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Jonny Greenwood

Jonny Greenwood

Born November 5, 1971 (1971-11-05) (age 35)
Oxford, England
Genre(s) Alternative rock
Electronic music
Contemporary classical music
Affiliation(s) Radiohead
Label(s) Parlophone
Capitol Records
Notable guitars Fender Telecaster Plus
Fender Starcaster
Years active 1992-present
Official site Official website

Jonathan "Jonny" Richard Guy Greenwood (born November 5, 1971 in Oxford, England) is a musician and a member of Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist and also serves as the band's lead guitarist. In addition to guitar he plays viola, organ, piano, xylophone, glockenspiel, ondes martenot, banjo and harmonica. He is the younger brother of fellow Radiohead member Colin Greenwood.

Contents

  • 1 Career
    • 1.1 Radiohead
    • 1.2 Solo work and current projects
    • 1.3 Musical tastes
  • 2 Personal life
  • 3 Equipment used
    • 3.1 Electric
    • 3.2 Acoustic
    • 3.3 Amplifiers
    • 3.4 Effects Pedals
    • 3.5 Keyboards
    • 3.6 Other
  • 4 Collaborations
  • 5 Notes
  • 6 External links

Career

Radiohead

Greenwood had recently started university when Radiohead predecessor On A Friday signed a recording contract with EMI in 1991. He soon left school. While Greenwood is the only member of Radiohead to have been classically trained on any instrument (he took viola lessons as a child), he is also the only band member without an advanced degree.

Greenwood's influence on Radiohead's recording and writing can be heard in many songs, as he usually takes the traditional lead-guitarist role. For a while, Greenwood wore an arm brace due to a repetitive strain injury attributed to his "aggressive" way of playing the instrument. He often still wears the brace. He says, "It's like taping up your fingers before a boxing match."[1]

Greenwood is often credited as the second major influence on songwriting in Radiohead, along with Thom Yorke. He wrote the music for the closing tracks of OK Computer, and Hail to the Thief, the slow, jazzy rock song "The Tourist" and "A Wolf at the Door", respectively. According to Yorke the track "Just" from The Bends was "a competition by me and Jonny to get as many chords as possible into a song." An example of Greenwood's versatility is his use of the Ondes Martenot, which is featured on songs such as "The National Anthem" and "How to Disappear Completely" from the album Kid A. The song "Where I End and You Begin" from Hail to the Thief was dedicated to the memory of Jeanne Loriod, a pioneer of the Ondes.

Solo work and current projects

In 2003, Greenwood released his first solo album, Bodysong (2003), the soundtrack for the movie of the same title by filmmaker Simon Pummell. Bodysong also features contributions from his brother Colin on bass.

Jonny Greenwood was hired by the BBC as its composer in residence in May 2004, a job which gave him the opportunity to compose several pieces for classical orchestra, piano and/or Ondes Martenot: smear, Piano for Children and Popcorn Superhet Receiver. smear premiered in 2004, and on 23 April 2005 Greenwood premiered his new work commissioned by BBC Radio 3, with music performed live by the BBC Concert Orchestra in London[2]. The printed music for smear and Popcorn Superhet Receiver are available from Faber Music Ltd in London.

Greenwood and Yorke also collaborated on a new composition credited to Radiohead, the song Arpeggi for voice, Ondes and orchestra, which they performed with the London Sinfonietta and Arab Orchestra of Nazareth at the Ether Festival in March 2005.[3] The song would later be adapted for the full band to play in 2006, rearranging it for guitar.

Radiohead are currently working on another album and recently performed many new songs during a summer 2006 tour. However, no release date has been set. According to interviews with Thom, the tour was Jonny's idea, as he feels the pressure of a firm deadline helps creativity.

Greenwood won the Radio 3 Listeners' Award at the 2006 BBC British Composer Awards [4] for his piece, "Popcorn Superhet Receiver". The piece was inspired by radio static and the extended, dissonant chords of Polish composer Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima", it can be streamed from a link on this page [5] Upon winning the award Greenwood received £10,000 from the PRS Foundation towards a commission for a new orchestral work. [6]

A fan of dub reggae[7], Greenwood released a compilation in collaboration with Trojan Records, entitled Jonny Greenwood Is The Controller in March 2007. This is the latest in Trojan’s Artist Choice Jukebox series, to which DJ Spooky and Don Letts have already contributed[8]. Trojan Records provided Greenwood with its extensive catalog of songs, of which he chose 17 [9]. The title is a play on the first track on the collection, entitled Dread Are The Controller, by Linval Thompson. The album contains tracks by artists such as Derrick Harriott, Gregory Isaacs, The Heptones and many more.

