Philip Selway
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Philip James Selway (born 23 May 1967) is an English musician and the drummer of the rock band Radiohead. He combines rock drumming with electronic percussion. Selway was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Radiohead in 2019.
In the 2000s, with musicians including the Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien, Selway toured and recorded with the 7 Worlds Collide project. In 2010, he released his debut solo album, Familial, comprising folk music. It was followed by Weatherhouse in 2014 and Strange Dance in 2023. Selway also composed the soundtrack for the 2017 film Let Me Go. In 2023, he played drums with Lanterns on the Lake.
Early life
Selway was born on 23 May 1967,<ref name="Irvin-1997">Template:Cite journal</ref> in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.<ref name="Fusilli-2010">Template:Cite news</ref> He started learning to play drums and guitar at the age of 15 for "the social cachet and love of music".<ref name="Fusilli-2010" /> His earliest influences were Joy Division, the Clash and the Velvet Underground.<ref name="Fusilli-2010"/>
The members of Radiohead met while attending Abingdon School, a private school for boys.<ref name="MCLEAN">Template:Cite news</ref> Selway was in the year above the guitarist Ed O'Brien, two years above the singer, Thom Yorke, and the bassist, Colin Greenwood, and five years above Colin's brother, the multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1985, they formed Template:Nat, the name referring to their usual rehearsal day in the school's music room.<ref name="RANDALL">Template:Cite journal</ref>
After Abingdon, Selway studied English and history at Liverpool Polytechnic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also worked as a TEFL teacher, a copyeditor, and as a drummer in pit bands for touring musicals.<ref name="Irvin-1997" /><ref name="Fusilli-2010" />
Career
Radiohead
Template:Main File:Radiohead Matters.ogg In 1991, On a Friday signed a recording contract with EMI and changed their name to Radiohead.<ref name="ROSS">Template:Cite news</ref> They found early success with their 1992 single "Creep".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Their third album, OK Computer (1997), brought them fame and is often acclaimed as one of the best albums of all time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> File:Radiohead's Kid A Matters.ogg With their fourth album, Kid A (2000), Radiohead began integrating electronic elements such as drum machines into their music. Selway said this widened his options and pushed him to create new dynamics, enabling him to express himself more creatively.<ref name="Mono-2014" /> Describing the process of arranging electronic tracks such as "Idioteque" for live performance, he said: "Trying to give that sense of the electronic in the piece but doing it through your 'normal' instrument playing — that naturally develops your own musical voice ... Performing those songs live definitely affected how I sounded and how I would approach drum parts."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
While on tour for their albums King of Limbs (2011) and A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), Radiohead performed with a second drummer, Clive Deamer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Selway said: "One [of us] played in the traditional way, the other almost mimicked a drum machine. It was push-and-pull, like kids at play, really interesting."<ref name="Mono-2014">Template:Cite web</ref> Selway contributed drums to "Impossible Knots" on Yorke's third solo album, Anima (2019).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2019, Selway testified at an inquest into the 2012 stage collapse that killed Radiohead's drum technician, Scott Johnson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For Radiohead's 2025 tour, Selway performed with the drummer Chris Vatalaro.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
By 2011, Radiohead had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.<ref name="BBC Worldwide takes exclusive 20112">Jonathan, Emma. "BBC Worldwide takes exclusive Radiohead performance to the world". BBC. 3 May 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.</ref> They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2019. In a speech at the induction ceremony, Selway said: "We may not be the greatest musicians around and we're certainly not the most media-friendly of bands. But we have become very adept at being Radiohead. And when that connects with people, it feels amazing."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2008, Mojo wrote that Selway and Colin Greenwood were "surely the most inventive rhythm section working close to the rock mainstream".<ref name="PAYTRESS">Template:Cite news</ref> In the same year, Gigwise named Selway the 26th-greatest drummer, praising his "mathematical precision".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Solo work
Selway wrote songs as a teenager, but concentrated on drumming after forming Radiohead.<ref name="Rhythm-2011">Template:Cite web</ref> He began writing again later in life, but decided the songs had a distinct character that did not fit Radiohead.<ref name="Rhythm-2011"/> Selway's debut solo album, Familial, was released on 30 August 2010.<ref name="independent">Template:Cite web</ref> It features Selway on acoustic guitar and vocals, and performances from the Wilco members Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone and the 7 Worlds Collide artists Lisa Germano and Sebastian Steinberg.<ref name="Dombal-2010" /> Pitchfork described it as a collection of "hushed" folk songs in the tradition of Nick Drake.<ref name="Dombal-2010">Template:Cite web</ref> Selway began a solo tour in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 25 July, he released an EP, Running Blind, comprising songs left off Familial rerecorded with a full band.