Atoms for Peace (band)

English-American supergroupTemplate:SHORTDESC:English-American supergroup

* electronica
* IDM

Thom Yorke playing guitar and Nigel Godrick performingThom Yorke (front) and Nigel Godrich (back)

Flea playing bass and Mauro Refosco playing percussion instrumnetsFlea (front) and Mauro Refosco (back)

**Atoms for Peace** were an English-American supergroup comprising the Radiohead songwriter Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano), the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich (keyboards, synthesisers, guitars), the drummer Joey Waronker of Beck and R.E.M., and the percussionist Mauro Refosco.

Yorke formed Atoms for Peace in 2009 to perform songs from his debut solo album, *The Eraser* (2006); they toured in 2010. In 2013, they released an album, *Amok*, the product of combining Yorke's electronic music with the band's jamming. It received mainly positive reviews, with several critics likening it to Yorke's solo work. *Amok* was followed by a tour of Europe, the US and Japan.

## History

### 2006 — 2009: Background and formation

In 2006, the Radiohead songwriter Thom Yorke released his first solo album, *The Eraser,* comprising mostly electronic music. It was produced by Radiohead's producer, Nigel Godrich. In 2009, Yorke performed solo at Latitude Festival, and found it was possible to perform *Eraser* songs on acoustic instruments. He contacted Godrich with the idea of forming a band to perform *The* *Eraser* without sequencers, reproducing the electronic beats with Latin percussion.

Yorke and Godrich formed Atoms for Peace in 2009 with the bassist Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the drummer Joey Waronker, who had performed with acts including Beck and R.E.M; and the percussionist Mauro Refosco, who had performed with acts including David Byrne. Yorke said: "I've been playing with [Radiohead] since I was 16, and to do this was quite a trip ... It felt like we'd knocked a hole in a wall, and we should just fucking go through it."

### 2009 — 2010: First performances

The band went unnamed for early performances, billed as "Thom Yorke" or "??????". In February 2010, they announced an American tour and the name Atoms for Peace. The name is taken from a song title from *The Eraser,* which references the 1953 speech by American President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Along with *Eraser* songs, Atoms for Peace performed the 2003 Radiohead B-side "Paperbag Writer" and the 1998 single "Rabbit in Your Headlights", a collaboration with Yorke and Unkle.

### 2013: *Amok*

After the tour, Atoms for Peace spent three days jamming and recording in Los Angeles. Yorke and Godrich edited and arranged the recordings over two years, combining it with Yorke's electronic music. This became the band's debut album, *Amok**,* released on February 25, 2013, through XL Recordings. It received mainly positive reviews, with critics likening it to Yorke's solo work.

*Amok* was followed by a tour of Europe, the US and Japan. In 2013, Yorke wrote that determining whether new songs were for Radiohead or Atoms for Peace was a "grey area" and depended on which musicians he is sampling.

### Later activity

In 2015, Yorke and Flea performed "Atoms for Peace" on the French television show *Le Grand Journal* and performed "Default" at the Paris United Nations Climate Change Conference. In 2018, Atoms for Peace reunited without Refosco to perform the song "Atoms for Peace" at a solo Thom Yorke show in Los Angeles. Flea provided trumpet for Yorke's song "Daily Battles" for the 2019 film *Motherless Brooklyn*, and Waronker contributed drums to one song on Yorke's album *Anima* (2019). Waronker and Refosco formed a new group, Jomoro, and released their debut album, *Blue Marble Sky*, on 4 June 2021.

## Members

* Thom Yorke – lead vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards, percussion
* Flea – bass guitar, melodica, keyboards
* Nigel Godrich – keyboards, synthesisers, guitars, percussion, backing vocals
* Mauro Refosco – percussion, additional drums, marimba
* Joey Waronker – drums

## Discography

### Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions, sales figures and certifications
* Label: XL Recordings
* Format: CD, LP, download

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lea, Tom (28 January 2013). A new career in a new town: Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich open Pandora's box and run amok as Atoms for Peace.
2. ↑ Thom Yorke Names His ???? Band Atoms For Peace, Announces Tour Dates.
3. ↑ Dombal, Ryan (February 25, 2010). Thom Yorke Names Solo Band, Lines Up American Spring Tour. Pitchfork Media.
4. ↑ Watch Atoms for Peace rehearse Thom Yorke's "Rabbit In Your Headlights" (en-GB) (2013-06-03).
5. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
6. ↑ Calendar. Xlrecordings.com.
7. ↑ Tan, Irving (Feb 21, 2013). Album Review - Atoms for Peace: Amok. Sputnikmusic.
8. ↑ Liedel, Kevin (22 February 2013). Review: Atoms for Peace, *Amok* (en-US).
9. ↑ Berman, Stuart (February 25, 2013). Atoms for Peace: AMOK. *Pitchfork*.
10. ↑ Atoms for Peace Announce U.S. and Japanese Dates (en-US).
11. ↑ IAmA Atoms For Peace, Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich AMA. Reddit (18 February 2013).
12. ↑ Thom Yorke and Flea reunite to play "Atoms For Peace" on French TV (en-GB) (2015-12-04).
13. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
14. ↑ Atoms For Peace reunite during Thom Yorke concert in Los Angeles: Watch (en) (2020-02-04).
15. ↑ Listen to Thom Yorke and Flea's haunting new collaboration, 'Daily Battles' (en) (2020-02-05).
16. ↑ Yoo, Noah (26 June 2019). 5 Takeaways From Thom Yorke's New Album, *ANIMA*.
17. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
18. ↑ Atoms for Peace, releases.
19. ↑ 2012-09-15 Top 40 Independent Singles Archive. *Official Charts Company*.
20. ↑ Discografie Atoms for Peace (nl). *Ultratop*. Hung Medien.
21. ↑ Amok – Atoms for Peace: Awards. *Allmusic*. Rovi Corporation.
22. ↑ Thom Yorke's Atoms For Peace Release New Single. *pitchfork.com*.

## External links

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