Barely two days into the recording sessions for his new album, Philip Selway sacked the drummer. This would usually indicate a bullish personality, monster ego or someone with impossibly demanding working methods. Probably all three. Except that Selway is none of those things. The drummer he dismissed happened to be himself. As it goes, it’s a pretty good illustration of the 55-year-old’s devotion to the bigger picture. Selway has always been about the communal cause, be it as one fifth of Radiohead, collaborative soundtrack composer or solo artist. As Prog quickly discovers during the course of our interview, the thoughtful and self-effacing Selway – a man who exudes the kind of quiet confidence that presumably comes with being a member of one of the biggest bands on the planet – is primarily concerned with the unexpected thrills of the creative process.
Born in Oxfordshire, Selway first met his future Radiohead bandmates at Abingdon School during the 80s. Prior to their signing to EMI in 1991, he studied English and history at Liverpool Polytechnic and worked for a time as a teacher, as well as playing drums for various touring musicians. Selway had been a budding songwriter in his teens, but decided to direct his energies into the democratic ethos of Radiohead, where writing credits were split equally.
