I know from our early days how high-pressure road life can be. While big tours often hire therapists, grassroots acts can\u2019t afford it. I\u2019m pleased to back a new scheme that aims to change that<\/p>\n
When Radiohead started touring, it was hugely exciting, but we got signed when we had been going for five or six years and had only really played in Oxford. Suddenly you\u2019re entering a new world: the first flush of fame, being compared to everyone else, the furnace-like experience when a band takes off and a whole new routine of late nights, bad food and everything else that goes on around live music. Everything is heightened and it can be very isolating.<\/p>\n
In 1992 we were playing small venues in a van and then suddenly in 1993 we were spending the second half of the year in the US. On our second long tour that year, everything caught up with me. I kind of withdrew into myself. Something about being in the US made me feel \u201cimpostor syndrome\u201d. I really did feel a very long way from home. All that anxiety has to come out somewhere \u2013 for some it\u2019s drink and drugs \u2013 but for me it came out in my playing. There was one particular show where we were opening for Tears for Fears and another band who had [Blondie\u2019s] Clem Burke on drums. Clem was my absolute drummer hero but I just hit peak overwhelm, and my drumming went off a cliff. Every limb seemed to be going at its own speed. The kick drum became like trying to open a heavy door.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/4a77fe05c374b85fcdecce3adf38743859f93467\/368_0_2415_1932\/master\/2415.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=84da70516cd26e0e9c02ae620da9d72b\" "\\"Touring")
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