Thom Yorke’s Rig

Thom, Jonny, Nigel, and Colin goofing around in studio while recording In Rainbows.

Thom sub-pages

Microphones Guitars Amplifiers Pedals Keyboards Percussion DJ

Overview

Thomas “Thom” Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is a musician and dancer who’s best known as the principal singer and songwriter of Radiohead. He’s also a visual artist (under pseudonyms such as “Dr Tchock), collaborating with Stanley Donwood on much of the artwork used for Radiohead and his own solo albums.

Thom came to prominence playing guitar on Radiohead’s The Bends and OK Computer, but he’s played keyboards and DJ’d since his college days. His interest in DJ'ing let to his Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes DJ performances, and ultimately to his third solo album ANIMA. During the recording of The Bends, Thom warmed up each day by playing piano for hours. This practice clearly paid off – as Radiohead’s career progressed, Thom increasingly played piano and other keyboards on their songs and for his solo work. Thom is sometimes though of as the driving force behind Radiohead’s “electronic” sound on albums from Kid A onwards, but much of the band’s synthesized sounds are created by the rest of the band, such as Colin with his samplers and rhythm machines or Jonny with his ondes Martenot and Cycling74 Max. However, Thom’s own skill with electronics are made undeniable by his solo output, starting with The Eraser in 2006, which features creative sampling combined with acoustic instruments. His 2014 album Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes features heavy use of Prophet synthesizers and Elektron drum machines. Thom’s diverse musicals skills are brought together on his soundtrack to the film Suspiria, which features a diverse blend of electronic instruments and electronically processed acoustic instruments including voice.

Despite frequent depiction as an introvert (largely caused by the documentary Meeting People is Easy), Thom has also collaborated with numerous artists over the years. The most prolific was the super-group Atoms for Peace, featuring Flea, Nigel Godrich, Mauro Refosco, and Joey Waronker. Thom collaborated with Flea again in 2019 on Daily Battles for the film Motherless Brooklyn. Other collaborators include Sparklehorse, Drugstore, Unkle, Bjork, Modeselektor, Flying Lotus, MF DOOM, Burial, and Four Tet. He also provided the music for Rag&Bone fashion shows and short films from 2011 to 2019.

Thom DJing at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 2014.