Atoms For Peace is an experimental rock & electronic supergroup formed in late 2009 in Los Angeles, California. The group consists of Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, and piano), Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich (keyboards, synths), Joey Waronker of Beck & R.E.M. (drums) and Brazilian instrumentalist Mauro Refosco (percussion). Their debut album, Amok, became available for streaming on February 18, 2013, and was released on February 25, 2013.
Atoms For Peace Shows
The line-up had their first live performance at the Echoplex in Los Angeles on October 2, 2009, where they played the entirety of Thom Yorke’s solo debut album, The Eraser, as well as some new songs and Radiohead B-side “Paperbag Writer”. This was followed by two shows at Orpheum Theatre on 4 and 5 October.
The band went on a two-week, eight-date tour of some major cities in the United States with opening act Flying Lotus during April 2010 before their performance at the 2010 Coachella Festival, known only as ‘??????’.
A Few of the Songs
Atoms for Peace performed a song which Thom Yorke noted as being “the band’s first official collaborative song” at Roseland Ballroom on April 5, 2010. That song, titled “Judge, Jury and Executioner” was debuted October 2, 2009 when the band played their first shows in Los Angeles. That song’s title is partially shared with the Radiohead song “Myxomatosis. (Judge, Jury, and Executioner.)”.
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark – that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.