Twenty-two years ago Radiohead played to 200 people in Christchurch. Vicki Anderson talks to drummer Philip Selway about that night, and his new album.

In 1993, Radiohead played a gig in Christchurch, performing in front of 200 people at Warner's Hotel in Cathedral Square.

The British band fronted by Thom Yorke were just starting to make a noise loud enough for the world to hear.

Surprisingly drummer Philip Selway remembers the gig well.

"I remember it very clearly," he says.

Perhaps sensing my slight disbelief, after all the band which formed in 1985 in Oxfordshire have performed thousands of arena shows around the world, he adds: "I do remember that one very vividly. It was just so full; it had intensity."

He also recalls that "it was very hot in there".

"We'd done some dates in Australia and played to a handful of people . . . by the Christchurch end of things it was packed out. There was a real excitement to it for us. It was the first time being on the other side of the world for us and seeing that kind of response from people thousands of miles from where you live . . . I do remember it very vividly."

Also in 1993, Radiohead toured the United States headlined by Belly, with Christchurch band The Bats rounding off the triple bill.

Partway through the tour, Radiohead's song Creep exploded on to the American charts and Radiohead were moved to the top of the lineup.

"Oh, yes. Oh, my word," Selway says. "It was the middle of an intense period for Radiohead. Things mushroomed for us. We found ourselves opening for Belly and Tanya Donelly and she'd been someone we'd all looked up to for a good amount of time. That tour was a very intense experience, probably for me one of the most intense tours in some ways. It felt a very different world from the one we were used to. There was a lot to learn and a lot to process. It was what you'd dreamed of for years and suddenly it was there and happening."

Selway, whose singing voice is gentle and rather lovely, recently released his second solo album, Weatherhouse.

It was written during downtime while Radiohead was touring in 2012.

"I had a singer-songwriter itch that I wanted to scratch."

After Familial, his first solo record, released in 2010, he toured with Aden Ilhan and Quinta, artists in their own right who had previously performed in his backing band.

Selway collaborated with them on Weatherhouse and says it "pleasantly stretched" him.

"There was a musical dynamic between the three of us which I thought would be a great thing to explore a bit more in the context of these songs, that was the impetus."

Lyrically he wanted to "keep it pithy" but have his words ring true with an emotional resonance.

"I wanted it to be an affecting record with a depth in the arrangements as well. The music came easily but it took me a while to get it to the point where there is no time when a lyric goes past on that record and I wince."

He says that at the beginning of last year Radiohead agreed to take time to work on other projects.

"It felt like that was a healthy place to step away for a while and we came into 2013 with a sense of clear water in front.

"That's the point you dive off from and lyrically the first song is Coming Up For Air and that's very much my state of mind, the drop-off point for the rest of the record."

What does the future hold for Radiohead?

"We're back making music which is great; it feels good to be doing that. It's early days at the moment but we'll see where that all leads."

He hopes he is "fortunate" to tour New Zealand with his solo record and, should he end up in Christchurch, would like to stand on the spot of the now-demolished Warners Hotel and remember that first gig here more than 20 years ago.