the Radiohead guitarist is every bit as earnest and sincere as the music he is known for.