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Selway's second solo album, Weatherhouse, was released on 6 October 2014, featuring more ambitious instrumentation and electronic elements.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, Selway composed the score for the feature film Let Me Go, directed by Polly Steele.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His third solo album, Strange Dance, was released on 24 February 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He chose not to drum on the album, finding he was out of practice and "not in the right mindset", and enlisted the Italian drummer Valentina Magaletti.<ref name="Jack-2023">Template:Cite web</ref> He began a European tour that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Selway contributed a cover of the Nick Drake song "Fly" to The Endless Coloured Ways – The Songs of Nick Drake, a tribute album featuring various artists released on 7 July 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Selway described Drake as an influence on his songwriting,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and said: "If I had to shrink my record collection to just one artist, then that would be Nick Drake ... Nick Drake is an artist that I feel speaks to me and for me."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 8 December, Selway released a live album, Live at Evolution Studios, recorded with the string quartet Elysian Collective and the percussionist Chris Vatalaro in Evolution Studios, Oxford.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Other work
Selway is a supporter of the emotional support charity Samaritans, with which he became involved while a university student.<ref name="Duerden-2014">Template:Cite news</ref> He volunteered as a telephone listener for years, including at the height of Radiohead's success, and said this "probably kept my sanity in that period".<ref name="Jack-2023" /> He is also an ambassador for Independent Venue Week, an initiative that promotes small music venues.<ref name="Jack-2023" /> In 2014, Selway and O'Brien signed an open letter protesting a ban on guitars in British prisons and stating that music was important for rehabilitation.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Selway performed with the band Dive Dive at the Oxford Zodiac in February 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For the 2005 film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Selway and Jonny Greenwood appeared as part of the wizard rock band Weird Sisters, alongside Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey of Pulp, Steven Claydon of Add N to (X), and Jason Buckle of All Seeing I.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
With O'Brien, Selway contributed to the 2001 live album by 7 Worlds Collide, a band formed by the New Zealand songwriter Neil Finn.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also contributed to their 2009 studio album The Sun Came Out, for which he wrote and sang "Ties That Bind" and "Witching Hour".<ref name="Deusner-2009">Template:Cite web</ref> It was the first record for which Selway wrote songs and sang, at the encouragement of Finn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Pitchfork critic Stephen M. Deusner was impressed by his vocals, praising his "subtle melodic hooks and arcing, textured voice".<ref name="Deusner-2009" />
Selway appears on "Rest on the Rock" and "Out of Light" on the album Before the Ruin by Roddy Woomble, Kris Drever, and John McCusker.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He played drums and percussion on the fifth album by Lanterns on the Lake, Versions of Us (2023), after the departure of their previous drummer. According to the songwriter, Hazel Wilde, Selway helped them create a "whole other version" of the album and restored their confidence in the songs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
Selway and his wife, Cait, have three sons.<ref name="Duerden-2014" /> In May 2006, Radiohead cancelled a concert in Amsterdam after Selway's mother died suddenly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of February 2023, Selway had recently moved to London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is a fan of Oxford United FC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
UK Indie <ref>Peak positions:
|
SCO <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
US Folk <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> |
US Heat <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | ||
| Familial |
|
185 | – | – | 8 | 7 |
| Weatherhouse |
|
— | 46 | – | 25 | — |
| Strange Dance |
|
—Template:Efn | 8 | 46 | — | — |
Live albums
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Live at Evolution Studios |
|
Soundtrack albums
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Let Me Go |
|
EPs
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Running Blind |
|
Singles
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "It Will End in Tears" | 2014 | Weatherhouse |
| "Around Again (The Acid Remix)" | 2015 | Template:N/a |
Guest appearances
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Fly" | 2023 | The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake |
See also
Notes
References
External links
- Template:Official website – official site
Template:Philip Selway Template:Radiohead Template:2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- 1967 births
- Art rock musicians
- Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University
- People educated at Abingdon School
- People from Abingdon-on-Thames
- Radiohead members
- Ivor Novello Award winners
- English folk guitarists
- English male guitarists
- English electronic musicians
- Musicians from Oxfordshire
- English alternative rock drummers
- Grammy Award winners
- Living people
- Bella Union artists
- Teachers of English