Musical tastes

Greenwood is greatly influenced by jazz; his favorites include Lee Morgan and Miles Davis. He is a major fan of the Mo'Wax label (onetime home of Blackalicious, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow and Dr. Octagon). Along with other Radiohead band members he loves Krautrock band Can and Polish composer Penderecki. Although Greenwood says he dislikes later Pink Floyd, one of his favourite albums is Meddle (1971). Greenwood's all time favourite piece of music is Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony, a gigantic piece for orchestra and Ondes Martenot, which he discovered as a teenager.[10]According to one of his entries on Radiohead's blog Dead Air Space, Greenwood has recently become a dub reggae aficionado, listening as of late 2005 to little else. In February 2007, Trojan Records released "Jonny Greenwood is the Controller" - he was given access to the archives of the legendary Trojan Records and hand picked tracks by the likes of Linval Thompson, John Holt, Lee Perry and The Heptones ranging from classic Ska and Rocksteady cuts to some vintage Dub and Roots. This compilation was recently nominated by Mojo Magazine as the compilation of the year. He confessed in a blog entry that he had never heard The Stooges' Fun House, although he was aware of its legendary reputation.

Personal life

Greenwood is married to Sharona Greenwood and has a son named Tamir who was born in 2002 and to whom Hail to the Thief was dedicated. He also has a daughter named Omri, born in 2005.

As well as his iconic arm brace, Greenwood has a hairstyle that sets him apart from other band members. His hair is black, straight, and worn long, cut at an angle and often overhanging his face. In live concerts he is also recognized for a frequently worn T-shirt with a pictogram of a person and sound waves emanating from their head - perhaps a "radio head."

However, while Greenwood is sometimes seen as the most flamboyant and stylish member of the band, he also professes shyness. He is apparently somewhat uncomfortable with the sound of his voice, and did fewer interviews than other band members until recently. A longstanding joke among fans calls for Greenwood to sing, something he claims he will never do. He was however, spotted singing backup during several performances in the 2006 tour, including the songs "Black Star" and "The Bends", sharing a microphone with bandmate and guitarist Ed O'Brien. Greenwood is red-green colorblind.

Equipment used

This is a list of musical equipment used by Jonny Greenwood:

Electric

He has used various other Telecasters over the years too, and currently uses Dean Markley Signature Series 10-46 strings.

Acoustic

Amplifiers

In the earlier years he used a Fender Twin Reverb for clean tones and a Fender Deluxe 85 for distorted tones.

Effects Pedals


Keyboard Effects

Keyboards

Other

Collaborations

Velvet Goldmine
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood got together with Bernard Butler (Suede), Andy Mackay, and Paul Kimble to form the band, The Venus in Furs, named after the Velvet Underground song. They recorded 5 songs (Roxy Music, Brian Eno and Steve Harley covers) for the Todd Haynes film Velvet Goldmine, which was produced by Michael Stipe. The tracks are:
  • "2HB" (vocals : Thom Yorke)
  • "Ladytron" (vocals : Thom Yorke)
  • "Baby's on Fire"
  • "Bitter-Sweet" (vocals : Thom Yorke)
  • "Tumbling Down"
Pavement
Greenwood played harmonica on Pavement's final LP, Terror Twilight (1999). He played on the songs "Platform Blues" and "Billie". The album was produced by long-time Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Greenwood played lead guitar in The Weird Sisters along with fellow Radiohead member Phil Selway, former Pulp members Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey, electronica artist Jason Buckle and Add N to (X) member Steve Claydon. They performed 3 tracks, composed by Cocker:
  • "Do The Hippogriff"
  • "This Is The Night"
  • "Magic Works"

Notes

  1. http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/waste/waste14.php
  2. Undercover magazine interview with Jonny Greenwood
  3. Radiohead Live in the MTV Arena webchat transcript

External links

 v • d • e Radiohead
Thom Yorke • Jonny Greenwood • Ed O'Brien • Colin Greenwood • Phil Selway
Discography
Albums: Pablo Honey • The Bends • OK Computer • Kid A • Amnesiac • Hail to the Thief • Radiohead's seventh studio album
EPs: Manic Hedgehog • Drill • Itch • My Iron Lung • No Surprises/Running from Demons • Airbag/How Am I Driving? • I Might Be Wrong • COM LAG (2plus2isfive)
Singles: "Creep" • "Anyone Can Play Guitar" • "Pop Is Dead" • "Stop Whispering" • "My Iron Lung" • "High and Dry" • "Planet Telex" • "Fake Plastic Trees" • "Just" • "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" • "Lucky" • "Paranoid Android" • "Karma Police" • "No Surprises" • "Pyramid Song" • "Knives Out" • "There There" • "Go to Sleep" • "2 + 2 = 5"
DVDs: Live at the Astoria • 7 Television Commercials • Meeting People Is Easy • The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time
Related articles
Covers of Radiohead songs • Dead Air Space • Stanley Donwood • Nigel Godrich • Rare songs
Other projects
Jonny Greenwood: Bodysong • Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller
Thom Yorke: The Eraser • Spitting Feathers

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