Thom Yorke’s interview with Jason Thomas Gordon has been made public. ‘The Singers Talk,’ Gordon’s new book, includes unique interviews with several musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Ozzy Osbourne, Robert Smith, Michael Stipe, Thom Yorke, Steve Perry, and others. Rolling Stone published an interview with Yorke in which he said that in his early days, he didn’t want to sing and refused to become like Freddie Mercury, but instead regarded himself as more like Brian May. When questioned when he initially discovered he wanted to sing, the frontman stated he didn’t want to. He then proceeded to say the following: “I always assumed it would be done by someone else because I didn’t see myself as the type of character who could put themselves in front of a microphone.” I loved Queen, but I never imagined myself as Freddie Mercury. Surprisingly, I was always Brian May in my brain.
And it changed a little because I couldn’t find someone else to do it.” Yorke recounted what he did during the recording of their third studio album, ‘OK Computer’: “I had this notion that I needed to be off my face in order to record the vocals without feeling self-conscious. But, you know, it sounds like a drunk guy. “Weeks of disastrous vocals until I woke up.” Yorke revealed that when he first began singing, he was influenced by other singers who were ‘very deep down,’ like Morrissey and Michael Stipe. The frontman also stated that he tried to imitate David Sylvian’s voice, but it was too high for him, so he reverted to Stipe and Morrissey. The frontman also discussed his difficulties in developing his own voice. His hardest lesson, according to him, was learning how to be oneself, and it took him years to find his voice. You can listen to the entire chat and ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ from the band’s early years below.
